How Do You Keep Fun In Collecting?

Hi all,

I'm now colleting stamps for about 8 years.
In those years, I've seen lots of stamps.
But now I'm constantly soaking kiloware.
That isn't funny anymore...

So what can/should I do?
Focussing on one specific country?

I'm asking this because I want to keep collecting stamps!
Also, please take in mind that I have Autism and a social phobia, so I cannot go to a "stamp club"...

I hope you'll can help me with some tips and advice.
Many, many thanks,

Rik
The Netherlands

For me, the fun of collecting is the hunt for odd stuff.

Try collecting early covers with letters inside.

Buy collections and lots off paper.

Color postcards from an earlier era are fun.

Ah... I understand your delima. I have spent countless hours soaking and drying stamps. At first it is pretty cool but after a while it gets OLD!. So, I stop doing that and sort some stamps. First by country then by denomination. Some sort by year and that works too. I also have a US album that I am working on. I am scanning in all my album stamps into my stamp software. I watch auctions on several sites. and chat with folks here and abroad about stamps. No need to worry about the social issue on a forum.
there are many fun tasks in stamp collecting. I recommend going to the http://stamps.org/Home website and reviewing all the helpful resources they have for free for all who visit, not just members. Try visiting the northwest philatelic library website as well.

that should be enough to last you a day or so.
Happy sorting!!

It was sort of mentioned in the responses by others, but a quick way to rekindle interest in stamp collecting is to change to a different field. By that, I don't mean give up on stamps, just change what you're collecting. Here are some examples:

If you focus on soaking off old stamps or "kiloware", then change and give attention to precancels or perfins or even postage meters, which is fast becoming a popular item to collect.

If you have interest in covers, try and obtain some historical covers and learn about the history of them or the communities or the people to whom they were sent.

I have found it quite interesting to acquire some cheap kiloware or covers and exclusively study the postmarks. Postmark collecting, even with modern issues, can be interesting.

If none of these suggestions interest you, there are a whole array of other collecting avenues to explore. For another example, go to a local post office and buy some new issues and study them. Who knows, you may learn something new about the current issues on the market or possibly find the odd color mis-registration or printing anomaly which may not be valuable, but would certainly make the collecting of such items interesting.

If you primarily collect stamps of one country -- change it -- and start collecting a different country.

If you don't have the albums for all of your stamps, or some specialized material, then make some by either creating them yourself on the computer or using pre-printed pages.

The list can go on and on. There always seems to be something to re-ignite one's interest in stamp collecting, just don't focus on any one thing too long that you get bored with it.

I stopped collecting "modern" US stamps in 1988. There were just getting to be too many of them, too high of denominations and the supplements and mounts for them were getting out of hand cost wise. So now I collect the older stamps and spend more on two stamps than I would probably spend if I had just kept up.

But the older engraved stamps are a lost art form. I've simply fallen in love with the designs. Some are absolutely stunning. Today's printing methods don't impress me much personally, compared to the older engraved stamps.

Completing sets is a goal, but one that is getting harder to do because of the practicality of budget on higher denomination stamps at the turn of the century (1900).

Completing these old engraved sets as well as looking over them with a good glass is where I find my fun. But everyone is different.

Fun is where you find it I guess.


-IBFS

I like to complete sets ... definitive, topicals, etc. And I like scanning, finding information, finding covers, posting pictures here, on my blog, on facebook etc.

I have been collecting worldwide stamps for close to 60 years. I still get excited to sit down in the evening and go thru a new lot of stamps. I buy what I want to add to my collection thru major stamp auctions but I stay around to pick up a end of auction bulk lot ,just to enjoy myself sorting stamp or just to work on for rainy days.

Right now my main enjoyment is researching the Big Blue Scott International albums. There are a couple of great blogs (bigblue1840-1940.blogspot.com and globalstamps.blogspot.com).
Last year (and I will be doing this in the future) I scanned old U.S. stamps, esp. the Washington and Franklin issues, on a good scanner (doesn't have to be expensive; mine cost less than $300) at a high dpi and look at the detail on a computer. Great fun seeing all the detail. Obviously, this can be done with any stamp, but I like the engraved ones the best.

Although I haven't done it on the W-F issues, I have to agree with you that scanning a high resolution image of any stamp picks up details that I may have missed no matter how many times I may have looked at the stamp with the naked eye (or even with magnification).

I must say the ability of scanners today to enhance an image and see details that are otherwise too small to detect with even the best of magnifiers does make for an interesting study.

What I do is jump for project to project. At times I do inventory work or maybe some searching for new acquisitions. Much of my time goes into designing pages, printing pages and mounting. Since my collection has been a lifetime effort for the last couple of years I've been rebuilding some of the countries. It also provides the opportunity to mount items that have been acquired but never mounted. For the first time in a long time I have countries that are completely up to date. Not to say they are complete but rather everything I have available is mounted and inventoried. At times I don't work on my collection for months. But my ear is always at the rail searching for and reading about them.

There are way more things to keep me busy in the stamp collecting area but I cannot spend all my time on stamps. I am a collecting junkie that will collect anything that interests me. My collections range from knives and guns to coins and stamps and more. I was an owner operator of big trucks for a good portion of my life so I collect trucking memorabilia.

I love to build and rebuild mechanical items such as cars. I still own and drive, occasionally, a 1978 Ford F250 which I bought new and a Ford Galaxie that I've owned since 1985. Both have been completely apart, every nut and bolt has been removed and refurbished. Very little of the work done by others.

What I am trying to get across is, I think we all need variety in life. If all I did was to collect stamps it would probably feel more like a job than an adventure. It takes time to build anything and whether it is a stamp collection or a cigarette lighter collection. I don't even smoke!

I too like to rotate around a bit and collect some covers, soak stamps and keep adding to the albums too. I really like going through box lots because it is the thrill of the hunt that keeps me going.

Hi all,

Thanks you all for your replies.
I'm just awake, so I gonna read all twice, haha ;)

I'll let you'll know if I have more questions.

Greetings, Rik

There's always something that needs doing when collecting stamps

That is true, guyickinit.
I think (now) that I'm going to focus on stamps from Holland (Born & Living ;))

I switched from stamps to covers to keep it more interesting for myself. The vast majority of postally used covers are unique in some manner and no matter how many dealer boxes or auctions lots I go through I can always find something new and interesting. Covers and their postmarks, labels and possible letters can lead to other interesting historical tangents when I research them. Overall, find the areas you're happy with and persue them. Switch it up if one area of collecting feels stale to you and there's so many different ways to collect that I cannot fathom how one can lose interest.