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What we collect!
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General Philatelic/Gen. Discussion : What is the future of stampcollecting ?

 

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philb
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01 Feb 2021
09:05:51pm

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I have not been to a live stamp show in over a year...probably close to 6 months since i have attended our local club a mile away from my house at the V.F.W. The internet is it at the present time. i am reduced to filling in spaces in my Scott Internationals...nothing to really get excited about. There were fewer and fewer storefront stamp dealers to begin with...which made the large shows like the APS ones so popular. If the collector like many of us here can not get the stamps they want...some will get bored and fall away. I am not talking about the guys like Bill Gross that can spend a couple of million on a stamp and put it in his safe...there will always be auctions to provide the stamps he desires.
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BenFranklin1902
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Tom in Exton, PA

01 Feb 2021
09:30:17pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I think overall, hobbies are doing well during Covid. People need stay at home activities and this surely fits the bill!

I continue to buy on eBay, and add to my collections. I've been scanning all of my New Jersey covers, hoping to get a web site up one of these days.

My stamp club, as well as my model car club, hold monthly Zoom meetings so we do get some face time.

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cougar
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01 Feb 2021
10:18:05pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

It depends on what each of us are trying to accomplish. From my point of view it is a totally losing game. For example , each year Peru would issue 15-20 stamps I want to have in used conditions. But realistically, I can expect to find only 2-3 stamps each year, maybe less. Then there is every other country out there. Hard to find even used Great Britain at a decent price, although you'd think they should be among the most common of stamps.

So I am sure many of us have to tone down their expectations quite a bit.

Then there is the issue of the Pitney Bowes and other pre-paid postage machines killing the hobby; then the small definitive stamps that get used more than anything else. Then those Christmas stamps that show up exactly when people mail Christmas cards - some of those people never mail anything else in a year. Then we have the issue of Stamperija and the production of wallpaper stamps. Then the CTO.

Fifty years ago mail was a way for people from different countries to communicate with one another. Not any more. We have e-mail, chat rooms, Skype , all kinds of electronic gizmos bringing the world at your doorstep. All this to the point where people lose their curiosity and do not want to know much more.

I still remember each and every postcard with an animal I received as a kid from a penfriend in then Rhodesia. Now you get such images on the internet in thousands, but the actual animals would have become way less since then.

I do not know if there are any young collectors joining the hobby these days, probably unlikely.

So far I am happy there are still some stamps out for sale I can buy and still some collectors interested in buying stamps like me.

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StampCollector
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01 Feb 2021
10:59:33pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Back then most countries had a limited amount of issues per year and stamps were easily available, now most countries produce tons of stamps in one year and...where are they?
Luckily most of us have a different idea of what stamp collecting is and we can easily accommodate to any form of collecting, beating your head against the wall because there's an stamp that you can't find doesn't make any sense to me. I notice that quite a few collectors in this site alone have turn stamp collecting into a job. I guess that after 60+ years of stamp collecting I've learned to enjoy stamp collecting for what it is, a hobby.

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cougar
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02 Feb 2021
04:11:24am
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

"now most countries produce tons of stamps in one year and...where are they?"



My unfortunate conclusion is most end up in the paper recycling bins , garbage bins, eventually reaching the landfill.

If one is not a collector why would they keep the stamp? Even if they knew they could get 10 cents for it, how many 10 cent beer cans end up in the ditch?

It takes some good planning and education to foster collecting habits in people.

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angore
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Al
Collector, Moderator

02 Feb 2021
06:46:17am
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I rarely went to shows in years past. In my earlier collecting years, I was purchasing mail order through Linn's back before the Internet without even seeing the stamps prior to purchase! We sure collected dangerously then (ha!).

Thanks to Internet, the hobby did not collapse due to COVID and believe shows how much commerce is driven via non-shows and the few remaining non-mail order dealers. We have a lot more choices these days.

If you think that the lack of shows is holding back collecting, then there are many venues you are ignoring. I am sure the show dealers would likely accept email want lists.

