What If Stamps Had No Value

Hieronymus,

I'm not sure where you are going with this but to answer your question, I *was* married. My wife collected her things and I did mine. At the divorce our "collections" never came up. They were never valued.
My grown kids know I have a stamp collection but have no interest in it.
When my album is permanently closed, I'm positive my collection will go on ebay or some other venue as quickly as possible.
What they get out of it will be pure profit for them. If they don't do due diligence and research the collection, some collector will get a windfall. I won't care, I'll be dead.

Dan

Blcjr,
Perhaps I just have odd friends. (A definite possibility). I know people who collect all sorts of things from marbles to matchbooks to antiques. They all can tell me what they paid for a particular item and if it is considered common or scarce. When I ask them what their collection is "worth," I get a blank stare and an answer that basically says, "I don't know, it's my hobby."
That's how I view my stamp collection.
Dan

I don't have any idea what my collection is worth and really don't care. When I die it can go in the paper shredder for all I care. I've tried to get my 8 and 10 year old grand daughters interested without any luck. My daughter has no interest either.

The personal rejection is the worst. I've tried to subvert their obstinacy with picture postcards (suitably enstamped) and with covers on topics in which they otherwise have an interest, eg, the current favorite animal or cartoon character.

What the hell ... it beats working for a living.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

danstamps54,

With that explanation, I understand you a little better. My late wife collected pretty much anything related to hummingbirds. Chimes, coffee cups, jewelry, on and on. And the house is still decorated with them. She didn't know, or care, "what they were worth." But I have never thought to think of her hummingbird "collection" as "collectibles." A quick google definition (for whatever that's worth) of the latter:

noun
1.
an item valued and sought by collectors.

So I guess it is a matter of word meaning, but not everything collected is a "collectible."

The meaning of the word 'item'? 'valued'? 'sought'?

Seems to be a matter of the plural form, eg, "collectors".

If you are not the only one, you are a collector.

If you are the only one, you are quirky.

In which case your collectibles would be quirkables.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Good one!

The semantics in this thread are fascinating! I often get the question, "Do you still 'save stamps'?" That phrase has always mildly irritated me because it sounds as if they think my collection/collecting/saving is trivial. Of course to them it is. And of course I'll take whatever they saved for me!

Ikey Pikey's definitions remind me of an old "Antiques Roadshow" (UK edition) in which one of the hosts told a story of his first collection: peach wrappers. Quirky!

I'm competitive by nature so value does matter to me. I pursue stamps for aesthetic beauty per se, as well as historical interest, but I seem to get the most enjoyment from a sustained search for the best quality example that is within my budget, yet at a low price for the issue. In other words, I enjoy the feeling of having beat other buyers to a great example of a particular issue at a lower price than others probably end up paying. I tend to target a particular set or year that I want to complete, go on the hunt, and purchase when I feel that the combination of appearance, condition and price have been optimized. This often means looking at 20 or 30 examples before I settle.


Q/Did ikeyPikey prep Bill Clinton for his deposition?

I collect what I like. If I see a stamp that I think looks nice I try to get it. So far (I'm a new collector) what intrigues me are US Christmas (a few foreign), US space, a variety of souvenir sheets, military,US Revolution, and then a hodgepodge of new US stamps as they come out.

"Still", as in something you should have given-up or out-grown or gotten-past ...

Turnabout is fair play, so tell them that, after two generations of drop-outs and rising disposable incomes, only the real fanatics are still in the game, so its gotten really hard core. If they ask what that could possibly mean, just wave them off like they're asking about something that still gives you the shakes, and nightmares, and sights that you cannot un-see.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

The rejection is the worst.

sdtom
I collect stamps because I learn a lot with them. With the internet you get so much informations about what the stamp commemorate and so on. I collected many countries and thematics so far. I sold many collections but never made a profit doing so. For example I collect Denmark used stamps for about 1 year and reach over $5500 cat. value. Then I needed money and went to a dealer that buy Scandinavia because it's popular, it sells. I got $400 for it and back home looking at my Paypal payments for Denmark stamps I add up $550. So for 1 year of collecting Denmark it cost me $150. I have to mention that when I was with the dealer, he told me that my good listing worth a $100. Without listing I would have get $300. Stamp will always have a value as long there are stamp collectors. Daniel

There has to be some interest in collecting anything. I hope that my children and grandchildren will get the same pleasure out of collecting items that I did. However, they may have their own interests. Being a baby boomer I have matchbox cars which are going to my grandson, Ft Apache figurines which sell on ebay or, will go to whatever grandchild expresses interest.Then there are coins which I get for birthdays and graduations.
Whether anyone will be interested in my HO trains I'm not sure. Coins and guns seem to hold some value. Stamps are very educational in my opinion and the less people now are interested in collecting them the more value they will have in the future. One has to contend with storage issues.

My interest in collecting has always been about trying to accomplish something. When I started collecting it was to achieve the goal of getting an arrow point in Cub Scouts. Quickly it became a social thing; part of belonging to a group doing something in common. When I got off on my own, the interest took a turn for something more aesthetic. For a brief time it was about filling an album. But that quickly gave way to the quest for knowledge, particularly knowledge about how these things are created. That has never stopped. Today I am attracted to collecting that puts me at the fringes of what is known about a subject.

None of that has much of anything to do with building a financial investment. For me value is a limiting factor. When you are out someplace and get hungry, you fish in your pocket for whatever cash/plastic you've got. What you find determines what can be on the menu. That is how value relates to what I pursue philatelically. However, once I start spending money I cannot afford to lose, then I have to ask hard questions about what my mania is REALLY costing me, and I have to pay attention.

My goals in collecting are to put together an assemblage like no one has ever seen before, and to share it with the world. Fortunately for me, that is happening to some extent, and now there are numbers of people interested in what I collect and have collected. The fact that none of them is a member of my family does not bother me in the slightest, since building a legacy for them is not one of my goals. My big hope is that I don't bankrupt us in the course of trying to keep this thing alive.

Would I be better off if stamps had no value? Not necessarily. But I would be better off in meeting my goals if money were no object.

ESAYK-----Like your posting , see a lot of me it that posting .