StampMarketIndex.com was launched on July 25th, 2019. 
Since July 25th, users have registered from 86 countries

In his recent letter to the APS American Philatelic Society, Warren Buffet said {paraphrasing} 'he can hardly remember what he did yesterday but can remember with clarity the many joys of stamp collecting 75 years ago!'. As one allows the magnitude of that statement to absorb, one is struck by the sheer power of what binds us and drives our industry. Regardless at what level we pursue the passion we call stamps, we are all collectors, we are all investors, eager to validate our own self-worth in whatever tangible or intangible form it may take to call it achievement.

On a certain parallel, the amount spent on a stamp crosses over from collectible to asset class investment. A collector could certainly spend from pennies to millions of dollars to add a single stamp to his collection. In between a penny and a million dollars lies a threshold that determines the ROI (return on investment) of a collection. Are one million penny each stamps worth a million pennies? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

 

What we do know is that according to the data, the market describes potential investment value brackets in $100's, $1,000's and $10,000's of dollars. Not in $10's of dollars. $10's of dollars more adequately describes a collector market than an investor market. Collector accumulations at lower values may amount to sizeable quantities, it would then be for the sum total to prove its worth. Not so at investor levels - the fluctuations swing like a pendulum because they are determined by a wide set of market conditions as well as individual stamp characteristics. In the case of stamps worth $100's of dollars or more the collector / investor makes a very distinct un-mistakable transition from a cursory catalogue valuation to precise tangible data.

Due to the fact that catalogue valuation is so thoroughly academic it serves little purpose in establishing true worth at levels that matter. When collector's/investors are about to spend serious money for stamps, - they reach for historical prices realized. Catalogue value may or may not be helpful. Normally, the help ends there.
 

Staunch collectors will argue, and rightfully so that collector brackets at lower values maintain relatively consistent higher proportions of catalogue value realizations. That is true. And, those values remain consistent over longer periods of time. That's because those supplies of commonality support consistent quality levels compared to older classics. Supply and demand at these lower values exerts an only moderate upward yield curve over a disproportionate period of time that it does over rarities. This curve is called the collector curve. ROI value driven stamp investments shape a very different yield curve. It's called data driven sustainability.Performance. 

Without historical prices that frame the precise relevant impact on price of characteristics such as authenticity, condition, popularity - a $10,000 catalogue value stamp may be worth mere pennies in the real world. So, when speaking of investment class rarities, catalogue value is often the least relevant factor. No more than a guide, when catalogue value fails to illustrate performance, it serves little other utility. Neither can catalogue value determine rarity, in which case it may often under or over value rarity. Rarity may or may not be an indicator of value. Rarities may introduce themselves to test a fresh market; however, rarity is not a concept, it is an analysis. Authenticity and condition are the primary determinations of tangible value. 

 

The only place one can find the precise level of information required to assure maximum accuracy is in historical prices realized. The higher the sample set, the better. eBay's stamp sales data is simply unparalleled. The only place to find historical prices realized of eBay's data that encompasses the highest volume sample set is StampMarketIndex.com

 

Therefore, as time marches on, so does data. As data marches on, it becomes ever more central to the essence of the stamp industry. True incomparable data. With 200 million transactions embedded in history, of the entire spectrum of stamps sold from $10 to $500,000 eBay's place at the fore of stamp collecting and investing is assured well into many decades to come into the future.

                                                    
                                                             -------------

 

 

 

Coming soon to Stamp Market Index:
 

• Daily reporting of highest priced stamps sold on eBay
• User interactive feedback - your suggestions to improve the SMI search
• Price Alert - to better value your collection and target acquisitions within price parameters
• more
  
  Sign up for our next Stamp Market Index newsletter and the ability to search eBay prices since 2004. Over 200 million stamps sold, redefining true value pricing.

Recent highest priced eBay stamp sales (Seller and Item): See them daily at:                      @stampindex : https://twitter.com/StampIndex

 

 

_________________________________

 

Next month, more interesting stamp data and statistics on eBay and more guest commentaries from professional eBay dealers.

 

Thank you,

NobleSpirit