I realize some like to sit down and thumb through red boxes but that is on hold for a while for many.

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dani20
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02 Feb 2021
08:59:44am
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Some random thoughts here- For those who became collectors because of a potential money gain in the future-agreed that those days are sadly numbered and mostly gone. For those who came into the hobby for friendship, adventure, fun communications, those days too have dwindled. Still there, but much decreased. For those who first approached the hobby through merit badges in the Boy Scouts- also gone along with the organization as well.

Who's left? Old geezers like me and you, who believe that we are putting together an heirloom to pass on. Indeed we may be, but take care that the heirs can recognize gems from rocks.

And then there's the romantics-again you and me, who see in the colored pieces of paper loves, memories, time/people/places visited-all precious and irreplaceable.

Perhaps the answer to the original question must remain open-perhaps not. The answer may lie in who you are, who you became, and who you are yet to be.

Best,
Dan C.

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pigdoc

02 Feb 2021
09:46:13am
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Very thoughtful, Dan.
I will be considering your last statement in depth.

Increasingly, and in the absence of a stamp collecting heir, I think about descending from the pinnacle of my stamp collecting 'career'. That's "who I am yet to be". At best, I may have 20 years to accomplish that. But, having been involved in dispersing the accumulated detritus of 4 parents' lifetimes in the last 5 years, I am committed to NOT burdening my survivors with that. I not going to allow the task to sneak up on me, the way it did those parents.

In my perfect world, a young person who means a lot to me (wouldn't have to be a relative), appears who shares my interests in history and understanding what went before in the context of stamps and postal history, to benefit from a piece of 55 years' worth of an accumulated body of knowledge. I'm not holding my breath on that, though. Absent that, it's a pure dispersal.

To that end, I am beginning to prepare by documenting:
- what is it? (as in, say, an Ebay description)
- what is its value? (as in, what's a reasonable starting bid?)

I need to start looking at what's been accumulated, and make some honest self-assessments like,
- when was the last time you looked at X?
- when is the next time you're likely to look at X?

When those time intervals stretch to an embarrassing length, the time has come. It's a process of pruning, getting rid of the branches that will not yield a great harvest anymore. That stuff represents 'who I was before I became what I am'.

There's an old saying about getting sentimentally attached to your investments. If you allow that to happen, you're setting yourself up for a loss, materially, or not.

-Paul


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DannyS
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02 Feb 2021
10:01:20am
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I think there is a basic instinct for men and women to collect. Whether what they may be collecting includes stamps is the big question. I suspect they will be but in far fewer* numbers. I'm not sure if that will be reflected in stamps investment value. Then again there are few who can afford a collection of fine art yet prices don't seem to fall in that sector;-)

*Is it fewer or lesser?

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philb
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02 Feb 2021
03:18:46pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Well for sure i can not bring back the charm and adventure of collecting as a child. I was a child with a 35 cent a week allowance,then we were bringing up kids for 30 years. Now we can buy just about any stamp we want....but its not the same.

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Harvey
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!

02 Feb 2021
03:40:12pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

My allowance was just enough to keep up with the latest Marvel comics. I remember in 1963 picking up a copy of Amazing Spiderman #1 on my way to choir practice - I still have it and all the others I bought from the early 60's to about 1973. My mother knew I treasured my stuff so, unlike many others at that time, she threw nothing of mine out. A friend lost his entire 1950's and 1960's baseball card collection, including his Micky Mantle rookie card, because his mother thought "he'd never want that junk again"! I started with stamps at about the same time I finished with comics, even though I am now adding to the comics collection. How did you guys start collecting, and what did you start with?

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""We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years." George Carlin"
DavidG
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APS member since 2004

02 Feb 2021
07:57:18pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I am the shop manager of a storefront, bricks and mortar. We have been in business for six years.

We are doing very well with the pandemic. On-line sales and curb-side pick-up has replaced indoor shopping.

Lots of new collectors, old collectors, and returning collectors!

