My Journey Back Into The Hobby - Good & Not So Good Decisions

By the time they were cancelled, a lot of innocent people died......

It is absolutely impossible to be "wrong" in deciding what to collect. People can collect their own toenail clippings if they want to. It's entirely a personal choice. So long as it gives you pleasure, go for it. It's entirely up to you.

Granted, people can have their own opinions of things. I think most modern stamps look like something that a 12-year old whipped up on Photoshop and therefore I choose not to collect them. Others can do what they want. It doesn't matter to me at all.

There are others?

"One was issued in small quantities and had undeniable beauty in depicting historic tableaus and showcasing the engravers art "

There issued over 1.4 billion of the 2c Columbian. Doesn't make it any less collectable than the $5, just less valuable.

edited to add - we like them for their designs, not print quantities

"But the truth is that our hobby's history is full of organized fights against 'frivolous' stamps being issued. This attempted influence goes all the way back to the 1800s with the 'Society for the Suppression of Speculative Stamps' which was supported by the APS and the Royal Philatelic Society. At the time, Society for the Suppression of Speculative Stamps declared the 1898 US set of Columbians as being an unneeded, money grab by the USPOD which was taking advantage of collectors. The Columbian set, which totaled $16.34 per set (around $400 in today's money) was just one of many examples which the Society for the Suppression of Speculative Stamps attempted to promote as not being collectible."

Whether the Society gets any credit or not, the Columbians traded below face into the 1910s or 20s.

Never said it was less collectible, but I guess that the overall point was missed.

Anyway, here are the approximate quantities issued for each of the Columbian values:

One Cent: 449 million
Two Cent: 1.464 billion
Three Cent: 11.5 million
Four Cent: 19.1 million
Five Cent: 35.2 million
Six Cent: 4.7 million
Eight Cent: 10.6 million
Ten Cent: 16.5 million
Fifteen Cent: 1.5 million
Thirty Cent: 617,000
Fifty Cent: 243,000
One Dollar: 55,000
Two Dollar: 45,000
Three Dollar: 27,000
Four Dollar: 26,000
Five Dollar:27,000

ALL NUMBERS ROUNDED

Yes Roger. Didn't you sign up for the circuit books?

This has been a great thread, and just keeps getting better. so many great perspectives are being shared here.

- Lance

I'm not sure this could be achieved.

Most collectors would've been at it for years before they find their niche, and/or consider themselves advanced.

I found my niche....dozens of times.

Mobilman44 - I have seen to many comments in this and other forums where people slam the modern stamps as stickers. I could have done a better job wording my feedback and not made it sound so directed at you. For that I apologize as well.

My experience is that younger ones don't like it when us older folks appear to slam the things that they like. When I see younger ones interested in stamps I try to do whatever I can to encourage them.

Here is a case in point. At one of the local stamp show I attended a boy in his early teens walked up to the dealer I was sitting at and asked the dealer if he had any stamps with cars or airplanes on them. I dealer said he did and pulled out a huge assortment of WW stamps with "airplanes" one them. They were your typically very modern ones from countries who pump large quantities of topical stamps out. The dealer wanted $40 which was around 10% of cat. value. The boy sat down next to me and spent a long time peering through them. Both the dealer and I could see he was really interested in them and the dealer said he could have them for $25.

I struck up and conversation with the boy and at one point asked him what he thought about the stamps and whether or not he liked them. If was funny because his response was they were OK, but not sure he wanted them. I figured he may not have the funds and I told him I would give him $20 towards the stamps. Dealer told him he would set them aside so he could think about it and the boy walked away.

About five minutes later he was back with his dad in tow. The boy then launched into this sales pitch to his dad and began to show him all the neat stamps and why they would be great to have. He closed his sales pitch and sealed the deal by saying "and this guy sitting at the table (that was me) offered to pay $20 so they would only cost them $5". His dad had a shocked look on his face because he was surprised someone would do something like that. From my perspective I am not sure what was more fun to see/watch, the kids sales pitch or his dad's Kodak moment (yes, I am dating myself with the Kodak comment). I would bet neither will forget that trip to the stamp show anytime soon.

When they finished the purchase and walked away I heard the boy at the next dealers booth ask "Do you have any stamps with cars on them". Made my whole day and brought a big smile to my face.

Just might have helped create a lifetime collector there mstocky2

Lovely story, mstocky.

There is a slight nuance there. They extended it to the complete Spanish territory. Aragón and Castile, however, remained two separate Kingdoms during the reign of the Catholic Kings. When Isabella died, it was not Fernando II, but Felipe I who inherited the Kingdom of Castile.

The inquisition already existed in the territory of Spain, as it had been introduced in the Kingdom of Aragón in 1249.

That sounds somewhat familiar. Its maybe a handful of times and mostly extending.
My main collection is the UK. The Irish overprints got me into Ireland. That dropped me into the overprints on British Stamps.
Now, I find myself collecting blocks of some Spanish stamps.

On finding one's niche, multiple times, my experience may not be typical. I haven't strayed far from my original focus or interest. When I started serious collecting 20 years ago, that focus was US Airmail and US aviation topical stamps. That's less than 250 different stamps, even with most variants, but I soon added covers -- early airmail flight covers (e.g. Lindbergh, first flight) and then first day covers. I am still adding covers to the collection, typically making 4-5 purchases a week on eBay. I did find a couple of tangential niches over the years, starting with a focus on Hap Arnold (lots of connections there to aviation and stamps), which led to some familiarity with WWII patriotic covers with special interest in the covers of Victory, VT. But that's it. This small range of special interests still holds its interest, and keeps me busy collecting, after 20 years. I don't see my expanding further.