How Did You Figure Out/Narrow Down The Areas You Collect.

For me it was the album pages; I only collect what the Scott Nation album has spaces for.

I'm with you Laurie 02


I tried and failed to narrow down my collection. I have been, however slowly (very slowly) getting rid of duplicates.


Dianne

Wish I could remember exactly which of the city/town names I first came across in a postmark on a stamp that captivated me. I do know that one of the earliest was Seldom Come By, Newfoundland. Some are funny, some are weird, some are unique, some are quite ordinary. I chose Boom, Belgium as my avatar for this forum. Anyway, for the past 20+ years it's led me into trying to get every city/town/place that's appeared in a postmark. Got 70,000+ so far, but there are a heck of a lot more I've yet to track down.
I began collecting stamps when my mother brought home a packet of stamps for me sometime in 1942 or 1943. Since then I've had collections by countries, by areas, by topics, by overprinted stamps, by dates in postmarks, by stamps just being interesting, but no collection I've ever had before this one has given me the nonstop action & interest that I so crave.

I only stick to a specialised series of stamps, including specific full series during the reign of the monarch.

Still figuring out here but I've got it down to US, UK, Canada, Australia and states, New Zealand, Switzerland, a smattering of Commonwealth (India and Hong Kong mainly). I just go with what I like, started with US pre 1900 then got into Air Mail and really enjoyed revenues. Then I got interested in classic Canada with QV on them that led to UK and the smattering of Commonwealth. Then with Australia it is a place I have wanted to visit so why not collect a few stamps from there?
I have since started to dabble in Russia and France since the art work on them is quite remarkable.

I haven't printed pages (mounts are kinda intimidating for me) so I use Lighthouse stock books for now since I have multiples (Canada square circles) and enjoy the ease of moving them as needed.

-Willie

I have downsized to planet earth used stamps only... and a few booklets.

I collected when I was a kid since my grandpa was a small-time dealer and my dad dabbled. I only started collecting as an adult about 3 years ago. I collect US and aviation topicals, though my main focus is US. I started with Scott National Albums up to the year 2000. It took almost no time to fill up the modern stamps, and then I started moving into older, more expensive stamps. I saw that I was going to hit a wall with pretty soon, so I expanded into deeper BOB, US possessions, and minor variations, especially color varieties. It was a revolution when I started designing and printing my own album pages. Now I leave spots for what I intend to collect, and leave out the ones I don't. As for the topicals, it isn't a priority now, but the ATA checklists are awesome. I have to get my head around not collecting every example of a topic, so I'm focussed on stamps that depict pre-WWI planes, and are not abusive stamp-mill issues. I've not figured out how to display them yet, and I only have an unfocussed accumulation of aviation topicals so far.

I've gone completely the other way. Started off with Cyprus, added British Commonwealth definitives 1938-1960 and have slowly started expanding to include Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Hungary, Finland, South Africa, Italy, France, Denmark and taking a glancing look at Greece, Holland, Norway and Sweden. And all this while trying to hide the full extent of my 'madness' from the wife

Narrowing down my collecting interests is a challenge. At this point I would settle for keeping them from rapidly expanding. I started collecting again when I had some trading partners in Czech Republic and Lithuania. I expanded to a few topical interests: Freedom From Hunger, Albert Schweitzer, famous Flights, and then added some "Exploring Stamps" collections after watching the You Tube series of the same name. Then I came to conclude that I ought to add US and Canada. Then I thought I could add a manageable approach to world wide by collecting one stamp for every issuing country. Then I thought adding worldwide definitives would be a great addition. The gateway drug for all of this was a Harris Explorer album my grandma gave me when I was 7. I'm still trying to fill all it's spaces! Maybe someday.

Its not easy to narrow down interest areas. Mine keeps expanding! In order: USA, KGVI, GB, WW.

Jack Kelley

I bought a small album containing 1,000 U.S. 1851-57 Three Cent stamps.

I'm really lucky it turns out to be an incredibly interesting stamp with many experts willing to share their knowledge.