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The
Miami Herald
Stamp
exchange
Area dealer has new idea for collecting
Rousso hopes to change the way stamp collectors
buy and sell stamps.
He plans to do it through the International Stamp Exchange-a philatelic
version, if you will, or a stock exchange.
Rousso’s ideas-he has been known to barter stamps for real estate
and jet planes-provoke skepticism with a tinge of anticipation among those
in the stamp collecting community.
The typical stamp collector, 20 years ago, was a knowledgeable treasure
seeker who hunted philately shops for the print that would complete a
collection. Now, claims Rousso, he is a sophisticated investor seeking
to buy stamps low and sell them high, less interested in the specimen’s
history, more interested in it’s value.
David Phillips, however, a 40-year stamp dealer in North Miami believes
the true collector, who spends $200 to $500 to add a stamp to his collection,
has returned as a dominant figure in stamp collecting. When the economy
was weak five years ago, explains Phillips, speculators drove up the prices
of collectibles when they started investing in stamps as an alternative
to stocks or other financial instruments. When the economy picked up again,
stamp investors went back into stocks.
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