Modern Philately Versus Classic Philately

Just wondering, am I the only one in the philatelic world who favor modern philately versus classic philately?
I see so many people attracted to old stamp with repetitive design (royalty, coat of arms, etc) when today's stamps features so many different subject.
Just asking...

Sylvain

Suggestion:
Even if you collected belly button lint, you would not be the only one.

There is a VAST world out there of collectors that have a discipline in every facet of Philately.
Slogan postmarks, modern Parcel Post stickers, gum variances, flourescence, perforation guage variances. etc & etc ad nauseum.

Collecting modern philately would be one of the more common

You would perhaps be advised to Join a stamp club, and attend auctions,
to experience the vast range of personal collecting.

Collect what you want!!! The rest of us do.

I have to echo what the others here have said.

Many who start out as kids, start with modern stamps as they are the most accessible to them others like myself started from answering an H.E. Harris ad in the back of boy's life magazine for a gazillion world wide stamps for a penny (or similar). Once people get started, regardless of how, they go tend to go in all directions based on personal tastes and what they like.

I started with contemporary world wide stamps but after a time realized the size of the endeavor and decided to stick with US and US Territories. That alone was enough to keep me busy, eventually adding more and more back of the book categories. I do have a few foreign pieces that trip a wire. In my case, I also really like engraved filigree for instance. Modern stamps don't hold much of that. And then there's the historical aspect. I just don't get the same feeling from holding a new stamp as I do one that predates the civil war or the turn of the century (1900). The things that have gone on during it's existence. The number of issues yearly can also be a factor, pro or con. Sticky vs. licky also plays a part for some.

On the other side of the coin, I understand from some friends who enjoy topical collecting, the range of subjects on modern stamps is a great draw for them.

There is no wrong way to collect. Collect what you like,old or new.Try to find an angle that no one else has thought about in your area of interest to develop a great collection!

As others have said, you are hardly the only person to favor modern philately versus classic philately, and there are numerous other areas of interest to philatelists besides those two. Just check out all the different kinds of forums here!

That said, classic does tend to be more popular than modern. To put some numbers to this, look at the number of topics in the following forums:

US Classic 8595
US Modern 2674
US BOB 3483
US Covers 3006

World Classic 7963
World Modern 3380
World BOB 1036
World Covers 1607

Classic leads Modern in both US and World categories. And within BOB and Covers, it is likely that items from the classic era attract greater interest than from the modern era. But I do think your description of the classic era (repetitive design, etc.) is a bit one-sided. Many of us who collect modern material will readily agree that few modern designs are as attractive as many of the engraved commemoratives from the classic era. Though I have more modern material in my collection (there are less than ~250 US stamps that meet my collecting interest, so I am far more into covers than than stamps) NB what I selected as my avatar.

My primary interest is aerophilately (US Air Mail and Aviation Topical stamps and FDCs). Chronologically, this spans both the classic period (roughly back to the beginning of the 20th century) and the modern period.

Generalizations are often not very good at describing the way things really are.

Basil

In the UK, there is the Modern British Philatelic Circle devoted to modern British stamp and booklet issues.
You will find that Post & Go stamps, also known as stamps on a roll, have a large following.
There is a whole website devoted to ATM-stamps (ateeme).

There are threads on modern issues in the World Modern Stamps Mint and Used forum here.

Given how postal services around the World market to collectors and judging by the album publishers supplement offerings the modern stamp collecting niche seems to be alive and well and thriving.

I would agree that in this forum classic stamps are more popular than modern. In places like ebay, a lot of modern material is regularly sold but it's hard to tell if modern is more popular than classic material. I suspect that new collectors (who started say in the past 5-10 years) are more likely to collect modern but I don't have any data to support this.

Although most of my collection is of stamps from about 1910 up to 1960, in some areas I do have modern definitives especially in British Commonwealth. I also have a more or less complete collection of Thailand definitives covering the Bhumipol reign so that includes a lot of modern stamps.

I think the concern for collectors of classic material, aside from their preference for the "look" of the classics, is the lack of new engraved stamps, huge numbers of new issues, and the abundance of gratuitous topical issues.

Just one collector's opinion.

I collect mostly British Commonwealth up to around 1980 (start of Disney, Diana era) but the majority of my stamps are in the post-1930 era in part because they are easy and not that expensive.

Topical collectors deal mostly with modern material. I do not know of a "classic" space stamp.

Shermae covered it for me… too many issues lacking any historical meaning designed to generate revenue or cater to some special interest. No thanks.

Worth remembering that, in fact, many of the stamps that people refer to as being from the "classic" period actually aren't. Traditionally, "classics" are from the first thirty years of postage stamp issues - perhaps extending to 1900 at a pinch. A lot of those forum topics will actually be concerned with middle-period issues from 1900 to 1945.

Personally I think of stamps in three categories or eras. I know many will argue this but this is just my opinion or thoughts on how I mentally classify or think in terms of the larger stamp eras. For me classic is pre-1940, modern starts in the 1980s... but between is an era/category which I don't really have a nickname for but "mid-century". Mid-century are plentiful and generally cheap and majority do commemorate something. Modern stamps, especially when self-adhesives arrived hold less and less interest for me as stickers with subjects I don't think are worthy to be commemorated on a stamp, commercialize novelties (heat/light sensitive), flowers and dinosaurs seem to dominate.

Again this is just my view and does not mean I think any less of modern collectors. Quite the contrary and this is why this is a great hobby, there's something for everyone ans as long as you're not doing harm there's no wrong collection.

Linn's definition of classic:

jconey - I largely view it similarly, where for US Part1 is Pre-1940, 1940 thru adhesive is Part2 (mid-century in your terms), and adhesives are Part3 (NewModern). I think Part3 will prove to be a new wave of valuable stamps, particularly collected in a preserved manner (ie intact sheets). Not sure about used (new postal history?), because it still feels manufactured. With stamp collecting popularity not what it was during the mid-century, and lower overall supplies/limited distributions, sheets will be harder to find. The real question is, will there be demand.

Personally, I think people like the designs of the intact adhesive sheets. I personally expected these forever stamps to not appreciate in value above "face" but they are getting to be really hard to find for many releases and the values for many have shot up.

rogdcam: definitely not much of a definitive definition, is it...