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The UK’s biggest retailer of collectibles, Stanley Gibbons, has claimed that rare stamps, autographs, and memorabilia are becoming increasingly popular with investors as the economic climate worsens.

The retailer said its sales rose 21 percent to £20.2 million during 2007 as investors looked to diversify their assets.

From Dailymail.co.uk:

Gibbons, which sells goods ranging from rare Penny Blacks to autographs by Marilyn Monroe, said pre-tax profits for the year to December 31 were a record £4.5 million, a rise of 20 per cent.

Chief executive Mike Hall said: “Collectibles as an asset class are growing and tighter economic conditions are resulting in an increasing number of investors turning to our products as a means of protecting their wealth by diversifying their asset holdings.”

The company said that collectibles were becoming more popular within the savings and wealth management industries and were being seen as an alternative investment.

“Even now, our stamp and autograph indices are available on Bloomberg information terminals for institutional investors.

A small increase in acceptance by institutional investors would make a significant positive impact on the growth potential of our businesses,” the company said.

Gibbons said visitor numbers to its websites were growing at pace having reached four million visits during 2007, up 40 per cent on 2006.

It is to expand the languages used on its site to cash in on the “Bric” emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India and China.

The company was founded in 1856 by Edward Stanley Gibbons in London who built the business after he purchased a sackful of rare stamps from two sailors recently returned from South Africa.