How princess diana collectibles could be a better bet than stocks and shares!

With the current credit crunch, the threat of banks collapsing and very bumpy ride ahead for stock market, you may wish to consider alternative ways of investing your money.

Have we ever thought about investing in royal ephemera?

What's that? You may well ask. And how do you pronounce it!

Collectors of royal ephemera ( ph sounds as an 'f' ) invest in paper based collectibles which emanate from the royal palaces and commemorate events in lives of monarchs. These items can date back to 17th century or from more modern times - just cast your mind back to marriage of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer. Invitations to royal wedding in 1981 are now selling for amounts in excess of $400!

The scarcity value of royal ephemera means that your investment is much more likely to increase over long term.

With many years experience dealing in ephemera and royal ephemera in particular, I have had the pleasure of handling many beautiful examples of rare royal stationery. However, if we do consider collecting ephemera, I have the following words of advice.

If we ever contemplate buying a royal letter, it is always advisable to buy a complete letter as " cut outs " can very often be easily forged. Obviously, with my years of experience it's very easy for me to spot whether an item is genuine. We should take great care to ensure you're not buying either a facsimile, ( copy ) , hand stamped document ( a stamp engraved with signature ) , or auto-penned signatures ( a signature reproduced by a printing process ) . I am afraid that only way you can tell for sure if a signature has been auto penned is to compare it to an original signature.

Queen Victoria was a very prolific letter writer, to extent that for those she corresponded with regularly, she would have envelopes printed. Although they would have been printed on her official stationery and hence would have her embossed cypher, they are extremely good reproductions of her handwriting. This process has caught out many collectors and in particular there's famous letter of 1887, when Victoria wrote to thank members of her household for the present that they gave her to celebrate her Golden Jubilee. Even a major London auction house was caught out some years ago when they listed one of these items as being written in her hand.

From the reign of George V, we will find many commissions and civil awards which have been endorsed with a printed hand stamp.

When King Edward Vlll came to throne in 1936, after the death of his father, many of his signed documents were also hand stamped. He simply would not have had enough time to sign personally huge amount of documentation that went out from his office.

The auto pen process was first used by Royal Family in the early 1960's, whereby Queen Elizabeth's signature ( Elizabeth R ) would be reproduced automatically. In particular, this applies to her Christmas cards, signed Elizabeth R and Philip, and care must be taken not to pay large sums for what are quite common items. When Prince Charles married Princess Diana, they also used auto pen process for their Christmas cards, and there are unscrupulous dealers who don't differentiate between auto pen and original signatures. Needless to say, there's a vast difference in value of these items.

In certain circumstances, we will be parting with a substantial amount of money for rare royal ephemera. If we take time to research item before we agree to buy, we may save yourself both money and heartache. And once you have ascertained that we are dealing with reputable dealers, do not forget to ask them to provide a written guarantee of authenticity. If you do purchase an authentic item, we will almost undoubtedly have an asset which will increase in value in future.

 

 

 

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