Themed stamp collecting: languages and alphabets

By Eurostamper — January 31, 2008
See more about: Collecting tips | Languages & Alphabets | alphabets | collecting | languages | stamp collecting | themed collecting

Most stamp collectors like to focus on some certain area of history or geography. One person may collect stamps featuring birds; another may collect stamps issued in occupied territories; a third may concentrate on primarily blue stamps. There is no end to the permutations and concepts you can dream up.

For travel and culture enthusiasts, one interesting approach is to collect examples of every language ever used on postage stamps in a given country or area.

For example, in Albania, stamps have been issued over the decades in English, Albanian, Turkish, German, Greek (see picture) and Italian. Finding one of each of these can be great fun, and will teach you something about history as well.

Most European countries have a history interesting enough to make this stamp collecting angle viable and interesting. Furthermore, this concept is made even better by the use of different alphabets.

We will be listing the different languages available for a variety of European countries in the coming weeks. Subscribe to the Europe Stamps Blog feed to get this information automatically.

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Poland announces stamp issues for 2008

By Eurostamper — January 26, 2008
See more about: Poland

The postage stamps issued by Poctza Polska in Poland in 2008 feature some great ones for collectors.

Here is the table:

Looks like a good mixture of Polish national and international concerns, and we’re always happy to see meteorological and astronomical stamps being planned (we just like them).

If you are a stamp collector, look around on eBay for 2008 Poland stamps.

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$19,000 postage stamp - insured for only $5,000 - stolen by thieves

By Eurostamper — January 23, 2008
See more about: Great Britain

Howard Daly of England kept his precious Penny Black - the world’s first postage stamp, issued in England in 1840 - locked away in a safe in his home. Unfortunately, although the stamp is valued at around £10,000 ($19,000+), Daly only insured it for £2,500 ($4,900).

On January 22, thieves ripped the safe from a wall in his house and made off with everything.

At wit’s end, Daly decided to offer a reward of £1,000 (just under $2,000) for information about the robbery. Whatever happens, it seems that the stamp collector will be out a substantial amount of money.

This must be one of the worst cases of insurance “protection” we’ve seen recently. Pray, what was the point of insuring the stamp at all?

At any rate, Penny Black stamps in lesser condition than Howard Daly’s apparently was can easily be found for sale for affordable prices. A quick scan of eBay’s Penny Black page finds several under $100. This is actually affordable by real people, and seems a smarter way to own a real physical piece of history.

In any event, when buying insurance, be sure to take a step back and see the situation as a whole. If you can’t insure something for its real value (even a significant percentage) why give money to sleazy insurance weasels in the first place?

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eBay seller accepting non-cash trades for rare $12,000 Russian error stamp

By Eurostamper — January 19, 2008
See more about: Errors | Russia

The eBay stamp vendor known as archiguy has listed a rare misprinted Russian stamp, unlisted in any catalog, on eBay for the price of $11,990. (See the page here.)

But further down the page, the seller mentions that he will accept other stamps in trade.

This is quite rare on eBay, and even rarer considering that most of the seller’s other current auctions are Russian and Eastern European stamps that are much more affordable (ranging from $20 - $200 or so, with some nice error pieces included).

Archiguy has a positive feedback rating of 2403. He can send you a large closeup scan of the stamp by email. (You may have to register through eBay first, we’re not sure, but it’s free and fast and would be worth it to get a large picture of this stamp, which in our opinion would look cool as a desktop background!).

If this trend continues, eBay could branch out into a service handling not only traditional cash transactions, but bartering between collectors.

:: Comments ::
Have you ever traded, rather than bought/sold, something on eBay?

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Stamp collecting makes you smart and successful

By Eurostamper — January 12, 2008
See more about: Stamp life

A survey by the Royal Mail in England found that kids who collect stamps generally grow up to be more intelligent, to be more successful, and to have all around better lives. Adults who collect also hone skills important in life.

