Rethinking Thematics At World Stamp Show NY 2016

ReThinking Thematics at World Stamp Show NY 2016

When I began collecting (1960s), topical collectors enjoyed, uh, little mainstream respect.

One reason was that collecting the birds or the bees required that you add stamps from all of those low-rep countries outside of NATO.

Another reason was that caring about the subject of a stamp meant that, necessarily, you were caring less about the really important stuff, like perf counts, watermarks, thin/thick paper, plate cracks, cream vs white vs off-white vs off-cream ... you know, the red meat of Single Stamp Studies, a/k/a The Mark of Serious Collecting.

With my severe WSS time constraints, I decided to skip the auctions (now that I'm back in NYC, I can always watch other people bidding at auctions) and I decided to skip the dealers (no burning interests, and there's always the internet) and decided to spend my time at the exhibits (which don't come around that often and, in many cases, may not come around again).

I began at the back of the room, and quickly found myself in The Thematics. Wow!

I was thrilled by what 'topical stamp collecting' has become. As Artful mentions from time-to-time, the internet has greatly extended our reach, both in our ability to identify - and to acquire - ancillary material.

To overstate it, the stamps have become the garnish of a good topical collection ... and since so many of any topic's stamps come from the Dunes et al, this is just about all they are good for.

Instead, the meat of these exhibits were picture postcards, advertising matter, correspondence, documents of all sorts.

4523-4530 - From Abacus to Phablet - began with the expected stamps (typewriters, teletypes, etc), but then added meter imprints (with slogans & logos) from many different manufacturers, corners (same), sales lit, etc etc etc.

4479-4486 - The Coconut Palm - admittedly much more exciting if understand the importance of that industry - began with the expected stamps (graceful palm trees set against beach & surf), but then added commercial documents (orders, invoices), maps, PPCs, etc etc etc.

The Diamond Industry, The Information Age ... there was one excellent, varied, rich exhibit after another.

While it is a little early to declare the end of the Single Stamp Study Tyranny, I think that the cornucopia that Thematic Collecting has become will look awfully good to many of the new folks entering, and to the old folks returning, to the hobby.

Meanwhile, a question:

Q/ So how did WSS NY 2016 change your life?

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Changing my life - I am not so sure. But I absolutely had a great time. I have a modest collection of Japanese stamps, and I only needed about 5 stamps to complete what I decided to collect. So I spent one day going from dealer to dealer - and I was able to find them all. I was really excited since I had been looking for several of them for a number of years. Two of them are low catalog value items but have been very difficult to find. It sure made me happy and increased my desire to continue looking for items to finish several other countries I am collecting in a modest way.

I was not able to attend the show so I cannot answer your question, however,I have collected a topic and covers for years along with used w/w stamps. My observation is that there is little difference in collecting a topic than collecting covers as both areas emphasis aspects other than the philatelic details of stamps, i.e., topics emphasize subjects in the stamp design; covers, cachets, postmarks,and auxiliary markings.

What I never fully understood was why topical collections got no respect while collecting covers enjoyed the safe sanctuary of "postal history." While not primarily a topical collector, I'm glad to read that topical collecting has obtained a respected place at major stamp exhibitions. There is room for everyone, although I am a little concerned about some of the ephemeral material (advertising, photographs and written items, both published and unpublished) that is added to topical exhibits.

Don

Ikey, today (Friday) at 3:00 there's a "walk through of thematic exhibits".

At the same time, USPCS has, "worlds most attractive cancels: NYFM cancels of 1866-1876". Every USPCS meeting I've attended has been well done.

This will be a tough decision.

A two-day workshop focused on selecting "important" material for top-tier philatelic exhibiting has been announced, to be held in Stockholm in spring 2017. Some of the world's top philatelic experts and exhibitors are speaking. In part, it appears intended to build interest in returning to Stockholm in 2019 for the RPSL's 150th anniversary observation, but in relation to this topic, the workshop is treating thematic exhibiting as equal in stature to Traditional, Postal History, etc. Each of these is given equal time in lectures and break-out sessions.

