The Reason Why You Choose The Direction You Did In The Hobby.

I was following banknote paper types and discovered the Departmental stamps were printed on at least three paper types. Really, like how they look.

US/Canada because of location and ease of access. West Berlin because Berlin is probably the city I could easily see myself moving to. I had a blast there 5 years ago when my wife and I went on vacation.

What is the difference between "availability of stamps" and "ease of getting sources of material"?

I started as a child, because collecting was popular then (cards, match boxes and so) and my grandmother used to send me CTO's from Romania.
Then a long break, and a few years ago started again, focusing on the interest of it: Countries new to me, dead countries, and stamps that reflacts historic events: WWI+II occupation, merging and splitting countries, renamed due to revolutions, and so.

CHOOSE WHAT YOU DID -----I decided in the 1980's to go for it and collect the world . There is three reasons for that , First everyone said it is too difficult and second ,the postal services of the world were going crazy issueing stamps . The third reason was a lot of people started to specialize and a ton of collections were coming on the market and buyers were few and prices were cheap .
Then the IRS told my CPA/Accountant that my profits from selling stamps should be part of my asphalt business . BINGO --huge mistake by them ,I don't want to get into any details here ,so don't ask questions about it .
Collecting worldwide stamps was a great way to relax after being on my feet all day in the hot sun . Well after a while I started to relize nobody had or was pushing that size of a collection .So some day in about 5 or 10 years I'll have a decent size collection .

Rob Roy, They are they same. It didn't dawn on me until after I posted it and I just looked at it again that they were the same.

Hello friends!

I began to collect stamps after of view some covers of an uncle, he lived in Rome and he sent covers to my mother from Rome and vatican; finally all these covers were exchanged for Mexican stamps with a friend in 1974/75. In 1975 I began to go to the Postal Palace for new issues and there I met new collectors and the rest is History.

Regards!
Rodolfo

"Other" for me. I'm inspired by the endless opportunities of collecting WW.



floor - If I am not mistaken, I would believe most of us have the impression you have surpassed "decent size" long time ago...

At age 8 or 9 it has to be the way they looked. I especially loved the scenes and people depicted on French colonial issues.

What I collect now, is a mixture of the scenes and bond with a theme or spot.

Although I had collected in an old beginner album, I recall seeing a Scott National Album with mint copies of the Series of 1922 and Washington Bicentennials and I was hooked so I was off to an on and off again collecting mode.

A stamp album of a single country is actually a Greatest Hits album.
It is a very practical form of "patriotism"....the History, Geography, Spirituality, Sport, Music, Literature, Mythology, Art, Flora, Fauna.....all in compact form and within easy reach.
And a means of passing it all down thru Time.

Right place at the right time with the right amount of cash in my pocket.
I was able to win at auction, a stunning accumulation of U.S. 1851-57 Three Cent stamps.
It's a great issue to dive into.

So I would vote for the first three choices of this poll.

Endless availability of stamps and covers.
Iconic image, beautiful shades etc.
Source material I take to mean collecting help. So, expert help on this site, stampsmarter and USPCS sites, along with the Dr. Carrol Chase book... means endless source material.

I voted "special bond with the theme or country". I really have two collections, a general worldwide collection (which I collect on a somewhat casual basis) and a German area collection, which I collect much more in depth.I was drawn to the German area partly because I'm of German heritage but mostly because I'm drawn to German history, which is very well reflected in its stamps. I'm also drawn to general worldwide because I enjoy things like history and geography and learning about different cultures. I also like general WW for the enormous variety of material out there, most of which I've barely even touched yet. There's always a new discovery right around the corner when you collect more or less everything.

Hi

I voted with bond to a country, Colombia. Scott C247 is my wife's childhood home in Tunja, Boyaca, Colombia (see avatar).

Jerry B

I started as a kid with US because that was all that was available to me.