How Do You Decide What The Limits Are For Your Collection?

I'm a newbie on the forum having resurrected the hobby after an 30 year absence. In that earlier life my approach was to be limited to MNH with not a whole lot of thought beyond that. Now I've started again collecting only used prior to 1970. The date is somewhat arbitrary but the "used only" reflects my belief that usage to carry the mail makes them postage stamps.

So my question is what, if anything, have you set as the limit on your collecting philosophy?

Terry

There are limits to collecting? Never crossed my mind.

I limit my collections, except in a few special cases, to the 1840-1940 period. Now, it turns out that doesn't have to be much of a limit, because I can choose to get specialized in any portion of that with postal history, essays and proofs, cinderellas, etc...

While I do collect very specific things- MNH Definitives, dues, and officials I also collect certain counties in depth e.g. Ryukyu, Somali Coast, Afars and Issas, St. Pierre, Abu Dhabi, FSAT, and the small Spanish possessions like Ifni. Ultimately my limits are simply what I like and don't like.

I am kind of like a philatelic magpie. If it is shiny (Aka postal) I collect it.

Sometimes I try to limit my collecting to countries X,Y and Z for a certain era. Then I find something else I like and my collection begins to expand again until the next spurt of "discipline."

Collect what you like and don't worry about it.

Dan

I was a MNH person too at one time, I limit myself to 1840 to 2015 and prefer used stamps. Oh, and covers too!

The limits to my collection vary quite a bit according to the area, how seriously I collect it, etc. Mostly the limits are shelf space and time. Even if budget weren't a consideration, I'd like to collect the entire world to date, but I just don't have the time to devote to every nook and cranny or the space to hold it all.

Although I am a worldwide collector I have set myself fairly strict limits. At the same time: when I come across something beyond those limits that really fascinates me I will collect it. Isn't stamp collecting to be fun?

As a Brit, I feel I 'have to' collect British stamps! They're just so much a part of the postal process, and I imigine nearly every collector collects their home country, if only as an aside. I draw the line at 1971, when Britain went decimal. This is very convenient as it allows me to ignore all the pretty wallpaper stamps with birds, fishes, kings and queens, flowers, kittens and what have you (no, I'm not talking Ajman - I'm talking GB!).

I also have a Commonwealth collection. That concentrates on George VI, but I collect others into QEII, provided they are of the older style - so the cut-off line is fuzzy, but broadly speaking, into the 1960s.

Well, perhaps on that Other Stamp Collecting Forum, but not here on SCF. I suppose you missed the thread where we were all instructed that to collect one's own country is narrowminded and jingoistic because you will (necessarily, it seems) ignore all the wretched, evil, unjust, racist, misogynistic, homophobic things your country has done and uncritically swallow the propaganda on stamps. Stamps are nothing but propaganda and always distort history, in case you did not realize that.

Only by collecting countries other than your own country can you atone for your country's sins,

Well, there's still hope for you. You can repent and undergo reeducation and once more become a productive member of Society by collecting the Trucials and Oltra Giube. (But that's still jingoistic because it's collecting by countries, even a dead country. Far better to go All Topical All the Time.)

For some of us there's no hope because we are unrepentant.

The choice is yours.
/sarc

You have to be a very disciplined collector to keep strict limits on your collecting. Limits are good intentions, but you will find items that capture your interest and suddenly unintended or otherwise you will find yourself with an excursion outside your self defined limits.

I know that I stray now and then from my #1 priority which is making covers with older related stamps, blocks of 4 of the releases.
Tom

Since I came back to stamp collecting, I've worked my way around a good deal of Europe. Currently, I'm focusing more on France and French Colonies, which also have the virtue of being particularly attractive stamps. I roughly cut things off around 1970, but I don't actually get rid of the later stuff that comes my way. A good way of finding out what interests you is buying a few old, well-filled albums cheap on ebay, and seeing where it leads you.

Terry,

Your situation is similar to mine, though my renewed interest started years ago. I chose to limit collecting by first by country and date, so for example US and Hungary, 1840-1970's. 1970's is upper limit mainly because that was when I started collecting as a child. US and Hungary for personal reasons.

Once you get started on an area, its pretty natural to then branch out, depending on your resources.

Hungary of course expanded to Austria, Switzerland etc. Now I just say Central Europe. But I'm slipping into other European countries a bit.

US expanded to include Canada then naturally the UK. That now threatens to include other Commonwealth nations.

Satan keeps tempting me to embrace the entire world and start a classic WW collection (e.g., Big Blue albums) but so far I've been able to resist, probably because I have no free time anyway.

Give me some hints of what your weak points are, and I will try to tempt you further.

I have a "serious" postal history collection, which is what I started to collect. But these covers sit in shoe boxes, mostly ignored. For fun, I've discovered that I enjoy sorting worldwide stamp mixtures. From this I've put together collections of Germany, the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

It is difficult to describe why, but once I see a stamp I like, I decide to collect the country. My limit is mostly undefinable and just depends on what catches my interest at a certain time