We picked up the 2010 Unitrade Catalogue in Montreal in November. The cost is still $45, same as in the past two years. There's not much that is new in this year's catalogue, but clearly the same high quality is still there.

Price changes

We were curious, of course, about the extent, if any, of this year's price changes. In view of the softening of the global markets in the past year, including the stamp market, we wondered what increases or decreases we would see.

Unitrade has wisely decided to stay the course. There are a few increases, but they are mostly limited to some of Canada's rare varieties. On the other hand, there are almost no decreases. We think that, once again, Unitrade has this right as we think the soft market of the past year is stabilizing.

Let's turn to the price changes in the latest Unitrade. Once again, while we illustrate some of them just to make things interesting, we caution that these are not representative of the prices generally which were mostly unchanged.

Classics Scott 1 - 20

Increases for Scott 1 and 10

1 2010 $60,000 2009 $50,000 2008 $50,000	10 2010 $35,000 2009 $30,000 2008 $25,000

Large Queens Scott 21 - 33

25viii (fine) 2010 $1,100 2009 $950 2008 $950

Small Queens Scott 34 – 47

Increases in Scott 34, 35ix, 38 (used), 41 and in a number of precancelled stamps.

34 2010 $30 2009 $25 2008 $20

“Yellow orange on thick paper”	“Precancelled”
35ix Fine 2010 $1,200 2009 $400 2008 $400	43 2010 $50 2009 $25 2008 $25

Early sets

Here is a summary of the price increases for the early sets:

An area that stood out was the substantial increases in the first day covers in the Scroll and Arch sets. Here is an outstanding example:

First Day Cover

158 2010 $7,500 2009 $5,000 2008 $5,000

Modern Sets

Very few increases were noted after the 1930’s

Some Outstanding copies

For those lucky collectors who own the following stamps, there were some nice increases:

“Major re-entry”	“Major re-entry”
57i 2010 $500 2009 $400 2008 $400	67ii 2010 $250 2009 $125 2008 $ 125

	"Missing $2"
175 2010 $75 2009 $60 2008 $60	601i 2010 $4,000 2009 $3,750 2008 $ 3,500

“Missing horse”	“Missing red colour”
1933i 2010 $1,750 2009 $1,650 2008 $1,650	2083ii 2010 $2,000 2009 $1,750 2008 $ 1,750

A year ago, we noted that the market outlook for this year would be uncertain and that it remained to be seen what would happen. Well, the strong markets of the early part of 2008 have not returned but, as mentioned above, the shaky stamp market of the past year does seem to be stabilizing. Unlike this time last year, we have more optimism about where things will be a year from now

One of the biggest changes we have seen in the past year is the huge expansion of the global money supply. This could eventually lead to instability and possible inflation. Some think that holding high-quality valuable stamps could offer some protection in this environment. This may make sense in theory, but unfortunately the stamp market is a thin one, making values unpredictable and therefore risky. To succeed with stamps as an investment, one must be knowledgeable, sophisticated and patient.

We have prepared summaries of the noticeable price increases and new listings in this year's catalogue. To see them, please click on the following buttons:

Noticeable price increases

New listings