Royal Collection Never Fully Catalogued

The Investors Chronicle website reports that the Royal Philatelic Collection, housed at St James's Palace has become so vast and unwieldy that it has never been fully catalogued, nor has its market value ever been definitively established because of the rarity (and in some cases uniqueness) of many of the items.

Reporter Mark Robinson writes, "The Royal Family will be delighted to find that prices for the GB Rarities index, which is comprised of the UK's top-30 rare stamps, has grown by a compound figure of 245 per cent over the past 10 years. This is an annual increase of 13.2 per cent."

This index is put together by The Stanley Gibbons Group.

According to Robinson, "... the index has moved up by 38 per cent since the onset of the present economic malaise, which underlines the generally held view that prices for rare postage stamps bear little correlation to other asset classes. This is always a significant point when building an investment portfolio. By including non-correlated asset classes, you can effectively reduce volatility; diversification can assuage the cyclical falls associated with standard asset classes, such as equities or gilts."

Shown above, George VI, (1895 - 1952), King of Great Britain, right, with his stamp collection, and the Curator of the Royal Stamp Collection, Sir John Wilson. Original Publication: Picture Post - 1860 - The King And His Stamps - pub. 1944 (Photo by Kurt Hutton/Getty Images)

To read the entire article, Stamps Lick The Competition, click here.