Your Collecting Goals For 2018

Hmm, I suppose I'll just continue to build my collection(s) to the extent that my budget will allow.

I'm trying to fill the empty spaces in my U.S. album with decently centered MNH examples, but it's gotten to the point where the cost makes this a rather slow process. I'm mostly dealing with the Fourth Bureau Issue right now, and there are six spaces that I'm particularly aiming to fill this year, ideally by the end of WESTPEX.

I'd like to find some more interesting postal history for my International Auxiliary Language collection, especially Volapük and other underrepresented languages, as well as Esperanto stuff that predates what I already have. I managed to score half a dozen Volapük postcards in 2017, so that'll be a hard act to follow.

There is an old saying "If I was going there, I wouldn't start from here"
So although I DO have a plan for 2018, it is influenced by decisions/mistakes (eg album choices etc) that I made up to fifty years ago.
Perhaps the biggest mistake was giving up collecting completely around the time of the Millennium because I could not justify the money that I was spending on new issues. I did not resume until 2012 and I am helped by fewer new issues and retirement and now having an empty nest re children.
I think of my collection as two things...specialising in Ireland and collecting cheap used stamps from around the world, re-capturing the enthusiasm I had as a child.

In terms of Ireland, I am about 25 stamps away from completion, mint and used. Some are comparatively cheap when available. But the majority are Seahorse overprints. So "completion" is a 5 year goal when I will be 70 rather than a plan for 2018. In some ways I can concentrate on the Irish designed stamps rather than overprints and I am reconciled to the fact that I may never complete. Getting as close as possible is almost better than total completion.
Its an odd thing. Twenty years ago, expense never really bothered me when a stamp cost the price of a bottle of beer or pack of cigarettes (I don't drink or smoke) but although I am more financially secure, I don't like spending money as much.
So keeping up with Irish new issues is important in 2018 and if I take 3 or 4 stamps off the wants list that will be ok.

I have become very interested in SOAR stamps...Stamps on a Roll which are printed on computer terminals in Irish post offices. These are effectively definitive stamps and a 4 digit code shows the post office where the stamp was issued. There were 1,425 in 2008 but only about 1,100 now and I have stamps issued in 680. I also have taken pics of around 140 post offices. I am now entitled to free public transport all over Ireland so it is a good way to spend two or three days most summer weeks.
The pics and SOAR stamps add texture to a collection.

The Rest of the World. Well I have at least one stamp from the stamp issuing countries and most territories and the total is 22,700 which is a poor return for over 50 years collecting. But the 2001-2012 hiatus means that most 21st century stamps are available at stamp fairs etc.
Target for 2018....I think 25,000 is just about possible.

Moving last year was a nasty shock to the system as I packed up boxes and boxes of albums, album pages and loose stamps more or less carefully packed into envelopes. Even more of a shock was finding that there simply isn't room in our new house to put what I have into any sort of orderly shelving.

So my plan for 2018 which is already being acted on is as follows

1. Organise what I have. Boxes with random accumulations of stamps in are being divided up into world areas. Boxes with world areas - eg Scandinavia or Eastern Europe are being broken down into countries and eras. Where I find several packets of one country they're being put together and then when the time comes I'm going through and dividing them up - where possible putting stamps into either the W/W pre 1935 Ideal Albums or into specialist albums or onto Steiner pages. Or for sale - see point 2 below



This chaotic looking table is me trying to organise some of the packets of stamps from South and Central America

2. As part of the organising, and to try and make some space, where I have a mass of duplicates, I'm starting to fill pages from old auction lots and I'm going to try to sell these.

3. Be more organised in what I buy. Recently I've been making an effort to avoid the scattergun approach and buy stuff that will make a contribution to specific collections. Don't buy any more glory boxes with several albums in - they just take up so much space!

4. Label everything up so I have some idea what I have and where it is. Each packet has a descriptive label on a slip pf paper and each box has a label stuck to the outside with a brief note of contents.

5. Start acting on some of my good intentions. Mount my Standing Helvetia stamps that I did loads of work on, identifying papers, watermarks and perforations. Get on and mount them!

I don't know if like most New Year's resolutions this will all get forgotten about as the year goes by, but so far at least I feel more organised and in control ........... and my New Ideals have increased by nearly 2,000 to c.16,700 since mid-January, which is a giant step forward.