David
Ottawa, Canada


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philb
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02 Feb 2021
09:00:15pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

i liked the Classic Comics..you could "read" the classics in comic book fashion. And the "Tales from the Crypt" comics my mother made me burn...they were really good artwork...i wish i had them now !

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philb
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03 Feb 2021
09:14:07am

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

David Giles, Hold the fort...you are one stamp shop in a city of one million. When i was working in New York City in the early 1960s..walking from the subway at Times Square to West 46th street there were sometimes two stamp shops on one block.

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DavidG
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APS member since 2004

03 Feb 2021
12:35:50pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Phil:

Life is good as a stamp shop manager.

David

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philb
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03 Feb 2021
02:29:36pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

David, meanwhile our friends the fridge and Elio are working feverishly at home(from different ends of the spectrum) in the stamp cottage industry.

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musicman
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APS #213005

06 Feb 2021
08:41:32am
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

We have a stamp shop in the nearby town of Lowell here in Michigan.

It's called 'COLLECTOR'S CORNER' - he deals in stamps, coins, gold, silver and jewelry.

A former postman Happy


I recently purchased 42 used stamp albums from him - he wanted the shelf space Big Grin

I am having great fun going thru all of them and so far have found a very large amount of mint US to add to my collection.

I enjoy going to his shop about once a month to see what's new!

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philb
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11 Feb 2021
02:49:09pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Wow ! 42 stamp albums..thats abitious...at my age i want to be an active collector and buyer...i have been loyal to stamp collecting since i was 9 and saw my first Sudan camel rider stamp...i have had friends dispose of their stamps as they reached an advanced age...this i will not do...i may not purchase a room full of stamps,but it is my hobby and relaxation...no need to give it up.

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londonbus1
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11 Feb 2021
05:31:32pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I don't believe selling one's collection is giving up. I am starting to do that now while at the same time adding to just a few albums of great interest.
I am making less work for my family when I go to meet my maker.
It's going to be great fun and I am excited about it. My interest in the hobby is no less than it was before, in fact even more so as I sort out all the stuff that will go. I am finding items I have forgotten about and am donating lots too. Great fun.
I am following in the footsteps of my buddy 'Golovacz' who did exactly the same.
The only sad part is having to re-cycle catalogues, books and journals and other peripheral items that are weighty. I would gladly give stuff away but postage costs are prohibitive and there is nowhere local to take (even if it were open during the Pandemic). So a lot of great info going to the bin is not fun but that apart........

As for the 'future of Stamp Collecting'? It has a great future. There will always be Stamp collectors, and until this virus situation, there was always somewhere to go, something to see. Since last March it's all online but no less busy or popular. in fact even more so.
Still the greatest hobby, always has been, always will be.
Of that there is no doubt.

Londonbus1

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musicman
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APS #213005

11 Feb 2021
07:51:11pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I would say that roughly half of those 42 albums were beginner albums, some of which were unused; many were sparsely populated.

Of the rest, there were a few stockbooks of various sizes, with anywhere from a few pages filled to filled to entirety.

There were 2 full sheet stockbooks that were nearly full - one with US, one with WW.

Then there were the few random Scott green albums, the 4 or 5 Mystic albums, some older musty albums and also some Harris Libertys and odds & ends such as a Scott International Junior Album (those things are HEAVY!), and a few other misc. ones - many from the early 1930's to '40's.

A lot of fun so far going thru them!

Anyone looking for an extra album/binder or 2, let me know! I just might have one!

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angore
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Al
Collector, Moderator

12 Feb 2021
06:05:15am
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

One aspect of collecting is the business of supporting collectors with albums, mounts, and tools. HAWID is going out of business so collectors have one less option for supplies.

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amsd
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Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads

12 Feb 2021
09:32:15am

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Danny: it's FEWER. FEWER explores individual numbers; LESSER explores combined or uncountable numbers, such as weight or empathy.

I think the hobby is changing, rather like everything. But our local club has more members now than when I joined 20 years ago AND we have several children. Who knows if they stay involved, but they're active now.

Brick and mortar stores are virtually extinct, but that's true in so much of what we consume, and that pace is accelerating.

