Rare stamp sells for £400,000 on Jersey

Rare stamp sells for £400,000 on Jersey

At the risk of this blog turning into "Eclectic Stamp Collector Monthly" or something I shall just mention in passing this article about the recent sale of another valuable stamp, this time from the Channel Islands.

What this and the previous auctions prove is what many have been saying for some time - stamp collecting is looked upon more and more as a serious investment opportunity with the possibility of continuing increases in stamp values leading to ever greater returns. In these times of economic uncertainty and distrust of some banking institutions many people are turning to stamps as a form of safe investment with an almost guaranteed return, and who can blame them?

Unfortunately such rarefied collections are outside the reaches of this humble blogger's purse (although this hasn't stopped Stanley Gibbons, Britain's premier stamp dealer, sending me an e-mail offering me a rare set of early 20th Century New Zealand stamps for "only £75,000"!) but it is interesting to see how a once-simple pastime, which I enjoy in my own small way, has morphed into a worldwide multi-million pound investment business.