Among the specific revelations of the study:

• Have a college degree:
  General public: 20%   Stamp collectors: 74%

• Average yearly salary:
  General public: £23,000   Stamp collectors: £30,000

• Have homes with more than 3 bedrooms:
  General public: 33%   Stamp collectors: 75%

• Have a second holiday home:
  General public: 1%   Stamp collectors: 14%

Also, stamp collectors tended to take more and/or longer vacations every year.

England has about 2,500,000 stamp collectors - 90% of them men. Some experts reckon that the survey results are due to the diligence and attention to detail that stamp collecting requires, as skills are built that are applicable in school, work, and life in general. With these abilities, one can take control of his or her own life and make more and better decisions.

The numbers above are too big to be a statistical anomoly; stamp collecting really does seem to attract and produce the best of the best.

Of course, these results are only applicable to England; perhaps this is because postage stamps originated there, as did the idea of philately (in the 1850’s). In fact, examples of the very first stamps, the “Penny Black” and the “Tuppence Blue”, are still easily found, and surprisingly aren’t too expensive (unless they’re in especially good condition). Check local stamp shops or (much easier) online sites: eBay usually has a few current auctions running with England’s earliest issues.

So, the UK leads the way, as usual, in the philately world - and stamp collectors lead England. Not a bad legacy for a country to be able to claim as its own.

Start your own stamp collection with the world’s very first stamps. With a little eBay savvy and luck, you could get the first two, the Penny Black and the Tuppence Blue, for less than $20 each:
Penny Black - World’s first postage stamp (England, 6 May 1840)
Tuppence Blue - World’s second postage stamp (England, 8 May 1840)

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Decades too late come stamps honoring James Bond creator Ian Fleming

By Eurostamper — January 10, 2008
See more about: Great Britain | New issues

The Royal Mail in England has issued a series of twenty-four sharp-looking stamps honoring the birth of Ian Fleming. Decades after James Bond became a worldwide superman-cum-ambassador for Britain, these issues honor six different Bond stories with four stamps each:

• Dr. No

• From Russia With Love

• Casino Royale

• Diamonds Are Forever

• For Your Eyes Only

• Goldfinger

But it’s been quite a delay for the Royal Mail, who have honoured past hometown heroes like the Beatles after similar delays (six Beatles stamps were issued in January 2007; the Beatles’ first LP was released in 1963, after the first James Bond movie was released).

With all the good will and attention that international phenomena like the Beatles, James Bond, Michael Caine, and others have brought to Britain over the years, it seems that commemorative stamps would be more generously forthcoming. Maybe it’s bureaucracy; maybe it’s a lack of resources, or a lack of concern.

Whatever the reason, it is good to see Fleming and Bond get their due from the Royal Mail. The stamps are available now for collectors, and full sets are quite cheap on places like eBay for easy purchase worldwide (less than $20 at the time of writing).

(See pictures and get your own James Bond stamps here. If you aren’t a member of eBay, don’t worry; you can register first here; it’s easy and free.)

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eBay not a good place to sell quality stamps and collections?

By Eurostamper — January 6, 2008
See more about: eBay

The huge German stamp collection mentioned in our previous post ended up getting no bids.

That made us wonder, what is the hard data for higher-priced auctions on eBay for what people are actually buying?

So we did a little research and compiled the statistics for the last month (which included the Christmas season) here. This is how many auctions there were for a variety of price ranges, and how many of those received at least one bid high enough to get a sale (prices are sale price for successful auctions, opening bid for unsold auctions):

Click price range to see up-to-date eBay auction info from the last month

None of these price ranges had a decent percentage of auctions that ended up being sold. Compare this to the auctions below $1,000. Of over 92,000 listed, 50% or more ended up being sold (estimated).

So although eBay is a great place to find rare, higher-end stamps, it is only popular with those buying smaller lots, single pieces, common issues, and low-priced items.

(Anyone can do searches on eBay with various parameters, analyzing the data in any way. For advanced searches including number of bids, ending times, price ranges, etc, you’ll need to register first.)

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