The Changing Trend In Stamp Collecting

I have not seen any postings or articles about how the hobby is trending. There been a few letters to the editorial page of the APS monthly journal about declining membership. But very little on where this hobby is going over the past ten years. The stuff you read now is about the hobby going to the internet and ebay , hey that's old news and that happen 15 years ago and not were we are trending over the past five years.

Im in the financial markets and if the information is over two years old its history not news.Where are we trending now!!-----------Lets see ---------There is not a lot happening in the philatelic publication area other than people printing their own albums. The stamp shows are now all about postal history and the people who exhibit are former stamp collectors but these exhibits are not bring in youngsters or new exhibitors to develop new postal history collectors .Can I be right in saying that postal history collectors bleed off collectors from stamp collecting .What im seeing here are new collectors starting in the hobby or coming back into it. But I don't see the advancement to serious collecting and research development past the basics of "mount what I got on a album page or stockbook ". I would change the whole direction of the hobby and go in a different direction of exhibit and write up what you got and set a award system that everybody can win a notice from other collectors instead of this GOLD MEDALS awards for having spent $100,000 or more to win at major stamp exhibits .

If we don't do something shortly then expect stamp values to sell at less and less of those phony catalog prices ,look at the major auctions and major ebay sellers a lot of them are pressing for stamps to get 1/2 or even 1/3 of catalog realization ..Forget about CHINA that's a joke and a game for speculators ,Stamp prices are trending downward and less collectors are buying higher price stamps ,and please don't tell me other wise there are always a few exceptions to what I said but overall prices are not holding as more and more collectors are buying out off the nickel boxes.-------boy that must of t-off a few here but tell us where are we trending.

No

What are you blathering about?

mark one----- for t-ing someone off .

Yes, I am into the technical printing and perforating aspects of postage stamps, but most if not all of the articles that are published by the stamp societies that I am a member of have been about postal history and postal rates. I have submitted several articles to one society that keeps asking for articles only to have them not really appreciated or do anything at all with them so far. It makes one feel like quitting and/or not writing anything anymore to submit to them.

So.
Collectors become fewer in number, stamp prices decline.
Discovery of 'gum rot' in MNH stamps, used stamp prices rocket!
Collectors shun market flooding stamp issues of Royal Mail forcing the cessation of stamp issues.
Catalogue issuers agree on unified catalogue numbering system.

Terry

Last time I met a stamp dealer in Montreal he told me that collectors that come to him for selling are either beginners or specialized. The way he speak it seem like there is something missing like there is still a market for expensive and rare stamps. But you don't sell it everyday. He needs more of those intermediate collectors and that should be the trend and the core of a profitable business. So what happen? I think we can find the answer related to the economic situation. I think that when economy is strong there is more money that can be devoted to hobbies for average family. Who will spend thousands of $ a year on stamps when he is not sure he can keep is job. So I think a strong economy would bring back those intermediate collectors. But I know there is other factors to consider. Daniel

There are many reasons young people aren't collecting as much as prior generations. The main factor IMO is they are the digital generation. They are tied to their devices like it is an addiction. They also spend a huge percentage of their or parents disposable income on digital plans and new devices, apps, and downloads. It really doesn't leave much for archaic hobbies. When I mention stamps to my son (now 33) he snickers and goes back to looking at his phone or tablet.

First of all I see a plus with less collectors and that is hopefully a drastic drop in prices. It is supply and demand, less demand equals more supply and hopefully much lower prices. I'm not into stamp investment so I want the stamps that are out of my reach and that day may come.

Second there are far more hobbies today than back in the day. Thus more things are looking to get our dollars. If I was still a kid and with the choices I would have today probably never seriously collected stamps. Why would I? There are far much more exciting hobbies and even activities today.

I don't worry about the hobby as many people do, it will live on in some way and form. Just like film and photography it will survive, just with fewer people. Sometimes I think dealers worry more about their customer base and thus the drive to get more young people in the hobby.

Stamps are a love a passion that can not be artificially generated. It is sometimes like coffee you have to develop a taste for it.

No one in my family collected stamps thus I never had someone drive or push me into the hobby. It was the boy scouts that did that, I needed a merit badge and well this looked easy. I developed the love and passion and stuck with it.

I tend to stay away from stamp shows and hate trendy competitions of look what I can buy with my money. I am less likely to associate with people who are so called experts and endlessly tell you how wrong you are. I like to tell them, you know it is a stamp just a piece of paper.

However I respect those that study the subject more than me and has the wisdom, knowledge and skill to teach and not overpower.

So if the only concern you have is how the stamp values are trending then your not the same type of stamp collector that I follow. Better yest I am doing everything I can to push it is the collector direction for more involvement than worried about those collecting rare and hoping for prices to increase.

