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  • Catalogue administrator
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  • February 23, 2021 19:23
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February 23, 2021 19:23
Sad, Belgian collectors, because our friends at Bpost want to get rid of stamps in Belgian francs in a few years. Until now we can still frank letters with (very) old stamps in francs, but that would soon come to an end.

See this article on De Standaard today: https://www.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20210223_94674161 . Not behind a paywall, so everyone can read it.
As a collector, I naturally think this is a pity. I don't have very many stamps in francs that I actually use to frank, but the idea that this was still possible was charming. And nothing is as nice as receiving an order (from LD or another platform) with good old Belgian stamps in francs on the envelope.

What's the best thing to do now? Franking as many letters as possible with such stamps, or just hoarding them? Consequences for the valuation of the stamps? Impact on your stocks?

The article also mentions 'a lack of new stamp collectors'. Don't they know LastDodo for sure... ;-)
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  • Catalogue administrator
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  • February 24, 2021 11:47
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February 24, 2021 11:47
Sometimes 10 years behind the Netherlands is an advantage. We Belgians have been able to continue to use those old franc stamps (from the year of issue 1960) for a very long time.
I fear the future value of those pieces of paper. If you look at the sales value of Dutch stamps from the Guilder period (period 1960-2000) ... for 20 euros you have an almost 'complete' collection. Complete collections are less easily lost: after all, there is no longer a challenge ... Who buys something 'complete' ... just to put it in a corner somewhere and forget?

Until now the 'value' of Belgian postage stamps from the period 1960-2000 has been artificially kept high, by the idea that they have postage validity. Converted into Euro, you could hardly find them for half that value. If the postage value falls, the free fall follows. Fortunately, old paper is still collected and recycled for free.

As for the number of stamp collectors, they still determine the value. A game between supply and demand. Or as an intelligent person once proclaimed, "The value of a stamp is what a madman will do." And every collector sometimes acts silly. After all, you want to have that one particular series complete at all costs, right?
Now you can't ignore it: the average age of the collectors audience is very high, with the corresponding dropout as a result. Collections come up en masse during the 'clearance' after deaths. Usually with no interested successors ready, so the whole trade is put up for sale. This caused prices to drop unseen until ... Corona showed up. Currently there is a small resurgence in people who suddenly see their budget for free time swell. It may be a matter of something to have hands, where direct contact is not necessary. Switch platforms for this, such as LD, benefit from it. But ... this is only a temporary phenomenon. Soon everything will collapse to below the level we had reached 2 years ago. The massive influx to the free market that was hampered by a global pandemic will then come to reinforce the normal mass influx. That will be 'the great depression' in the philately world. I am convinced.

But, we Belgians can still lick almost 2 years old stamps.
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