The Chief Executive's "Rare Great Britain Unmounted Mint" Portfolio
Dear Reader,
If you read my last newsletter, you will remember that I promised to present to you an opportunity to get into an area of the market where returns could be exceptional.
It's all about the "sticky bit" on the back of the stamp...
The idea came from a recent interview with Hugh Jefferies, Stanley Gibbons Catalogue Editor. If you missed that, you can click on the link below to read it now:
Click here to read interview with Hugh Jefferies, Stanley Gibbons Catalogue Editor
The thing that Hugh said that got me most excited was:
"I believe that by acquiring stamps now in premium condition, particularly unmounted mint examples, there is real potential for significant price appreciation in the future. Should the grading system of stamps in the US spread to stamps from other parts of the world, this would seem almost certain".
The Background - The US Grading System for Stamps
There is a difference between the way stamps trade in the US compared to all other parts of the world...
Authentication certificates are common practice across the world in providing comfort to both collectors and investors on the genuineness of a specific stamp.
An authenticity certificate provides credibility to justify a valuation against a standard catalogue price.
However, an authenticity certificate does not differentiate between stamps in superior condition to others.
In the US, they go a step further...
There are a number of companies, which offer specialised services including the "grading" of stamps. The PSE (Professional Stamp Experts) is the industry leader in the US in grading rare stamps.
Not only do they provide a standard authentication service but they also provide a graded certificate of authenticity. The grade comes in the form of a number.
The grading system gives points based on the quality of the gum on the back of the stamp, centring, margins, perforations, intensity of the colour and visual appeal.
What is quite staggering is that stamps of quite modest quality given high "grades" sometimes fetch prices many hundreds of percent over full catalogue value.
In particular, stamps with all their original gum (known as unmounted mint) attract huge premium prices in the US. We know this for a fact as we are unable to acquire any unmounted mint examples of stamps in US auctions – effectively we are priced out of the market.
I believe there is a demand for such a grading system in the UK. Where there is demand, the service normally follows...
The consequence is that there could be a "re-rating" of stamps of superior quality and, in particular, unmounted mint examples at some point in the future.
Buying into such stamps now could be a future gold mine.
The Research - How Have Unmounted Mint Stamps From Great Britain Faired As An Investment Compared To Mounted Mint And Used Examples?
Let’s put aside the grading argument for a minute...
I got my assistant, Melanie to undertake a review of a selection of GB stamps and their price movements over the past ten years. Take a look at the results:
Click here to view results of review of unmounted mint Great Britain stamps price performance
Based on this review, unmounted mint stamps have out-performed mounted mint by 43% over the past ten years, (in simple terms, mounted stamps are missing part of their gum on the back). In the past, most collectors used stamp hinges to mount their stamps in stamp albums (when the hinge is removed a small part of the original gum comes with it - hence 'mounted'). Their existence in "unmounted" form is therefore normally rare.
They have also out performed used examples (ie. used and franked as postage) by 49%.
The total equivalent annual compound return over the past ten years of mounted mint stamps from Great Britain was 11.1% per annum. This is a strong performance, particularly in light of the fact that many of the stamps listed in the review are not particularly rare.
It therefore seems clear that unmounted mint examples of stamps from Great Britain have provided superior returns and represent a sound investment proposition.
That is without taking into account the potential exceptional returns possible should the US grading system find its way into the UK.
The Portfolio - Rare Unmounted Mint Great Britain Stamps
Convinced that unmounted stamps from Great Britain represent a good investment opportunity, I decided to get our GB specialist to produce a portfolio of unmounted stamps. I went a step further though...
I instructed him to select unmounted mint examples but to restrict his selection to rare unmounted examples only. I only want the best...
I must say that what he sent me is absolutely fantastic. You probably need to be a collector to fully appreciate the appeal of these stamps but even a non-collector can see the quality.
Stamps in this kind of condition are freak events. When you consider how old these stamps are, dating back over 150 years ago in some cases, the survival rate in this condition is, as you would expect, very rare.
BREAKING NEWS: As I have been writing this, we have sold 4 of the items that I was planning to include in the portfolio. When you click the portfolio link, you will see that there are now only 12 items remaining.
Enough of me going on about how good this is - judge for yourself:
Click here to view the portfolio
The total value of the portfolio is £84,850. I think being able to get into a portfolio of stamps of this quality at less than a 6-figure sum is staggering.
So to summarise:
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Unmounted mint stamps from Great Britain have out-performed mounted mint and used examples over the past ten years
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There is potential for exceptional returns in the event that the US grading system spreads to stamps from other parts of the world resulting in a re-rating of unmounted mint stamps
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Rare unmounted mint examples should offer a premium return on "common" unmounted mint examples
In times like this, it pays to own tangible assets. Stamps are the most collected items in the world and as such have a huge collector base to underpin values. The passionate nature of stamp collectors protects the value of stamps during recessionary times. This is a proven historic fact.
If this portfolio is of interest to you or you would like to discuss in more detail, please contact our Investment Director, Adrian Roose on:
+44 (0) 1481 708 277
email investment@stanleygibbons.co.uk
TOLL FREE from the USA 1 866 644 6146
One final point...
Please beware of other dealers offering apparent unmounted mint stamps at a discount to catalogue values. The process of "re-gumming" stamps is, sadly, a significant problem in the philatelic world.
Rest assured the portfolio I offer you today comes with the Stanley Gibbon’s lifetime guarantee of authenticity and in many cases with the relevant professional society certificates.
Sincerely,
Mike Hall
Chief Executive
The Stanley Gibbons Group
PS. In the event that we sell this portfolio before you get through to Adrian, we can still try to build an alternative portfolio for you although I can’t promise we can do it straight away. But... this really is worth the wait.