Moving From The Stamp Album To Postal History

Its dawning on me that little by little I have been doing less and less with my stamp albums and more and more with postal history..covers and postmarked postcards..its just easier to handle cards and covers(at least for me) than stamps..its easier for me to view covers and cards than stamps..i find it easier to find covers and postcards that interest me..on the market than the stamps I need !

It's all good.

Totally understandable. I've done the same thing.
What direction are you going to within postal history?

Good Luck!

Mike, I have been actively buying Argentine registered covers and in postcards the early days..first 25 years of the 20th century with interesting stamps or postmarks..paqueboat,military,small town photos etc;

I got on the postal history wagon about 2.5 years ago. I have not looked at my many stamp albums in quite the same way since. I am amazed at the breadth and detail of postal history. Its pursuit has made me a better *stamp* collector as well.

Welcome to the dark side.

Peter

I have always viewed the study of anthropology as being a big part of philately. That is, how people communicate and who they communicate with, and why. Covers and postcards provide a unique opportunity to learn about these things.

Well, far be it from me to pass up any opportunity to plug the Uglies, the Indian States, but those of us fortunate enough to have been bitten by the bug have been chasing covers since the year dot. Often enough, it's in part to demonstrate that a particular stamp was actually used, and when, but usually also for the sheer aesthetic pleasure of a nicely put together, strictly commercial cover.

Stabbing a finger at random in my scans, how about this registered cover with the first two stamps of Alwar State in India:





Or this one from Bhopal State, with the rather uncommon ¼ Anna of 1884, SG 48





with the most fascinating doodlings all over it?

Hi all

I too started collecting stamps and gradually got into postal history more and more. I started once I saw an auction catalogue with Canadian RPO cancellations and thought it would be a great idea to have covers with that theme. For the past 20 + years, I have bought more covers / cards than I have stamps.

My postal history interests are now the local area I live in plus, RPOs and Canadian military mail.

Having said all this, I still find myself going back to stamps every now and then I can't really give up stamps entirely. I guess I am hooked <G>.

On an other note, I have also collected postcards heavily too. I have been collecting them for well over 25 years. I have often heard it said that postcard collecting is the sister hobby to stamps. I guess if you started with postcards, you would say that stamp collecting is the sister hobby - oh well, whatever works.

Happy collecting.

Bujutsu

After about 45 years of collecting stamps, mounting them, looking them up in the catalog, stamp collecting became boring. I gradually switched to collecting postal history starting about 16 years ago and finally made a complete change to postal history in the last two years or so. I collect postmarks, fdc's, event covers, used picture postcards, postal history and some modern stamps topically. I am having a ball. I've done numerous cover projects highlighting various events in American history.
This is a hobby that is very diverse. Don't let the philatelic infrastructure, dealers or publishers dictate how or what to collect. If you are a philatelic investor that is a completely different animal. If you are a hobbyist, suit yourself.
Joel

I like what Smauggie said about comparing anthropology as part of philately. It really is as we are studying cultures around the world. As an archaeologist, I see covers akin to finding a point (aka "arrowhead") in a feature like finding a stamp on a cover. "It's in context" as archaeologists would say. You have a greater context and can tell a much greater story. You have a sender, a receiver, postmark(s), labels, other markings and maybe a letter you can read if you are lucky. It's all part of the greater story the collector(historian) gets to decipher and hopefully tell that story to others. I just got a book in today - "Collect British Postmarks". I'm excited now to go through my British covers to figure out the postmarks I have and that will only be one chapter of the story for each cover.
Will