Two Different Major Philatelic Specialist Collecting Trends

There are two different major philatelic specialist collecting trends:

Postal History (Covers, Rates, Markings, Postmarks, Cancels, etc.),

Stamp Production (Re-Entries, Plating, Errors, Flaws, Shades, etc.).

Is this correct?

Seems fair enough, though topicalists and new issues collectors (etc) might consider themselves as specializing and, therefor, 'specialists'.

The distinction would seem to lie in the extent of specialized knowledge required to pursue a specialty.

Off the top of my head, I am not sure what term conveys this requirement for specialized knowledge.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Edited to add: I find it helpful to think of the moment at which a stamp is handed over the counter as The Philatelic Big Bang, with some people working backwards (the variety specialties) and other people working forwards (the usage specialties), but that's me.

Ikey/Pikey wrote: "seems fair enough." I would more or less agree. Some things left out of stamp production might be local stamps, reprints, and forgeries. Saying "etc." for both is a rather wide catch-all. As for specialized knowledge, maybe that comes as part of being a "specialist." I collect Fournier forgeries of the 1877 Crown issues of the Portuguese colonies; as part of my overall, much larger, collection of the colonies, through 1974. Being able to detect those forgeries requires knowledge that is part of being a specialist in that area.

I wouldn't consider collectors of topicals or new issues as "specialists" in the strict sense of the word. Those two are better described as collecting areas, or interests.

While I certainly agree that your two areas of specialized collecting are popular, I would disagree with calling them "trends." These both have a strong and active collector base, and have remained popular for decades. The market seems to also support my belief, as material seems to move at fair prices - at least from my experience with covers, cancels and plating.

Over the last five years or so, trend has developed a new primary definition, tied to web popularity. I see the following areas as being current trends:

• First Cachets - FDCs have always been an odd market, but I don't get this. Items that didn't sell in a dollar box are suddenly selling at $10-30 by identifying it as the "First Curmudgeon Cachet!"
• US Match & Medicine - I started picking these up about three years back. Decent lot pricing was common and I was paying 30-125% SCV for singles, depending on condition. In the last six months, nothing is less than full SCV and some items are commanding absurdly high prices.
• Add-on Cachets - To be upfront, I have added several dozen add-on FDCs to four of my specialized collections. I still think these may become a bane on philately. Take a look at asking prices for un-cacheted covers at your next show. There was a time not too long ago that they were in dime boxes, if not offered as freebies! Pick them up for a few pennies, put on a nice topical computer-printed cachet and sell it for $5/$10/$15 dollars.