The Study of Stamps

But there is another almost foolproof stamp investment strategy. It is not for everyone, as it requires patience and knowledge: the scheme requires an investor to immerse himself totally in the study of stamps and find a philatelic specialty that really excites him. The clever investor then obtains all the auction catalogues he can, visits stamp shops, and slowly acquires interesting items for his collection, which he mounts and displays. The stamps and covers in a specialized collection often have a symbiotic relationship to one another: two $50 covers next to each other frequently produce a $200 page. The clever investor makes his collection over a period of years, and sometimes so fools the world into believing that he loves his stamps as a hobby that he fools himself as well. Then he does some very uninvestor-like things like turning down huge profits on his collection because he loves it. More and more, investors are discovering that while they came to philately for the profit, they stay for the fun.