I don’t ordinarily write articles about stamp investment basically for two reason. First, I don’t think that stamps have been a particularly good investment over the last thirty years. Certainly, the stock, bond, and real estate markets have done better. Also, stamps need to be carefully stored and can lose their value, if not properly cared for, something that never happens with a share or a bond. Stamps also pay no dividends or interest.
But the second and more significant reason that I rarely tout stamps is because, I don’t think it wise to try to sell the hobby that way. Philately is enjoyable as an intellectual pursuit, as an organizational activity, and as a treasure hunt. I’ve seen so many philatelists, who thought they were investing realize that the emotional pleasures, that they got from their hobby far outweighed the financial gains they made. Many people make money in philately. Many more don’t. What’s important is to enjoy collecting.
But there is one area of our hobby where I think money can be made with very little risk and while being consistent with enjoyable collecting. The area is smaller worldwide countries mint issues from 1995 to date. This recommendation applies to basically all the non-European, non major economic power countries of the world. If you can find mint Africa, and South America, and all of the hundred or so other third world country stamps, you should try to buy them and put them away. Here’s why: so many newer issues have been issued worldwide over the last twenty years with such high face value, that few collectors and no dealers have put away any stocks. And why should they have? Scott prices new stamps at twice the face postage value. When collectors who have bought them from the post office and new issue services go to sell these newer issues they find that resellers seldom pay more than 25% of catalog, so they have lost half of the value of the newer stamps, that they have just purchased – hardly an inducement to buy more. Newer collectors coming into the hobby need these stamps and, since most collectors collect in reverse chronological order, it is just these most recent issues that they need first. If you can find nice groups of third world mint sets at 25% on Scott or less they should prove to be a pretty good buy in the years ahead.