My daughter is an modern stamp collector. She collects what she likes, what appeals to her eyes. Some time I call her the true base of stamp collecting, a person with a passion just for the stamps. She is now 17 and has been collecting stamps for over 6 years. She doesn't worry about the technical or investment side.

She has used stamps in school by integrating them with history assignments. She has taken new issues such as the Johnny Cash and made art work out of them.

I asked her what she likes about collecting stamps since most 17 years old so not. She said they are cheap, beautiful to look at and something to do when the internet is down or in between her busy sports schedule. The tech side is not for her and she said it is boring to read about the many different version of the same classical stamp when to her they just look beautiful. She asked me why do people insist on making stamp collecting boring for us young people.

IMHO the past/present/future state of the hobby is precisely what we collectors have made it to be.

-k-

One trend I've seen at local shows is less collectors overall as they are poorly attended. The less collectors equals lower prices might not hold true at all. It just might mean less shows, less dealers and less clubs as the older collectors die off. Some of us might find it really hard to find material in person.

The biggest and most damaging trend to the hobby - philately is increasing not in the public eye.

There is one price drop I would like to see. The cost of reference materials will eat you alive unless you focus on one aspect. Most of what I collect is before 1945 yet there isn't one definitive book they covers everything that has been known for over 50 years. Brusden-White for Australia, SG for Great Britain and colonies, Michel for Germany, and good ol' Scott. Then all the books on postal rates and other extraneous offshoots. WOW!

Philately is alive and well. It is more vibrant now than I have ever seen. While attendance at stamp shows has declined, participation on the internet is huge. Delcampe, ebay, stamp forums, philatelic societies, government postal administrations, etc., have strengthened the hobby.

Someone must be buying these offerings:

http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/per.../default.jsf

How about the "Flying Jenny" sheets? The Canadian Superman stamps? ATM vending labels?

Today, we can look at thousands upon thousands of stamps and covers without leaving our homes. We can enjoy looking at exhibits that have been downloaded on the internet.

This is the golden age of philately. Collectors sell surplus items directly to other collectors. People are buying! Sometimes when I lose an ebay lot I wish they weren't.

In the "old days" we had to rely on a few dealers to acquire material. We now have the whole world! My collection has improved enormously since I first became an ebay buyer in 1999.

Of course not all collectors are embracing the changes. I used to belong to a philatelic society which until recently did not use the internet to communicate with its members because so many of them were not on line.

It is difficult if not impossible to predict the future. But we can sure enjoy the present.

Hi,
Let me throw in a bit of a different perspective....... A lot of us older folks (I'm 69) collected stamps in the heyday of the hobby - the late '40s thru early '60s. I dropped out in the mid '60s, mainly because I didn't have the money to pursue it like I wanted. Just by accident I found myself looking at stamp auctions on ebay two years ago. WOW, all those mid 20th century mint USA stamps were suddenly very affordable to me. Before I knew it, I had jumped in with both feet. The thing is, I've read more than a few postings on this forum of other folks coming back after being away for decades.

One of my points of view of the hobby has changed....... As a young person I looked upon it as an investment. Today I look upon it solely as a wonderful educational pastime.

Trends, a case in point. I have a cover with 3 U.S. singles. Scott numbers #19, 22 & 24. Forgetting conditions or any other factors (the 22 may be a 21).

My 2011 Specialized list an on cover #19 at $14,500.00 the 2014 Specialized list it at $9,500.00 which is a drop of $5,000.00 in just 3 years! That's a 35% drop. I'm just glad that I don't collect as an investment because I would loose my shirt. Why would any investor ever gamble in stamps, and it is a gamble. That's what a lot of young "collectors" think of, not the enjoyment of the hobby, its always "What's it worth?". Somehow we missed passing on that aspect to the next generation and we need to change it. With the flood of labels being printed for today's stamps, it's hard to do.

Art

Hi artlaunier,

Hard to fight that 'stamps as an investment' attitude to stamp collecting when outfits like Stanley Gibbons aggressively market their (unregulated) Stamp Investment 'Portfolio' accounts, stating they out perform other investment markets. Can't see that when they will sell to you at top CV and buy back at low CV. And charge commission. Press coverage of philately doesn't help either when it is limited to reports of the latest stamp rarity at auction fetching dream money dollar figures.

British TV is flooded with antiques auction type programmes covering all sorts of collectibles, mostly hideous furniture and dire cups and saucers stuff. Never stamps. All of these programmes heavily emphasise the money side, never, ever, the enjoyment and pleasure there is to be found in collecting beautiful things.

Terry

Terence




I've watch one off these programs on Historia channel. The one from England, 2 guys doing a lot of millage visiting potential sellers and one is call Drew. They are doing it surely for the money but they express many feelings about what they see. They are connaisseur and you have to be in this kind of business. The hability to sense what your potential costumer needs is more than just a matter of money.