I worry mostly about the bourses; will they be able to survive the pandemic.


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DannyS
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12 Feb 2021
09:40:04am
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Fewer. Thanks David. I had it right. Funny about weight though. I was thinking this morning that I wish I weighed a few less pounds.Happy

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DavidG
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APS member since 2004

12 Feb 2021
07:06:16pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Hawid is going out of business because the 87-year old founder and owner died. He was German, and founded the business after the war. That, and Lighthouse Publications (also a German company, family owned since 1917, now dominiates the mount market.

David

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Bobstamp
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13 Feb 2021
05:46:39pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

AMSD said, "Danny: it's FEWER. FEWER explores individual numbers; LESSER explores combined or uncountable numbers, such as weight or empathy."

David, when you korrec my english, I like you fewer. Big Hug (I guess you dint know I were a english teecher, so your forgaven.)

boB

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DannyS
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13 Feb 2021
09:15:22pm
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

"Hawid is going out of business because the 87-year old founder and owner died. He was German, and founded the business after the war. That, and Lighthouse Publications (also a German company, family owned since 1917, now dominiates the mount market.

David"



This brings up in my mind the big difference in how Germany handled its industry in the '60s compared to Britain. (I can't talk about the US because although I worked in the field for Texas owned companies for more than twenty years, my knowledge isn't good enough.)

Germany helped its small and medium sized companies, many still under the original founders or their families, to become what they are today. It's the place to go for top quality engineering. Britain instead encouraged mergers to form larger companies, unfortunately most of which have long gone to the wall. From my own experience the British company I worked at as a young man making nuclear power station and submarine electronic controls is now a supermarket.

I guess looking for an American example would be how the Douglas aircraft company under the control of accountants disappeared into the monolith that is Boeing. (Yes I still collect the DC-3 stamps)Happy

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cdj1122
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Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..

14 Feb 2021
08:34:49am
re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

" .... Danny: it's FEWER. FEWER explores individual numbers; LESSER explores combined or uncountable numbers, such as weight or empathy. ...."

A regular S.I. Philakawa.

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philb

01 Feb 2021
09:05:51pm

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I have not been to a live stamp show in over a year...probably close to 6 months since i have attended our local club a mile away from my house at the V.F.W. The internet is it at the present time. i am reduced to filling in spaces in my Scott Internationals...nothing to really get excited about. There were fewer and fewer storefront stamp dealers to begin with...which made the large shows like the APS ones so popular. If the collector like many of us here can not get the stamps they want...some will get bored and fall away. I am not talking about the guys like Bill Gross that can spend a couple of million on a stamp and put it in his safe...there will always be auctions to provide the stamps he desires.

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BenFranklin1902

Tom in Exton, PA
01 Feb 2021
09:30:17pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I think overall, hobbies are doing well during Covid. People need stay at home activities and this surely fits the bill!

I continue to buy on eBay, and add to my collections. I've been scanning all of my New Jersey covers, hoping to get a web site up one of these days.

My stamp club, as well as my model car club, hold monthly Zoom meetings so we do get some face time.

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cougar

01 Feb 2021
10:18:05pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

It depends on what each of us are trying to accomplish. From my point of view it is a totally losing game. For example , each year Peru would issue 15-20 stamps I want to have in used conditions. But realistically, I can expect to find only 2-3 stamps each year, maybe less. Then there is every other country out there. Hard to find even used Great Britain at a decent price, although you'd think they should be among the most common of stamps.

So I am sure many of us have to tone down their expectations quite a bit.

Then there is the issue of the Pitney Bowes and other pre-paid postage machines killing the hobby; then the small definitive stamps that get used more than anything else. Then those Christmas stamps that show up exactly when people mail Christmas cards - some of those people never mail anything else in a year. Then we have the issue of Stamperija and the production of wallpaper stamps. Then the CTO.

Fifty years ago mail was a way for people from different countries to communicate with one another. Not any more. We have e-mail, chat rooms, Skype , all kinds of electronic gizmos bringing the world at your doorstep. All this to the point where people lose their curiosity and do not want to know much more.

