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For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations August 26-27, 2006:

Basic Economics

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries. 

For years, most mint U-S stamps issued since World War Two have been a drug on the market. 
You could still buy them for face value and often even LESS than that.

Here's why: More than a hundred million of each issue were printed, and people stashed away 
sheets of many new stamps as they were released, figuring they'd go up in value. Uh, uh. You 
know what they say about supply and demand. 

But lately, the prices for some issues of the 1940s and early 50s have been going back up in 
value. They still won't make you rich, but you won't find them at face value any more.

How come? Well, a major reason is that so many three-cent commemoratives were used as postage 
in the intervening years that there just aren't as many around in mint, un-used condition. 
Another reason is just age: Over the past fifty or sixty years, those stamps that were stuck 
in drawers and closets have deteriorated or even been destroyed by fire, floods and other 
accidents. Supply and demand, remember?

And that's Stamp Collecting this week. 

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News. 

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