Stanley Gibbons seals Noble Investments deal "Collectibles have been shielded from the fear / greed cycle that affect equities and other investments," Mr Hall said. "Because sets of antique coins and stamps are illiquid it takes time to sell an entire collection," he added. The investment performance of investment grade British stamps has never fallen since being covered by Bloomberg's GB250 index and has an annual growth rate of 13.4pc. Mr Hall added: "It is increasingly difficult to differentiate investment sales from collector sales as more and more investors become collectors. As a result, most of our largest collectors were first enticed to collecting through the investment angle. The Noble Investments acquisition will allow it to move into the lucrative coin market space through Noble's Baldwin's brand which was originally established in 1872. As well as Baldwin's the takeover of Noble Investments also adds Bloomsbury, a leading UK auctioneer of books, manuscripts and art and Dreweatts, an auctioneer dating back to 1759 of watches fine wine and jewellery to the Stanley Gibbons stable. As for Mr Hall's own collecting hobbies the Stanley Gibbons boss has set his sights on owning a whole set of Roman Caesar coins.