(13 February 2015) South Africa’s online marketplace www.bobshop.co.za has always been a real treasure trove for collectors, and stamp collectors are no exception. This is where people come when they need to complete their album with that one elusive stamp, or when they want to sell their duplicates, most often in order to finance future purchases.

Many stamp dealers turn to Bob Shop too. To the uninitiated, philately may seem as one of the least likely areas for investing in; however, there are many gems out there that can help a collector or a dealer turn a profit.

Recently, one dealer and Bob Shop seller, Cape Philatelics listed on Bob Shop more than one hundred stamps valued over R2,000 each. The stamps come from one of the biggest collectors in South Africa, whose heirs are selling his entire collection.

“Bidorbuyers now have a chance to acquire a part of this unique and exceptional collection”, says Bob Shop CEO Jaco Jonker and adds that stamp collecting has become much easier with the advent of online platforms such as Bob Shop. “We currently have more than 60,000 stamps listed on the site and almost three hundred are sold every single day.”

Even though traditional letter-writing is losing ground to electronic communication channels, the allure of philately is not waning. On the contrary: experts say that the market for rare and desirable stamps has increased worldwide and that there is a renewed interest in stamp collecting from customers in emerging economies, as well as a particular interest in “errors”. An “error” is a stamp that has some flaw in the design or technical features: wrong colour, elements printed upside down, wrong value, and so on.

Among the stamps from the Cape Philatelics collection that  have been already sold on the site are a South African Officials 1930/45 block of four 6d stamps with overprint, sold for  R5,000, and a South African Officials 1950/54 5s control block of six 5s stamps  with sheet numbers, sold for R7,500.

Still awaiting the right collector are several gems from the Cape Philatelics collection, including an 1974 South West Africa Rock Engravings 5c stamp with missing black colour, on offer for R25,000 and a control block of six Namibian 2005 Definitive Surcharges stamps with price overprint, valued at R23,000.

However, the most expensive stamp currently listed on Bob Shop is from another seller. It is an 1896 single stamp depicting Queen Victoria with overprint: originally made for India and sold for two annas (now obsolete Indian currency, equal to 1/16 rupee), the stamp was re-branded as Zanzibar’s and sold for two and a half shillings.

Today, the seller considers it is worth R100,000.