Collecting Detours, Forks, And Dead Ends

Interested in hearing from the community about collecting areas that members started or thought about starting, but then stopped. Was there a country, era, or something else (blocks, EFOs, crash mail, etc) that you were once interested in starting, but then fell out of love? If so, why?
For a quick minute, I had considered adding block of four to my collections of singles, and then realized how many more thousands of stamps that would be, with the associated costs around acquisition, storage, and record-keeping.

I had the equivlant of a Junior US collection, with nothing too valuable.
I resumed collecting in my mid thirties. After becoming bored striving just for unlikely completion, and lots of confusion with things like Washington/Franklins and a bunch of other stuff, I dived much deeper into Scott's specialized catalog. I realized I can form new types of collections that people haven't done, that were not just about perforation or watermark detection to move things along. So I started a few things along the lines of minor listings. Then EFO. Then tagging varieties and errors. I like it much more. The problem I face overal is sourcing material.

There are also some unsavory folks in this space hoarding and generally dishonest about what they have and what exists. Even folks highly touted and "respected" are just unscrupulous. I don't know why that is, but they are just sad leftovers from a hopefully almost gone philatelic era. I am worried about future collectors. Auction prices at $2k for a stamp and followup retail at 15k is not good for the hobby.

Started as a kid with US only, then out of nostalgia bought the same Harris Liberty album (Now albums) I had as a young pup some 30 years later and filled a good portion of it; but have shied away from the US collection for some time due to (my perception) the certificate/grading game. Just took some of the fun out of it, and it was an unpleasant transaction with a well-known dealer who I had to fight tooth and nail after sending an "unused" stamp off for a cert to find out it was a cleaned cancel that sort of sealed the deal to go WW.

I've thought about US revenues; as there are some really attractive stamps to be had but, in all honesty, (correctly or incorrectly) just don't want the same experience I had with US regular issue stamps. While admittedly plain, I've had so much fun with Steiner pages and WW, not sure I'll ever complete that Harris Liberty simply for lack of trying.

As soon as I finish (complete) something the thrill is gone for me, and I sell. It is the pursuit that engages me most. Researching, locating and acquiring materials IS the happy part for me.

I also realized a while back those things that I thought had "magic" to them lost their luster when they no longer resided in my dreams, and I actually possessed them. I realized that they were just another stamp or cover with a bigger price tag. Not talking about C3a's here but things like top quality Columbians and the lesser Z grills. When I had them and filled those spaces, I felt rather deflated in a strange way.

Have nothing right now and am really struggling to find a new thing to focus on.

I am plodding along in developing an exhibit on censorship. It may take quite a while to build it to what I see in my head.

rogdcam - I totally relate to that. Deflated is spot on. "I was like I need that so bad. It took me forever!. Then when I get it, its just there. A happy little piece of paper. It checked the box. Ok. Now what" The pursuit is definitely the best part, but also super frustrating. It is tough to say if it actually collecting, or just buying. I guess if you have an objective in mind it is collecting as it's more personal, but I waiver on this whole thing.

What do I do if the stamp is effectively held hostage by a seller? Just wait forever? Pay him off an unreasonable amount just for the sake of completion? The greed if they don't want to haggle! Everyone who sells their auction wins, is looking not just for modest returns but multiples. 2x? ok. 3,4,5 a day after receiving it? It's insane. Sometimes I just move on, and accept noone can actually finish anything in life. Funny you mention c3a/grills as I remind myself Gross trading the z-grill/c3a highlights you just can't have both...

Here's a good example, not in my collecting area, but I was researching vignette shifts just yesterday. Malack.com is selling a c11 shift for $13000! The Vacquero collection at Siegel sold a far better one for $2300. The amount of delusion in retail is astounding.

No detours for me ,started W.W. collecting at 7 years old and 65 years later still on the same path . Lots of forks along the path like Cinderellas ,Fakes and Forgeries ,Clipper Covers , many highly specialized collections .Thru it all still W.W. collector , clearly not a dead end .

Recently purchased a estate lot and it had a large envelope of U.S. PLATE NO. COILS , so started a used plate no. coils ,just a fun project ,now buying two or three lots on ebay to round out the collection , so always will be forks in the road of a worldwide collection .

Agree with floortrader, when you collect worldwide then there is always a new rabbit hole to go down and explore once you get bored or financially priced out of the rabbit hole you were exploring. Spin the wheel and see where it takes you, definitely helps to keep the hobby entertaining and educational, at least for me.

The only detour that has become one of my many foci are getting the US Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express stamps. Old panes and stamps increase quickly in value with some just not fitting my budget unless I cut large areas of acquisition for some time. As I am more an eclecticist when it comes to stamps (and less so coins), I just try to get one the most recent Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express stamps or panes. For older ones, either a used one in good condition or save up a little for a pane of one of the older Priority Mail stamps (many of the Priority Mail Express stamp panes just seem too much to spend although maybe I will make the splurge).

I also find when collecting world wide stamps it is impossible to stick with ONLY one country. I try to focus mainly on French Polynesia as they do not produce a ton of stamps and most are quite affordable. But I cannot help getting stamps from other countries. Thank god I enjoy postcrossing and have found some nice used stamps.

THe most recent sidetrack I encountered was achieving getting all plate positions of the 3 cent Silver Teapot stamps. I am tempted to try and do the same for other low denomination US stamps but fear I will have upon my death a mountain of under ten cent stamps for someone to figure how on earth to use up!!!

I have at least a couple.

Meters by meter number, saving the oldest and newest I found. Either as cuts or full covers. The time sorting and the space for thousands of essentially valuless items (Most of them, I did find a handful of good ones ) was just too much.

Same for the giant box of PVI labels I bought for very little.

The project never started was putting new ish US commemoratives one to a page, mint, used and a cover, maybe a first day or two. Prompted by buying a box of covers that had a decent assortment of nice condition covers like that from small towns. The work to do that was daunting rnough that I never started, and eventually moved the box on to someone who wanted it more than I did.