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
All our investment lots are handpicked by our Chairman, Tony Buckingham. Tony is one of the world's leading experts in covers, known and trusted worldwide. Tony has been buying, selling and creating covers for over 30 years and has worked with thousands of celebrities to arranged personally signed editions. During this time, he has built a reputation for integrity, honesty and genuine concern for the collector. He has also raised over £1 million for charity through covers during his career.
Do you want to invest:
Our £2500 collection consists of 12 top condition, high quality covers personally signed by legends. The covers are handpicked by Tony Buckingham and in our opinion, hold strong investment potential.
The collection comes with a luxury album and a CD containing digital images of all the covers included.
What you really want to hear though, is how much it will be worth in 5 years time?!
The answer: We don't know, BUT we guarantee to buy back the £2500 investment collection for AT LEAST £3000 after 5 years.. That is a guaranteed tax free investment with 100% guarantee to make a minimum of £500. If the market goes as well as we expect, it could be a lot more.
After 5 years, you can either sell the covers back to us, sell them privately, keep them or perhaps sell invididual covers as the prices go up.
The great thing is, you own your investment, have the pleasure of looking at it and the confidence that you can sell it back at a guaranteed small capital gain. The only thing you gamble is whether that guaranteed £500 gain may turn into a much bigger windfall. We hope it will.
Covers may vary and we are happy to take into account your own collecting interests and passions in life! However, we only guarantee collections that have been put together by our own recommendations.
Our £2500 collection will include 12 top condition, high quality covers personally signed by legends.
Below is a guide to what kind of signatures you can expect on covers in the £2500 investment collection:
Total retail price: £2845
Our £5000 collection consists of 24 top condition, high quality covers personally signed by legends. The covers are handpicked by Tony Buckingham and in our opinion, hold great investment potential.
The collection comes with a luxury album and a CD containing digital images of all the covers included.
What you really want to hear though, is how much it will be worth in 5 years time?!
The answer: We don't know, BUT we guarantee to buy back the £5000 investment collection for AT LEAST £6000 after 5 years.. That is a guaranteed tax free investment with 100% guarantee to make a minimum of £1000. If the market goes as well as we expect, it could be a lot more.
After 5 years, you can either sell the covers back to us, sell them privately, keep them or perhaps sell invididual covers as the prices go up.
The great thing is, you own your investment, have the pleasure of looking at it and the confidence that you can sell it back at a guaranteed small capital gain. The only thing you gamble is whether that guaranteed £1000 gain may turn into a much bigger windfall. We hope it will.
Covers may vary and we are happy to take into account your own collecting interests and passions in life! However, we only guarantee collections that have been put together by our own recommendations.
Our £5000 collection will include 12 top condition, high quality covers personally signed by legends.
Below is a guide to what kind of signatures you can expect on covers in the £5000 investment collection:
Total retail price: £5465
If you fall in love with covers and want to build a collection over time, month by month, you can take a completely different approach to investment collecting. Join one of our New Issue Clubs.
We have a range of different clubs for Buckingham designed stamp sheets (new and growing fast in popularity) and for Buckingham covers.
Buckingham covers and stamp sheets have a huge following in the collectors' market. Many have increased in value by over 300% in just 4 years. We also buy back our own covers and sheets, to meet the need of our growing collector base. This gives the market confidence in our covers. All our signatures are genuine with great provenance.
So if you would enjoy building a collection of Buckingham covers or sheets, joining one of our clubs is highly recommended. We cannot promise that every cover you get as part of your club membership will rise in value ... but history suggests that 98% of them will and some will rise significantly.
As a club member, you have complete control in what you buy and how much you spend each month. We email you 2 weeks before sending anything to let you know what is reserved next as part of your membership. You are not committed to buy. All it takes is an email or phone call back to us to say "No thanks, I'll give that one a miss" and we simply won't send it. You are also always welcome to return anything you don't want to keep for a full refund.
The major advantages of club membership are:
Club membership also brings other benefits such as priority news about new covers and signatures, a loyalty token scheme, newsletters and much more. Unlike the investment collections, joining a club brings you into the Buckingham Covers family and maximises the fun of collecting.
As an investment, joining and buying covers or sheets through a club is not guaranteed by Buckingham Covers. But, we actively look to buy most of our covers and sheets back and are confident that you will overall find you will do well. This is an option and an opportunity for a genuine collector, who will get real pleasure from receiving covers or sheets regularly with the added bonus that they will probably be a good investment too.
Read more about clubs and join online!
Investment in covers can be entirely personal. We are happy to discuss your needs. You can choose to invest as little as £100 or you may wish to discuss creating a portfolio of over £5000. Either way, we're happy to help, advise and find a solution that suits YOU.
We have in the past offered lots of around £125, all of which continue to do well.
For example, in 2005, we offered our collectors the chance to buy 5 Everest covers personally signed by Sir Edmund Hillary at just £25 each as an investment lot. Today, we would pay between £40-£50 for each of those covers if they wish to sell them back ... but we believe that this price will rise sharply into the future. If you are interested in small lots like this, do get in touch.
However, we do not guarantee to buy back lots under £2500.
You are welcome to phone to discuss any ideas you have or ask for advice. 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.