Collecting and Investing in Stamps

Publisher Summary This chapter describes stamp collecting and the pros and cons of using it as an investment process. As with all collecting, expertise is needed in valuation, and transaction costs are extremely high. To treat stamps solely as an investment item, without taking into account the psychological pleasures of ownership and accumulation, limits the attractiveness of such an enterprise. However, the successful investments in stamps have been made by those who have formed highly specialized collections of particular countries or areas. They have become highly knowledgeable and have often undertaken original research in post office and printers' archives and produced a handbook on their areas. Their named collections are then sold by auction, and often items fetch a premium price because of the provenance of being from a named collection.