Stamp Collecting 2024

[philliesfan]

I hope so. It was a lot of fun when I was young. I think stamp collecting is much bigger worldwide than in the US.

The more desireable and higher grade will always keep their value.

I have been buying some lots on ebay and selling off parts until I recoup my money then I stick the rest in boxes to go through and sell o ebay when I retire in a few years.

Bob

[bnorth]

I believe it was 5th grade when we had some classes about stamp collecting. I started a very small collection back then and someplace still have a few of those stamps. I have only ever met one person who had a huge stamp collection. My brothers grandma had several albums full of stamps back in the 70s when I was a kid.

[Snapolit1]

Loved collecting stamps and to this day, decades later, I absorbed a lot of US and world history collecting stamps. Was tremendous fun as a kid receiving "approvals" in the mail and going to stamp show.

Stamps turned out to most people to be a dreadful "investment". I know people to this day that use mint commeratives from the 40s and 50s to mail letters (often afffixing 5 or 6 old stamps on an envelope). Better value to just use them as postage than to sell to someone for 15 cents on the dollar.

Know two families that inherited and had to deal with Dad's stamp collection. Not good stories. Like pleading with someone to buy albums of stamps.

And yes, we all know about the Inverted Jenny and the handful of other stamps that have become iconic and skyrocked in value. It's not many.

[gonefishin]

I've been studying it the last few weeks as I started seeing stamp collections going for big bucks, and I have several autographed first day issue envelopes (Mantle, Mays, etc.) but always stayed away from stamps because it seemed so specialized.

I would love to hear anyone's opinion about the future of the market as I'm thinking about snatching up some rare ones when I see them - however - I know nothing about them so I'm going to be cautious.

[WhatsNext]

For anyone interested, I'm trying to unload around 1200 stamps right now. No clue what, if anything they're worth. Asking $50 but please feel free to pm me with offers:

https://net54baseball.com/showthread...61#post2398561

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Loved collecting stamps and to this day, decades later, I absorbed a lot of US and world history collecting stamps. Was tremendous fun as a kid receiving "approvals" in the mail and going to stamp show.

Stamps turned out to most people to be a dreadful "investment". I know people to this day that use mint commeratives from the 40s and 50s to mail letters (often afffixing 5 or 6 old stamps on an envelope). Better value to just use them as postage than to sell to someone for 15 cents on the dollar.

Know two families that inherited and had to deal with Dad's stamp collection. Not good stories. Like pleading with someone to buy albums of stamps.

And yes, we all know about the Inverted Jenny and the handful of other stamps that have become iconic and skyrocked in value. It's not many.

This is how I feel about my years of stamp collecting. The knowledge of history was invaluable and I love what it gave me.

I doubt any boost is on the way as other than the gold, there just isn’t the interest from new collectors…for many reasons.

The inverts and key errors will always be valuable. Key sets like the Colombian exposition and Graf Zeppelins. However, I fully agree…a hobby renewal is far more than unlikely

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by JustinD

This is how I feel about my years of stamp collecting. The knowledge of history was invaluable and I love what it gave me.

I doubt any boost is on the way as other than the gold, there just isn’t the interest from new collectors…for many reasons.

The inverts and key errors will always be valuable. Key sets like the Colombian exposition and Graf Zeppelins. However, I fully agree…a hobby renewal is far more than unlikely

Thanks Justin, I don't know the background on stamps like the Colombian Expo, etc., so I think that why it's hard for me to wrap my head around some of the $ I see being paid for stamps. There is seller on ebay, Dr. Bob's stamps, that routinely sells stamps for big bucks. I checked his website, and for all I've read he is pretty legit.

I guess it's like cards, know what to buy and how much to pay.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks. Jim Hoskins

[steve B]

I still collect. Started around 5 and never really stopped.

It's like many of the older hobbies, the really good items are bringing good prices. While the very common are not. A typical price to pay for a collection or accumulation that has some fairly nice things is around 10% of the catalog value of the nicer items.
Most US stamps from the 30s on are as has been pointed out, used as discount postage. Bought that way, maybe 80% of the face value, sometimes less.
Even some from earlier get used that way by stamp collectors. If a stamp catalogs 50 cents or a dollar but has major flaws, it won't sell at all.

Most can be bought for 50% of catalog value.

The fun and the interesting stuff you can learn about are the key, and even some big ticket items don't make good investments.
Generating interest with younger people without the whole "you can find rare expensive stuff with no real effort" angle is hard.
That being said, I do find some pretty good deals, and some really good deals by knowing specialized info, that most dealers can't spend the time to be bothered with.

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by steve B

I still collect. Started around 5 and never really stopped.

It's like many of the older hobbies, the really good items are bringing good prices. While the very common are not. A typical price to pay for a collection or accumulation that has some fairly nice things is around 10% of the catalog value of the nicer items.
Most US stamps from the 30s on are as has been pointed out, used as discount postage. Bought that way, maybe 80% of the face value, sometimes less.
Even some from earlier get used that way by stamp collectors. If a stamp catalogs 50 cents or a dollar but has major flaws, it won't sell at all.

Most can be bought for 50% of catalog value.

The fun and the interesting stuff you can learn about are the key, and even some big ticket items don't make good investments.
Generating interest with younger people without the whole "you can find rare expensive stuff with no real effort" angle is hard.
That being said, I do find some pretty good deals, and some really good deals by knowing specialized info, that most dealers can't spend the time to be bothered with.

Congrats on sticking with collecting all this time Steve! What is your take on grading stamps? Does increase the value? Let's say one has a 1847 Scott #1, would it make sense to have that stamp graded or stamps from the Columbian Expo?

[Snapolit1]

Ah the Graf Zeppelins. Really loved those. Showed to my dad once at a show and he was equally entranced. He always talked about buying them but never did. I wonder how they have appreciated over time. Beautiful stamps.

Originally Posted by JustinD

This is how I feel about my years of stamp collecting. The knowledge of history was invaluable and I love what it gave me.

I doubt any boost is on the way as other than the gold, there just isn’t the interest from new collectors…for many reasons.

The inverts and key errors will always be valuable. Key sets like the Colombian exposition and Graf Zeppelins. However, I fully agree…a hobby renewal is far more than unlikely

[sb1]

Here's a few early imperfs...

[gonefishin]

Those are fantastic.

Do you, or anyone, have knowledge of foreign stamps i.e. China, France, etc.?

[sb1]

Originally Posted by sb1

Here's a few early imperfs...

These are all dupes for me. I am open to selling the group. $1,800 for all if anyone is interested.

Scott