An idiom some proclaim is, “I remember when a million dollars was a million dollars.” For the record, it is and always will be. It’s a finite number. I’d wager what they mean is how the buying power of a million dollars, or even one dollar for that matter, has changed over time.
Around 1980, I mentioned to the owner of a company I worked for how full sheets of the famous Graf Zeppelin stamps issued in 1930 were slated to go to auction in New York. That was huge. Few such sheets exist. The “Zepps” have long been favorites of stamp collectors.
A set of three single Zepp stamps in 1980 could sell for $8,000 or $9,000. Rare full sheets could bring upwards of a million. To that company owner I commented that whoever sold them could essentially retire. His dismissive response was, “No one can retire on a million dollars.” I thought, “I’m sure there are 250 million people who would like to try.”
It’s clear how the buying power of a dollar has changed. In just the 45 years since 1980, it has dropped 400 percent. That means, a million dollars today would have been the equivalent of four million dollars then. Inflation has steadily chiseled away at our buying power....
Examples I’ve written about regarding that include collectible investments in gold. Last week, the price of gold eclipsed $4,000 per ounce. That’s near its all-time peak. As I’ve pointed out before, for those who purchased an ounce of gold in 1980, at its then-peak of $850 and held onto it, are barely at break-even given inflation. That’s essential to keep in mind regarding any tangible investment.
Some may be under the assumption that buying popular collectibles is a virtual guarantee of high future returns. They may believe, be it stamps, coins, sports cards, Hollywood memorabilia or most anything that catches the fancy of humans, is sure to go up and stay up. Not the case.
Take those three historic Graf Zeppelin stamps. The romantic images and detailed engravings on them are impressive and enthralling. Their respective face-values of 65-cents, $1.30 and $2.65 represented the postage needed to send a letter on one of the airships to exotic destinations around the world.
The cumulative value of $4.60 for the three stamps is substantially more than we pay now to mail a letter around the world. (In 2025, to mail a one-ounce letter from the US to the other side of the globe is $1.70 for Global Forever postage.) Plus, remember, the Great Depression began in 1929 and continued throughout the 1930s with rampant high unemployment and bank failures. Union wages were barely $1.00 a day. It wasn’t a wise time for anyone to shell out $4.60 on three postage stamps. That would equate to $90 today.
In 1980, I recall an “investor” calling me asking me to purchase 10 sets of Graf Zeppelin stamps at $10,000 apiece for him. 1980 was when the stamp investment craze was peaking. So, this man was willing to spend a tenth of a million dollars on the unknown. I coaxed him out of it and into other philatelic options with greater potential. That proved wise. Since then, the market has adjusted. Today, those same ten sets, even in superior condition, would only be worth around $35,000 today.
I recall purist stamp and coin collectors once being angry at anyone investing in their hobby. They claimed profit should never be the end result. Rather, it should only be about the thrill of the hunt and joy of the acquisition. While it sounded profound, in the end it was baseless. I discovered that when I asked the same staunch collectors if they then would be willing to sell their collections for no more than they had originally paid, they said, “no.”
Though collecting continues to be fun and even profitable (just last week, a 1918 inverted 24-cent “Jenny” airmail stamp estimated to sell for $200,000 was auctioned for $320,000), but great care remains essential. Wholesale profits in hobbies aren’t as easy as they might have been in the 1980s and ‘90s. Additionally, the number of stamp and coin dealer shops has shrunk considerably. New York City alone was once the home to over 100 stamp dealers. Now, just one is open. Coin/currency dealers have also diminished. And, while upwards of 10,000 sports card shops were around in 1995, today, barely 1,000 remain.
Of course, records continue to be set for true rarities. But, without question, the most valuable entity will always be knowledge.
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