Are Stamp Collectors Hoarders?

Since I repair msewing machines from time to time at the thrift store I've asked him for parts and the majority of the time he says no, when in truth he doesn't really know.

Collector, Hoarder: here is a guy who is a little of both:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/18/a...rooklyn.html

A hoarder does not concede they've run out of room. If there's space for air, there's room for more.

The key to this story above and what every stamp collector dreams about is the words -----"AHEAD OF THE CURVE"-----how many collectors watched as their UN collection , U.S.PLATE BLOCKS ,British Colonies MNH collections and Europa collections crashed and burned in value while this guy Japanese Ceramics soared in value .
How many collectors wished they collected P.R.CHINA instead . Back in the 80's I remember going to stamp auctions and seeing all those early P.R.C. stamps and thinking they were just like Eastern European C.T.O.'s ----yes GETTING AHEAD OF THE CURVE .

British colonies have not crashed and burned except for 1970's and 1980's the same way UN and Europa have. As for wishing you collected PZRC instead of one of the others, sure from a financial return point, but that is not the only reason to collect.

There is a little bit of a hoarder in every stamp collector. The collection may start small and fit in one box... then one day it replaces the car in the garage.

An oldie but a goodie.



*** Edited by Staff to add YouTube tags. Please use them in the future. We prefer embedded video. ***

I'm part collector and part hoarder. Portions of my collection (the U.S. revenues I have added to my website or am selling) are highly organized, whereas the remainder are in boxes, albums, folders, etc., like in the video above... just not as organized.

There is a method to the madness though: if/when I ever retire, I expect to have far less income than I do now, so I'm putting aside material to have to work on in retirement, when I likely won't be able to afford it... building reserves, so to speak.

I would like to think that any of our forum brothers could express wistful regret at missing a financial gain without any of us tut-tutting about motives.

The guy has collected way too many stamps, for way too long, to be serving only one motive.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey