Philately For Fun Vs Philately For Blood

I've never been able to understand people who deny the financial element in collecting.

The hard to find items will cost more. No serious collector has got a collection made up of thousands of low-value stamps.

How many posts have you seen from someone boasting that they got a common stamp cheaply?

Of course it should be fun, too, but why are some people at pains to deny the money side?

Steve - Thank you for stating that. "What is it worth" are probably the most thought or spoken words in philately. The entire hobby revolves around buying and selling and catalog values. Funny thing is that the people that bristle at associating $ with stamp collecting would be crying the most if they received a lowball offer on their collection. They also will spend a lot of time finding the best deals on supplies so as to reduce overhead. This does not mean that you cannot collect interesting things with little dollar value. That is the great thing about stamps.

It depends on your definition of serious.

Anything over $1000.

I disagree with this opinion. I have a serious HPO postal history cover collection with over 5000 covers; it is 85% complete for First/Last trips and has a number of nice specialty items. I know of only a few HPO collections which are larger or more complete but I doubt my collection is worth even $500 in the marketplace.
Don

Count me among the people who 'bristle at associating $ with stamp collecting' but not because I am some kind of purest or do not support folks who collect for ANY reason. I only bristle because it contributes to the misconception that many non-collectors have about the value of stamps. We see this multiple times per week in this forum and invest a lot of time trying to explain to people that the hobby is much more than $$$. In fact, we cannot guarantee that anyone will turn a profit in this hobby given the cost of albums, reference materials, supplies, shipping costs, and poor purchases. But we can guarantee learning opportunities and intrinsic enjoyment on geography, history, cultures.

I welcome folks who embrace the investment component of this hobby to join us in helping the non-collectors better understand the value of our hobby that is beyond the $$$s. (And I do not mean replying with snarky 'Your stamps are worthless' but actually try to help generate interest in our hobby.)

Morning Don and all,

Great conversations. One of my early collecting mentors viewed his stamps in the following context. "Russ, I do not smoke or drink but I do collect stamps. When I am gone I will leave behind something that gave me hours of pleasure worth more than empty beer cans and cigarette wrappers." And he did.

He never sat in the gardens of the Palais-Royal with a pastis and a Gitane ...

Who ever posted that statement about -No serious collector ,has thousands . Has never seen this ...

Thanks for that, Geoff! Very interesting. I had to research what exactly they meant by "Slavic Esperanto", but it's a language constructed for optimal mutual comprehension by speakers of various Slavic languages and generally known as Interslavic. The filmmakers used it in order to avoid associating the film's setting with any one particular Eastern European country.

I'm glad that you could find what it meant - just noticed it whilst scouring the film timetable for the recently reopened French Institute in London. I hope to have my first visit to the flicks in seven months shortly.

That's one of the things I miss the most. I've seen LOTS of movies in recent months on DVD, Blu-ray, TV, downloads, and streaming, but I'm still dying to return to weekend matinees and film festivals. I haven't been inside a cinema since March 14th.

Interesting conversation. I think I would add that my main focus has typically been to collect and exhibit material that seems to be, at least at the time, under appreciated. I have exhibited FDCs for quite some time but have focused on more modern stamps in most of my exhibits. I have been fortunate to acquire some wonderful (scarce/rare) material over the years which never had a significant dollar value but is incredibly rare. One of a kind essays from stamp artists, etc. I enjoy the challenge of taking this "new" and less expensive material and creating a great exhibit. So I am definitely not in the "all about the $$$" side of this conversation.

Never have been concerned with what a stamp is "worth" in money -- to me they are "worth" fun and mental stimulation and the thrill of the hunt.