Collecting Stamps Vs Postal History

This is a somewhat long post. Sorry.

Laying awake in the middle of the night last night (once again) I was thinking about how much time and energy some collectors put into studying and researching the details of a certain stamp (flyspecking or plating) or postal history like the US air post routes of April 1919, etc. I was thinking about taking up the habit because I really respect the people who publish their findings so I can have easy access to them.

I was thinking about choosing an area for study, but I realized that at this stage of my life I'm just working too dern hard and long to have the mental or physical energy for it.

I realized I like jut being able to hunt down stamps and archive them in my albums without the need to do a lot of "thinking" about it. I also like the complete control I have over the process. If I want to collect all pink elephant stamps and mount them in my album upside down and with the back showing I can do it and my boss/wife/kids/dogs/yard/church can't tell me not to.

So there world!

You tell 'em.

I also respect the collector whom publishes, displays, and exhibits all their hard work for the world to enjoy and learn from. If it wasn't for the past collectors, we current & future collectors would not have it as easy.

Though these two areas are not the same they are not mutually exculsive of one another.
You can do both, I do. It's interesting to me and keeps me out of trouble most of the time.

Mike

I would love to be able to do both. But, being a single dad with two teenagers still living at home, I am lucky to be able to grab enough time for my stamp collection.


Butch

i hear you guys..i am retired and I can vouch for the fact that it is a time consuming hobby...i am cataloging stamps for some future collector..he may have to change the catalog values if inflation comes..but thats life..and its relaxing..one clown in our stamp club says his time is worth $60 dollars an hour...good for him..i am doing the stamps for fun..and on a good day may make 60 cents...why do they confuse my hobby with money..now I am getting annoyed !!

Phil a hobby is different than a job I tend to agree with you on that one.I've spent more money just getting the supplies that I WANTED not needed to make this into a hobby for me.Boy 9 months ago my thinking was alot different than it is now.I thought stamp collecting would have been boring,thats why I left grandpa's stamp collection in the boxes til last January.Good thing I went to my garage that one day it must have been my calling,then to go right to this web site and find all the wonderful people who have turned my thinking completely around

Same same here laswabbie & Tina!

Didnt have time then, have tons of it now, all my four kids, now college grads and post grad degrees, have been so accustomed to see their dad always immersed in work,(had to, school costs soooo much)
Now find it odd, seeing their dad staring at 40 year old stamps

Life does have it's twists and turns,
overall, it's been highly enjoyable

I just loove stamps

Though I find colour variations interesting, at this point in my collecting I do not intend to pusue looking for variations in the different stamp. I simply look for the best examples amd hinge them into my albums. To me this is very satisfying for the moment.

Dianne

Oki, the postal history wins for me...dead post offices of New York State, Guatemala post cards and covers...antartic covers relating to Penquins...when I go to a stamp show..on autopilot I had for the cover boxes...of course I still put stamps in albums also !!

I collect stamps, but occasionally I end up with items relating to postal history. So for me they are not mutually exclusive. As long as I feel good about an item, it has a place in my collection :)

I have just started my stamp collecting adventure, and I am glad I did. I love the stamps and the history but the hunt is what I enjoy most right now. There are so many interesting things to find and learn about. This forum has been a wealth of information. I am glad I have found it.

Carol..you got it ! the hunt is the thing..i am fortunate my wife also collects..otherwise it might be difficult to justify travelling long distances to attend stamp shows..our being at Washington 2006 was probably the highlight..what a huge show..it was just impossible to do justice to it in three days..i hope you can find a stamp club somewhere in your area !!

I have been concentrating on the personalized stamps and because they are scarce, any envelopes that have used them, although right now I am just concerned about the stamp itself, not the fates and markings on the cover. (Although I do enjoy a nice looking cover.)

I do enjoy stamps, it is always a pleasure to hunt through a pile of unknowns hoping to find stamps you have learned about and understand the history of.

Postal history has just this year become fascinating to me (ignored it before) because of the its links to history and place names that I know about.

Doug