2020-04-10 Fri

Despite a substantial increase in the last several years, the stamps of India and the Indian Princely States are still undervalued and under-appreciated. As the economy of India has grown and as the Indian diaspora has become more financially successful in the many countries to which Indians have moved, the stamps of India and the Indian Princely States have grown tremendously in popularity. But despite the ebb and flow of short term popularity, there is one component that will contribute to increasing prices for these stamps and that is their intrinsic scarcity.

There are three hot countries in the world presently – China, Russia, and India. The reasons for the vastly improved popularity of these countries is the greatly improved local economic conditions, highly educated nationals and at least in the case of India and China, vast numbers of native-born people living in other countries (expatriates always collect in greater numbers than people who stay at home). But there is one aspect of price pressure that favours India over these other two new popular areas and that is genuine scarcity.

Thirty years ago, before any of these countries were enjoying the wave of favor that they enjoy today, collectors of the first world countries would see nice collections of China and Russia. More significantly, good general collections often included nice sections of China and Russia (and still do). But India, beyond a few of the British issues, has always been very scarce. Many scarce stamps of Indian Princely States are out there, but almost never offered in the international auctions. So not only is India a country that should continue to enjoy increasing popularity but from a philatelic chase point of view, it is one of the most appealing countries that there is.

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