Asfe , Asfew , Single Specimen World Stamp , A Stamp For Every Country Collection

There seems to be a lot of interest from collectors and many different websites out there all discussing the same collecting interest .

We have ASFE - a stamp from everywhere ,ASFEW -a stamp from every where , Single Specimen World Stamp Album , and A stamp for every country collection . There is a need to standardize one name making searches easier and for new people to find .

We have a few different chapters right here discussing this same subject ,but none are searchable because of the way they are titled . That is why I title this page the way I did so it can show up on a GOOGLE search .


There needs to be a agreed upon standard to help find these discussions. Maybe the best way to do this is use a club name .

The two biggest issues are a base list of countries and how that list includes or exclude different stamp issuing bodies . The second issue is how to display what you have . Is a stock book with name tags next to the stamps ,some prefer a printed album with more detail information on each page , or as I like a loose leaf three ring binder with pages for each country . That way you only add pages for what you have and make a new page after you got the stamp .

Here are two pages that you will never see in most ASFE collections .

Need? Must? You're talking about herding cats. There will never be one list that everyone can agree on.

That being said, a resource that collects places to find out more about this collecting area is probably worth the effort. As you say, there are any number of threads right here that could be linked in this thread. I haven't looked, though; maybe such a site already exists?

There's a reason why you don't often see your stamps above in ASFE collections. They are closer to A Stamp from Nowhere issues. For a person who collects everything, great. But if you collect ASFE, you might not give them a second look.

For myself, I'd rather have an Argentine revenue representing Rosario than a stamp "from" Wollawollabongo. The good news is, it doesn't matter.

CJD -You would rather have a revenue from Rosario ,but I already got those .

What? No enfermas?

I have all the Rosarios I need, but not all the Rosarios I want. (I'm missing the Observacion, for instance.)

We both know that we like the interesting stuff. Not everyone agrees with us. (We might not agree with each other.) It's a great big world, philatelically.

Ain't it grand?

The way I see, ASFE collectors are just like us worldwide collectors - except with limitation of 'one of each'. Maybe it is the voice of reason, or maybe lack of courage not to collect a house full of 'stamps'.

As for lack of standardized base lists of countries/entities... I agree with floortrader that this issue here is and has been the achilles heel of ASFE collecting as long as I remember. Most (but not all) lists are pretty horrible as they dump everything (postal,non-postal, revenues, bogus etc.) into same mush without proper details (and illustrations) of origin and usage, whereas in real world each collector will have more or less precise limits on what attracts them. Some will have interest just with real postal entities, some will draw the line with revenues (like Rosario) and locals (such as Värnamo), and only the most boldest (and nuttiest, LOL) are attracted with total bogus (like Occussi-Ambeno or Valona). All in all lack of this kind of 'elementary categorization' was primary reason that inspired me (and late SWH) to build and work with our own databases on 'postal/stamp catalog sanctioned entities only' (both lists are freely available online). Of course one can extend these lists 'ad infinitum' when exploring to world of non-postal 'stamp like' items.



Oh, and the above stamp is St.Petersburg local (listed in Gibbons, Michel and Russian specialized catalogs).

-k-

I think we would only need to agree on one list if it was a competition. My personal list includes byposts, Moroccan locals, treaty ports and zemstvos, among others. Of those, treaty ports may be the only category that most collectors would agree on.

I also have A Revenue from Everywhere and A Telegraph from Everywhere leanings, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.

ETA: Oh, and nice stamp. Too new for my tastes, but nice.

I'm getting the urge to do an ASFE collection. Or I suppose it would be an APCFE collection, since I want a postal card from every issuing entity. And even though I want to limit it to the 19th century, my bank account still won't be too happy about it....

By the way: Coconuts aint cheap! On Google a Maui Hawaii coconut, wholesale, unopened, is about $2.00. 5 coconut stamp = $10.00. Not a cheap stamp. Thus it is good these are not real stamps, because what would happen if the price of coconuts when drastically up or down?

(I've just realized I have too much time on my hands.)

Dave

I think another reason you don't see many people's stamps from Bollawollabongo, or Wollawollabongo, is that they appear to be very definitely racist.
And I'm saying that as a white person.
maybe you should think about a different posterboy for your cause?

Just to introduce myself. I am an ASFE collector from Germany. Of course I have also "my" list. It is an Excel file with different sheets including e.g. Precancels, Railway Company stamps (e.g. local issues Rhodesian Railway) or the local Spanish surtax stamps dringend Civil War. *** Edited by Staff - Please Review the rules that you agreed to when you registered. *** Best wishes. Manuel

I've decided to take the plunge and do this. I've been assembling a list of entities that issued postal cards before 1900, and it looks like I'll have a little over 200 pieces to collect. I snagged five nice (but inexpensive) Buy It Now items on ebay last night, and I expect to check off more than a few boxes at WESTPEX next weekend.

The trick will be to find the ideal card to represent each place. It will be a delicate balancing act between attractive and affordable. (Of course, for some places I won't have much say, one way or the other.)

Ok, you guys got me curious about ASFE collecting now! But I have a question or two

A while back, I had briefly started putting together a collection of "number ones" from all stamp-issuing entities, which I liked just because of the "structure" of it all, knowing which stamp I needed to get, etc. However, of course, there's a lot of number ones that I could never afford, which ASFE collecting would alleviate.

By the same token, the lack of structure and "open-ended" nature of ASFE collecting I didn't think I would never like.

So, the question is do folks put any kind of limits on their ASFE collecting in terms of year cut-offs or trying to get the lowest catalog # stamp that they could afford, etc.?

And, do most people store these collections in stock books or Vario pages or write up paper pages on the computer?

And, last one, do people ever include more than just one stamp from some countries? Then, if so, doesn't that simply begin to turn into a general worldwide collection?

Thanks for answering my naïve questions...

CHRIS ----Everyone who collects stamps does it a little different than everyone else . My main goal has always been to collect the world ,but like everyone I drifted away from just filling blank spaces in albums ,that got boring after the first 200,000 .
Then there was to get a stamp on every page for every country in the albums and that is the foundation of a good ASFE collection . A lot of ASFE collectors try to jump into some off the wall place and fail to just develop a well rounded basic collection .
Since you asked about limits ,yes there has to be limits because you end up" CHASING RABBITTS" . I don't buy all the modern stuff and refuse to add all the new computer generated never never land stuff . If it comes my way in a bigger lot than I will keep it but I get rid of most of it .