Stamp collectors can now cash in on hobby trading on rare collection

COIMBATORE: Stamp collection is not just an interesting hobby, but can even be a good investment, says PR Krishnan, the secretary of The Philatelists Coimbatore. The auction which was conducted on Sunday afternoon saw a transaction of around Rs 1 lakh. "This can even be more lucrative than investing in gold," he says referring to the stamp trading business.
The price is based on how rare the stamp is. "This depends on the theory of demand and supply," he said. The price may vary from a few thousands to lakhs of rupees. The stamps that are in high demand are those which are not issued any longer. Occasionally, the issue is stopped when some error in design in discovered, he added.
A V Jeyachandran, a stamp dealer from Pondicherry has some stamps of the famous Indian mathematician, Ramanujam, whose issue was later halted as the stamp had a formula which belonged to another mathematician. He also owns a stamp with a picture of the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib, which was wrongly designed. "Such stamps can fetch huge sums of money," he said.
Krishnan said that buying stamps is wise investment, earning as much as a 30 per cent interest annually. To start with, it is always easier to collect stamps issued in one's own country, he said. "India is a growing economy and has a vast scope for stamp collectors," he said. There is a growing tribe looking for opportunities to invest.
K Rajesh Kumar, hailing from Chennai, has a stamp issued by British India in 1854 which is considered to be worth more than a crore. The stamp which had an error in that Queen Victoria's head was inverted, is counted among the world's rarest stamps. He says that developing your stamp collection into an investment requires patience and effort. "People must be careful not to be duped," he says.
Rare stamps preserved in good condition can sell for a fortune. Krishnan advices that stamps should not be folded and must be stored in good quality albums, such that they do not fall apart. One should not even touch them with their bare hands, he advised, as body oil can easily cause damage.