Stamp collectors seem to be a dying breed
I have never really been into it. There was just this short time as a child when I had a really small and worthless collection, but before I knew it I stopped the hobby. It was not like anyone of my friends was into it. And that was several decades ago... does anyone still collect stamps today? From the looks of it I would say barely. While it was all the hype several decades ago in the analog era, today it is a relic of the past. It's just not cool anymore, you know like playing yo-yos (is that even how you spell it?) I loved playing them, there were all those really cool tricks that we actually taught ourselves in person as there wasn't any youtube/internet to go around. But mayb playing yo-yo will have a come back; it does seem like a thing that could return one day. But collecting stamps? Probably not.
I got this really old stamp collection which is apparently worthless
And by old I mean like 40-130 years. And it's not just a couple of pages, it's 12 or so stamp collection books... I first was a bit excited when I looked at what I had. There are several stamps from 1892! Back then 1 cent was actually worth something, so they had 1 cent stamps.
Then a couple from the 1930s.
The 60s with Kennedy
And a fairly large collection of the space race age. These are apparently from Yemen, which is somewhat odd. They are in pristine condition.
So when I checked their value on the internet, I realized that they are pretty much worthless. The ones from the 19th century are about $5-$10 which is not too bad, but I only have a dozen or so. Considering that they are 130 years old, it's not too much though. Or is it?
When we look at their gained real value from 1 cent to let's say $5 we also have to consider inflation. 1 cent back then is actually about 30 cents worth today (a 3000% devaluation!). So when we divide 500 cents with 30 cents we get about a 16x. So about a 16x in 130 years. And per year that would be about 12% gained value. Actually not too bad! The problem is just that I have a dozen or so. So I have to make a slight revision to the title of the post: collection stamps does pay off when you have a large collection and they are relatively old (80+?) years.
The ones form the 30s and 60s are worth less, but the actual problem here is that the market is so small and it is also regional. For example, trying to sell stamps from the US is very difficult in Europe. Essentially, people lost interest at large in collecting stamps it would seem so even if one does have a decent collection the challenge is to actually find someone that is willing to buy the stamps. Another caveat is that it is not a linear rise in value: stamps from the 19th century would probably not have been too valuable in the 1920s. So the ~12% rise in value is only a number calculated in hindsight over a large span of time. A span of time that lasts longer than a life time. So collecting stamps seems to be more a generational transfer of "wealth".
Conclusion
I'll probably not sell the stamps just yet. I wouldn't really get any real value form them and it would be extremely time consuming to track down potential buyers. It's probably smarter to pass them on to the next generation... Maybe when they are like 200 years old they might be much more valuable?
But it does raise the question of what actually stores wealth. How valuable would e.g., 1 Bitcoin be in 100 years? Will we even have $ to compare it to? I guess one advantage over Bitcoin that stamps have is that as long as they don't get lost and stored properly they will definitely still be here in 100 years. Everything electronic does seem to stand on more shaky ground.
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I have a shoe box full of stamps, some sorted into special little packets by country. Other unused (new) special collections, most over 50 years in age, many much older.
Finding a market I have yet to look into, it was very popular back in the 70's to collect, use of special collectors books I have not seen in years.
All inherited, still need to sort, detail it really is a lot to get through... time!
yes, indeed it's really time consuming! I have decided to leave this "problem" for my son ;D
I will most probably end up doing similar !LOLZ
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I remember my Dad and I collecting stamps when I was very young. It was fun. Then moved on much like you described. I think my mother just handed the whole thing over to a dealer for some small amount. One thing about stamps is the unused ones are generally more valuable. A 10 cent stamp for example unused is always worth that 10 cents. At least that's what we did way back when. The artwork is pretty cool too. There are some other ways of doing it too.Like buying sheets of them and blocks or groups. Large numbers of them and they are always worth what's printed on them. It's a thing my fathers friend did. He invested in EVERYTHING! Coins, metals, houses etc. It's weird to imagine what I would have if I kept at it. Since the 60's!
Sticking to something is rather difficult. But it can pay off I guess. I mean the monetary aspect if of course just one of many. Some simply enjoy owning them. Perhaps when we move more and more into the digitized world, paper things will get more valuable. I am sure in some not too distant point in the future, we won't have any stamps anymore and then no letters as well...
I went and looked the US post office stamps for sale and it was really pretty cool. Lots of nice artwork and a ton of different things for sale. It makes me wonder if more people are collecting than I would have thought.
This is one interesting story about stamps
I learnt something from this
Thanks for sharing😃
great to hear :)
I have a very good stamp collection, including rare 19th and early 20th century classics. I started during my childhood, later as I adult I invested a lot of money and time in my stamp collection. The study of the stamps and postal history is fascinating.
However as investment the stamps have lost a lot of value, the market is very illiquid, since every day there are less people interested in the hobby. I see very difficult that this trend will reverse in the foreseeable future, which is quite sad.
I am interested mainly pre 1960’s stamps however I stopped investing in it more than 20 years ago.
Other challenge that they face is the preservation of the stamps, they quite easily get rust points or marks, which devaluate them a lot.
Interesting that you raise the subject of stamp collecting in your post.
Maybe I consider to write more about it in my blog.
interesting story, would love to hear it :)
Yep! The same problem here. Not many people collect stamps these days. It’s difficult to find a market to sell my collection of stamps too!
so it's a global situation, thanks for letting me know ;)
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well with everything becoming digital... probably not too far fetched
Hermosa colección de estampilla, yo también tengo mi álbum por allí, me encantaban verlas en detalles y colores, sus temas especiales.
Beautiful stamp collection, I also have my album there, I loved seeing them in details and colors, their special themes.
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Great post!
Hehe, I have to check my stamps also, passed from my dad to my when I was a child 😃