Some years ago, when I was writing in defence of stamp collecting as
an investment, I received a very indignant letter from a collector who
had made a large collection, complaining that he had then recently
endeavoured to sell, but could get only a very small percentage of his
outlay back, and that the very firms from whom he had bought most of
his stamps scouted the idea of paying him anything like what they had
cost him. He therefore ridiculed the idea that stamp collecting could
be regarded as a safe investment, as in his case it had been a
delusion and a snare. He was quite right, and it is still possible to
make big collections--of, say, five thousand, ten thousand, and even
larger--of stamps that are never likely to appreciate, and it is
possible to buy those stamps at such a price that any attempt to
realise even a small percentage of the original outlay must result in
a woeful eye-opener.

Let me explain. In the stamp business, as in all other branches of
commerce, there are wholesale and retail dealers. The wholesaler buys
by the thousand stamps that are printed by the million. I refer, of
course, to used stamps. In some cases the price paid per thousand is
only a few pence for large quantities that run into millions. The
wholesaler sells to the retail dealer at a small advance per thousand.
Those stamps the ordinary dealer makes up into packets at a further
profit, but still at a comparatively low price. Good copies he picks
out for sale in sets and separately. Those have to be catalogued.
Therefore, the catalogue price of common stamps bought and sold by the
million eventually comes before the general collector at "one penny
each," and the man who makes a collection of common stamps of the "one
penny each" class can scarcely be expected to realise a fortune out of
his stamp collecting. When he offers his gatherings of years to the