Wish and pray for the best of health and happiness for you and yours Don. I appreciate everything you contribute to the community at large.

My goals for 2018 are to acquire early US (specifically low population/sold rarities) in the best condition my budget will allow.

I started out a few years ago gathering many spacefillers of early us and have now begun to focus on quality as opposed to quantity.

Still have a great deal of sorting and identifying for US and Worldwide. Thus far I have about 11, 14inch red boxes filled with 102bks arranged in alphabetical country order. Some have been identified others are still in the process.

Plan to focus on sorting and identifying all the w/f's and bank note issues for the time being.

Need to stop acquiring big lots. LoL I see this was mentioned by others.

Enjoying the stamp smarter website and the resources it provides.

Purchased a 2018 US Specialized recently and it has been a great help for me in my endeavors. Well worth the purchase price.

Best wishes for all!

1. I have quit buying large lots, collections etc and only buy mint for specific countries I collect.

2. Make headway on the boxes and cabinets full of accumulations and albums and put them in my used country albums, Scott Internationals, and Minkus Global albums (My ghost will continue after I am gone)

Don, all the best to you and your family and thank you for everything you have done and are doing for the forum, and collectors in general.

First of all, I wish Don a quick and long lasting recovery from his present illness and thank him for his valuable and tireless work here. I'm not a religious man, but, my best thoughts are with you, Don.

Going to far less important things, this year I'll continue to expand my used stamp collections of Germany, Sweden and Switzerland as far as pocket allows for. To print Steiner pages and start to mount my post 1950 Norway stamps.
Also to pick as many Catalan cinderellas as possible and keep my Barcelona postmarñ catalog updated.
May be, I'll participate on the Catalan National Stamp Exhibition, scheduled for September.

My main goal for 2018 is to continue having fun with my stamp collection. As long as that happens 2018 will have been a good year for stamps. Other than that I want to transfer those collections that are still in stockbooks over to Steiner pages, and work more focused on filling gaps in those country collections where I have best coverage. And I want to get rid off all those things I don't collect, to make more room for the things I do collect.

Sounds like a lot of the posters here and me included are going to work on what we have and organize their collections .

This clean up and reorganization sounds like trouble for the dealers and auction houses with diminish sales .

I have starting mounting British Commonwealth stamps that I had purchased 10+ years ago. My goal was to focus on KVI but since I have the stamps it is more like KGV to early QE2. I am amazed how few stamps were issued during this period compared to US for any particular country including Great Britain. The war time period adds some variety. My initial focus was Malaya area but expanded to Solomon Islands.

Britain had issued fewer than twenty commemoratives by 1945. GV was particularly averse to them. We probably have that in a month these days.

Pretty new to all this so 2018 is filling in the blanks for Canada/Newfoundland; organizing the "accumulation" left to me of German-related classic, and filling in the big gaps in my Big Blue/IPSAs up to 1959 (a large part of the gap being France and French colonies).

So for purchasing, buying individual BNA stamps and small lots of WW classic. Plus getting it appraised - no plans to sell, but would like to know replacement value for insurance purposes.

Don sending positive vibes that you may be able to be with us for several more years.

Here's my list:

(1) Fill holes in my 20th century US used collection.
(2) Organize my small accumulation of US prefins once the latest catalog revision is issued.
(3) Make new pages for my US used PNC singles collection.
(4) Continue to add stamps to my WW used collection.

I enjoy reading these posts which reflect that many of us are in the same boat. Accumulations acquired over years and decades with the various boxes, glassines, etc in varying degrees of chaos. And yet I also hear some sentimentality and reflection as we all get older. The stamps still hold a fascination for us, completing a set might be important, but organization and sifting through the clutter provides its own rewards. And expenditures in the past that might have amounted to a fair infusion of cash often and maybe usually provide the same degree of satisfaction when substituted for by working on a less expensive used collection and other venues in philately which remind that for most of us, stamps are a hobby which is to be celebrated and enjoyed and not a retirement fund.

My best to you Don. You have exhibited a tremendous amount of courage in your journey.

I'm thinking of winding down my collection of Canadian stamps and spend some time selecting a topical theme. "Stamp collectors on stamps" sounds good and so does "maps on stamps".