Stamps

How to Start a Great Stamp Collection With $700 or Less

Stamp collecting has seen its share of ups and downs over the decades. Many people may not know how or where to start collecting stamps. And most people operate on a limited budget for items like stamps and other collectibles. Collectors Dashboard wanted to offer a brief tip here for new or interested collectors — How to start a great stamp collection with $700 or less!

According to a 2020 Wall Street Journal article, and influenced by the pandemic, stamp collecting is back in vogue. Other collectibles gained in value or importance during the pandemic.

Starting a new collection of any collectibles can be tricky. It is too easy to buy collectibles that are worthless. It is also too easy to get distracted into thinking that quantity is better than quality. It’s time fix all that. The budget here is $700.00 to start with.

At the very least stamp collecting is something every collector is aware of. We all collectively have had a philatelist in the family at some point. Like 1980s baseball card collecting, there are large collections of low value stamps that can be found everywhere and for cheap.

Collectors Dashboard has focused on stamps that collectors should consider when expanding or building a new stamp collection. The goal is to buy stamps that will either act as a likely store of value or which could appreciate in value over time. After all, who wants to “invest” time and money into something that will have a known zero value in the future?

The vast majority of stamp collectors will never own an Inverted Jenny. And most people will never view the 1c magenta in person, eliminating the world’s most expensive stamp. With the population of the United States reaching above 330,000,000 people, imagine the production numbers of any new U.S. Postal Service stamp release.

Keeping population and release dates should be a a key factor in understanding where to invest for stamp collections. The favorite sheet of stamps that was purchased in 1995 because of the pretty birds does not belong on the main page of a wax paper separated stamp book. It’s not that they are not pretty. If you are building a stamp collection for investment or a store of value, even the mass-produced and widely available stamps of the 1950s and 1960s generally are not worth your time, money or effort.

Collectors Dashboard evaluates collectibles as an alternative asset class. This does not mean that you should invest $700 into a bunch of stamps rather than stocks or bonds. That said, stamp collectors and hobbyists have a passion to own certain eras of stamps for quite a long time. There is also zero assurances that these stamps will rise in value. Some stamps may even fall in market value.

Collectors Dashboard put together a list of collector stamps for those who are looking at getting into or expanding a stamp collection. The general effort includes a thought about budgeting with a chance of price appreciation or avoiding a severe price drop ahead. Again, do not think there are guaranteed profits in stamps.

The late 1800s and early 1900s American stamps are very collectible because of high populations. Americans wrote letters and a generation made an effort to collect and write about the series of the time. Heritage Auctions sold an 1851 to 1974 incomplete stamp collection for $2,530.00 on December 27, 2009. Missing were 1847 first issues of American stamps. Several 1851-1857 Scott #7 Benjamin Franklin stamps were included. It’s a blue stamp that is from a series that predates perforated edges. Stamps are graded and valued based on condition but here are recent sales of this particular type of stamp from the auction giant eBay:

  • US Scott #7 Used Sound Well Centered Stamp w/Clean PF Cert sold September 1, 2021 for $125.50 after 26 bids.
  • Scott#7 1c Benjamin Franklin 1851 used example was sold August 26, 2021 for $42.00 after 17 bids.
  • Scott#7 1c Benjamin Franklin 1851 Used sold for $81.00 after 26 bids.

Heritage Auctions

Other stamps from the pre perforated edges era that are worth knowing for a $100.00 investment towards are the Scott #75 5-cent stamps featuring Thomas Jefferson printed with brown ink.

  • Scott#75 5c President Thomas Jefferson 1863 Used sold on June 27, 2021 for $109.25 after 15 bids.
  • Scott#76 5c President Thomas Jefferson 1863 Used sold for $20.51 on June 13, 2021 after 10 bids.
  • Scott#310 50c President Thomas Jefferson 1903 Mint LH OG Well Centered sold on July 27, 2021 for $148.00 after 18 bids.

The middle 1850s to early 1900s produced a series of American stamps for a beginning stamp collector. These are categorized and organized by their ‘scott’ number. The stamps during this time are valued if they were used and the appearance affects the value through no fault of the collector. That is to say if the stamp is distorted by ink from the post office while it is bound for its destination this will affect the value. Here are examples from eBay of that:

  • Scott#76 5c President Thomas Jefferson 1863 Used sold on July 11, 2021 for $6.75 after 11 bids.
  • US Stamp Scott # 14 Used Washington 10c Green (type II) 1851 sold on July 16, 2021 for $79.00 after 18 bids.
  • DF242 UNITED STATES 1851 Washington 10c green imperf used sold on June 5, 2021 for $20.49 after 7 bids.
  • Scott#209 10c President Thomas Jefferson 1882 Mint H OG Well Centered sold on June 27, 2021 for $68.89 after 14 bids.

Separate from the $701.39 investment is the collector who would like to spend over three times that amount on this US Scott #261A Mint NH OG Rare Sound Gem w/Clean PF Cert SCV which sold on August 18, 2021 for $2,361.88 after 25 bids.

What is key for the new collector is understanding the series to look for building a new collection with. Again, unless you like throwing money into a fire, avoid the mass produced era of recent stamps. There is nothing wrong with having or enjoying modern stamps, but don’t dare make them the focus of your stamp collecting book.

Either the first page or the last page is for your stamps that have maintained value and can be sold at a later time at a price that is not a novelty. Early American stamps can be affordable to any collector. The period just before, during, and right after the American Civil War is a very romanticized era for the stamp collector.

As a reminder, spending $700 does not need to be done all at once if you want to start collecting stamps. You can do it over the course of months, or even years.