I would tend to believe the modern collector new to stamp collecting is more likely to be drawn to topical or thematic collecting.

Al

During those introductory "so what do you collect" chats, I've described an area that interests me only to have the person spit out "that's postal history" ... case closed, class dismissed, why bother living?




Does not seem to be bothering the judges; if anything, they seem to be rewarding the use of ancillary material.

Of course, either one of us could, like, you know, read their rules

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Use of ephemera or non-philatelic material of any kind is (currently) forbidden (or at least strongly frowned on)in thematic exhibits. What you're seeing are more likely display class exhibits.

National rules are (likely) changing Jan. 1 in a way that reduces the importance of classifications and should provide a bit more flexibility in structuring exhibits in ways that don't neatly fit previous categories. One of the notable changes is to note the existence of both topical and thematic exhibits. Will be interesting to see what "topicals" come out - but I think it's a good way to make exhibiting a little more accessible to many collectors.

I still despise that phrase "Serious Collecting" ... I am very serious about my collection, but have my own limits in several areas - varieties, rarities, etc., which often translates to "money" ...

I collect some countries. I collect some postal history. I collect some topics.

My experience at the WSE was ... interesting. On Thursday, I stopped by the ATA booth, and they gave me a little "ATA Member" ribbon to put on my name badge. That created a somewhat consisted response when I'd stop at a dealer booth and peruse the items on his or her table.

"You are a topical collector. I don't really sell topicals," or some variation was told to me multiple times. Well, the fact of the matter is they DO sell topicals, they just are arranged by country. Of course I had want lists and there were a couple of dealers who seemed to have very strong command of their inventories and were able to produce some finer examples of my topics, even though they weren't organized by topic.

The other thing that struck me though was while there were some dealers with topically organized material, in red boxes or binders by topic, they focused on by country. The one purely topical dealer I noticed had a lot of die proofs and that type of material, which was quite interesting, but I was struck by the fact that there was not a major topical presence, even one significant topical dealer with significant inventory organized topically at the WSE.

It isn't as big a concern to me - I keep fairly detailed inventories and want lists of my topical collections, but it still struck me.

I think there is an interesting "thing" going on in that the ATA seems to be one of the few philatelic organizations holding its own in terms of membership, and most folks agree that topics are a great intro for newer collectors, but at a major show, they are underrepresented, unlike say postal history (did anyone else notice any postal history price inflation at WSE?).

Just my observation and thoughts.

I dislike the phrase as well, although I use it pretty frequently, mostly because I can't think of something better. To me, a "serious collector" doesn't mean someone who spends a lot of money, just someone for whom stamp collecting is a major passion. This is opposed to a "casual collector", who might work on their collection only infrequently and with somewhat less interest. I don't have a clear definition of one or the other, but that's kind of how I use the terms.

I agree with Artfulhinger. But I think that you can be a "serious collector" and a "casual collector", at the same time. For exemple, as I'm not rich, I'm "a serious collector" when I deal with my Modern Estonian Postal History, Barcelona postmarks or Barcelona cinderellas, where I try to obtain "special items". But, just a casual collector with my used Western Europe stamps, Machins, Botanical Gardens or Food topical collections. There, I add pieces whenever they appear at a good time and prices.
On the other side, I've written a number of papers and small books on my main subjects: Barcelona pm and cinderellas and Modern Estonia postal history. Still, I don't consider myself "a serious collector". Just, someone who enjoys stamps...

My other hobby is online gaming, particularly MMO games (think world of warcraft), and there's always this debate there too. Of course, they term it hardcore vs casual rather than serious vs casual. I think the way I put my gaming time applies to stamps, too. I may be "casual" in terms of the amount of time I put in, but I am very serious with my time.