If you didn’t know your way around a pair of chopsticks, you could go very hungry in Luoyang.

The restaurants there don’t cater for tourists. Don’t even think about asking for a fork, because none of the waitresses speak English. And the menus are all in Chinese, with no pictures.

Luoyang is a small city in the Henan Province of southern China. Small by Chinese standards, that is: population a mere 6.5 million. It is an ancient capital of China, and chock full of history – but none of the Chinese people I asked seemed to have heard of it.

I was there earlier this year to attend the China 2009 World Stamp Exhibition.

Now, stamp exhibitions in Europe or North America are pretty staid affairs. Perhaps two thousand visitors, mainly men in their 50s or 60s, browsing sedately through stamp albums at a few dozen stands. There are well-organised exhibitions and stamp club meetings, and dealers know that visitors will spend around £300 ($500) on average.

Luoyang was a very different experience. There were, by some estimates, 750,000 visitors over the course of 7 days. Throngs of people, 6 or 7 deep, jostled to get at each of the 350 stands. The average age of visitors must have been less than 24. Whole families with young kids were having their photo taken in front of the special displays.

Of course, most people were only spending $1 or $2 at a time – but it soon added up. Many dealers I spoke to had covered their costs in the first day.

Stands offering stamps from China were very popular, but dealers offering foreign stamps were just as busy, if not more so. Most Chinese are still wary of buying online, and do not trust credit cards: so, for many, this was their first exposure to exotic stamps from Italy, Brazil or Nigeria.

They like rare Great Britain stamps too. A special display of stamps from HM Queen Elizabeth’s Royal Philatelic Collection had never-ending queues of over 500 throughout the show.

Stanley Gibbons have never published stamp catalogues in Chinese, but the company is still well-known and highly regarded in China. I was interviewed by all the leading philatelic magazines there.

One of the editors asked me what I thought about the market for stamps in Asia. “The future of philately is in your hands,” I said.

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Stanley Gibbons has always had a loyal following of collectors in Asia. But the growing demand from investors in these increasingly affluent regions cannot be ignored.

Our only offices are in London and the Channel Islands, so we are always seeking agents and financial advisors to offer our investment products to clients worldwide. We already have agents in Japan, Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore.

And our man in Shanghai is Dino Zavagno.

Dino’s roots are Italian, but he grew up supporting Arsenal football club in London. He has been working in Asia since 1991 and his company, Gladstone Morgan Ltd, offers independent financial advice to locals and ex-pats in Hong Kong. He has a growing team of advisers – and he has recently expanded his team in Shanghai.

Like all the financial advisers that work with Stanley Gibbons, Dino takes a personal interest in his clients. He believes in giving his clients the full range of investment options to choose from, and that includes alternatives like rare stamps and collectibles.

I spent a week with Dino and his team last month, doing investment seminars and presentations for his clients in Hong Kong and Shanghai.

Most of these involved a 20 minute presentation to around 30 clients, followed by drinks and nibbles. But our last event was more exclusive: a private dining room in a stylish Italian restaurant with a select group of Dino’s best clients.

At the end of the evening, I had a number of orders for investment portfolios, including one for £60,000 ($100,000).

Dino was happy, too. His clients experienced an evening to remember, and learned about a unique investment opportunity. The event was a great success, and more than paid for itself.

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Janet was one of Dino’s first clients to invest in a rare stamp portfolio last year. She had no interest in stamps, but the guaranteed minimum returns of 5% p.a. appealed to her conservative investment strategy. Knowing that I’d be seeing Janet again, I took an updated valuation of her portfolio with me to Hong Kong.

This is a portfolio that I personally put together for Janet, and is a good example of a well-diversified selection of rare investment-grade stamps. The five items in her portfolio would appeal to five different collectors because they represent different aspects of philately. This is why the increase in catalogue values range from 0% to 36%.

Overall, the catalogue value of her portfolio had increased 15.8% in just one year, and Janet was impressed. I came away from our meeting with an order for another £30,000 portfolio to complement her existing selection.

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I think Dino was quite happy with the results of our week’s work. He’s already invited me back for another series of seminars early next year.

Perhaps I can do something similar for you?

One of my main roles is recruiting and working with Agents and financial advisers around the world: UK and Europe, North America and Asia.

Remember:

• Our GB30 Rare Stamp Index was up 38.6% in 2008, amidst all the economic chaos.
• We offer guaranteed minimum returns of up to 5% p.a. with unlimited upside.
• We have no management fees or charges, and offer free storage.
• We pay generous commission on investment sales to your clients.

If you are not yet ready to host a seminar, we can send you information packs to mail out to clients, or help with newsletters or e-marketing.

I am sure that you and your clients can benefit from our investment products. If you think I can help, please give me a call.

Geoff Anandappa
Investment Portfolio Manager
e-mail: ganandappa@stanleygibbons.com
tel: 020 7557 4442 (intl. +44 207 557 4442)
web: /investments.aspx