Stanley Gibbons to put stamp on China - Stamp-collecting company targets China's lucrative philately market, including new website and eBay-style market place

Guardian (26.03.10) - Stamp collecting and autographs group Stanley Gibbons has ambitious plans to break into China's huge stamp collecting market, set up an online marketplace where collectors can trade stamps and launch the world's first rare stamps investment fund.

China is the world's biggest stamp collecting market, with 20 million collectors and 50,000 government-sponsored philatelic societies, ahead of the US. Under Mao, it was illegal to collect stamps but since his death in 1976 there has been a surge in collecting, especially among the new wealthy elite.

"What we're seeing is a repatriation of stamps back into China," said Stanley Gibbons chief executive Michael Hall. "Practically every month a new record is set for Chinese stamps."

Stanley Gibbons hopes to break into the Chinese market through a partnership with a local company, and has already shortlisted a number of companies based in Shanghai or Hong Kong. China could also be big in autographs, said Hall. One of the firm's biggest clients in autographs is Chinese and collects famous signatures like Marilyn Monroe's scrawl.

A relaunch of Stanley Gibbons' website is planned later this year. The firm will make its printed price guides for 700,000 rare stamps around the world available online for the first time and wants to set up an eBay-style market place where collectors can buy and sell stamps.

The company is also gearing up for the launch of the world's first rare stamp investment fund, targeted at rich individuals and institutions, in the autumn. It expects that the International Stamp Show, a once-a-decade event which is being held in London in May, will spark renewed interest in stamps, especially British ones.

The company recently sold a Robert Burns bible for £25,000 and the earliest signature of George Washington for £60,000. The most popular historical figure remains Henry VIII, whose signatures fetch £45,000 to £55,000. Stamps and autographs have held their value well during the recession, with the GB30 rarities stamp index up 7% so far this year.

Stanley Gibbons today raised its annual dividend by 5% to 5p a share. Sales climbed 20% last year to £23.4m, pushing up profits before tax by 11% to £4.1m.

(Quelle: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2010/mar/26/stanley-gibbons-china-stamp-collecting