Stamp Investment Tips: Philippines Stamp Exhibition Issues

The Philippines issued several sets and souvenir sheets at stamp exhibitions in the 1970s and '80s, and I am particularly interested in the three issues which featured "Stamps on Stamps" - AUSIPEX '84, and AMPHILEX '77 and ESPAMER '77 (both airmails). These popular topicals pictured the first issues of the Philippines, Australia, the Netherlands, and Spain and had low printings (especially the imperforate versions of the sheets, which are noted in Scott).


As a newly democratic and newly industrialized country of 92 million which is transitioning from its centuries-old complete dependence on agriculture, the Philippines may turn out to be one of the most successful emerging markets in the Pacific Region. The government tends toward fiscal conservatism coupled with long-term economic planning, and annual GDP growth has been around 6%-7%.

Given their scarcity, inexpensiveness, and topical appeal, I believe that these issues represent low-risk/high reward investments which should do well as this emerging market economy develops. Their quantities issued and Scott '10 Catalog Values are listed below:

AUSIPEX '84:

Set: Sc. #1709-09 (20,000 issued); Sc. '10 CV=$ 7.00
S/S: Sc. #1710 (15,000 issued); Sc. '10 CV=$ 30.00
Imperf. s/s: Sc. #1710Note (10,000 issued); No CV given by Scott

AMPHILEX '77:

S/S: Sc. #C109 (30,000 issued); Sc. '10 CV=$ 10.00
Imperf. s/s: Sc. #C109Note (7,000 issued); Sc. '10 CV=$ 20.00

ESPAMER '77:

S/S: Sc. #C110 (20,000 issued); Sc. '10 CV=$ 10.00
Imperf. s/s: Sc.#C110Note (7,000 issued); Sc. '10 CV=$ 18.00