Stamp Investment Scandals
There have been a number of scandals in this area over the years.
In Ireland in the 1950s, Paul Singer, a Bratislavian Doctor of Philosophy, ran a Ponzi scheme under the name Shanahan Stamp Auctions. The scheme collapsed when a mysterious robbery took place at the company's office on 9 May 1959, the eve of a major auction, when more than ₤300,000 worth of stamps went missing. Singer was charged with fraud, but was acquitted and vanished.
In the 1970s, the bursting of a speculative bubble left investors unable to realise their investment at the price they had paid. Prices took decades to recover.
In 2006, two Spanish firms Afinsa and Forum Filatelico collapsed and left around 350,000 investors with investments worth as little as 10% of the price they had paid.
Read more about this topic: Philatelic Investment
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