Stamp Collecting - The Hobby Is Dying

'Once banned by Mao Zedong as a bourgeois activity', the article led off.

They seemingly have money for stamps today.
Sadly, money will not buy them freedom of speech.

Londonbus1.....or will it ?

Re stamp dealers as middle men creaming off a profit - fine, but I like to see something before I buy and I'd rather pay a bit over the odds for something that's just what I want. I love going through a big lot of stamps and finding a lot that I like but don't have. So I choose an album carefully that hits the right buttons.

Also I like the idea of buying from a physical person instead of anonymously over the internet - and it's handy being able to pop in to pick up accessories etc. And for a shop to survive they need customers and profits. So I don't mind letting the shop have a decent margin if I get what I want - support your local dealer, I say!

Of course, I'd much rather trade - so when I get a bit organised I'll post some trades here.

And on a linked matter - one way to help stamp collecting to survive is to visit stamp dealers in other cities - perhaps we could have a forum where we pass on what we've found out about dealers round the world. I could recommend a good one in Potsdam and one in Prague if only I could remember their addresses . . .

I think it's wonderful that the Internet can pull together such a diverse group of people who collectivity (no pun intended) share the same interests and would not probably otherwise ever meet. Thanks to all and remember to have fun!

I had to laugh at that! I can't even get five hours down the road to the dealers in Dallas and you're trying to get me set up with some stamp dealer spy in Eastern Europe. Maybe Bond, James Bond, can stop by for me.

Well, I have to weigh in here. It seems like stamp collecting is an international hobby. I doubt kids in Africa know what the
heck a Yu-Gi-Oh is. I certainly don't. I know that coming from the US, due to age constraints I don't know what most of the things kids collect these
days are. However, I know that every country I've been to I've met collectors (either active or inactive) one way or another. When I was
in the military and in Kuwait, one of the workers on the base (I think from India) used to ask me for the stamps off my letters. I think all societies
use coins and a postal service in one way or another. So, these hobbies will still be around, although maybe in a different form that we traditionally know.

Stamp collecting is in serious decline, I don't think we have to worry about it's impending death any time soon. The whole losing auctions thing though... it depends on what you're looking for. It's still all about supply and demand. Low-value, common stamps go for pennies on the dollar catalog price. Rare stamps certainly do not. If you're expecting 10% catalog price for rarer stamps, it's no wonder they went for 3-4x what you were prepared to spend. That's not philately dying, that's basic economics.

Its a shame too..countries with a lot of stamp collectors seem to have lower crime rates !

wow dying ya say... might be but then I recently came back to collecting stamps after oh,,, some 30 year break

I don't know. I'm not sure that I collect for the monetary value/investment as much as I do the sheer enjoyment and interest. I often tell friends
that collecting stamps is like having my own museum. I can spend as much as I want and still have something interesting. 10 percent of cat. value returns? I think it's wishful thinking. Then again, it's supply and demand. I bought alot of my US material when I was in Germany and Turkey. It was cheaper there. However, I got most of my Turkish material from sources outside of Turkey for the same reason.

Lol of course they are - you need money to collect stamps. They are not going to be your top priority if you cant find food for your family or money for drugs etc.

Without the internet, stamp collecting might have died, but I think with sites like this one and with the general calibre of the stamp collectors I have met so far the hobby is safe and sound for a very long time.

Even/if they ever stop printing stamps; we will not be deterred: we'll print our own and swap those