Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
I describe myself as a magpie collector. You know how magpies like to collect things that are shiny? I'm a bit like that. I started out basically as a world wide collector until I decided that was far too much for me and cut my collection back to about 20 countries, mainly English Commonwealth. But things would come up and I'd think "I like that, that would be good to collect", so I'd add that country to my collecting interests. So now my count of countries that I collect is back up to around 60. I also like to collect covers e.g. Minnesota Cancels, New Zealand Cancels, US Navy ship covers, RPO cancel covers.
I have a friend at the Northern Philatelic Library where I spend a fair amount of time, let's call him John G. John G. collects one country at a time until he has that country as complete as he can get it, which means he can't afford to buy the last few stamps in that country and then he selects another country and starts again. I so admire him for his approach and discipline in his collecting. I just can't get myself to work that way.
How do you make your collecting decisions?
Regards ... Tim
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03:28:29pm
A complicated question! I started collecting in university when my partner and I discovered stamps being sold in a local hardware store. She thought the Russian and Polish stamps being sold in packets were very attractive. So that started us on those two countries. A little later we decided collecting Canada and the US was the natural thing to do. We also ended up with the first three volumes of Scott's Big Blue set of albums to put the extra countries in that we ended up with. When my wife died at the end of 2014 I hauled out the stamp albums that had been put away a few years before when she got sick. I had a look through them and grabbed several countries that were well represented and added them to the list. That's, in a very simplified way, how I ended up where I am now. I was always a collector but never really considered stamps as an option until Cathy and I got hooked in Rockwell's Hardware in Kentville Nova Scotia!
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Nice story Joe. You should write a biography...
Covid, is when I started.
Kept my interest by writing a publication!
See: https://www.philatelistmagazine.com/
I originally collected to decorate envelopes for pen-palling. (Ie; modern us commems.)
Now, I collect mainly anything historically signifigant, and US of course.
Also, printing/photography & Dutch history are in my family (4 Generations!), so I collect Germany States/Colonies.
I have always, preferred the outliers of a main country...
Obscure areas are also my jam, like Battleship Revenues with 1 cancel from each state. (Still looking for a few...)
I have polish relatives, and really like the early yugoslavia. (Cheap and fun to collect!)
Stepped back a little on my postal stationary after dubinweb.com went down, though I am trying to find the owner.
I am very happy being a member of this club and participating in my local club, and I thoroughly enjoy the hobby!
However you collect is great!
-Ari 
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For me it is mixed boxes at auction. I keep what takes my fancy and slowly add to it. The remainder when I eventually get to it I sell on here.
I like the one country printed albums. I also have a cd of Steiner pages up to 2005 which I found in a mixed box.
Some of the Printed Albums I have are Bosnia Herzegovina, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Berlin, Hungary, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and of course Great Britain.
I have various stockbooks of Bohemia and Moravia, Portugal, Nigeria, Italy, East Germany, Egypt, Denmark, Sudan, Japan and several other albums along with a few albums of First Day Covers.
It all depends on what comes up for auction locally and what I can afford at the time.
Its the "thrill of the chase". You never know what you will find and what will take your interest.
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Great discussion topic Tim!
For me it is a bit like a mixture of your experience and that of your friend John. When I started as a kid, I wanted every stamp I could get. I was a real world wide collector. When my collection grew and it was no longer a few pages for each country, I decided that I realized that collecting the whole world was a bit too much, I would need to do something and I decided to get rid of most of what I had at the moment, leaving only the countries that I had the most of, or that I thought were the most interesting. That meant all Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and South America suddenly had become trading stock and I continued with a number of European countries, Canada, USA, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
This restriction worked fine up to the moment where I could not get any additions without spending insane sums of money. And from that moment, the number of countries slowly grew again. I added Argentina when our future king married a Argentine lady, I added Brazil because, like Ian, I happened to get my hands on a nice starter collection. And after that came Nepal, Japan, Chile, Peru, Bermuda, the Baltic States upto 1940 and some of the German area in that vicinity, etc. etc.
It was/is mostly coincidence or based on things happening in my life at that point, like the fact that I started collecting Egypt in the time I had a girlfriend who had studied Egyptology. But mostly it is because I think the country or topic is interesting, a challenge and not something everyone collects. Like for instance cinderella's and railway parcel stamps.
But who knows, perhaps I will have found a new topic to focus on in a few years. I guess that's the fun of it. I know the chance of completing a country / area / topic is very small but I don't care. Again, like Ian says, it is the thrill of the chase.
