When $$ Do You Consider Yourself A Serious Collector?

Ok, I will give myself as an example....i consider myself serious about collecting a certain country OR topic when I spend $40 to $50 dollars for a set or single or cover from that area !! Discussion please !

With my German collection prior to 1962, I am at the point now
that the least expensive stamp needed will cost me about 100 bucks.

I usually treat myself to one or two per year.

After 1962, I need around 15 regular issues, to complete Germany thru
2004.

These are easy to find, and the most expensive stamp would run from 2-3 bucks, plus many of these holes are filled by David in our trades.

Hi Phil......


I don't think it depends on what you spend per item......

I started collecting when I was 6, by the time I was about 8 I considered myself a serious collector. It may not have been a great collection but I was very serious about taking care of it, re-arranging things for neatness, studying maps to see where all the strange and faraway places were and trading with other collectors. I spent about 80-90% of my free time involved with my collection....especially when the weather was crappy. For Christmas and birthdays all I wanted was stamp stuff.

Phil,

I would consider most people here "serious" collectors. Why else would they seek out this forum and contribute? We may be in different stages of our collecting history but that doesn't make a beginner less serious than "we who have been collecting since dirt was created."

I know I'm serious about an area when the gaps in my collection bother me. When I hear, "you paid *how* much ... for what??" Then I know I'm serious about that area. When the holes don't bother me, I won't spend more than a few bucks.

Dan

I would have to agree with Tom about equating the amount of money spent with being a serious collector. I think it comes down to how you care for your collection, what your learn from your stamps, and the hours of enjoyment obtained. The poorest or richest person could spend all, none, or some of their money on stamps and be considered a serious collector or just an accumulator. For the richest person it may just be about the ability to purchase HV stamps and they gain nothing for their investment except titlement of ownership. On the flip side, a poorer person could spend their last dollar on a stamp for the sheer enjoyment collecting gives them.

I am taking a licking on this topic I came up with !! Perhaps I could have worded it differently...i did not mean that people were not serious collectors unless they spent a certain amount..almost all my expenditures are less than the figures I stated..that was my upper end folks !!

Now I made things worse ! I didnt realize my wifes id was logged on and made the last comment in her name !!

Jopie....


Anyone can be a serious collector regardless of income. It's more of a way of thinking that makes us compulsive obsessive. In the 20's-30's & 40's anyone could create a decent collection for only the cost of supplies because stamps were on just about everything that was mailed and dumpster diving was not seen as something sinister. You'd be amazed at the quantity and quality of things that were salvaged from the trash during that time period, and to a much lesser extent it continues even today.

Being able to spend serious cash is another thing altogether.

Phil, I don't think you are being beaten up on your topic. You just asked a question and wanted feedback. I had to go back to the beginning of the topic because I didn't think Jopie had started this topic...LOL I know I've spent more than I should have on a single stamp or set and most would chastise me for it. It's a good think I don't really think about it much, huh. I think the most I've spent for a single stamp would be around $50 or $60 dollars. That is pretty serious.

Much to my embarrassment, my dad used to do that at the post office during his lunch hour when I was a kid. It really was amazing the philatelic material he found!

Dan

bobgggg, know the feeling, I am at the point in my US pre 1940 that any individual stamp is in the big bucks (big for me is over 50$ per stamp) I have quite a few of the big buck stamps, but am drooping for more. So I guess that makes me serious.

Hi! I would opine when someone puts in more than 10 hours a week on stamps, including travel time, that's serious.

Another is when 10% of gross income is spent on stamps and related items, that's really serious.

and when the kids, the wife and friends starts noticing your stamps, now... that really is serious especially when every nook in the house has stamps...

I'm still figuring out if that's ...me

I would suggest that one hallmark of the serious collector is shown in whether one seeks out the company of other individuals that are involved in the same pursuit, either in a club, or even in a website such as this. The desire to seek further knowledge from others, and to impart what wisdom they have themselves to others, would show a high degree of seriousness in and of itself, because it shows the desire to better themselves and their fellow collectors.

Anyone can buy a big-ticket item; all it shows is that they have the money to do so. If they buy it to complement and better their current holdings, it is the existence of these current holdings that separates the true collector from the mere accumulator or mere investor. It's the difference between the Collector and the collector that matter in gauging "seriousness" in a fundamental sense.

when you spend over $5000 and you have not bought a single stamp just accessories and shipping that when you are a certifed stamp nut

I agree with Dan...if you seek out a forum such as this and not only read carefully but also contribute, I would consider that a sign of the serious collector. I know quite a bit about my collecting (Early US) but there's hardly a day goes by when I don't learn something from my fellow members. We must have been a dull bunch before computers.

Allan

I am reminded of something I read years ago, I believe it went something like this, "If you consider yourself a writer, then you are a writer." I have applied that thought to several things since then, I think it would apply here as well. "I am a collector or I am not."

As for being a "Serious" collector, well, if you consider yourself a collector, have ever spent any amount of money or time on a collection, actively sought out information to increase your knowledge about a collection, then you are probably serious about it.

Just my thoughts.

Devlin