What Was Your First Major "Evolution" In Expanding Your Philatelic Interests?

I am just working on USA stamps right now, I have a mess of 3 different collections that were given to me along with the stuff I bought on ebay and at shows. However I have recently bought what I call ugly guys on stamps. someday I would like make a small book. it keeps things interesting.

"Ugly guys on stamps" would make a very big book. It took me some time to realise that the series I called "Faces only a mother could love" was actually known as "Famous Americans"!

Oh, Geoff....behave! Not everyone can be blessed with the pristine facial hair of George V.....

Geoff, I was always amazed that Thomas Edison was not one of the original "Famous Americans". Still am.

Jack Kelley

Neeskens - pristine because, I suspect, there was a servant at hand to provide hipster-style beard-grooming at all times. After all, when the Queen Mother died, it was said that she'd probably never squeezed a tube of toothpaste in her life.

Jack - that is an odd one. I suppose Henry James was another omission, although perhaps the post office decided that he counted as English.

I branched out from only US to try Germany. It was a good move. I had some stamps from my grandfather's collection. and I can read and speak the language. I'm not fluent, but I got around pretty well on several trips over there.

Don

Switching from simply collecting stamps, to collecting and creating maxicards (maximum cards).
Then I discovered that I can design personalized stamps, personalized postcards and therefore personalized maxicards.
Then, I discovered that I can be my own postmaster and apply postmarks with my MPP device (with Mailer's Postmark Permit, from USPS).

I am going through an evolution now. The stamps I need to complete my US collection are getting expensive so now focusing time and money on foreign. I can get some very attractive engraved stamps for the price of a boring Washington Franklin. I do want to complete a couple series but my early US interest in waning.

Having collected since 1972, I think my first evolution was to narrow my focus a bit. I started out collecting everything world wide but quickly realized the futility and narrowed my focus to US, "Scott's Specialized" only. That on it's own is big enough!

Since then I have had several other evolutionary changes as my collection matures.

diane & GeoffHa: I burst out laughing when I read your "ugly guys on stamps" comments!

Jeff

The booklet "Early American Perforating Machines and Perforations" by Winthrop S. Boggs started my interest in perforations.

A potential evolution under consideration is to stop collecting new issues. Cutting my collection off at 2003 which is the year our last child was born.

The USPS has in my humble opinion, completely destroyed modern stamp collecting. Too many issues and too many subjects that I do not consider worthy of their own stamp. Barring errors, they'll never amount to any individual value and it's just become too expensive to maintain. Especially considering that I try to get each issue in multiple forms... mint, used, plate number single, plate block, FDC and pane, etc. At least for post 1922+. Trying to keep that up for new issues has just become too cumbersome for little or no value.

Two other issues bother me. US Stamps are not all printed in the US anymore and the rule of being dead to be on a stamp no longer applies. Regardless of the fact that they are intended for US postage or not. Under US Government contract or not... If they aren't produced in the US or US territory, I personally don't consider them a US Issue.

I started out as a 11 year old kid with a paper route. I would never have started if I was faced with having to buy as many as the USPS cranks out now, just to keep up. That may also be why more don't get started... That's what led to my first evolution of narrowing from world wide to US only, in the beginning.

Sorry for the rant. Just my two cents worth...

Jeff

It's quite interesting, isn't it, that the subject matter of many modern stamps appears to be aimed at children. But how many children are actually interested or can afford to buy the things? Perhaps it's the adults who can't leave their childhood behind, and read JK Rowling rather than Patrick White. For GB, the introduction of decimal currency marks a good cut-off. Anything after that, I use to post ebay lots.

Stamps are not that expensive compared to other leisure activities available today - techy stuff like hardware, Blue Ray DVDs, games, sporting equipment, events, branded apparel, next smartphone, etc.

For the first half of 2017, face value of all US stamps issued is US$56.99. I only collect singles, and know a dealer who sells US new issues at 50% above face (cheaper than USPS Cave minimum requirements for many issues, in blocks of 4 or more for single commemoratives!). So for first half of 2017 cost from dealer at 50% markup would be $85.50 for all US singles issued in this period. That works out to approx US$3.30/week average cost at 50% markup, and remember that includes the new Priority and Express Priority issues (which contribute US$30.40 of the US$56.99 total face value for the period, or US$45.60 of the $85.50 cost at 50% markup). Second half of 2017 should work out a lot cheaper unless the Priority & Express rates go up before the first of the year.

What other hobby can you enjoy for an average cost of under $4.00 a week over the past six months? If you collect all the bells and whistles, sure its gonna be a lot more expensive, but the base cost isn't really all that great unless you are on a very, very limited budget.

I'm considering the same. Guess it would be the opposite of the question in the OP - so rather than an 'evolution in expanding' it would be an evolution in focusing. My reasoning is not the cost of new stamps, more about spending my time on 'classic philately' which I find much more entertaining than collecting 'stickers'. Just can't figure out what year to cut Considering 2k for the countries I am most interested in and 1970's for the others. It is complicated!