Stamp collecting was never one of my favorite categories in the antiques and collectibles trade. While I can appreciate the history and importance of stamps, I always had a problem collecting something that was once quite possibly licked. To be fair to fellow stamp collectors who may be reading this, I understand that most stamps are worth more if they were never used, but alas, I was always fascinated by coins and currency instead. When the pandemic hit in full force in April 2020 the great state of Pennsylvania in which I reside went into near lockdown. As a result, I used some of the time to get back into reading the latest books published on art, antiques, and collectibles. Every week I would log onto Amazon and order several books on the trade that I would read cover to cover over the next week, and then the cycle would repeat. Unfortunately, as time went on, I was running out of books on the trade that interested me. Thats when I got the idea to review the upcoming releases. It was there that I found a unique entry, titled MoneyStamps: The Safe-Haven Investment in an Unsafe World by Richard Lehmann. Truth be told, I almost passed on the book until I realized that it was written by someone with a love of stamps who also has an education in finance, and it had an interesting premise: Stamps, much like coins and other commodities, could be bought and sold not unlike unregistered investments. The book arrived, and I literally finished it in under two days because half of the book is full of interesting graphs that show the investment returns of various stamps from around the world and their investment potential. From the first page of the book, it is very clear that the author favors investing in stamps and makes it his point to prove his analysis as to why. The author talks about the demand and supply side of the stamp market, the differences between collectible stamps and investment grade stamps, and even the topic of taxation. The author then does a great job of breaking down the stamp collecting market by country or markets, stating some differences. Case studies are provided to show how certain individuals were able to escape hostile countries and unkind political environments by hiding rare stamps while escaping their corrupt homelands and selling them when they got to where they were going. The book does do a good job at convincing the average reader that investment grade stamps can and have been a great investment. That said, this task does not occur without some criticism. Before you start the book, written on one full page right after the copyright page, is this sentiment: Governments can create more money. Companies can issue more stocks and bonds. Miners can extract more gold and diamonds. But no one can create more investment grade stamps. At first glance, this statement seems very factual, which it most likely is, but under additional scrutiny, it is easy to see why this statement is flawed. Simply replace the words investment grade stamps with investment grade coins or rare wine or even rare Pokemon cards, and you can make that same argument for any collectible that has a limited quantity and demand. And this is the main criticism I have of this book. Had it not been for the excellent graphs showing the financial returns of some of the most widely collected stamps throughout the world, I would have nearly written the book off as just another book written about investing in a certain kind of collectible for which the author has a direct bias. However, I actually recommend this book, even to people who do not collect or have an interest in stamps. I have always been a fan of books written in this manner. Having a background and education in business myself, I can see where the author is coming from, and I have no issues with the illustrations showing the investment returns of some of these collectibles. Many coin collecting books have been written over the years in this same manner, and some I have recommended. I must also admit that going into this book, I had my own biases toward stamps because the market doesnt seem to be that energetic when compared to rare coins or other historic artifacts, but this book did a good job on changing some of my preconceived notions about stamps and stamp collecting. In conclusion, I recommend this book to not only those interested in stamps and mainly investing in these rare artifacts, but also collectors looking to see how the investment side of the antiques and collectibles trade operates. The discussion on supply and demand will be valuable to would be investors as well. Unless you are like me and have to have the physical printed version of this book (Im a collector after all, right?), you may want to opt for the digital version. While the paperback version of the book retails for $29.99, the digital version can be had for about one-third of that cost. Shawn Surmick has been an avid collector since the age of 12. He currently resides in his hometown of Boyertown, Pa., and is a passionate collector of antiques and collectibles. His articles focus on various topics affecting the marketplace.