The market for modern United States stamps-those issued after 1960-remains weak. These stamps, both definitives and commemoratives, were issued in huge quantities and were saved by the millions by American collectors. They were saved for several reasons. First, the average face value was low and it was common to hear of collectors "putting away a few sheets" of each issue. Second, the United States had no tradition of demonetizing older postage stamps (as many European nations have done every few years) and so, in nominal terms at least, mint postage retained its value. And third, collectors who came of age after 1960 saw that collectors of the previous generations who had put away quantities of current issue postage stamps had made great profits. I remember buying sheets of Norse Americans(#620-621 ) from a collector in 1975 for $750 that he had paid $8.40 at the post office. Such stories make for hoarders. But for the last fifty years the story has been very different. Postage has performed poorly and only a very few new issues stamps have increased in price over their face value. Today, quantities of mint US postage stamps trade at about 70% of face value. If you bought stamps in 1970 at the post office to put away as an investment after adjusting for inflation you will get back about 30% of the value in purchasing power that you laid out. And going forward it looks as if current new issues are just as unlikely to do well. Good philatelic investments still exist but like with stocks fashion changes and people need to keep up on what is likely to do well. To claim that stamps are a poor investment because you continued to buy mint sheets for the last twenty years is like claiming that stocks are a poor investment because you only had GM stock in your investment portfolio.