1¢ Magenta

So have yuns been following the 1¢ Magenta since it sold?

I got an email today that says the new owner will be offering 'shares' of it for £200 apiece.

I find it tempting

Comments

  • 14 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • edited August 2021 0 LikesVote Down
    What, actually , will you get for your money? A certificate? ( that may be the 'collectible')... As a group investment, likely to continue it's downward slide. It's not a prime grade investment either. It's like selling 'stars'.
  • I have never understood the strange mythology around this stamp. The story isn't THAT interesting. It's a unique item, and there are several in philately, so sure, one of them has to be the most valuable, but this one... I've always found it to be an ugly, damaged, egocentric icon of snobbery and elitism. But I think this new approach to "ownership" in the stamp is essentially a crowd-share syndicate. Don't know that it's been tried with a high value stamp. I guess the idea is it's like buying "shares" in the stamp. I wonder if they will be limited to (at most) the value of the stamp. When it sells again, then you get a "dividend" on your share if it sells for more, or you take a loss if it sells for less. So £200 could turn into £500 or £50 depending on how the sale goes.

    I thought it was a mistake to sell it through Sotheby's actually. They are not a house known for such material. In my view, they didn't market it to the right buyers, and as a result, the price slipped. Will it go up or down next... good question.
  • Rene.. I didnt catch everything they said (it was a survey monkey thingee, and I couldnt go back after I finished) but you have a "vote" on what happens to the stamp and a certificate of ownership. Essentially it seems to be like owning stock in it.

    I agree the stamp is not aesthetically pleasing, but still it's one of a kind.

    I dont look at it so much as an investment, but just capital preservation. I doubt its value would ever go to zero, and probably not lower than 150

  • What if it's destroyed...
    S--t, as they say, happens. Then the value drops to $0.
  • I would think it's insured, Scott.

    But what do I know.
  • Gibbons is famous (infamous?) for their 'stamps as investments' scams. Although I cut my philatelic teeth in part with them (I grew up in London), I would steer clear of any such "opportunities" from an investment perspective. Buying a share or two just for goofs, expecting nothing in return besides bragging rights, seems harmless enough, though.
    Much of what drives this stamp's value aside from it being an (ugly-looking) one-of-a-kind is its provenance.
  • I 'm thinking two shares would be ideal.
    One to say... "Yeah, I own a piece of that"
    The second in case the Game Stop crowd or the Hunt Brothers try to corner the market.
  • edited August 2021 0 LikesVote Down
    I honestly don't see the allure to fractional ownerships in famous stamps. The thing is it's just a money maker or money raiser for the owner who is effectively cashing out but not giving up control in a way. Yeah you have some minimal bragging rights and a little piece of paper saying you are 1 of 50,000 shareholders. SG keeps most of the rights and gets to use the stamp as a major advertisement for the company. Also they tend do this type of thing only during the highest valuations so usually the asset doesn't increase significantly afterwards as well. Didn't Hip do something with a Jenny fractual ownership, wonder how it went. There was a C3a on the site that might have sold, to think about it I believe the issue which went through the vacuum was auctioned off recently.
  • The vacuum cleaner Jenny was sold at the last Siegel auction 1240. I was on that auction, and listened in as it sold for $195,000. The Vacuum Cleaner Jenny is from position 78 if I remember correctly.

    That was a fun auction actually. Some funny stuff happened there.
  • Scott, that's awesome we love funny stories around here.
  • Do you guys know the story behind this specific issue? Why it's called the Vacuum Cleaner Copy?

    @Kris Weinschenker sure, they have it insured, but all that will get you is (at best) your money back. The stamp value does fall to $0...
  • edited August 2021 0 LikesVote Down
    Mr. Zoellner's wife or cleaning lady sucked it up into the vacuum cleaner. He realized it and was able to retrieve it and repair the stamp fairly well. However, I believe he replaced his copy in his collection with a position 58. Mr. Robey would have been turning in his grave had he known because he was able to salvage/preserve/distribute the only 100 known copies of which all have their positions marked on the back. Something like that?

    Kris, Scott doesn't want you to buy a fractional ownership because he's trying to get a majority share and take possession of the stamp! Just kidding, you could lose some money but most likely the partial ownership increases slightly in value
    over time. But if you were hoping for a Gamestop increase in value they went from like a market cap of 1 billion to 15
    billion in a year well that ain't happening. My take is fractional ownership is a gimmick, but if it makes a collector feel closer to a famous stamp they could never possess it serves its purpose.
  • edited August 2021 0 LikesVote Down
    I'll wager dollars to doughnuts that for your 200 pounds Stan-Gib will send you a fine full color reproduction of the stamp, a slick 36-page booklet on the history, an officious authenticity document, perhaps even a collectible share of stock. And then you will never hear from them again.

    But while you're here, I've got individual square inches of Tannu Tuva for sale. Just $25 each!
  • I got my eye on some Touva zepplins!
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