I still remember each and every postcard with an animal I received as a kid from a penfriend in then Rhodesia. Now you get such images on the internet in thousands, but the actual animals would have become way less since then.

I do not know if there are any young collectors joining the hobby these days, probably unlikely.

So far I am happy there are still some stamps out for sale I can buy and still some collectors interested in buying stamps like me.

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StampCollector

01 Feb 2021
10:59:33pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Back then most countries had a limited amount of issues per year and stamps were easily available, now most countries produce tons of stamps in one year and...where are they?
Luckily most of us have a different idea of what stamp collecting is and we can easily accommodate to any form of collecting, beating your head against the wall because there's an stamp that you can't find doesn't make any sense to me. I notice that quite a few collectors in this site alone have turn stamp collecting into a job. I guess that after 60+ years of stamp collecting I've learned to enjoy stamp collecting for what it is, a hobby.

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cougar

02 Feb 2021
04:11:24am

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

"now most countries produce tons of stamps in one year and...where are they?"



My unfortunate conclusion is most end up in the paper recycling bins , garbage bins, eventually reaching the landfill.

If one is not a collector why would they keep the stamp? Even if they knew they could get 10 cents for it, how many 10 cent beer cans end up in the ditch?

It takes some good planning and education to foster collecting habits in people.

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angore

Al
Collector, Moderator
02 Feb 2021
06:46:17am

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I rarely went to shows in years past. In my earlier collecting years, I was purchasing mail order through Linn's back before the Internet without even seeing the stamps prior to purchase! We sure collected dangerously then (ha!).

Thanks to Internet, the hobby did not collapse due to COVID and believe shows how much commerce is driven via non-shows and the few remaining non-mail order dealers. We have a lot more choices these days.

If you think that the lack of shows is holding back collecting, then there are many venues you are ignoring. I am sure the show dealers would likely accept email want lists.

I realize some like to sit down and thumb through red boxes but that is on hold for a while for many.

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dani20

02 Feb 2021
08:59:44am

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Some random thoughts here- For those who became collectors because of a potential money gain in the future-agreed that those days are sadly numbered and mostly gone. For those who came into the hobby for friendship, adventure, fun communications, those days too have dwindled. Still there, but much decreased. For those who first approached the hobby through merit badges in the Boy Scouts- also gone along with the organization as well.

Who's left? Old geezers like me and you, who believe that we are putting together an heirloom to pass on. Indeed we may be, but take care that the heirs can recognize gems from rocks.

And then there's the romantics-again you and me, who see in the colored pieces of paper loves, memories, time/people/places visited-all precious and irreplaceable.

Perhaps the answer to the original question must remain open-perhaps not. The answer may lie in who you are, who you became, and who you are yet to be.

Best,
Dan C.

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pigdoc

02 Feb 2021
09:46:13am

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Very thoughtful, Dan.
I will be considering your last statement in depth.

Increasingly, and in the absence of a stamp collecting heir, I think about descending from the pinnacle of my stamp collecting 'career'. That's "who I am yet to be". At best, I may have 20 years to accomplish that. But, having been involved in dispersing the accumulated detritus of 4 parents' lifetimes in the last 5 years, I am committed to NOT burdening my survivors with that. I not going to allow the task to sneak up on me, the way it did those parents.

In my perfect world, a young person who means a lot to me (wouldn't have to be a relative), appears who shares my interests in history and understanding what went before in the context of stamps and postal history, to benefit from a piece of 55 years' worth of an accumulated body of knowledge. I'm not holding my breath on that, though. Absent that, it's a pure dispersal.

To that end, I am beginning to prepare by documenting:
- what is it? (as in, say, an Ebay description)
- what is its value? (as in, what's a reasonable starting bid?)

I need to start looking at what's been accumulated, and make some honest self-assessments like,
- when was the last time you looked at X?
- when is the next time you're likely to look at X?

