If You Knew Then....

If you knew what you know now when you started collecting stamps what would you do differently other then getting stamps you now know when up in value?

I probably wouldn't have gone to college (use tuition money for stamps), wouldn't have bought a stereo (more space for stamps), turned the bathroom into a stamp soaking room (hey, I've got a backyard with trees...), wouldn't have bought a mattress/pillow (hey, piles of stamps are nice and soft), carpeted the ENTIRE house (it's tough to pick up fallen stamps from a tile floor!)...

I can probably think of dozens of other things I would have done differently, but I don't want to spend too much time thinking about "what if", when I still got boxes and boxes of stamps to sort/enjoy!

k

I would have kept more "on cover" rather than snipping every envelope I ever received! I would have paid more attention to philately while I was on my world travels, even if it was just to make sure I collected cancels from interesting places.
I'm sure there's more

I would of spent more time collecting postmarks.

Would never of collected pre stamped envelopes!

Wished I knew about paper eating insects.

Wished I understood that rust loves 65% + humidity and 18c + temp!

My answer is the same as stampgal's. It wasn't until later that I realized that stamps on a cover are generally more interesting and often more valuable. I also would have started collecting metered covers/postmarks earlier too, as KGV says.

I wouldn't have sold my first collection for peanuts when I was a kid..
I would have kept it..
I would have not snipped so many envelopes....
I wouldn't have stopped for 20 years.

WHO KNEW ???? I would have spent more on quality stamps instead of Junk lots and I would have collected specific countries instead of spending MANY years on worldwide albums that a dealer will throw into box lots one day !!

Yes, I have had to deal with that temptation, Phil.

To be honest I had to grow through the process...it seemed like good sense to get a bunch of stamps for my meager dollars instead of one..and the people I associated with at first collected worldwide..i had become more sophisticated to learn about specialized one country collections...i still play with worldwide for fun and relaxation !!

with all the above.

when I worked in a Post Office, maybe I could have got a little "confused" every now and again with the datestamp and produced a few inverted dates etc. for you all to find now!

Just like stampvirgin said, "I would not have stopped for 20 years." Especially at my last job where we had a lots of foreign mail. Oh well.

I came back to stamp collecting 5 years ago after I stop for 25 years. At the time I stop going to my regular bar where I have fun and spend quit allot of money and my hobby then was computer games. Going out late is great but it get you in bad shape when aging. So I switch to poetry and stamp collecting and go to bed early on weekend. But philately can even be more expensive. I have to moderate myself.

About the value of stamps I don't think it should be the only guide for a true philatelist. My most important collection is Europa which is very interesting with the annual theme. Not long ago I bought a Zanzibar collection and I compare the value of stamps between 2007 and 2010. The value raise about 20 to 25 percent. A friend told me that it's the trend for British Colonies. I don't think i'll sell my other collections and switch to that. Classic collections with allot of King and Queen heads doesn't turn me on. So I collect country and topicals that I like, not just because the expectation of an increase in value is high.

Told a bit about myself... Enjoy participating here!
Daniel

Welcome Daniel, (If I havn't welcomed you before )

I was at an auction some time ago,
and I overheard a gentleman in front of me grumbling
about Zanzibar...
"You guys have all the fun...but I never see Zanzibar coming up for sale"

or something like that.
A tough and lonely collecting topic maybe.

I question at times my Australian stamps only policy.

This forum keeps bringing up this issue for me!

Still thinking about it!

I wish I had joined a stamp club or a forum like this much earlier. It makes the hobby that much more enjoyable when you have help and support and can see what others are doing and get inspired and interested on a daily basis almost.

John, You have started off on cancels now, that will lead you off in different directions also. Just be patient. They creep up on you when you are least expecting it. There are many fascinating cancels out there from all periods. I am hooked on them now. Ignored them most of the time before now.

Doug