How often do you think of why you became a stamp collector? What is there about a postage stamp that attracts you to hunting, purchasing, collecting, thinking about your collection, and perhaps even exhibiting a frame or two in the local show?
For some of us there is a mystique that can be savored in private, like having an entire art collection hidden away in a vault room. It’s sort of a happy place of solitude, a retreat. For some of us there is the pride of possession and the opportunity to strut our stuff… just a little bit, by showing what we have done. It’s become a part of our self worth and our little surprise to the world.
A fairly large group of folks participate, not because of the stamps, but because of the people. You can often observe this at stamp shows and club meetings, when spouses and friends and children come with a stamp collector just to see what it is all about. But, mostly they just come to be with the person that they care about.
My sister came to visit a summer ago. I am mature except I refuse at times to be completely grown up; she is really old and very wise. She said to me “You have always been a collector.” As difficult as it is for me to admit, she was right. From the first grade when Mrs. Moberly said “We are going to have a craft, a stamp collection,” I have been a lifer. I have come and gone from time to time but always returned and found the joy of collecting anew.
I love the hunt. I enjoy discovering what was going on in the world that would justify commemorating an event on a postage stamp. What was the story behind the scene? I like bi-colored designs and symmetry and good art. I enjoy quiet times of solitude. I like mental activity. And after a professional life in the service industry I still really enjoy people.
As I read back through what I have just written, I suspect that it is more autobiographical than I had intended….. but that’s OK, even new friends will understand.
Why do you do what you do? I am looking forward to finding out why you enjoy your stamp collecting.
Keith Moreland
February APS Circuit Books (thanks Gene Styer)
U.S. Unused – 211 (Mint); 258; 528B (Mint); 531; 621; Edison Line PR.
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U. S. Hawaii 27 to 74 Used
AUSTRALIA Used 50a, 72a, 417; Antarctic Terr So/So Condition
BENELUX Used Most. BELGIUM
INDIA Used - $20 left out of $70
P R C Unused/Used 124/127 Unused
GLOBAL 1840-1940 SARDINIA 12,13; SWISS 84b, 141, 152 SYRIA CB1-4, 90, 91
NEW ZEALAND From 400: 403 Unused, to 527; B5-9-B8X Full Book
FRANCE New Book M&U 600-3400
GREECE M&U 5XX-21XX; C1-C4 Postally Used $8.00
MEXICO New Book 242-288 M&U
THAILAND New Book 156 U 30.00 net; 172 U 90.00 Net Misc.
KOREA (South New Book M&U 1-1100
PORTUGAL & COLS New Book Angola, Azores,, Cape Verde, Funchal, Lourenco Marques, Inhambane
ITALY New Book Used #27 to 2500
ZUIDWEST AFRIKA New book U&Unused from#29 Bilingual PRS. J 8, 24, 26, 30, 31, 35 0-12