When those time intervals stretch to an embarrassing length, the time has come. It's a process of pruning, getting rid of the branches that will not yield a great harvest anymore. That stuff represents 'who I was before I became what I am'.

There's an old saying about getting sentimentally attached to your investments. If you allow that to happen, you're setting yourself up for a loss, materially, or not.

-Paul


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DannyS

02 Feb 2021
10:01:20am

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I think there is a basic instinct for men and women to collect. Whether what they may be collecting includes stamps is the big question. I suspect they will be but in far fewer* numbers. I'm not sure if that will be reflected in stamps investment value. Then again there are few who can afford a collection of fine art yet prices don't seem to fall in that sector;-)

*Is it fewer or lesser?

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philb

02 Feb 2021
03:18:46pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Well for sure i can not bring back the charm and adventure of collecting as a child. I was a child with a 35 cent a week allowance,then we were bringing up kids for 30 years. Now we can buy just about any stamp we want....but its not the same.

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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
02 Feb 2021
03:40:12pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

My allowance was just enough to keep up with the latest Marvel comics. I remember in 1963 picking up a copy of Amazing Spiderman #1 on my way to choir practice - I still have it and all the others I bought from the early 60's to about 1973. My mother knew I treasured my stuff so, unlike many others at that time, she threw nothing of mine out. A friend lost his entire 1950's and 1960's baseball card collection, including his Micky Mantle rookie card, because his mother thought "he'd never want that junk again"! I started with stamps at about the same time I finished with comics, even though I am now adding to the comics collection. How did you guys start collecting, and what did you start with?

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""We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years." George Carlin"
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DavidG

APS member since 2004
02 Feb 2021
07:57:18pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I am the shop manager of a storefront, bricks and mortar. We have been in business for six years.

We are doing very well with the pandemic. On-line sales and curb-side pick-up has replaced indoor shopping.

Lots of new collectors, old collectors, and returning collectors!

David
Ottawa, Canada


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philb

02 Feb 2021
09:00:15pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

i liked the Classic Comics..you could "read" the classics in comic book fashion. And the "Tales from the Crypt" comics my mother made me burn...they were really good artwork...i wish i had them now !

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philb

03 Feb 2021
09:14:07am

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

David Giles, Hold the fort...you are one stamp shop in a city of one million. When i was working in New York City in the early 1960s..walking from the subway at Times Square to West 46th street there were sometimes two stamp shops on one block.

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DavidG

APS member since 2004
03 Feb 2021
12:35:50pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Phil:

Life is good as a stamp shop manager.

David

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philb

03 Feb 2021
02:29:36pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

David, meanwhile our friends the fridge and Elio are working feverishly at home(from different ends of the spectrum) in the stamp cottage industry.

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musicman

APS #213005
06 Feb 2021
08:41:32am

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

We have a stamp shop in the nearby town of Lowell here in Michigan.

It's called 'COLLECTOR'S CORNER' - he deals in stamps, coins, gold, silver and jewelry.

A former postman Happy


I recently purchased 42 used stamp albums from him - he wanted the shelf space Big Grin

I am having great fun going thru all of them and so far have found a very large amount of mint US to add to my collection.

I enjoy going to his shop about once a month to see what's new!

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philb

11 Feb 2021
02:49:09pm

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Wow ! 42 stamp albums..thats abitious...at my age i want to be an active collector and buyer...i have been loyal to stamp collecting since i was 9 and saw my first Sudan camel rider stamp...i have had friends dispose of their stamps as they reached an advanced age...this i will not do...i may not purchase a room full of stamps,but it is my hobby and relaxation...no need to give it up.

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londonbus1

11 Feb 2021
05:31:32pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I don't believe selling one's collection is giving up. I am starting to do that now while at the same time adding to just a few albums of great interest.
I am making less work for my family when I go to meet my maker.
It's going to be great fun and I am excited about it. My interest in the hobby is no less than it was before, in fact even more so as I sort out all the stuff that will go. I am finding items I have forgotten about and am donating lots too. Great fun.
I am following in the footsteps of my buddy 'Golovacz' who did exactly the same.
The only sad part is having to re-cycle catalogues, books and journals and other peripheral items that are weighty. I would gladly give stuff away but postage costs are prohibitive and there is nowhere local to take (even if it were open during the Pandemic). So a lot of great info going to the bin is not fun but that apart........

