Legendary bond investor Bill Gross amassed a hoard of rare U.S. stamps that’s reputed to be the most complete collection ever—and he’s about to sell them off.
On Friday and Saturday, the Robert A. Siegel auction house will put the stamps up for sale individually with estimates for the total haul at $15 million to $20 million, which would set a record for U.S. stamps.
In a video teasing the auction, Siegel said “this collection promises to set a new high-water mark for stamp collecting when it crosses the auction block.”
The star of the collection is a “Z Grill” stamp from 1868 that has a face value of one cent and is expected to fetch $4 million to $5 million, which also would also mark a new record for a U.S. stamp.
But according to the Financial Times, Gross believes a correction is headed for the stamp market and is getting out.
Whereas the stamp market used to have a “fundamental base of kids” to support it, “that doesn’t exist any more,” the cofounder of bond giant PIMCO told the FT.
Gross has already sold $50 million in stamps in recent years, including a collection of U.K. postage that set a record, too, the report said.
Meanwhile, he is still opining on financial markets in interviews, newsletters, and social media. Last month, he said the bond market would suffer more if Donald Trump returns to the White House than if Joe Biden is reelected.
“Trump is the more bearish of the candidates simply because his programs advocate continued tax cuts and more expensive things,” Gross told the FT, later adding that “Trump’s election would be more disruptive.”
