The Pacific Rim Interest
by Hans Reiche
For many years stamps from the Pacific Rim were collected by a few specialists, and few dealers carried any extensive stocks. The classic stamps from these countries attracted certain auction houses. The early China and Japan stamps in very fine condition were not often found, and these brought good prices. At one auction in Zurich many years ago, when sitting next to a China collector, I saw him bidding for a Scott number 83 used in perfect condition. The catalogue value was around $5,000. The stamp sold for a six figure value, but this was an exception and the rest of the stamps from such countries brought little interest in auctions or from dealers. One of the very few dealers who specialized for many years in such stamps is located in the beautiful little place called Winter Park in Florida, located next to a nice golf course. His name is Michael Rogers.
But things have changed a lot over the last years. When the Hongkong stamp exhibition was held, more than 400,000 visitors came to see it. It is obvious from that alone that the interest in stamps in such places is very large. The various post offices in Asian countries have learned how to advertise. This strong promotional approach certainly paid off. Just look at the very large population in these countries surrounding the Pacific rim and see the quantities that are being issued of stamps or souvenir sheets. Most of the souvenir sheets have issued quantities of around 30,000, a quantity that does not satisfy even one tenth of all the visitors that appeared at the Hongkong exhibition. Now compare this for example to Canada or US issues. Quantities of 15,000,000 or more are normal for Canadian souvenir sheets with a total population of just around 30,000,000. So, for the few collectors in these countries there are plenty of such items available and no shortage for years to come. Therefore the price remains at almost face value for years. But for items issued from the Pacific rim countries in small quantities this is different. Within weeks these are sold out. Since it is an availability and demand market it is not surprising that only after a very short period prices rise fast. Price increases can be noted on many stamps and sheets that exceed 350 times the face value within a few months time. Have you ever seen a collector that would not be interested in completion of his collection? Under such circumstances many get caught short and have to pay heavy premiums to complete their collections.
Now look at other factors that have influenced this new interest. Not only does the Post Office advertise, but magazines and the Internet are busy promoting. Just try to download Internet Pacific rim philatelic information. It will take you days to digest everything that is on it. And this is not just here but as well in Europe where the demand is large. One must agree that many of the stamps from these countries are very attractive and colourful. Many have topical themes instead of political or historical ones. Certainly the market is not flooded with millions of issues that do not reflect even the actual usage requirements like on our continent.
There is one other aspect that cannot be overlooked. The uncertainty after I July 1997 of Hongkong drives not only investors but collectors into a position of trying to protect some of their securities. The excellent promotion of course helps and encourages this. It achieves a somewhat similar position as the stock market in selling and trading of stamps. Many people, including stamp collectors, have lots of money to spend. Some of this comes from the oil market and from other investments. The industry has been doing well and this provides a base for the incentive to stamp collecting.
But security, as mentioned before, plays a factor here. The large number of unnecessary stamps issued here not only discourages collectors and dealers, many have been using such stamps in profusion on their mail. Large blocks, souvenir sheets, coils and booklets are being used for regular mailings just to get rid of the large quantities. But look at the philatelic mail from the Pacific rim countries. They just carry the required postage and that is all. A lot of fairly recent covers from these areas with regular postage stamps brought five times the actual face value. A similar lot of Canadian covers with recent commemoratives in large blocks including plate blocks was sold for one tenth of face. The one who purchased these soaked them off and bundled the stamps up.
Sure there is some investment aspect to all this that can not be overlooked, but since the problem exists to obtain large enough quantities of such stamps from these countries the investment aspect may not be a driving force behind the enormous new interest. The stock markets have recently been very unsteady and had many ups and downs, and therefore people have been looking for other possibilities.
So, one can see that there are a number of factors that have influenced this new trend. It is also reasonable to forecast that these kind of stamps will not lose their value as others have, because of the limited issue and the demand for them. The show in San Francisco will certainly confirm this.
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Created: February 11, 1998