Am I The Only One With Roaming Syndrome?

I have been collecting stamps for 50+ years now. Many fields, many topics, many countries. I find myself, over the years dropping some collections and starting up new ones, only then, 15+ years later, thinking about going back and playing catch up on the ones quit! The cost of the album pages to do this usually wakes me up and I say, "You're kidding! That much just for the fool album pages?" Then I say oh well, too old anyway. I then sink more money into whatever the collection de jour is, or start up another topic that seems interesting to me!

I think I will say I have severe "Roaming Syndrome! I have enough topics that I never will, ever will, could not possibly ever, complete, but that doesn't stop me from doing something new.

I suppose I like to learn from investigating new topics, countries, etc. I probably will the rest of my life. I suppose as long as I am having fun, all the better.

Will I ever have all the expensive items? Likely not, as I can get more lower cost fun to play with for the same overpriced cost of the biggie items.

Many people get off work, come in turn on the television and watch mindless drivel streaming before their mind. I enjoy the learning I get from sorting through stamps (AGAIN, MANY TYPES) and learning about different places, subjects, etc.

I wonder how many of my fellow collectors on this site have the same syndrome?

How about sharing same or different feelings on the matter, just so I can see if I am alone out here in stamp collecting land! Thanks for the patience of this ramble. Look forward to hearing a few reply's on the subject.

(P.S. I maintain a two full page 'Collecting Interests" list. It always amazes those who see it!)

Oh WOW - You are not alone. Thanks for asking the questions. I too am all over the place and loving it despite the advice of a well worn collector. My latest adventurous side road is precancels. Amazing, geographically educating and relatively inexpensive. I too found myself in need of many pages for albums so am now printing all of my own with Steiner. I just cannot seem to restrain myself from buying lots and finding a few hidden treasures. The business of life caused a major collecting gap from about 1985 to 2015. Now at 67 there are more than I will ever get mounted. I still however cannot wait to purchase the next "un-searched lot".
If our children's and grandchildren's TV were limited the IQ of our country would see exponential growth and more than a few exercise clubs would go out of business. Excessive commercials have made unrecorded shows impossible to watch. Remember "We will be back in 60 seconds"?
GREAT POST!

I don't know if I'd call it a syndrome but I do know what you mean. From time to time I feel like I'm in a rut. I collect US, pretty much anything in the Scott's Specialized with a few exceptions. In addition, I not only collect a MNH of each but also a Used, Plate# Single, Bureau precancel, Plate blocks, FDC, Inauguration covers, panes, and so on. From time to time I'll switch to a different area of that range.

Every now and then I also take a break from my stamp collection and will go back to work on the family tree for several weeks or a month. If that not enough I have a to-do list around the house that will never end.

So When I need a break from one thing there's always something else.

Jeff

Yes. I have this syndrome. I collect mainly 19th century classic US, but every once in awhile I sway (and regret it. ) A few months ago I started putting together a Switzerland collection. Reality is the my Swiss collection so far looks horrible (I'll post some pics later). To understand all the varieties takes immense studying. I was contemplating a 19th century French collection as well. Too complex for me right now (all those cancels, French colonies versus real France, etc).

I started a collection of US Officials six months ago. Again, looks kinda horrible. They are so off center! My god, couldn't they center anything back in the day. However, some good does come out of it. For instance when I was working on classifying US Officials, I really learned how to identify National versus American paper. This lesson has paid off immensely in my collection of US banknotes.

I wish I can maintain my focus and spend my money on what I feel I'm best at collecting. I seem to roam at times.

I refer to it as the 'collectors' curse' I started off with stamps during primary school and by the age of sixteen switched to coins and banknotes. That went on for about ten years and I switched over to phonecards.About ten years ago I came back to philately and have dabbled in South African and Cypriot postal history. I have a South African collection I left halfway as well as decent Cyprus, Great Britain, Australian and German collections although my main collection at the moment is British Commonwealth definitive issues 1938-1960. Interspersed among these I have collected loads of other things - from antique bottles to miniature lead military figures. I actually wonder what my stamp collection would have been like today if I had stuck to it in the first place and all the money spent on the other collections had gone to stamps. Even now, when I feel that a specific collection is not 'moving' I find myself looking for an alternative collection to start.
On occasion, I have asked myself if it's worth carrying on (collecting) but I know even if I do stop, it won't be long before I start collecting something else.

Horrible roaming into an area I have no business getting into.

I need to invest more time into a nicer Swiss album and research all the varieties.

As a world-wide collector, I am by definition afflicted. :)

Uhh... yeah.

Not so much "roaming" as philatelic ADD. I will throw myself headlong into a particular area/specialization for a period of time, burn myself out and have to switch to something else, burn myself on that one, and lather, rinse, repeat.

