Stamp collectors are frequently blinded by garish advertisements. Ads which offer merchandise with a $250 catalog value for only $17.50 attract a lot of attention and get many orders. However, most of these orders come from collectors who haven’t learned to apply the rule of life that “you never get something for nothing” to their philatelic purchasing.

It stands to reason that merchandise of quality- whether in stamps, clothing, automobiles, real estate or any other line- doesn’t have to be given away or sold at just a fraction of its worth.

If a stamp with a catalog value of $10 is so common or in such poor condition that it can only be sold for 50 cents or $1, then that is all the stamp is worth. It has evidently been overpriced in the catalog.

There will always be offerings of “much for little,” and there will never be a shortage of takers of these offers, but when the time comes to put a true value on the material involved, there will always be a rude awakening.