As for the 'future of Stamp Collecting'? It has a great future. There will always be Stamp collectors, and until this virus situation, there was always somewhere to go, something to see. Since last March it's all online but no less busy or popular. in fact even more so.
Still the greatest hobby, always has been, always will be.
Of that there is no doubt.

Londonbus1

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musicman

APS #213005
11 Feb 2021
07:51:11pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

I would say that roughly half of those 42 albums were beginner albums, some of which were unused; many were sparsely populated.

Of the rest, there were a few stockbooks of various sizes, with anywhere from a few pages filled to filled to entirety.

There were 2 full sheet stockbooks that were nearly full - one with US, one with WW.

Then there were the few random Scott green albums, the 4 or 5 Mystic albums, some older musty albums and also some Harris Libertys and odds & ends such as a Scott International Junior Album (those things are HEAVY!), and a few other misc. ones - many from the early 1930's to '40's.

A lot of fun so far going thru them!

Anyone looking for an extra album/binder or 2, let me know! I just might have one!

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angore

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Collector, Moderator
12 Feb 2021
06:05:15am

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

One aspect of collecting is the business of supporting collectors with albums, mounts, and tools. HAWID is going out of business so collectors have one less option for supplies.

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amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
12 Feb 2021
09:32:15am

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re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Danny: it's FEWER. FEWER explores individual numbers; LESSER explores combined or uncountable numbers, such as weight or empathy.

I think the hobby is changing, rather like everything. But our local club has more members now than when I joined 20 years ago AND we have several children. Who knows if they stay involved, but they're active now.

Brick and mortar stores are virtually extinct, but that's true in so much of what we consume, and that pace is accelerating.

I worry mostly about the bourses; will they be able to survive the pandemic.


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DannyS

12 Feb 2021
09:40:04am

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Fewer. Thanks David. I had it right. Funny about weight though. I was thinking this morning that I wish I weighed a few less pounds.Happy

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DavidG

APS member since 2004
12 Feb 2021
07:06:16pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

Hawid is going out of business because the 87-year old founder and owner died. He was German, and founded the business after the war. That, and Lighthouse Publications (also a German company, family owned since 1917, now dominiates the mount market.

David

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Bobstamp

13 Feb 2021
05:46:39pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

AMSD said, "Danny: it's FEWER. FEWER explores individual numbers; LESSER explores combined or uncountable numbers, such as weight or empathy."

David, when you korrec my english, I like you fewer. Big Hug (I guess you dint know I were a english teecher, so your forgaven.)

boB

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DannyS

13 Feb 2021
09:15:22pm

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

"Hawid is going out of business because the 87-year old founder and owner died. He was German, and founded the business after the war. That, and Lighthouse Publications (also a German company, family owned since 1917, now dominiates the mount market.

David"



This brings up in my mind the big difference in how Germany handled its industry in the '60s compared to Britain. (I can't talk about the US because although I worked in the field for Texas owned companies for more than twenty years, my knowledge isn't good enough.)

Germany helped its small and medium sized companies, many still under the original founders or their families, to become what they are today. It's the place to go for top quality engineering. Britain instead encouraged mergers to form larger companies, unfortunately most of which have long gone to the wall. From my own experience the British company I worked at as a young man making nuclear power station and submarine electronic controls is now a supermarket.

I guess looking for an American example would be how the Douglas aircraft company under the control of accountants disappeared into the monolith that is Boeing. (Yes I still collect the DC-3 stamps)Happy

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14 Feb 2021
08:34:49am

re: What is the future of stampcollecting ?

" .... Danny: it's FEWER. FEWER explores individual numbers; LESSER explores combined or uncountable numbers, such as weight or empathy. ...."

A regular S.I. Philakawa.

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