Investing in the stars

Friday 11th April 2008, 2:30PM BST.

Stanley Gibbons chief executive Mike Hall holding autographed photographs of Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, two of the current stars whose signatures fetch the best prices. (Picture by Daniel Guerin, 0561187)

CHANNEL ISLANDS residents bought more than £1m.-worth of memorabilia from Stanley Gibbons’ Guernsey office last year.

Chief executive Mike Hall said collectables such as stamps and autographs had become an extremely attractive asset class for investors.

He said rather than suffering from the effects of belt-tightening due to the credit crunch, the current economic conditions were working in his company’s favour. ‘People are putting their money into alternative asset classes because they show no correlation with the stock markets.’