Looking For New Country To Collect

Recently enjoyed adding to my Falkland Islands and Newfoundland collections, looking for a new country.

I chose the above countries because they did not have a lot of stamps overall, and you can get a decent collection on a budget. In the case of the Falklands I just stopped collecting at a certain year to avoid bloat. With Newfoundland I had a wonderful album made by enthusiasts with historical and identification notes on each issue. I like that.

I want to stay generally in the British Commonwealth, perhaps now in Africa or the Caribbean. Something manageable, with attractive and interesting issues. I miss buying the big accumulation lots and going through them, lately I have been spending my budget on filling holes.

Suggestions from you all would be most welcome!

How about King George VI? Lots of countries/colonies; compressed time period (1937-1952)

Jack Kelley

Great question! I was sorting through Greece Hermes stamps thinking which country would be the easiest to collect. Preferably a country without a specialty catalog describing every imaginable printing variety and where every stamp can be reasonably acquired. Maybe this is why I like US Airmail – once you get by the Zeppelins, it's all downhill.

As I collect primarily France and the colonies, I don't have many useful suggestions. My best suggestion might be Australia. The Kangaroos can be somewhat of a challenge, but reasonably straightforward afterward

I share your edginess about hugely complex countries with endless watermark and paper varieties. I got out the Commonwealth catalogue, and promptly put New Zealand back in the "makes my brain hurt" pile. Why not focus on countries whose issues are largely in the middle/modern period after 1900? In terms of looks, I like Czechoslovakia - attractive stamps, mainly cheap. Or ex-French colonies such as Morocco and Tunisia, if you don't already have those.

I appreciate the answers -- all of them sound excellent. I guess I am not going to stick to British Commonwealth after all as I am intrigued by Morocco and Tunisia. I looked at the Monarch issues and while interesting it is basically the same designs over a ton of countries. A little more variation for me.
These are great suggestions, please keep them coming!

Have you looked into any of the Scandinavian countries?

I am 4 stamps shy of a complete set of Bohemia and Moravia stamps - I started it as an add on to my Czechoslovakian collection. The stamps are nice and not to expensive. The early Czech stamps are cool with all of the art deco designs by Mucha. I have also enjoyed the early Yugoslavia - easy to get and the designs appeal to me. I am more of a definitive than commemorative collector, so these early sets are perfect for me. Probably why Postage Due issues are my favorites. I think you'll enjoy whatever you choose! Let us know when you decide.

edit: fixed typo

The advantages of North Africa would be that Algeria/Morocco/Tunisia carry on naturally from the French period, are reasonably priced and don't have the large sets of irrelevant material (airships of the world etc) that stamp companies foisted on other ex-colonies. And they're attractive stamps.

I second the vote for French North Africa. Good variety, relatively inexpensive. You can collect up to mid-1950s independence as I mostly do or continue on. My favourite area after Canada and Germany (which can be overwhelming in its various tangents).

That being said, just started with a couple South American countries - Ecuador and Peru, and they look to be fun and again, not too expensive to put together a reasonable collection.

Isn't Vatican City everyone's secret favouorite?

I have 'country' collections of Persia and Hungary, because I admire the artwork.

The African colonies of the British Empire have some very attractive stamps. A good collection can be formed without taking out a mortgage on the house!

You could limit it be geography if you choose. A couple of examples:

West Africa: Gold Coast/Ghana, the Nigerias, Sierra Leone and Gambia

East Africa: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and all the forerunners

I have to circle back to one of the original suggestions. Early Australia is quite affordable with lots of varieties. If you start fly specking, well ...

As far as British Africa goes, how about the pre-Zimbabwe stamps of Rhodesia and its predecessors (British South African Company, Southern Rhodesia, Rhodesia & Nyassaland)? There were a lot of beautiful stamps issued by these entities. Portugal's African colonies are also an interesting area to collect.

You might also want to consider the British Virgin Islands, they aren't all that expensive and I find them to be very attractive.

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Though it's not a British Commonwealth country, Luxembourg has beautiful issues, is very affordable, and nothing too complicated. Big long definitive sets many with Official overprints add to the fun without causing headaches or eye strain! Even modern Luxembourg (post WWII) will not break the average budget if you choose to continue collecting new issues.

For those who might be interested, here's a link to the study I put together a few years ago comparing the cost of collecting various areas. It's 2015/2016 data, but I'm in the process of updating it for 2018/2019.

Try South Sudan, independent country in 2011, but rumor has it that Scotland may be on the horizon.