Blue Cheese, Stamp Albums And Other Thoughts

When I was a boy I hated blue cheese salad dressing. Now, many years later it's my favorite. I used to only drink sweet German white wines - now I prefer a complex red wine. Tastes change. My tastes are changing on stamp albums too. I have the obligatory US Album set with lots of blanks in the front that I never will fill - and lots of overpriced stamps after 1990 (most of which I ought to slap on the next outgoing mail.) For me albums have only become a way to chronologically organize my stamps and prod me along to acquire some stamps that really don't interest me and with the only lingering gratification being to fill a blank spot. Silly me.

I think my tastes have changed to collecting stories - for example,stamps from an era of beautiful engraving; stamps with a SON postmark with a location and date from the 19th century; stamps from a country that no longer exists; or stamps about a heroic personality I admire. I still like the layout of album pages, but only those pages that display the stamps I like. And I think I will worry less about how pristine the page looks and freely add my comments and thoughts about the stamp. So more stock pages and self-made layouts are in store. Maybe I won't buy the supplement this year. Does anyone else feel trapped by your album?

(However, I still hate coconut.)

Like you, my tastes changed. I first collected modern MNH US material, because it looked "cool." Lots of pretty pictures. Then I became interested in classic US, because it seemed way cooler than modern US.

When I started sorting kiloware for the heck of it, I realized it was way more FUN to discover a stamp I'd never seen before. Modern WW or classic WW, it was all good.

Then it became interesting to devote more time to how the stamp was cancelled. Was there an appealing SON cancel? How about a readable slogan cancel? I'm not a perfin collector, but at least now I set those aside and will probably trade or sell them at some point. So while barred numeral cancels of Victoria may not be of interest to a budding collector, they did strike my fancy. At least my newest interests won't cost me quite as much as buying mint stamps. I do like the thrill of the hunt going through kiloware, which is something you can't say about buying mint stamps. I just need to be sure I live till the age of 93 to sort it all now.

I never bought an album, so I never felt I had to fill any spaces. I just use stock pages or dealer cards to store individual stamps. Sheets are in protectors or large glassines and stored upright.

Likewise I changed to what I enjoy more. Since I also like genealogy, I enjoy "postal research" in identifying the addressee and addressor on covers. But, I am also switching to full sets and covers from Pacific arena and creating my own albums for display. So once I get organized, bye-bye to most of my U.S. material.