What Area To Collect?

Hi All,

I am now collecting only UK stamps.
But I have stamps from over the whole world.

What should I do?
Should I do an area, instead of the whole world.
Or just the whole world?
Or something else?

I am asking this, because I want to join a local stamp collectors club in my town.
So I hope you all can help me, making the decision.

Kind Regards,

Rik

JMO, I would then only collect UK. I would also put the stamps of other countries into envelopes or stock pages for safe keeping. Then, when you tire of UK you can sort and catalog the others. When you have enough to warrant an album for another country you have a lot of the work already done. Or, you can use them for trade material in your new club.

Art

Hi Rik, and welcome to the forum.
When I returned to collecting over a year ago, after being away from it for over 30 years, I decided to collect just Canada and the US. So took my childhood 'world' collection and sold it. I've since bought albums or collections at auction and trade them, or resell them to fund my collection. However I've noticed that I develop interests in other stamps/countries not in my area of interest, so I've ended up with small side collections and even a binder of stamps I just think are neat.
I'm not advocating you selling off your collection, by any means. I'd agree with Art. You may want to hang on to the pieces you don't consider part of your collection now, because you never know which direction your interests will go.
I will even admit to regretting selling some stamps, which now I think I should have kept.
Kind of long winded, but I hope that helps.
James

Okay, artlaunier, that is a good statement.
@ jamesw: Okay, also that is clear, but I don't gonna sell any stamp of my collection now.
Only the duplicates, of course..

Hi Rik,

I don't know how far along you are with your UK collection, but I have a rather large amount of UK stamps here that I don't need and that just might have your name on them (if you're interested that is). Note that it's mostly low value stamps, but maybe it can help you...

Hi Rik and welcome to the forum

I guess the best answer I can give you is to collect what country pleases you the most. The vast majority of collectors start by collecting WW stamps but generally realize that it is too much to keep up withh. Having said this, if you are still keen on WW, maybe a particular topic or theme would be best? That way you can still have a good representation from all over the world on just one topic.

Just a suggestion

Chimo

Bujutsu

Yes Chimo, that is also an option.
I gonna think about it.

More tips are welcome

Rik:

Do not listen to these people !

I came here a few years ago with just a few stamps that I saved from childhood. Now I've had to move into the garage because there's no room for me in my home office, at the dining room table, or in the living room.

These people have a sickness and they will lead you astray

KirkS

That reminds me, Kirk. I mailed your stamps to you today. Glad to be able to help. Hope you are comfortable in the garage.

A classical era worldwide collection/album makes a nice secondary collection to your main interest, and can be a repository for all those engraved historical stamps one would be reluctant to part with....

Just a thought.

Did Kirk get loose again?? He's just so hard to keep locked up. Quite frisky until he gets his stamps, don't you know.

It might seem you have to keep everything that comes your way and a lot of us do that, me included. But after a while the piles become slightly out of control and the tongs are harder and harder to find.

You might end of accumulating everything but the areas you enjoy are the ones you might spend more time on arranging and mounting in your books.

Then again you might just like buying, like me , and enjoy the hunt of finding that hard to find stamp. Or the history about it or the covers used upon or mint and fresh.

Don't worry about having too much. There's always more where that came from!

Kirk, bring that booklet back here! Oh my.

Thank you all three.
I gonna do something with all your fun and good answers!

Are there stamps other than from Australia?


A big rik to SCF.

Always Happy Stamping! KGV

I realize this sounds crazy but I collect what I like. Although, I generally prefer stamps from Germany and Turkey I still have a worldwide collection. Does it make any sense? I come across alot of interesting things
in exchanges and my searches for material.

"Should I do an area, instead of the whole world."
Well, Rik, it all depends on your budget, I would say. Older UK stamps at least will keep their financial value as well as the philatelic value. Modern UK issue lose their "worth" as soon as you buy them. On a low budget you could do nicely with the Edward viii issue and if you include the overprinted ones (Tangier and Morocco Agencies) you can have a nice collection of the basics with around 50 stamps mint and used. Then there is FDC of the basics if you can hunt around. On a bigger budget, the sky is the limit.

Okay thank you for your information, scotzm.
You are totally right.

More replies are always welcome!