So true. A lifelong "collector" here starting with pennies, baseball cards and Matchbox cars in the 70's. For the 80's I collected books. 90's was comics and 2000's was computers. 99% of it all is now worth less and worthless. For the few items worth more, the appreciation is from 10% to 100% over 40 years.
But, it was always fun seeking out missing items from a series and hoping one day years into the future I'd posses a truly rare item. A bit like playing the lottery, I suppose, with similar results.
Good luck on discovering a hidden gem in your boxes of stamps! It's the wonder of 'what if..." that's rewarding all in it's own.
Thanks for stopping by, and for honoring me with such a thoughtful first comment on Hive! Welcome to the community!
Most stuff we collect is worthless. Just in stamps, just the fact that something is really old means nothing. A stamp that was used on millions of letters in 1875 is just an OLD common stamp. You can buy an entire chest freezer full of wheat pennies for $1000... it'll contain 100,000 pennies, give or take.
The great "success" of my 50-odd years of stamp collecting is that on a "net" basis, it has been 99% self-funding. And I'm pretty stoked about that! Maybe there'll be something good in the new bins... who knows? It'll be fun to look.