Where Do You Draw The Line And Stop Collecting New US Issues?

I still buy the occasional US yearbook, I have not yet mounted most of the past 20 years. I also collected my US stamps on White Ace pages and they are now out of business, but I hear that someone is picking up publishing new supplements. Maybe that is a sign to stop. My greatest concern is that self adhesive stamps may not age well no matter how they are stored. But I expect I will be dead before that question is settled.

So, I have not picked an end date for my US collecting. Ultimately there will be one whether I pick it or not.

As to subject matter, I will confine my political rants to political forums. I come here, in part, to escape that noise.

If we limit our collecting to personalities that are NOT flawed, dare I say none of us would have stamps with human beings on them. Many of our founding fathers were slave owners, and Columbus is off the list (there goes my Columbian Expo stuff). While we are at it, maybe we should not 'glorify' THINGS that are offensive - no cars, boats, or airplanes since they emit pollutants. There goes my Pan-Am Expo stamps. No lions- or tigers-on-stamps, since they are carnivores. And no clouds-on-stamps, since they may be perceived to represent global warming.

As for Hitler and/or Mussolini stamps, my personal take on these horrible people and the things 'their' stamps is that we probably SHOULD keep them around as reminders of how horrible things can get. I am not all about dwelling on such subjects, but the most dangerous thing we can do is forget the lessons that we've (or our parents/grandparents) learned. And the same for Founding Fathers on stamps, and cars/boats/planes on stamps, and even lions and tigers - let's not forget about what carnivores are capable of.

Seriously, we all collect whatever we want. And some of us AVOID collecting things that we don't want in our lives. Whatever. It's all good. To each his own. Just don't tell me how/what to collect.

DrewM,

Your post was as I expected it to be...honest yet unhelpful, although it did lend an added dimension of support to the "old and cranky hobby" mantra. Whether in jest or sarcastic vitriol, thank you for your eloquent contribution/criticism of the discussion. Anything less toxic from you would have simply been out of character. Thanks again!


Scott

Drew and Climber, the topic asked an opinion and I gave it. You don't like it? Too bad if you can't handle it don't read my comments. Otherwise I stated my thoughts I didn't demean the thoughts of others.

To change course, I (just personally) think that in general WW stamps start to become "ugly" around 1970. Making a rough generalization and obviously somewhat arbitrary call there but curious what others think that look for aesthetics in stamps. Obviously not a static thing, as I think Laos is "collectable" in my opinion up to around 1974, and Ecuador not so much past 1960 just as an example.

Andyrich - I agree. For me, it has everything to do with printing methods. I love the look of engraved stamps. I don't like the look of photogravure stamps. I think there was a 'tipping point' at about the time you say away from one and more towards the other. Of course, there are many other printing methods. For the most part, I think this is one area where new technology doesn't help. Maybe it is so easy to create stamp designs with the newer methods that we get lots of 'Bugs Bunny' stamps, and the sort. Although I don't specifically collect the area, I find French area stamps to be quite attractive. Probably for the reasons stated above.

The thread was asking about our own reasons for a cutoff. But the thread starts coming off the rails when folks start expanding 'what I like' to 'what I like is also what is good for the hobby' or 'what I like is also what is what is good for the post office'. In my opinion I should not assume that 'what I like' is the same as 'what is good for XYZ'.

I think we, as humans, are self-centered; every single experience we have had in our lives comes from a self-centered perspective. All my experiences have been done through 'lens of self'. This is our default perspective and it is very hard work to step back from this default perspective. But we have free will, we have the ability to be aware of what we are doing. The world does not have to think like I do and frankly probably does not care if I like stamp topic X, Y, or Z or my music preferences.

But this kind of thing is perfect for those who want to stoke the flames of division. This thread certainly was not started for this purpose but it appears to have been taken down this path now.

Don

I don't hard a cut off date and don't see one in sight. I have tried to evolved may ways and thing as I age. I like the bright stylized images. I am in my early sixty a Love much of the new music, aninme and my wife with blue hair or sometimes purple. My nieces think of the hobby as old grumpy and their presumption is not far off in many cases. Just take a listen at your next show. It does take long to hear someone grumping about something. As they say perceptions are everything. I keep with the times so I don't become that dinosaur who can't use the TV. The TV can be dang hard to use some days.

Back in 2005, I decided to cut off my U.S. collection at the end of that year. It was getting harder to buy individual stamps from the USPS, so I was having to buy more and more on the secondary market. Add to that the proliferation of new issues, the numerous varieties of new definitives, and the cost of mounts and album supplements to house them all. It just ended up costing way too much for what I was getting out of it. That money could be better spent on Esperanto and Volapük postal history.

Unlike some people here, I do like some of the pop-culture "stickers" being released nowadays, so I still collect full panes of new U.S. issues that particularly interest me topically. But that's usually only two or three issues per year.



There's a Japanese dish consisting of chicken and egg over rice, called oyakodon, which literally means "parent-and-child rice bowl".

I also do not have a hard and fast cutoff but rarely buy new issues, but I will tear them off mail if I come across them with the real decision as to whether I feel "lucky" and want to try and remove them from the envelope or just keep them on paper. The other question is whether to buy new supplements to the heritage album or leave in a stockbook. No matter how many points I have for mystic they are never enough to cover the supplements. However you could say that it is my own fault as I don't buy any stamps from mystic, don't buy supplies from them and see no reason to replace the original heirloom album I bought many years ago. That I thought was a worthwhile purchase; everything else I can get elsewhere, usually cheaper and I never considered mystic as a source for the stamps themselves—sorry Donald.

I might as well play.

USA - mint - stop after 1930-32 (still deciding)
USA - used - I continue to the present, this is a no money challenge.
World - mostly used but some unused - 1963 using Scott Internationals Vol I - V though I seldom look at Vol 4 or 5 anymore.
Greenland - to present

For USA, I stop around 1846 or so.

For foreign it depends on the country. I certainly have kept up with some more recent new definitives,into the 1990s or later especially if they are engraved (e.g. Denmark, Norway, Greenland, etc). Thailand definitives I have collected into the 2010s. Commonwealth tends to end in the 1970s unless the issue has watermark, paper, imprinted dates, or other intentional varieties.

For me, with varying degrees of focus -

Canada/BNA up to 1999 - seemed like the perfect stopping point numerically & before the self-adhesives really got common. Although if I was starting now, I'd stop at 1953, as King Eddy to George VI is my favourite period.
French African colonies - up to independence
Fiume, Montenegro - Fiume is easy, Montenegro up to WWII
Ecuador - currently up to 1960, but not very interested in post WWII so may move that back
US - parcel post only with Philadelphia pre-cancels - here I've narrowed my scope successfully!
Greenland - up to 1950s, because I inherited a set of the liberation overprints
Previous - collected world up to 1959 & French other colonies, but that's all being gradually sold

Really like those "dead countries" and colonies, the decision is so easy then... Aesthetically speaking, appreciate some newer issues, but really prefer the designs from the 1920s-40s.

I quit US in the 1970's but fell in love with the Transportation Coils of the 1980's and beyond. That is what I am collecting specialized


Peter

Peter I would love to see your specialized pages of the Transportation coils.