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03:30:32pm
Just one more comment on this. I started several new countries over the last few years and have found one particular E-Bay seller to be very fair and useful. I remember when I started Peru, for example, I found a large lot offered by DanTheStampMan and picked the lot up for a very fair price. He mainly offers country lots and I have never had a problem with him or his service. I have no reason now to deal with him since most areas I collect are well beyond the stage of needing large lots of stamps. It's really worth checking him out if there are countries you collect that have lots of gaps to fill. Just a suggestion!!
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The first two countries I started collecting, US and Czechoslovakia, I still collect. In fact, I'm working on my Czech collection now, trying to refine it, using just two, maybe three albums (or sets of albums) and either deacquisitioning the rest or turning them in dupes. I got the immense 10-volume set from an SOR member for the cost of postage; it contains incredible details, including many perforation varieties I never knew existed. It's a slow, fascinating slog.
I face decisions with the US collection, mostly related to finances.
I also collect Hungary, but it's dormant, and likely to remain so until I get the others in order.
My two very active collections are US covers, focusing on international and domestic rates, auxiliary markings, and RTS/missent (among others); and US Christmas, Easter, Santa Claus (aka Saint Nicholas) Post, other seals. I focus on seals tied on cover.
The Czech collection started when I visited Prague and the friendly philatelic clerk, who spoke the same amount of English as I did Czech, brought out EVERYTHING he had, and it spanned most of three decades. This was early in my collecting days, and I was hooked.
The seal collection was an idea from Kathy Kelsey, an SOR member, who was also a member of the Christmas Seal and Charity Stamp Society, which I then joined and quickly became the editor of their journal.
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I started collecting in 1958 with a cirgar box of Washington/Franklins 1908-1921.
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When I first took up stamp collecting as an adult it was the 70’s and it was all about the American Bicentennial and Olympics, so that’s what I did with some US Airmail. Then after a long hiatus I returned a couple of years ago and resumed the hobby. This year I decided to "dabble" in some worldwide stamps, but had no clue of where to begin. So first I decided to start by expanding my US Olympic collection to stamps from Host Countries, starting with the 1896 Olympic Games in Greece. Then I joined a few online forums like this one, and had the good fortune to participate in several giveaways. I am now building a rather random worldwide collection of different countries. Still I am not focused enough here, but these random stamps are helping me learn and start to think through what countries and focus areas I would like to see this part of my collection advance in hopefully a more organized and focused process. It’s been a wonderful learning opportunity!
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(Modified by Moderator on 2025-08-24 14:23:21)
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I collect everything and nothing in particular. Never limited myself to a couple of countries. The way I look at it, I can never find or afford to buy most of the classic stamps and for the most part I do not even need them so badly. Don't need anything really complete because among the stamps I like, there will be some I don't. Why waste time with stamps I am not happy looking at?
Depending on the country, I would collect what I think are the most attractive stamps from 1910 to 1965. After this period I tend to stick mostly to fauna, flora, transport, landscapes, art and whatever catches my eye depending on artistic value, design, colors, cancellation.
Being a fisherman, I think I have turned into a trout - always observing what the current will bring my way; if it looks good, I grab it in an instant. Sometimes I end up with the odd inedible object in my mouth that I spit out and then continue my feeding frenzy. 
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I like Canada stamps as I have caught a lot of fish there in four provinces...Ontario, Quebec, NWT, and Manitoba. And they look nice
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I started in the 70s with Newfoundland - because it had a beginning and an end, because there were relatively few stamps, and because I liked the dog, the scenic issues of the 20th century, and the lovely royal portraits on the 1911 issue. Actually that issue includes the only stamp portrait of little prince John, the one who was epileptic, was not mentioned much, kept on a farm on the Sandringham estate, and who died in his teens. Anyway, I soon discovered that completion was not possible because of the cost of the airs.
From there I moved to Austria and Sweden because I liked the line engraved stamps. In turn that introduced me to Czecho engraved stuff. Next Iceland, then France, and then ... several more countries. To make things affordable, I tend to look for defined periods, such as the reign of certain kings of Denmark and Sweden, and the dual kingdom of Iceland. Finland was a problem because no kings! So the cut off was a currency change in 1963.
I have never been interested in GB, for some reason!
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I'm curious to know how you decided what countries you were going to collect.
