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Investing in Rare and Valuable Stamps
Companies that specialise in stamp investment point to the fact that between 1907 and 1990 stamps gave an average return of 10% per annum (according to a study by Salomon Brothers Investment Bank, published in 1997). They never mention whether the buyers and sellers premiums have been taken into consideration in making the calculation. I would guess that it hasn't. One well documented case is a block of 10 one penny blacks postmarked 6 May 1840 on a cover. In 1968 the item sold for £4,800 at Harmer's auction. In 2001 the same item was sold, to Her Majesty the Queen, by Stanley Gibbons for a quarter of a million pounds. Allowing for buyers and sellers premiums this works out at an investment return of just under 12% per annum. (This percentage does not take into consideration any insurance costs over the intervening 33 years.)
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