Hello, New Member Here.

I have a small collection of fish and fishing topicals that I started several years ago. I am just now getting back to working on it.

They are all in stock books at the moment. I have created pages to hinge them on, simple border with a light grid within.

I still have much to learn. I plan on joining the ATA; I understand that they will have a forum on their site soon.

There's no particular focus. I have covers, and post marks too. I appreciate stamps as beautiful little works of graphic art. I like to look at the inks and printing with a loupe.

I avoid souvenir sheets as too big and and not cost effective. I also avoid wallpaper, stamps that just look cheap and ugly to me.

I look forward to learning from all of you and seeing what some of your pages look like.

djj7,

Collecting for the enjoyment of collecting, whatever that might be, is the name of the game. Don't hesitate to ask questions especially if you need basic information and especially more advanced sources of information for any possible topic. You should be able to find folks on this board a little further along on their collecting journey glad to share experiences.

My personal bias is a used stamp loses the story of its journey in the postal service when it is removed from the cover it transported to its destination. Collecting postal history adds a whole new aspect to your journey in our hobby.

Wishing you many enjoyable future days in our hobby. Russ

"cost effective?" Not a criterion often used when describing a hobby.

Things like Linn's or Scott Catalog subscriptions would fall into the category of "not cost effective" for me.

Welcome.

I do not like modern souvenir sheets either as a rule. In every hobby it may be where to stop when you do want to spend unlimited funds for completeness.

Pretty ugly stamp - avoid this one at all costs (if you have one just dump it on me)