Do You Think Used Modern Stamps Will Have A Better Premium Than Modern Mnh In The Long Term?

I checked the threads and saw that this discussion has not been had for a few years. Considering that proper postal usage of modern stamps is becoming more and more seldom, do you think used modern stamps will appreciate better than those MNH in the long term?

In my opinion, I think it will depend on a few factors. The pool of collectors may shrink further if snail mail is practically gone from daily life in the future due to lack of familiarity (for example, there are collectors of cotton gins but I imagine it is a tiny collecting area and therefore would require a bit of time and effort to find such collectors). So this trend may reduce the chances of all modern stamps except for errors and scarce variants of appreciating in the long term.

However, I notice that properly used stamps for postage are still found commonly for Christmas cards, wedding invitations, flag stamps for commercial/legal transactions requiring use of mail. It is uncommon (and has been mentioned in the discussion of years ago) for Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express usage that is NOT intentionally philatelic, especially current stamp issues. A postal clerk these stamps were often used for providing postage for an exchange or orders that accept SASE orders from some commercial vendors to mail back items.

For myself, I do try to get a nice postally used Priority Mail and/or Priority Mail Express stamp once in awhile. And I do get the current issues MNH as well as Forever stamps for first class letter rate and a few other categories. I try not to overbuy as it is expensive enough to get these and have room to acquire some world stamps and older issues.

Anyway, look forward to hearing any opinions on this.

Depends what you pay for the used, on cover material.

You also did not say what period of MNH. 19th Century, Pre-1930 20th Century, post 1930 or 21st Century? The last two periods are money losers as MNH sells for a discount from face value. That includes forever stamps, they even sell at a discount from face. Only postal use will reclaim the face value.

I was recently given half-a-dozen large boxes that had been used by Warwick and Warwick the stamp auction house to send out some lots. They'd used about thirty decade-old commemoratives to frank the boxes. Royal Mail didn't bother cancelling them, probably didn't even bother adding the values up to check.

Don't know about cotton gins, but vintage cotton reels sell for a dollar upwards, and a branded set of drawers from a haberdashery to keep them in will set you back 200 to 300 dollars. Here's some vintage cotton reels, and some used modern stamps. I think the cotton reels are a better investment.

A simple rule for you to remember chris_s is that the only material which will appreciate in value is the philatelic material you can't afford.

The only sure way to make money in philately is arbitrage.

As long as there are stamp collectors there will probably be a small, but feisty market for recently used (last 20 years) commemoratives. Since the stock is so low on these, the collectors seeking them out will bid and buy them. I announced to our stamp club last night that I saw a dealer putting in recent used US commemoratives in Vario sheets last weekend, and they might want to check those him at our next stamp show. Bottom line is if you get good used US or world commemoratives from the past 20 years, yes, there is still a market. Now, we are still probably talking 50 cents to a dollar a used stamp here so there isn't a fortune to be made, but they are not trash either. Since face value for a us stamp is 78 cents, not sure if used would be worth more than that, with some exceptions of course!

What did Albert Einstein say was "the eighth wonder of the world" and "the most powerful force in the universe"?

answer: compound interest


Mileage varies. The stock markets also are powerful, in either direction.

Our stamp collections are not investment vehicles. Money spent on stamps and covers does not earn interest.

The title says modern, but maybe it has been edited?


Anyway, yes, post 2000 modern used stamps used in period will be worth more than MNH stamps, but you won't be buying cattle stations by dealing in them

That might happen but for example most used Canadian stamps for the last
20 years have cancellations like these below, just a bunch of dots.





Better would be the whole inkjet cancel with the date but you have to keep the envelope.





And of course best would be circular date stamp

Just noticed this is in the US Modern Stamps forum, sorry about posting
the Canadian examples.
But in either case the used in period date would have to appear on the stamps
whether US or Canadian used stamps.

Lithography, what is great about the dots canceling is very little of the design image is obliterated.

Beats USPS marker monkey cancels.

Edit:




But in period can only be shown on dated postal history or for a single stamp or block, by a SON dated cancel which is NOT a FDC date in either case..

@BobbyDelaRue The title does say "modern", but can you define "modern"? The term "modern" is both relative and subjective. For example, how far back does "modern" history go? Most historians consider the 19th century to be modern, but since postage stamps were only just invented in the early half of the 19th century, 19th century postage stamps cannot be considered modern. That is the relative part. Next, what do you consider "modern" stamps? Stamps printed with photogravure? Stamps printed after 1930? Stamps from 1980 onwards? Stamps from the past 20 years? That is the subjective part.

Almost all philatelists I know are in the 60-80 year age range, and they mostly focus on 19th century and early 20th century stamps. Everybody has heard of a "cutoff point" in philately. The vast majority of philatelists seem uninterested in "modern" (past 20 years, in this definition) stamps. The value of something is only defined by its demand. With that age range in mind, and the fact that most philatelists have a cutoff point, consider that the people interested in this hobby will most likely not be around to see the speculative appreciation in value of these items, which would nullify any potential value they may have, as that means the market is shrinking and shrinking, and they are items they had little interest in to begin with.

Unlike in the 70s when philately was "THE hobby", not many people are into it now, and the ones that are have been doing it their whole life. There will be less and less philatelists, and less and less of a market. The only "modern" stamps that may increase substantially in value are the ones that are already valuable, and even then, the people who might be buying them are aging.

From the OP's post I took 'modern' as meaning current stamps, so took the liberty of including 21st century issues, which are hard to find in genuine used condition in period.

From a personal perspective, 'modern' stamps in the true sense is easily determined. If the catalogue price for a mint letter rate stamp far exceeds that of a used stamp, well there's the big tell. Obversely, there's a good reason why high face value British empire stamps are worth a lot more used than mint.

Postal authorities have been issuing stamps far in excess of genuine postal needs for nigh on a century, but like I said, it's just my personal opinion.

You seem not to have read anything I wrote about the subjectivity and relativity of the word "modern".

A whole collection on one piece of mail.

Nice piece of modern art you've got there.