How Many is Too Many?

Tony Buckingham's Thoughts on Limited Editions

One question that a lot of collectors ask is about numbers. How do you know if a cover is a limited edition? How small should the limited edition be?

I am amazed at the rubbish talked about numbers. Yes, 150,000 covers produced by Royal Mail are far too many and also Royal Mail covers with printed postmarks and addresses will never have much of a value. On the other hand, limited editions of less than 100 covers are aimed at such a small number of collectors that they are always going to be a fringe collectable.

Value does not depend on number produced. Here are some examples to show what I mean.
In 1978, I sold 10,000 copies of the Benham 1978 Shire Horse Museum first day cover at £1.25; it now catalogues at £65.
We produced 5000 Winnie the Pooh covers around the same time. Unsigned ones sold for £1.50. They are now under-catalogued at £25 and the ones signed by Christopher Robin Milne (£3 at the time) now fetch up to £100+.
More recently, I sold 9000 copies of a D-Day cover signed Major Howard in 1994 for £12.95 each. They now fetch £50+ regularly (£82 recently).

Future value depends on new collectors and a large appeal.

Of course, not all covers will produce spectacular gains but if you collect sensibly collecting covers is an amazing hobby. Compare it with golf, squash or eating out!

We limit our Buckingham covers to 2500 maximum (although under 1000 is more usual for us). I'm prepared to produce as many as 2500 covers ONLY if there is a very popular stamp issue, because then I can use it to gain more collectors. The more collectors we get, the stronger the value of all covers because a percentage of new customers will get hooked and want to buy back issues, which pushes up prices - and means that YOUR covers are worth more.

I also like to make enough of exciting issues to allow our covers to be sold in interesting places: onboard QM2, at the Chelsea Flower Show, The Victory, in museums, in historical sites. Our hobby is too good to hide.

Many non-collectors have a strange idea about stamps being geeky and old fashioned, but when I show them our covers, I find most are extremely interested and love the signatures. You can nearly always find a cover they want, even if they started off saying they would never collect anything with stamps on!

We have a great hobby and should be proud of it.

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Buckingham Covers Limited, registered in England No. 03877048 is part of Internet Stamps Group Limited, registered in England No. 03497867. Registered office for both: Warren House, Shearway Rd, Folkestone, Kent CT19 4BF, UK.
Tel. (+44)01303 278 137. Email. betty@buckinghamcovers.com

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