Looking For New Country To Collect

How about Indian Feudatory & Convention States?

There is Kazakhstan it has just a few hundred stamps many are on the space topic.

I have been debating the same thing as you thewarstoreman, hat country to go next or start looking into to collect. There is some great suggestions. I as looking at Ireland, which is not bad budget wise. But now I'm am thinking about maybe Ecuador thanks to a suggestion here.

Collect Pre-1940 Worldwide ,the best way to start is with Big Blue the Scott International Album .

Some day I am going to make a list of all the countries I don't collect .

Another option would be to look at a different area of the country or countries you already collect.

I collect U.S. What areas could I add to a basic U.S. mint collection?

- Mint plate blocks.
- Mint plate blocks in all positions for each number.
- Arrow and centerline blocks, on the issues where available.
- Plate number coils.
- Back of the book, including airmail, special delivery, registered, certified, postage due, officials, revenues.
- Postal stationery.
- Postal cards.
- Postal history.
- Possessions (i.e., Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, Guam, Philippines).

Okay, so you've got all that done as far as your budget will allow you. You could also collect precancels. That will keep you busy the rest of your life!

Some ideas a little more unusual:

Uganda: This is British Commonwealth. The 19th century typewriter primitives are rare and you won't be able to get them on a budget, maybe one or two representative copies, but basically everything else is obtainable. 20th century you'll probably want to collect postally used (it's doable, mint won't be very challenging).

Fiji: Practically everything here is affordable, even almost all the earlies, and then there's the modern surcharges of the last twenty years. Try to complete those if you dare! These were applied locally to meet new postal rates and most come in multiple setting types. There are hundreds of varieties, and almost none made it onto the philatelic market (new issue subscribers didn't get copies of most of them, and dealers seldom ever stock them.) You'll be searching for years for stamps that cost less than a dollar.

Guyana: If you like Fiji's surcharges, you'll love Guyana's. Ignore the topical wallpaper (or collect it used), and just try to find the thousands of postal surcharges. They were all postally used. They are almost all inexpensive. They are also extremely difficult to find.

Afghanistan: Technically not British Empire, though of course there's history connecting them (the Anglo-Afghan wars). I love, love, love the tiger head issues of the Kingdom of Kabul. (You might guess I love WW "primitives" in general.) Even the later Kingdom issues have some scarce items (imperfs and part perfs, some of the officials, a few of the souvenir sheets) that will be difficult to find, but not very expensive to acquire when found. You'll find this country very difficult to complete, though 90% or better is doable without breaking the bank.

Diego-Suarez: French, not British, but awesome. I love the 1890 pictorals in particular, and there are several collectible classic forgeries as well. Only a couple issues are very expensive, at least used.

Take a page from our very own Narvato - Machins. I am quite hooked on them and it is fascinating doing the research identifying these stamps. They all look alike but they're not. Recommend buying Machin kiloware, a Lighthouse album, download adminware pages (for free) and you're good to go!

Jack Kelley

Floortrader, I thought the only country you don't collect is US...? I'd be interested to see this list if you ever build it.

Another idea- Lebanon. Earlier issues are exceptionally well designed. Not a ton of complexity. Post-independence issues show restraint and were never influenced by a philatelic agency.

Syria is similar in this regard though I like Lebanon better.

Well, I know you said you want something with a manageable number of stamps, but in case you want to go to the other extreme, Japan has a multitude (with a new multitude every year) of stamps that are on the extreme end of affordability if you collect used. You can form an almost complete collection (minus a few souvenir sheets) from about 1960 onwards just from kiloware at pennies a stamp, and most recent stamps have very light, sometimes barely perceptible cancellations, so you're not making much of a sacrifice in collecting used. Even though they're affordable, it can be quite a challenge getting them all, simply because there are so many. And you don't have many truly expensive issues until you get deeper into the 19th century.

The two countries I don't collect are the U.S. and United Nations ,but there are a lot of modern countries I will not spend money to get ,if they come inside of a larger lot then I will save and mount them .

I am surprised more posters didn't recommend Pre-1940 collecting ,to me that is both a foundation and a learning experience in collecting stamps .At a later date then a more specialized interest can be developed .

You could go 'off grid' a bit, but still stay related to your original pursuits by collecting Lundy.

The hardest part is trying to find some of these stamps in the Scott catalog. Scott tends to depict the entire multi-design pane as a small image. You need a magnifying glass to pick out your stamp from that image.

Robert

I recommend it. Lots of history to discover.

Robert

I thought of recommending pre 1940 as well but that seemed so obvious I didn't want to be repetitious. Quite honestly I'm not really getting the gist of this thread. Truly no disrespect intended, but this reminds me a little bit of a student looking for someone else to tell them what to do with their lives instead of figuring out what they want to do on their own and then seeking input on how to go about achieving their goals.

If you are a stamp collector and are looking for a new avenue to collect, it would seem logical to either thumb through dealers stock at a show or thumb through a more recent Scott catalog that shows color examples and find what appeals to you at a price you can afford. Asking someone else what YOU should collect seems somewhat illogical to me. The spark or interest should come from you, not someone else.

Just one man's opinion.