A General Overview of Investing in Stamps
If you want to purchase stamps as an investment, there are two ways to do it.
1. Have someone - a knowledgeable stamp broker in your employ - do the research, purchase the stamps, store the stamps, and sell them when the time is right. This takes no effort on your part. You never even see the stamps! And where’s the fun in that? Answer. There is none!
2. The second way to do it is to immerse yourself in the hobby of stamp collecting, learn about the valuable stamps - and there are a lot of them - and how they can be acquired, and then set out to acquire them.
Of course, you’ll still need to store these “investments” in a secure safety deposit box – unlike other portable investments, stamps are unfortunately very easy to accidently destroy. Fire and water are definitely not your friends in this regard.
However, there’s no reason why you can’t visit your investments, take them out of their box and look at them for a few minutes, once a month or so!
So, let’s talk about “hands on” investing in stamps.
Investing in stamps is like any other investment, you must only invest money that you can afford to have tied up for a considerable length of time, or even lose. Stamp prices have been steadily increasing for the last decade…but the latest economic crisis will take its toll here, as well. But, as with all the other investment areas, what is really happening is that the market is correcting itself.
Very wealthy investors (if there are any left anymore) can purchase the super rarities, those stamps that are worth more than $100,000 or so. The average investor can not. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t purchase individual stamps for $100 or so, and see them appreciate in value over the course of ten to twenty years.
Basically, if you want to invest in stamps, you’re looking at a long-term investment.
If you’re a beginner to the field of stamp collecting, you might think that expensive stamps cost so much only because they are rare. That is not the case. Many factors determine what price someone - an investor or a collector - is willing to pay for a certain stamp, either now or in the future.
Popularity is one of the factors that determines stamp price. There may be only two or three examples of a certain stamp in existence…but if no one wants it… it won’t be very valuable! (They key here is…tastes change. A stamp popular for twenty…even thirty years, may suddenly lose popularity when a new generation of collectors comes on the scene.
So, if you are going to start purchasing stamps for investment, the first thing you need to do is become familiar with the entire stamp collecting hobby. You want to have at least a working knowledge of terminology, be familiar with the various stamp dealers and stamp publications, and know the history of the particular types of stamps you want to purchase. It’s easier to become an expert in a small area of stamp collecting, rather than trying to learn everything about the entire hobby.
One reason why you want to cultivate reliable stamp dealers, either your local stamp dealer or the most well-known ones on the internet, are because …. it’s an unfortunate fact… there are scammers in the stamp business (as in any other), who will take advantage of the “newbie,” whom they can scent as a piranha can scent prey in the water.
Because of this, it’s important that you familiarize yourself with all the ways a con artist can scam you over a stamp, and, know the tests to apply to verify that the stamp you are purchasing is what it’s current owner claims it to be. Until you gain experience, you should confine yourself to dealing with only well-known dealers who have been years in the field. That is one of the main reason why I use Stanley Gibbons in the United Kingdom.
The Stanley Gibbons Investment Department offers life changing and unique investment ideas for a broad client range. They deal primarily in stamps and autographs/memorabilia with the potential for excellent returns over a five to ten year period. You don’t need to be of extreme wealth and you don’t need to be an expert in stamps or autographs.
They offer a range of investment products that are carefully tailored to enable collectors and investors the best way to make healthy returns in the investment market.
Guaranteed Minimum Return Contracts
This is possibly the only rare collectables’ investment in the world that guarantees you a minimum 20% gain over the next 5 years or 50% over 10 years and the upside is unlimited should the market continue to progress well.
Interest Free Credit Investment Portfolios
This investment allows you to enter the rare stamp and autograph market with a relatively small amount of money.
Active Management Investment Portfolios
Absolute flexibility to buy and sell when you want to maximise profits from your investment.
Free Investment Guide
Download a Guide to Investing in Rare Stamps & Autographs at Stanley Gibbons
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