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Fair Value

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

People often ask experienced stamp collectors about the value of a collection. It may
have been put together as a child by the person asking... or inherited from a parent or
other relative.

The vast majority of these finds aren't going to make their owners rich. The minimum
CATALOGUE value for a stamp is 25 cents, but that doesn't mean anyone will actually
pay a quarter for these stamps.

That's because many of us got started in stamp collecting by keeping the stamps that
were on the mail. They cost us nothing, and now, 40, 50 years later, they're still
worth what we paid for them.

Some collectors bought stamps at the post office and put them aside for decades. MANY
collectors… which is why most mint U-S stamps of the past sixty years are still best
used as postage.

Then there's a little white lie. Many collectors EXAGGERATE the value of their
collections. Some say a collection is worth much, much more than it really is, so their
relatives will be impressed.

Others say their collections aren't worth much, because they don't want to admit how
much they really spent.

With any collectible, the good stuff goes up in value, and the cheap stuff doesn't.

The key here is...  Did the collector have fun assembling the collection? Then he or she
got  fair value for it.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
and guide on  what to do with a collection you've inherited, visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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