There is an expression that is used to express a sure thing-a bet at such high odds that the bettor is expressing his profound feeling that what he is betting on is all but a certainty. “Dollars to Donuts” is an expression from the 1920’s, when donuts sold two for a nickel, that the bettor was so sure of his position that he was willing to offer fifty to one odds. Today, the power of this expression has been lost to inflation. Donuts sell for more than a dollar each at most places so that the bet, rather than expressing a certainty, shows the speaker to be rather unsure of his position.
So it is in the old sense of the expression, that of a certainty, that I use dollars to donuts to place the following bet. Fine quality rare postage stamps, especially scarcer varieties, will continue to gain in price and popularity in the years ahead. When I look at the amount of stamps that are offered for sale each month it is startling how few of the truly scarce stamps of any country ever come up for sale. This week our auction has a great Italian area section, created by a serious collector over a long lifetime in our hobby. Here are hundreds of sets and varieties that we offer only every four or five years. These are stamps that, should the predictions of the increase of collectors due to the maturing of the baby boomers come true, will rise to much higher prices. And even should our hobby go the way of button collecting, they are rare enough to always have a market. Take a careful look at the sale. Rare stamps sell for much smaller multiples of common stamps than they should.
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