I probably have several thousands of dollars invested in SAFE and Lindner hingeless pages and binders for various countries that I likely will never pursue to meaningful completion, simply because at the outset I wanted good album pages and hate dealing with hinges.

In addition to my main area of focus (U.S. revenues) I also have large accumulations (I won't dignify them by calling them "collections" as that term implies some level of organization) of the following, that I periodically turn to:

Wold revenues, especially Mexico
World SOTN cancels
U.S. half-cent postage dues on cover/card
Early Persia/Iran
Classic used Sweden
German empire

Well, at the very least my heirs will have a field day (or nightmare, pick your choice).

Yeah! Like that.

I like that stamps is a hobby you can drop for a while and come back to, even (in my case) for several years or more. Golf and tennis, as examples, you leave them aside for a time and you find you've probably lost a step and need real work to get back close to the level you're used to. Bridge I left behind since there are now so many odd bid conventions and that the Grail, master points won in tournaments, can essentially be bought by hiring an expert partner. Catching up with everything about stamps isn't a necessity, but being a generalist, I'm crazy enough to try, at least information-wise.

I do think stamps leads one to other distractions, fueled by the collector/packrat mentality. Maybe as a result of that, despite the stereotype of collectors being narrow-minded and narrowly focused, I find the opposite is true. A lot of collector get-togethers are often discussions about many other things. "Where are you going, visiting your _____ collector buddies again? Do you guys ever talk about anything other than _____?" is what I've heard from a lot of collector's spouses, though never from ones who are hobbyists/collectors of some kind themselves. The permanent couch potato life is not for me. I will sometimes play with stamps and watch TV/listen to music at the same time. Let's see someone else play golf and race cars at the same time.

If there's a collector out there who says "No, I never roam and stick strictly to my one collection." they are in denial!

I've successfully limited myself to U.S. only. But that doesn't mean I don't have multiple areas. I collect mint singles, used single, blocks, plate blocks and modern sheets. There's also postal history, proofs, essays and publicity photos. When I'm bored with that, I'll work on precancels for a while and then move over to postal stationery. If that's not enough, I've still got lots of revenues to chase after....you get the picture.

That's one of the great draws to this hobby. There is ALWAYS something else which can feed our interests when we start to feel jaded with whatever particular collection or trail we're following.

Will I have a complete U.S. collection? Ever? Nah...but I'm having an absolute blast chasing everything!

I currently have a general US collection in twelve Mystic albums, perhaps 90% complete to 2005. A general Germany collection in 14 Schaubek albums, fairly complete in several areas, and a Great Britain collection in eight Gibbons Windsor albums to 2010.

Oh yes, then there are dozens of other albums with collections less actively pursued just now, including France, Russia, Canada and China. Last year I stripped down a set of Vintage reproduction Internationals and sold the albums, intending to slowly sell off the contents on ebay. Now I have ordered a Minkus Global Reprint part one to move these stamps into.

I have never specialized in anything. I lack the ability to concentrate that intently. I learned years ago that I have a form of Attention Deficiency. It is not severe but enough to keep me on this mad cycle. Strangely, I enjoy it. That's all that matters.

As the 1990 hit from the B-52's recommended "Roam if you want to....roam around the world....."

The philatelic world is like a huge buffet with tempting treats from all areas. Hard to just limit yourself to just one dish or group of dishes when there are so many others that look so appealing.

Thankfully, as a worldwide collector, I have no qualms sampling all the dishes I want (though my financial waistline might not always stretch as far as I would like!)

Ummm, yep. Case in point, last show I went to here in Pgh, I was trying to stay focused on my Berlin interests. Of course I walked out of their with a French colony collection and a stockbook filled with old Swedish and Swiss material. I can't help it. Everything seems so cool!

At this point I am not going shopping for any new collections, though I may make up a collection from some of the accumulated items I have. I have 16 collections. Some I have not worked on for years. Some are so complex (like all US postage and revenue stamps and postal stationery) that I can work on one part of the collection that I am most interested in a given time and ignore others. I think if I had fewer collections then I would get bored but some collections will be a work of a lifetime such as my collection of covers from every postal administration in the world. It will never end, but it is also sufficiently specific and as I get more covers new countries I did not already have I can feel like I am growing and developing my collection.

Do I have roaming syndrome? No, I've cured myself by going from world-wide collecting to a regional format. My France & colonies collection will be at auction in August. My Spain & colonies group; not much there of high value; was donated to the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library. More downsizing to come yet this year and into 2018.

I definitely have the problem. I like almost everything I see that is philatelic. It can be quite hard to stay focused on one area, with temptations everywhere.