The pricing ratios between mint stamps and used stamps for most nineteenth century issues are out of kilter and should change in the years ahead. Take the case of Great Britain stamps. On average, the catalog value in Scott for any stamp between 1860-1900 is about six times higher mint than used. But mint stamps are far scarcer than that and when you add the additional quality factor of gum this ratio seems extremely low. Similar ratios exist for most other countries with the stamps of the United States being a notable exception. Ratios between the popularity of mint to used have changed over time and are likely to do so again in the future. Such ratios for most major European countries are at relatively low points for most nineteenth century stamps compared to historical averages. Add to this that the major philatelic growth area, Chinese collectors, have a profound mint skew and it’s easy to predict that buying nice quality mint nineteenth century worldwide stamps is a good bet for the years ahead.