I describe myself as a magpie collector. You know how magpies like to collect things that are shiny? I'm a bit like that. I started out basically as a world wide collector until I decided that was far too much for me and cut my collection back to about 20 countries, mainly English Commonwealth. But things would come up and I'd think "I like that, that would be good to collect", so I'd add that country to my collecting interests. So now my count of countries that I collect is back up to around 60. I also like to collect covers e.g. Minnesota Cancels, New Zealand Cancels, US Navy ship covers, RPO cancel covers.
I have a friend at the Northern Philatelic Library where I spend a fair amount of time, let's call him John G. John G. collects one country at a time until he has that country as complete as he can get it, which means he can't afford to buy the last few stamps in that country and then he selects another country and starts again. I so admire him for his approach and discipline in his collecting. I just can't get myself to work that way.
How do you make your collecting decisions?
Regards ... Tim
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Back when I had a bunch! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
20 Aug 2025
03:28:29pm
re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
A complicated question! I started collecting in university when my partner and I discovered stamps being sold in a local hardware store. She thought the Russian and Polish stamps being sold in packets were very attractive. So that started us on those two countries. A little later we decided collecting Canada and the US was the natural thing to do. We also ended up with the first three volumes of Scott's Big Blue set of albums to put the extra countries in that we ended up with. When my wife died at the end of 2014 I hauled out the stamp albums that had been put away a few years before when she got sick. I had a look through them and grabbed several countries that were well represented and added them to the list. That's, in a very simplified way, how I ended up where I am now. I was always a collector but never really considered stamps as an option until Cathy and I got hooked in Rockwell's Hardware in Kentville Nova Scotia!
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re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
Nice story Joe. You should write a biography...
Covid, is when I started.
Kept my interest by writing a publication!
See: https://www.philatelistmagazine.com/
I originally collected to decorate envelopes for pen-palling. (Ie; modern us commems.)
Now, I collect mainly anything historically signifigant, and US of course.
Also, printing/photography & Dutch history are in my family (4 Generations!), so I collect Germany States/Colonies.
I have always, preferred the outliers of a main country...
Obscure areas are also my jam, like Battleship Revenues with 1 cancel from each state. (Still looking for a few...)
I have polish relatives, and really like the early yugoslavia. (Cheap and fun to collect!)
Stepped back a little on my postal stationary after dubinweb.com went down, though I am trying to find the owner.
I am very happy being a member of this club and participating in my local club, and I thoroughly enjoy the hobby!
However you collect is great!
-Ari
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06:42:32pm
re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
For me it is mixed boxes at auction. I keep what takes my fancy and slowly add to it. The remainder when I eventually get to it I sell on here.
I like the one country printed albums. I also have a cd of Steiner pages up to 2005 which I found in a mixed box.
Some of the Printed Albums I have are Bosnia Herzegovina, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, Berlin, Hungary, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland and of course Great Britain.
I have various stockbooks of Bohemia and Moravia, Portugal, Nigeria, Italy, East Germany, Egypt, Denmark, Sudan, Japan and several other albums along with a few albums of First Day Covers.
It all depends on what comes up for auction locally and what I can afford at the time.
Its the "thrill of the chase". You never know what you will find and what will take your interest.
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re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
Great discussion topic Tim!
For me it is a bit like a mixture of your experience and that of your friend John. When I started as a kid, I wanted every stamp I could get. I was a real world wide collector. When my collection grew and it was no longer a few pages for each country, I decided that I realized that collecting the whole world was a bit too much, I would need to do something and I decided to get rid of most of what I had at the moment, leaving only the countries that I had the most of, or that I thought were the most interesting. That meant all Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia and South America suddenly had become trading stock and I continued with a number of European countries, Canada, USA, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.
This restriction worked fine up to the moment where I could not get any additions without spending insane sums of money. And from that moment, the number of countries slowly grew again. I added Argentina when our future king married a Argentine lady, I added Brazil because, like Ian, I happened to get my hands on a nice starter collection. And after that came Nepal, Japan, Chile, Peru, Bermuda, the Baltic States upto 1940 and some of the German area in that vicinity, etc. etc.
It was/is mostly coincidence or based on things happening in my life at that point, like the fact that I started collecting Egypt in the time I had a girlfriend who had studied Egyptology. But mostly it is because I think the country or topic is interesting, a challenge and not something everyone collects. Like for instance cinderella's and railway parcel stamps.
But who knows, perhaps I will have found a new topic to focus on in a few years. I guess that's the fun of it. I know the chance of completing a country / area / topic is very small but I don't care. Again, like Ian says, it is the thrill of the chase.
