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

There are no collecting limits, only credit card limits...

My limits; time line wise; were set when I purchased Parts I through V of the Scott Big Blue International album back in the early 1980s. For those who may not be familiar, those parts cover 1840 through 1965.

I collect several stamp entities into the mid-1970s, such as Canada, and Portuguese colonies until the Revolution of the Flowers in Lisbon in 1974 and start of de-colonization. I mention Canada specifically since this thread is in the Canadian stamps board, and because I have a high degree of completeness for Canada 1859 through 1973. Pocketbook is now the limit as I'm missing 6-7 of the early rarities and couple other earlies are faulty.

Hi. I limit my collecting because I have an unenthusiastic partner close to retirement. We are thinking of downsizing. My collection is small enough to fit in one Rubbermaid roughtote bin. I am currently sifting it and trying to rid myself of things I don't want anymore.

An active sales plan helps. I have approval pages for Stamp Club meetings, approval pages for online, and items on ebay (or did). I have items for trade, and willingly trade countries that no longer interest me. I am heading to a dealer next week to get an idea of what, if anything, is of value in my collection. I doubt he will want what I want to sell. But to me that will just be confirmation of what is valuable in the collection.

I am very strict with myself. I collect Canada, and Textiles. That's it. I have a ways to go before I outgrow those two areas. Anytime I feel the need to collect another country, I switch over into my topical textiles and see what's out there. :)

Find your partner another romantic distraction and then you can spend more time with what really matters and possibly parlay the guilt into a larger collection.

Psst. I didn't really mean that. Satan made me do it. He's right here sitting on my desk and threatening to torch my collection of early US stamps.

Mint only. I dont care about hinges. I never enjoy looking at the gum of a stamp :) my pleasure is to look at my album and see mint stamp. I also collect 1851 - 90's for now ..... dont know if I will goes in the 2000's and up .......

...Many a true word is spoken in jest

It only depends how long I can live, and how long the brain works well.

I collect US singles; preferably lightly cancelled used stamps or elst mint. What I collect is postage stamps. I define them as certificates of payment affixed to a letter or package to induce the postal service to transport and deliver it.
The specialty sheets, souvenir sheets, etc. distributed by the Postal Service for collectors to buy without using for mailing are not postage stamps, and, therefore I don't collect them. Nor do I collect pairs, whole sheets, or covers.
Of course, this last statement wasn't intended as criticism of those who collect them; its simply a statement of fact.
Thus limited, my collection still requires a great deal of time and money but its a great deal of fun.

I analyze the loads imposed on the structural system supporting my stamp accumulation.

I collect whatever philatelically interests me - which means I collect whatever I can get by with without my wife finding out about it. Coordinating UPS trucks can be tricky. This sounds like a joke...but it's not!

I like this You're not a structural engineer by any chance rogdcam?


For me some areas seem to set their own limits. Dead countries (eg: New South Wales) are easy. Great Britain was the end of the reign of King George 6th,

Australia was 1988, the bicentenary year. France was 1940 when the Scott Specialized finished.

The hardest one was Australian Antarctic Territory. I decided to stop at 2017, a neat 60 years after their first issue.

Be thankful if you only have self-imposed limits; I have been under a 'medical prognosis' limit now for almost 4 years and it sucks. (No point in buying more stamps and making your family deal with even more dispositions when you are told you don't have more than 6 months to live.)
So instead of spending money and time on stamps I have tried to stay connected to the hobby 'digitally' by volunteering here and with Stamp Smarter development.
Don

Don (51stud) so sorry to hear about the medical prognosis, though the fact the 6 months has become 4 years now is hopefully a hopeful sign you'll be around for many years to come.

As for me, while I am going to have a liver transplant sometime soon (just waiting for "THE CALL" to come in and have the transplant) I am looking beyond that and expect to be around for several more decades (I am 46 now). As for limits, I don't have them other than I prefer mint to used, but I love used stamps with clear date stamps showing where and when the stamps were used.

Thankfully my "man loft" at home is 550 square feet/~50 square meters of space I call my own, so space isn't a problem :D

https://goscf.com/t/43888&whichpage=3#518297

Don, you are a jewel! Thank you for all you do!

Don,

We all think the world of you and appreciate how you are channeling your efforts so productively.

Jack Kelley