Pushing 330,000 All Different Worldwide Stamps In One Collection .

And what makes you believe it is 'investors' rather than simply well-heeled collectors buying this material?

They are usually the same people. With auction estimates The auctions houses in general get it right. The chances that they would be wrong so many times, shows me something is happening. Maybe people are bailing on bitcoin or some risky cryptos and going into stamps. I don't know. I am just mentioning that big money is moving into the high-end market. Maybe it is my imagination. As far as a rich collector. Rich collectors tend to be esoteric or niche in their buying. They don't just wipe out whole sections. I think those are investors.

Do you think the upcoming World Expo could be part of the reason for the higher auction prices? Maybe dealers are buying up higher quality material to show off in Boston.

I watched the recent Rasdale auction and was surprised how many of "Sandy Estate" lots went over their estimate, but what will happen in May when expo is over? That is the question.

Stamp Slacker ---- WELCOME TO THE CHAT BOARD .

Yes prices get stronger going into a major exhibition . Your right about that .I didn't sit thru the Rasdale Auction because I watch the Dutch Country Auction and purchased a few things ,watching one auction a week was my limit .

To answer your last question , as long as they keep printing money all around the world and money grows at 100% every 7 years ,I will keep buying stamps .

floortrader- Thank you!

Yes, there is a finite supply of classic stamps and a virtually endless amount of fiat currency, but do you worry about the demographics of the stamp collecting community? The Silent Generation (born 1928-1945) was the last major generation in the US that were stamp collectors. The older Baby Boomers would be the next biggest but there doesn't seem to be a lot of interest in stamps from those born after 1960.

As these older collectors pass away there should continue to be large quantities of stamps entering the market, but at what point do prices fall from lack of new collectors/buyers? Are we a couple of years from that happening or a couple of decades? Unlike gold and silver coins, stamps have no real intrinsic worth so there has to be enough collectors in the market for them to retain their value.

StampSlacker said


I suspect the stamps in those "Sandy Estate" lots must have been in excellent shape throughout. BACKS as well as fronts. Whoever Mr or Mrs Sandy was they certainly had an eye for quality.

Other non-Sandy, but nevertheless reasonably solid one-country lots, in the same auction did not fare quite so well. That suggests to me the Sandy ones were in outstanding condition whereas the other ones were of lesser quality overall and thus went for the more usual "10% of catalogue".

zendo59 - Yes, whoever "Sandy" was they were an interesting collector. Besides collecting quality mint stamps, they also appeared to have been a very broad worldwide collector based on how many different country lots Rasdale's sold of theirs.

Another thing that did well at the auction were quality US FDCs. There were several lots of hand painted covers that went for 2-4 times over the suggested bid. Again, quality over quantity seemed to be the key.

There was a fun lot, #163, that also went way over the estimate. It was a 27-carton mystery pallet. Talk about a sorting project! The suggested bid was $350 but it went for $2900. I'm really curious what the winner got, but I'm guessing it was quantity over quality in this case.

'it went for $2900.00 ......curious what the winner got " I can honestly tell you that who ever won that lot is much more happier than almost everybody who spend $2900.00 on lottery tickets last year . Also a lot more happier over a longer period of time than many other things that people spend $2900.00 for their happyness .

As for me it would mean close to a year of enjoyment with research ,filing ,exploring and sorting everything out with the hopes of finding treasures

BUYING BIG AUCTION LOTS -----We have to figure half of the purchases of large auctions lots that go up for auction are purchase by people who are looking for entertainment and something to spend their free time with.

Looking at lots at Dutch Country Auctions ,where a hundred or two hundred mix lots go up for auction on one day . These lots are broken down so the average collector has a chance to score one or two lots at a reasonable price . A interesting fact that they don't all end up to the high bidder are not a small group of expert buyers who end up with 20 or 30 lots but are spread out to various bidders across floor bidders and phone bidders with some only bidding for 2 o3 lots out of the many dozens {more like 150 or 200 different lots up for auction }. You also see this same pattern at Rasdale and Kelleher .

This system is great for the average collector . I fall into this pattern too. I purchase my specality lots and always leave some money for a mixture lot to play with after the better stuff is mounted and put away . Kind of gives me something to do while watching the National News Services or football on the t.v.

I bid 8500$ for a German States lot recently
included many certified stamps, varieties.
I bid 1000$ over the auction house estimate (5000-7500$)
I thought I would get 2-3 years of entertainment out of that lot.
not for investment.

This was the highest I ever bid on anything in my life

well ... I lost

it went for 45,000$

Yes, the anguish in deciding a maximum bid, only to see the lot go for many times more. I recently bid on a cigarette card with an estimate of around £200, put in a commission bid of £300, went for £2,500. Still, it means your basic judgment was right.

Looks like this is the first year {2025 } that no firm dealer or stamp auction house had a full box of 50 packages of Dennison Stamp Hinges for sale . There may be a box found and put up for auction but if it goes up expect $1500.00 price on it then 20% extra for commissions . Unbelievable. Don't tell me much less because ,this will get a few people raising their paddle .

GeoffHa -----Had a few surprises with some of the lots that I bid on . I always see that I can out bid the dealer crowd at stamp auctions . But there is the surprise of a few specialist or people who know their stuff better than me or spend more time viewing the lot or even catalog value the lot and determines its true value .

Good News --- Got my stamp auction lots today .Two weeks ago made a list of the countries that I feel were weak in my collection and bid aggressivly to correct the situation . Hope to spend the weekend looking everything over .

Then by Sunday have a plan to attack the issue and print pages to mount it .Finished up a few completed pages to post here .