The Penny Black is not only the first stamp but one of the more fun stamps to specialize in. The stamp was printed in twelve plates and each plate had 240 subjects. As a security measure each stamp received check letters in the corners so that each of the 240 subjects of each plate are unique (the check […]
We are only a price increase away from seeing philately re-emerge as the kind of hobby it was when the baby boomers were young. This is my takeaway from several year end parties that I attended. In the course of conversation people asked what I do and when people hear that I am a stamp dealer the usual
The Coming Boom In Philately Read More »
I don’t like to tout stamps as an investment because in reality most collectors don’t make money out of their collections (In the last ten years most stock investors didn’t make money either, and home owners got clobbered, so philatelists are in good company). But there is one stamp that I think if you were
A Good Investment Bet Read More »
The best news for 2012 is the realization that the largest philatelic market in the world, the Chinese market, has begun to expand its horizons. Philatelic markets mature like people do. Newer philatelic markets are narrow and collectors in these markets rarely show interest in stamps beyond their own country. As the markets mature the
The World’s Biggest Philatelic Market Discovers Foriegn Stamps Read More »
When you buy a house or a car there is a cost of production involved that provides a floor as to the price. If housing prices drop to below the cost of producing homes people will stop building them, supplies will contract leading to price increases that will allow production to resume. At least that’s
There are three main Foreign catalogs for the non English speaking European specialties-Michel for Germany and German Area, Yvert for France and French Colonies and Sassone for Italy and the Italian Area. Michel is the Mercedes of catalogs with hundreds of thousands of specialized listings in all phases of German philately with covers, blocks, paper types
European Catalogs Read More »
The Scott catalog prices for most countries after 1940 is for stamps in mint Never Hinged condition. This is for three reasons. First, most post 1940 stamp are more common in NH than in hinged condition (especially as you come closer to the current period in time). Second, most collectors have been trained to believe they
Valuing Modern Mint Stamps in Hinged Condition Read More »
2012 may be the year when the sales tax exemption that most philatelists enjoy when they add stamps to their collections ends. The current sales tax code in most states does not formally exempt postage stamps from sales tax but rather exempts sales of products that travel across state lines when the merchant lacks a
The desire to collect is innate and probably relates to the gatherer instinct that humans share with other primates. But in a world in which one can collect everything from antique barbed wire to Victorian pocketbooks, why do people collect stamps? The answer I think comes down to three factors- community, size and orderliness.