In fact, it may be safely said that, all round, the thing to do in stamps is to buy unused for investment.  When stamps are printed by the million, used supplies will be available for no one knows how long; but in the case of unused, when a new issue is made, the obsolete stamp is on the road to an advance in value.  It is true dealers stock large quantities of all stamps, but there are so many countries to be stocked now that no dealer can afford to hoard unused to any great extent, and even if he did, the dead capital would be an item which would compel him to advance the price of unused to protect himself from loss.  Let us say a stamp becomes obsolete this year, and a dealer buys L100 worth.  It would be a moderate estimate to place the earning power of stamps at 10 per cent.  In seven years that L100 hoard would, reckoning compound interest, represent L200, or double face.  Of course, no dealer would hoard up L100 worth of a common stamp, but from the day that it becomes obsolete it must be hoarded up by someone, and interest must be accruing on the investment which will have to be added to the value of the stamp, unless someone is to stand the loss.  It will, therefore, be obvious that unused stamps must appreciate while used may remain stationary, for the simple reason that the limit of supply has been reached in one case but not in the other.

Taking almost haphazard a few stamps, most of which have been within the reach of all collectors during the last fifteen years, the following table will give some idea of the appreciation in prices which has been steadily going on in good stamps:—­

|1875  |1880  |1886  |1890  |1893  |1897  |1902  |
|s. d. |s. d. |s. d. |s. d. |s. d. |s. d. |s. d. |
Bremen, 1867, 5 sgr., green,  |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
unused                      |1 0   |1 6   |2 6   |4 0   |5 0   |25 0  |17 6  |
Bechuanaland, 1886, 1s.,      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
used.                       |--    |--    |--    |2 6   |2 6   |6 6   |30 0  |
"   1888-9, 4d.,              |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
unused                      |--    |--    |--    |1 0   |2 0   |2 0   |3 0   |
British Guiana, 1860, 1 c,    |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
brown. perf., used          |3 6   |4 0   |12 6  |30 0  |32 6  |80 0  |80 0  |
Cape of Good Hope, 1d.,       |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
[triangle]_unused_           |0 4   |0 6   |1 6   |2 0   |4 0   |8 0   |15 0  |
Cape of Good Hope, 1d.,       |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
[triangle] Woodblock,        |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |
used                        |2 6   |3 6   |15 0  |25 0  |45 0  |90 0  |95 0  |
Cyprus, 1880, 6d., unused   |--    |--    |1 6   |7 6   |12 0  |30 0  |25 0  |
"      "    1s., unused   |--    |--    |2 6   |10 0  |15 0  |40 0  |55 0  |