The great stamp boom of the 1970s spawned a host of stamp investment books that all too often presented a simplistic, one-dimensional view of the stamp market and of stamps as investments. The message was: Buy stamps, put them away, reap big rewards. The longer you kept them -- conventional wisdom held -- the more you'd make. If only it were that simple!

Unlike the tout books, the purpose of this book is to tell you about stamps as investments, not sell you on the idea of investing in stamps. If you enjoy stamps, there's no reason why you shouldn't profit from them as well. When you have finished reading, you can decide for yourself if stamps make sense to you as investments. If you decide they do, you'll have the benefit of some realistic insights.

During the years following the Great Boom, countless mass-marketed stamp investment portfolios came through my door. They looked strikingly similar, plush binders containing mint stamps mounted in clear plastic mounts on printed pages. The stamps, too, looked strikingly similar--an endless procession of $5 Coolidges and $5 Hamiltons, 50-cent "baby" Zeppelins, sets of Lexington-Concord commemoratives, and the like.

Almost without exception, sellers reacted with disappointment and amazement when told what their portfolios were worth and almost without exception lamented, "But I thought stamps were supposed to be a good investment!"

I could only answer that some were, but many were not. At the same time, I noticed that other investors had done remarkably well. As time passed, I began to think about who had made money in stamps and who had not. I realized that those who had been successful invariably had taken the time and trouble to become knowledgeable and experienced. It made all the difference.