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So in other words, the "dealer" is not actually really a stamp dealer at all, they might as well be selling pigs feet, wheat, or steel. No knowledge needed, just a MBA degree from some university.
Don, full disclosure: I've been a full-time USA postal history dealer for 20+ years and have an MBA from a Southern school with a pretty good football team.
I started collecting US stamps about 50 years ago, thanks to my grandmother, who was the only woman member of her local stamp club. 30 years ago, I decided to stop collecting stamps (for a lot of the reasons mentioned in this thread) and switched to postal history & never looked back. Enjoyed it so much, I switched careers and became a postal history dealer. And still enjoying it.
Most postal history doesn't need a cert, there's no issue of gum status or small stamp faults, the value is in the use, rate, route, destination, sender, recipient, which ship or plane carried it, etc. With a bit of knowledge, covers which have been repaired or enhanced can be easily detected. At all shows worldwide, there are numerous dealer boxes of covers priced from a couple of bucks and a lot of fun to dig through looking for something which fits your interests. Or covers for 6 or 7 figures and everything in-between.
Easy to start a new postal history collection: town where you were born, where you currently live, a country you've worked in or visited, a country where your ancestors hail from, etc.
But warning: it's a slippery slope, most collectors I know who have switched from stamps to postal history get "hooked" and put their stamp collections away, or sell them in order to spend more on their new interests.
Steve
Posted 01/31/2020 8:01 pm
