What/How did you decide....

[FairyFoot]

How/what did you decide to collect in the big world of stamps? Did you choose themes/era you were already interested in? Perhaps you were handed a collection by a relative...

My son has shown an interest.... a present a couple of years ago was the Stanley Gibbons starter set (not many have made it into the stamp books though!) and kind Postcrossers have sent postcards in envelopes so they could send used stamps too with it for him... I have an interest but I know I cannot collect everything... should I concentrate on themes I am interested in anyway....? My lovely sub-postmaster who once worked for Stanley Gibbons said that themes wouldn't be worth as much as a EUROPA collection (still time to vote on this year's EUROPA issues)... 

I expect a wealth of answers and opinions....  

[Admin Bear]

oh and i am sure every member will have a slightly unique one for you!! i know i do!

when i started out my focus was very very narrow - US and Germany 1933-1945 ONLY.. i quickly realized that this tight focus was not enough for me..

since then my collections grew to include all of the US to 2011, all of Canada to date, all of Germany to 1945, ships, bears, butterflies, birds that i collect with my youngest child, trains, and certain specialized studies.

early this year i attempted a world wide collection and discovered that it was not for me.. the lay out was too random, and there was only a portion of information.. if i am going to do it i want to do it all the way...

as for what inspired these active collections.. hmmm .. Well being from the US and being multinational made picking the big three easy.. the rest are simply about beauty.

[JanetC]

I got my collection from my great-grandfather and it was a WW. I took it and ran with it for quite a few years. Though I still collect WW and of course US, I have concentrated on several countries recently: Australia, Canada, Great Britain and Russia. There may be a few more as I go through these tubs of stamps. I also have a couple of themes: lighthouses and dragons.
I also joined postcrossing for the postcards.

[MikeC99]

As a 11 or 12 year old, I started a small worldwide collection but lost interest around 16. When I retired, I looked at my old album and decided that a worldwide collection was too much to undertake. As a Canadian, it was logical to collect Canada, US and GB. I am of Irish descent and my wife is German so those countries were added. I also threw in a sprinkling of British Commonwealth countries with an emphasis on Australia and New Zealand. I also collect some topicals and have stamps on trains, ships, airplanes, firefighters, police, motorcycles.
Mike

[Perfs14]

On my retirement, someone asked me "Alex, what are you going to do with all your free time?"
"No Idea. " I answered, truthfully.
"Why don't you collect stamps?" my cheeky daughter asked, half mockingly...the rest is history, well, my (hi)story anyway!

But, I did have half a garbage bag-full of stamps torn from envelopes that my Mum had collected religiously over centuries (or so it seemed from the number) so I started soaking (the stamps, not me) and soaking and ...

[RossTO]

I originally started back in my teens when I was in the Royal Canadian Air Cadets. I was enrolled in the Duke of Edinburgh youth program at the time and a collection was part of the requirement of the award program. I never did complete my award during my tenure with the RCAC... but my collection continued on for a number of years after. I was even active in my local stamp club, including sitting on the board of directors. I stopped some time around the age of 20 or so. At that time I was a generalist collector, Manfred (my mentor in the hobby) told me frequently that I should look at a more focused collection, but I never did... tjen again he never took his own advice either...

Fast forward to my 45th birthday, John end I ended up discussing hobbies, what we used to collect and what we still do. He was somewhat surprised that I had none. With a fair amount of time on my hands I thought about it and decided that I did want to get back into collecting. Since my birthday was rapidly approaching, and he wanted to know what I wanted, thus did my collection begin anew.

Decisions as to what I collect came relatively easy. I am a proud Canadian and a Royalist, so Canada, Great Britain, Australia, &New Zealand were easy choices as well as the rest of the British Empire. My genealogical roots are English (covered), French, & Germanic Swiss so Germany, France, & Switzerland were added. The rest are added by pure whim. Austria, Liechtenstein, & Luxembourg.

I don't do any themes as I feel my collection is varied enough to deal with and will most likely keep me occupied for years to come.

[Phil]

Aug 21, 2013 17:58:03 GMT -5 Perfs14 said:

.................................
But, I did have half a garbage bag-full of stamps torn from envelopes that my Mum had collected religiously over centuries (or so it seemed from the number) so I started soaking (the stamps, not me) and soaking and ...

That's cool.
I still have several envelopes with stamps that my grandmother saved for me almost 30 years ago.

