Stamp Investment Tip: Canada 1897 Diamond Jubilee Issue (Scott # 50-65)

On June 22, 1897, the British Empire celebrated Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee, the 60th Anniversary of her accession to the throne. A holiday was declared in Britain and its colonies for the major event, and Canada issued a series of stamps featuring portraits of both a young and elderly Victoria (Scott #50-65). . The Diamond Jubilee stamps were the first commemorative stamps which Canada issued. There are sixteen different denominations, the highest of which was $5.00 - an astronomical amount for its day and one which few people could afford. As a result, the $1 - $5 values were printed in very low quantities.

I like the set as a whole, but especially favor the nine scarcest stamps within it, which have printings of 100,000 or fewer. I've listed them, along with their printing quantities and Scott '10 Catalog Values for unused, below:

- 6c Yellow Brown (Scott #55; 75,000; $ 230.-; $ 575.- for NH)

-15c Steel Blue (Scott #58; 100,000; $ 260.-; $ 650.- for NH)

-20c Vermilion (Scott #59: 100,000; $ 275.-; $ 625.- for NH)

-50c Ultramarine (Scott #60; 100,000; $ 375.-; $ 775.- for NH)

-$ 1 Lake (Scott #61; 24,900; $ 900.-; $ 2,400.- for NH)

-$ 2 Dark Purple (Scott #62; 25,000; $ 1,350.-; $ 3,600.- for NH)

-$ 3 Yellow Bister (Scott #63; 13,500; $1,400.-; $ 3,750.- for NH)

-$ 4 Purple (Scott #64; 14,500; $ 1,400.-; $ 3,750.- for NH)

-$ 5 Olive Green (Scott #65; 15,500; $ 1,450.-; $ 3,750.- for NH)

I am very optimistic about Canada's prospects for economic growth. It has an affluent, well-educated population, valuable natural resources and vast amounts of undeveloped land. It may even benefit from global warming, as much of Canada's frozen tundra may be eventually be naturally defrosted through the miracle of the greenhouse effect, and become North America's new agricultural breadbasket.

With a population of about 31 million, Canada is one of the world's wealthiest countries, and one of the world's top ten trading nations. GDP growth has averaged 2.2% over the past five years, which takes into account the 0% growth of 2009 due to the global financial crisis. Canada's population is expected to age significantly over the next decades, thereby bolstering its population of serious collectors. Canadians over 60 are projected to increase from 16.7% of the population in 2000 to 27.9% in 2025, and 30.5% in 2050. Consequently, in the future, many more Canadians will be spending time working on their stamp collections on cold winter days.