Sure, the stock market has been disappointingly bearish as of late, but there is good news for collectors of postage stamps.
Collecting stamps today has become a popular financial investment according to Irish financial services official and columnist John Lowe, writing on May 26 for RTÉ, Ireland’s national public service media.
“Stamps have proved to be an excellent medium to long-term investment with average returns not so dissimilar to property or stocks and shares,” Lowe writes, adding two market indices, the SG100 Stamp Price Index and the GB30 Rarities Index, have shown an “annual increase of closer to 9.5 per cent over the last 10, 20 and 50 years.”
A Canadian 10-pence stamp, issued in 1855, has increased in value from $3,500 in 1973 to $20,000 today.
Did you know postage stamps are the third-largest category traded on eBay and an estimated 30 million people worldwide now count themselves as active collectors?
Did you know Canada Post has tens of thousands of collectors on its subscription and publications lists?
Think of the enormity of interest here.
CAPEX 22
What promises to be the most important event for stamp collectors of all ages and interests occurs here in downtown Toronto this Thursday.
CAPEX 22 is the largest stamp exhibition to be held in Canada in the past 26 years. Located in the Constitution Hall of the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, this international stamp exhibition brings together more than 75 Canadian and international dealers who will offer their stamps and related philatelic material to all interested members of the collecting public.
The CAPEX 22 International One-Frame Stamp Championship Exhibition is an internationally recognized stamp exhibition and, for the first time worldwide, will be a competitive exhibition of 400 single-frame exhibits (a showing of no more than 16 pages, all on a single topic, presented in a custom frame, mounted on an easel). Exhibit entries have come from all over the world to compete in this first-time specialized event, and a variety of medals and special prizes will be awarded by a team of internationally recognized judges.
Canada Post will be unveiling a special stamp issue on Thursday morning, during the official opening of CAPEX 22, and a variety of special souvenirs will be available throughout the exhibition.
CAPEX 22 is hosted by the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada and has received the patronage of Mary Simon, Canada’s Governor General.
The full schedule of events is posted on the CAPEX 22 website.