Apfelbaum buys over 500 collections a year from collectors-that's 500 intact collections as they are made by their owners over a period of (usually) decades of collecting. So we get to see first hand what people actually have and what they actually collect, not what they say they have and what they wished they had collected. Here are a few observations about these collections. First, most collections are almost overwhelmingly composed of lower value stamps, often tens of thousands of them which it appears the owner was going to put in albums but which usually he never got to and are lying in glassines and in stock books. Second, most collectors continue to spend a high proportion of their collecting budget on mint new issues from the post office. This week we bought a collection from a man who had purchased Liechtenstein new issues. From 2005-2010 he had spent over $3000 in face value with the post office. Liechtenstein postage has a very limited market and I doubt we can sell it for $500 so you can imagine how much money he lost on his post office purchases.
Most collectors continue to buy First Day Covers, which for many countries cost $3-$4 each and which are instantly nearly worthless on the resale market. Indeed the (still good) advise that we give people that they should concentrate on buying stamps that cost $50 or more per lot is mostly avoided. We give this advise because it is time tested and because it works. Lower priced stamps have little resale value and collectors who concentrate on buying them have little likelihood of having valuable collections. Perhaps our emphasis, which is to see collectors maximize their collecting dollar in terms of resale is not what motivates most collectors. They want convenience, which is why so many of them subscribe to post office services. They want quantity for their money, which is why so many buy lower value stamps. And they want their hobby to be easily affordable, within the constraints of their finances. Resaleabilty is not the main concern of most collectors.
Most collectors continue to buy First Day Covers, which for many countries cost $3-$4 each and which are instantly nearly worthless on the resale market. Indeed the (still good) advise that we give people that they should concentrate on buying stamps that cost $50 or more per lot is mostly avoided. We give this advise because it is time tested and because it works. Lower priced stamps have little resale value and collectors who concentrate on buying them have little likelihood of having valuable collections. Perhaps our emphasis, which is to see collectors maximize their collecting dollar in terms of resale is not what motivates most collectors. They want convenience, which is why so many of them subscribe to post office services. They want quantity for their money, which is why so many buy lower value stamps. And they want their hobby to be easily affordable, within the constraints of their finances. Resaleabilty is not the main concern of most collectors.