The latest Stanley Gibbons GB30 and GB250 indices revealed continued growth from 2014 with 2015 representing the 45th year in a row that the GB30 index has increased in value.
Listed on both the Bloomberg Professional service and Thomson Reuters, the GB250 index, tracking the prices of the top 250 investment-grade stamps of Great Britain, has risen 2.05 per cent from 2014 to 2015, clocking up a ten year growth of 165.72 per cent and ten year CAGR of 10.27 per cent.
The GB30 Rarities Index, which charts the prices of the 30 rarest stamps of Great Britain, rose 2.40 per cent over the same period, reflecting a ten year growth rate of 120.09 per cent with a CAGR of 8.21 per cent. Over the past 45 years the GB30 has shown a CAGR of 10.03 per cent, with no drop in value.
Managing Director of Stanley Gibbons Investments, Keith Heddle, says: “The indices show steady, sustained and sustainable growth in British stamps. Tangible, heritage assets now increasingly form part of a balanced portfolio. As we continue to see economic uncertainty, uncorrelated alternative assets such as rare stamps and coins are being sought to buffer market volatility. 175 years on from the introduction of the Penny Black, the world’s first stamp, the role of stamps may have changed somewhat, but they can still pack a punch when it comes to wealth preservation.”
The best performing stamp in the GB250 Index over the past year is the SG440d, a 1935 1d scarlet with a double impression, where the image on the stamp has been printed twice due to a shift during the printing process. The stamp has risen in value by 20 per cent (GBP20,000 to GBP24,000). The best performer over the past decade, however, is the SG7 – a 1d red-brown dating back to 1841, which has risen in value from GBP625 to GBP11,500 – a jump of 1542.86 per cent.
