Question: What Is The Main Reason That You Collect Stamps?

Hello! I think the question is a good one, because everyone has his or her own reason.

When I was younger I collected random stuff, when I got older I only collect stamps with nice engravings regardless of it's value so that's my main reason.

Countries and old stamps from example, North Borneo, Belgian Congo, old british commonwealth stamps, Nyassa, etc etc. you get the picture. Most seem to collect certain countries, animals or motives, cancellations and so on, I just want to buy really beautiful stamps. What's your thoughts?

I collect stamps because the Bible says so . ------My pastor asked a Sunday School class if we are willing to "Save the World" I raised my hand and for 62 years that is what I did ,you should see my collection .

I collect because I've always been a history geek. When I was 9 years old, I devoured the biography section in the school library, while my classmates were reading age-appropriate fiction. I starting collecting when I got a Harris Ambassador album and some stamps for my 12th birthday. I still am drawn to stamps featuring historical anniversaries so much more than pop-culture icons. Now, today is my 57th birthday. I don't think I'll get a new album or any stamps for a gift today, but I'll endeavor to spend a little stamp time this evening. Maybe I'll spend some time with my wife, too. lol

Typical story, I guess. I started collecting US when I was ten or so, and about the time puberty kicked in, I stopped. Came back to it in my late sixties and haven't stopped, now focusing on US classics. It is a source of constant wonder that these little slips of paper still exist. Many, in my view, are miniature works of art. And each bears a history, some of which we know. Now that stamps are edging toward obsolescence, it seems to be increasingly important that we serve as custodians of this material, in the hope that it will not perish entirely.

I think many of us have a collecting "gene" that might be Coins or Bubblegum cards.
For me it is stamps and circa 1961, it was part of being a child (usually a boy).
In 1970, I took a special interest in the stamps of my own country Ireland and I look on it as a "Greatest Hits" album...History, Literature, Mythology, Lanscapes, Art, Sport, Music, Spirituality and the rest.
It is of who we are as a people for 6,000 years and how we are as a nation state since we started issuing stamps in 1922.
At another level, I like the concept of "Mail" itself.
But maybe I just collect stamps cos I am kinda good at it. I think we always enjoy things that we are good at, whether it is painting, playing chess or driving a car.
It just happens to be that I am a good stamp collector with absolutely no ambition to go into the serious world of Philately.

I used to think I was pretty good at stamp collecting -- at least in my area of interest -- until I saw some of the expertise regularly on display in this forum.

I'm reliving my childhood. Its a nice place to be.

Jack Kelley

Great question!

When I was young I collected because I liked the idea of collecting something. Stamps were easy to get on incoming mail, plus ads in comic books and magazines.

As I got older, I came to see them as a window to the world as it moved from the tail end of the Industrial Revolution into the modern era. Our strengths, our failings, our truths, our lies, all laid out in small pieces of gummed paper.

Dale

I just find stamps interesting, and there's always another one to go with the ones I have!

So, I've told this story before on this forum. Back in 1961-1962 my family and I were walking back from our polio vaccinations through a church parking lot. Toward the back end of the parking lot I saw a shoebox on the pavement. Being 4'ish I ran to the box and kicked it as hard as I could. A shower of stamps erupted!
After we collected all of the stamps we could find, my mother put the shoebox away.

Turns out that it was a shoebox full of foreign stamps. We looked for an owner, but never found one. Over the years I dabbled, 20 years in the Navy in the Pacific added to the shoebox. Then here about 10 years ago I started getting serious about the hobby. And here we are today, too any stamps or need a bigger study!

Well I was certainly born with the collecting gene, but for me it's the thrill of the chase, even when the chance of completion is zero.

Because Chicks Dig It!

I always liked collecting. Started as a coin collector when I was 5, then stamps when I was 10. My mother collected stamps and so did my paternal grandfather. In 1974 my house got ransacked and my coin collection stolen. The thieves threw my stamp albums on the floor, so I decided stamp collecting was it.

It comes in handing when traveling on planes. For a quiet trip, I tell the person next to me I collect stamps. If that does not work, I break out the genealogy. If I still cannot get peace, I talk to the joys of playing the accordion (a craft of my wild youth). By then I get the peace I want... and usually they move.

Bottom line... therapy from the stress of daily work.

Because Chicks Dig It!- rogdcam

We sure do!

Happy Birthday, Dave!




Oh yeah, we all know that guy.

I collect stamps because

• therapeutic effect for daily stress
• wads of extra cash
• and the chicks, of course

inherited gene from my father. Incurable.