The stock market is driven by greed, whereas the stamp market is driven by passion
Mike Hall, Chief Executive of Stanley Gibbons
There are 30 million collectors worldwide. Why do they buy signed covers? Why do the prices of good covers continue to rise?
The reason is: passion.
While investment is certainly an attraction of stamps and covers, most people (including you, we hope) buy for love. They buy pieces that speak to them, that MEAN something to them. Something that catches their interest, sparks their pride, that thrills them to own. How many other forms of investment offer the chance to hold a piece of history in your hand?
If you look at the incredible signatures included in our risk-free investment lots, you will see what we mean. This is a chance to possess rare, beautiful pieces personally signed by men and women who made history - who flew the first British Concorde, reached the peak of Everest before we knew it could be done, scored the winning goal in 1966, or played a critical part in destroying Hitler and winning World War Two.
Will the magic of history ever fade? We don't believe so. That is why your investment is likely to continue to rise in value as the years go by.
An index comparing the prices of 30 rare stamps sold by Stanley Gibbons in 1998 and again in 2007 shows an average annual increase of 10.7 per cent and a compound interest over the period of 149 per cent.
The Times, Saturday March 15th 2008
By now, you'll have picked up how historically, stamps and autographs have proved sound investments. To remind you:
And what you hear about less often:
For example, a 1966 World Cup cover postmarked at Wembley and personally signed by Bobby Moore was £100 in 1999. Today, you would be lucky to find one for £895.
The problem for new collectors is knowing what to buy. Stamps vary in quality and some valuable stamps are difficult to distinguish from the less valuable ones. There are a lot of unscrupulous "dealers" out there willing to exploit your lack of knowledge. Of course, one obvious answer is to find a dealer you trust but it is still best to develop expert knowledge yourself. But this is potentially a lifetime's work. It might be a journey that inspires you for years. Or you might prefer to find something less complicated!
Covers are a fabulous solution. You do need knowledge in order to distinguish covers with investment potential but it is less specialist and more easy to learn. Very quickly, you can develop the eye for an investment quality cover, using our advice.
Autographs are fraught with danger. The number of forgeries out there is staggering, especially on eBay (which is essentially unregulated). Again, it is essential to find a dealer that you can trust (or get the autographs yourself). Don't think a "Certificate of Authenticity" will protect you. Think about it, if someone is going to forge a signature, they won't scruple to forge a flashy "certificate" to go with it. Even a photo of the celebrity signing the item is meaningless unless the item is unique. A photo is only evidence they signed ONE item. It doesn't stop someone from going on to forge and sell 100s of copies.
Collecting signatures on mass-produced items such as photographs or football shirts leaves you very vulnerable to buying forgeries unless you know the provenance or buy from a reputable dealer. There are 2 things to bear in mind when buying items like this. The first is, they are very seldom limited editions. A photograph can be re-printed again and again - and the number signed is limited only by the willingness of the celebrity (some people will sign anything that moves for money, others are less keen). Also, items such as football shirts and photographs are not memorable to celebrities. They have photos and shirts pushed under their noses all the time. That means they can't sometimes even remember if they have signed an item or not themselves. And because they have to give autographs in all kinds of random places - running for a plane, leaning out of a car, on the high street - their signature can look wildly different each time. If they can't remember signing something and the signature looks different, the signed item is open to challenge.
Covers are a fabulous solution again.
The provenance of autographs on most covers, especially Buckingham produced covers, is known and guaranteed.
Covers are strict limited editions. After the day of issue, certified by a postmark from Royal Mail, no more can be produced. That means, unlike a photograph, they will not continue to be re-printed and signed again and again after you have bought one.
Covers are distinctive. Celebrities are unlikely to forget signing them. Indeed, most signed covers are done to raise money for the charity of the celebrities choice. Buckingham signed covers have raised over £400,000 for different charities since 2001, including £30,000 for ChildLine and £32,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital. This means celebrities who sign endorse the covers - so you can be sure you are buying a genuine signature. That is vital for you both as the buyer, and in the future, the seller.
As with everything, it depends on a) what you buy and b) condition. If you choose wisely, covers are a very powerful investment.
There is a lot of ignorance about the collectors' market for first day covers. Their reputation as an investment is badly tarnished by the existence of mass produced covers from Royal Mail. Sadly, when you say "first day covers", it is the Royal Mail ones that spring into most people's minds.
It's a common story: granny bought you covers all through your childhood from Royal Mail. They arrived addressed to you each time. You have decades worth carefully stored in an album. But alas, when you take them to a dealer, you discover your 100s of precious covers are nothing more than a nice memory. Value wise, they will be worth possibly less than £10.
The reason is simple. Royal Mail covers are mass produced and, in a collector's view, spoiled by the name and address printed upon them. They use uninspired, boring postmarks and cheap materials. Tens of thousands will be produced and these have no second hand value as collectors' items.
In comparision, a luxury designer first day cover from Buckingham Covers is a limited edition of 2,500 MAXIMUM worldwide but usually far less than this. The postmarks are hand-designed and relevent. The cover is created by our award winning design team. There will be a genuinely signed edition. And above all, because of our huge collector base, our covers usually sell out quickly, disppearing into people's collections and so become rare and elusive.
Think of it this way: you could fill your house with cheap prints but you wouldn't expect them to be even nearly worth the price on one superb, genuine painting. You could stock your cellar with supermarket wine costing less than £5 per bottle, but you wouldn't call it an investment. In the same way, Royal Mail first day covers are a nice hobby but certainly not any investment at all. Just as the lack of value in cheap prints or wine doesn't take away from the investment potential of true art or incredible wines, the existence of cheap Royal Mail covers does not detract from the investment potential of all first day covers.
Simply put, first day covers are collectable envelopes. They are postmarked on the day new stamps are released (hence "first day" covers). You can also get "commemorative" covers which are issued to mark a meaningful date (a major anniversary for example) and postmarked on that date.
Cover collecting began in 1911 and really took off in the 1960s. The key elements of a cover are: the postmark, the cover illustration, the autograph and the condition.
We have many online resources to help you learn more about collecting covers for investment and we are also always happy to answer questions and advise. One of our small, friendly team will be delighted to find out what you want and then consult Tony Buckingham on your behalf before returning to you with answers, ideas or suggestions. We welcome new collectors and try to make things as straight forward and jargon free as possible. Questions are always welcome and a chat commits you to nothing!
You can reach us on +44(0)1303 278 137 or by email.
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