[Gordon Lee]

Greeting Fellow SBv2 Boarders
.
I'm wishy-washy, thus my collecting tendency is rather generalized and tends to specify as to whatever comes my way. Since I happen to live in the United States, I can count, as a rule, mostly U.S. postage arriving on my incoming mail. I can't escape a random world-wide piece of mail hitting my mailbox, so that postage tends to end up in my collection as well. Without an unlimited storage area, I do refrain from collecting most full panes, envelopes, and bulky materials. I do have a modest collection of unused U.S. blocks of four.
.
As for thematic collecting I have limited myself to only those in which I can be assured of collecting 100% of the theme. Thusly, I am the proud owner of two complete collections: 1) Family Standing Over a Dead Horse on Stamps, and 2) Dog poop Depicted on Stamps. I'm a firm believer in keeping it simple.
.
Respectfully,

Gordon Lee

[krash]

Gordon would it be too much trouble to dig out your dog poo collection and scan them for us? I seen your magnificent "dead horse" collection, which by the way is phenomenal!

[Gordon Lee]

Greetings Mr. krash101
.
I'm sure you seen it before. It was posted several times in Stamp Bears version 1.0. But since you asked real nice like, here it is:
.

.
DANMARK -- SCOTT 945
.
Respectfully,

Gordon Lee

[Aaron J]

I started off when I was about 8, then I stopped for a few years. I also misplaced my album and I was hesitant in starting back until I'd find it, in case I'd be buying stamps I already had... but I still haven't found it and thought I'd start back anyway. At the moment I'm collecting British stamps, (mint if possible, though I do come across nice used ones as well).

I'm also thinking of starting my collection of German stamps. I've lived out there for a little bit and I gathered some when I was there and I always thought of getting the German ball rolling, but I haven't really gotten around to that just yet. I may wait until my British one is more substantial and organised... and I am also looking for a good, detailed catalogue for German stamps. I heard the Stanley Gibbons one is very basic, and it's worth investing in the Michel. Even though it's in German, that's not really a hindrance, since I can speak it fluently... though maybe I would have to refer to a German-English philatelic dictionary now and then. But in any case, it'd be good to keep up with my German!

[kannik]

Honoured Mr. Lee - I`m sorry but I believe you may have missed one. On the Canadian
"Blacksmith`s Shop" stamp (Scott #610ii) "log in snow" variety (located just behind
the red thing towards the right of the stamp. My brother was convinced it was horse
manure, but when I fly-specked it minutely, I decided it was even more likely to be
from a dog. So what do you say to that?
I have another philatelist friend who collects "boys wearing barrels" - and I have
actually seen a stamp like that!

[kannik]

Fairyfoot - I do recommend collecting thngs you are already interested in - and there
are a very surprising number of topics out there - and there are people collecting
almost all of them. i would have liked, like Mr. Lee, to be collecting something
nobody else was collecting, and I thought Kingfishers might be one of those. But then
I found out that the American Topical Association has (or had) an entire booklet about
collecting kingfishers on stamps. And if you Google "Kingfishers on Stamps" I think
there is quite a collection, even some by countries, e.g. "Kingfishers on Tanzanian
stamps" (not saying that`s a good example, but it might be). There are a lot in Africa.

[Gordon Lee]

Greetings Ms. kannik
.
You might be right. There sure is a lot of action taking place on that eight-cent C. Krieghoff painting stamp. However, two things prevent it from meeting my criteria for Dog-poo on Stamps: 1) in my humble opinion I agree with your brother that it is horse manure to the right of the parked red sleigh, and 2) and it is not the theme of the stamp. However, it certainly deserves an honorable mention. Thank you most kindly, Ms. kannik, for bringing it to my attention.
.
Respectfully,

Gordon Lee

[kannik]

:)Fairyfoot - When I started collecting this time, stamps were 5c each at my Provincial
Bourse, and I had NO idea what was out there, so I ended up collecting in
50-odd topical areas. I have settled down a bit there now, and still
collect in about 15, if you count about 6 or 7 Paleophilatelic areas.
I see no crime in collecting in many different areas, however - after all
until recently, when most people collected worldwide, we were collecting
from over 200 countries - most countries didn`t get added to very often -
but what`s the difference between a number of countries and a number of
topics?!

[FairyFoot]

Thank you for your answers... so to summarise - collect in areas of interest anyway, and countries/themes you have connections with.

[crazyquilter]

My Grandpa in Scotland got me started into used Worldwide stamps. There are 6 countries that I have a special interest in collecting stamps of.

1.USA - Easy to get used and mint stamps, because I live here.
2.Canada - Where I was Born and where my parents live now.
3.Great Britain - My Mom is from there and that is where my Grandpa lived.
4.Czech - My father was from there and I still have family there.
5.New Zealand - Because I lived there and love the wonderful stamps.

As far as themes, I have always loved animals, fish and birds. My Grandpa liked dogs and paintings. He was into Greyhound racing and raised Greyhounds and Dobermans. He gave me and my brother 3 stockbook for the special theme stamps. My brother sold me his collection when I was in High school.