Reprint from Lebanon Philately Sat Sep 25, 2004
Here is my take on the Qana cross set price/hoarding question. First of
all demand and supply rules. However in any free market, it is easy for
someone to manipulate the market unless the market has rules for proper
behavior. What are the rules in the Lebanese stamps market and who is
enforcing them?
Is it OK for dealers to bid on each other’s auctions? As long as they are
using their own names and there is no collusion, why not? I am in buying
mode today. If I start selling tomorrow does this mean that I have to stop
buying?
Second, is someone hoarding the Qana cross set in order to artificially
inflate the price? The answer depends on who. If the hoarder is an
official with access to governmental supply of stamps who purchased the
stamps at the time at face value and knew before the public that the set
was going to be withdrawn, then there is insider knowledge ethics violation.
This becomes furthermore a criminal matter if the insider/hoarder stole the
stamps from the official depot where the withdrawn stamps are held. In a
transparent government (which ours isn’t) the government would clearly
state how many stamps were withdrawn and keep accounting of
them. Furthermore the withdrawn stamps should either be destroyed by the
government or locked in a government vault like the central bank to control
access to the storage. There is little difference between stamps and
monetary notes. It’s all paper printed at relatively little cost with a
monetary value exceeding the printing cost.
[If you read rec.collecting.stamps.discuss there is a big hoopla about the
US government wanting to destroy a government huge hoard of Revenue stamps
in its possession to control its inventory. Collectors want the government
to sell these stamps on the collectors market instead of destroying them.]
If the Qana-cross set hoarder is someone without connections and without
insider knowledge and simply lucked out or made a shrewd decision to buy
the Qana cross set before it was withdrawn then good for him or her. I
don’t see a problem with this nor do I see any obligation for the hoarder
to sell at a lower price.
bassem