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Back when I had a bunch! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
21 Aug 2025
03:30:32pm
re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
Just one more comment on this. I started several new countries over the last few years and have found one particular E-Bay seller to be very fair and useful. I remember when I started Peru, for example, I found a large lot offered by DanTheStampMan and picked the lot up for a very fair price. He mainly offers country lots and I have never had a problem with him or his service. I have no reason now to deal with him since most areas I collect are well beyond the stage of needing large lots of stamps. It's really worth checking him out if there are countries you collect that have lots of gaps to fill. Just a suggestion!!
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re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
The first two countries I started collecting, US and Czechoslovakia, I still collect. In fact, I'm working on my Czech collection now, trying to refine it, using just two, maybe three albums (or sets of albums) and either deacquisitioning the rest or turning them in dupes. I got the immense 10-volume set from an SOR member for the cost of postage; it contains incredible details, including many perforation varieties I never knew existed. It's a slow, fascinating slog.
I face decisions with the US collection, mostly related to finances.
I also collect Hungary, but it's dormant, and likely to remain so until I get the others in order.
My two very active collections are US covers, focusing on international and domestic rates, auxiliary markings, and RTS/missent (among others); and US Christmas, Easter, Santa Claus (aka Saint Nicholas) Post, other seals. I focus on seals tied on cover.
The Czech collection started when I visited Prague and the friendly philatelic clerk, who spoke the same amount of English as I did Czech, brought out EVERYTHING he had, and it spanned most of three decades. This was early in my collecting days, and I was hooked.
The seal collection was an idea from Kathy Kelsey, an SOR member, who was also a member of the Christmas Seal and Charity Stamp Society, which I then joined and quickly became the editor of their journal.
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re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
I started collecting in 1958 with a cirgar box of Washington/Franklins 1908-1921.
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re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
When I first took up stamp collecting as an adult it was the 70’s and it was all about the American Bicentennial and Olympics, so that’s what I did with some US Airmail. Then after a long hiatus I returned a couple of years ago and resumed the hobby. This year I decided to "dabble" in some worldwide stamps, but had no clue of where to begin. So first I decided to start by expanding my US Olympic collection to stamps from Host Countries, starting with the 1896 Olympic Games in Greece. Then I joined a few online forums like this one, and had the good fortune to participate in several giveaways. I am now building a rather random worldwide collection of different countries. Still I am not focused enough here, but these random stamps are helping me learn and start to think through what countries and focus areas I would like to see this part of my collection advance in hopefully a more organized and focused process. It’s been a wonderful learning opportunity!
admin - tweaked formatting
(Modified by Moderator on 2025-08-24 14:23:21)
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re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
I collect everything and nothing in particular. Never limited myself to a couple of countries. The way I look at it, I can never find or afford to buy most of the classic stamps and for the most part I do not even need them so badly. Don't need anything really complete because among the stamps I like, there will be some I don't. Why waste time with stamps I am not happy looking at?
Depending on the country, I would collect what I think are the most attractive stamps from 1910 to 1965. After this period I tend to stick mostly to fauna, flora, transport, landscapes, art and whatever catches my eye depending on artistic value, design, colors, cancellation.
Being a fisherman, I think I have turned into a trout - always observing what the current will bring my way; if it looks good, I grab it in an instant. Sometimes I end up with the odd inedible object in my mouth that I spit out and then continue my feeding frenzy.
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re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
I like Canada stamps as I have caught a lot of fish there in four provinces...Ontario, Quebec, NWT, and Manitoba. And they look nice
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re: How did you decide what countries you were going to collect?
I started in the 70s with Newfoundland - because it had a beginning and an end, because there were relatively few stamps, and because I liked the dog, the scenic issues of the 20th century, and the lovely royal portraits on the 1911 issue. Actually that issue includes the only stamp portrait of little prince John, the one who was epileptic, was not mentioned much, kept on a farm on the Sandringham estate, and who died in his teens. Anyway, I soon discovered that completion was not possible because of the cost of the airs.
From there I moved to Austria and Sweden because I liked the line engraved stamps. In turn that introduced me to Czecho engraved stuff. Next Iceland, then France, and then ... several more countries. To make things affordable, I tend to look for defined periods, such as the reign of certain kings of Denmark and Sweden, and the dual kingdom of Iceland. Finland was a problem because no kings! So the cut off was a currency change in 1963.
I have never been interested in GB, for some reason!
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