Stamp Collecting for Beginners and Philatelists

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The Practical Philatelist

One of my many changes in the last couple of years has been my switch from packrat to practical traveler.

I used to save everything that may have been useful sometime in the future. It was handy to have lots of things around to use in a pinch. Things like old bookcases, old margarine containers, or stacks of books on curious topics.

But, but, I learned that I spent a lot of time keeping up with the clutter. That was time that I should have focused on more important things. (Yes, it’s also about priorities.)

It’s odd to be looking back with this new attitude of a someone who’s traveling light, to wonder why that little old packrat (me) didn’t see that he was dragging around a large ball and chain.

It’s an odd feeling, but I don’t dwell on it. And now I’m ordering another Dumpster to be dropped off so I can fill it with the packrat’s junky treasures.

I’ve also started to apply this new outlook to my stamp collection. I have stacks of auction catalogs, cartons of unsoaked stamps, and bits and pieces of philately that I’ve bought here and there over the years on a whim. Now I’m zeroing in on what feels right, what’s important, and what I want to do with my collection.

I have a handful of specialties that I am psychically drawn to. (I mean, these are areas that I’m drawn to with the slightest hint of a connection no matter what else I’m doing, or what the connection may be.) There’s a connection that may have started as an intellectual or historical interest, but has seeped deeper.

I don’t think they’re in any way related other than through me.

The first area is the issues of Hawaii. A bit more of an abstract longing than the rest (because I can’t afford most of them), but it runs deeply. I like the designs, their stories, their provenance, Hawaii itself, and, the relation to the notion of a vanished Paradise. (The only paradise is paradise lost. - Marcel Proust)

Another collecting fascination for me is Finland, specifically the 1918 definitive of the rampant lion within a field of colored waves. These are the Saarinen issues, and for the era the design was cutting edge. No old men in ties, or scenes of glory. It’s the design, and this issue drew me in to learn more and more about Suomi. I have Finnish music from WWII and took language lessons for a year or so.

The US Fourth Bureau definitive issue is a bit closer to home. When I started collecting I sorted 17 million of them into little piles (or at least it felt like millions). They were history lessons, the best dead-president’s issue there ever was.

And not lastly, French Colonial Africa tops my list for philatelic adventure, and to this I’ve also grafted the Belgian Congo. In a sense, this is my more whimsical area.

The Hawaiians are longing and aspiration. The Finns are flyspec’ers, art and design. The Fourths are personal landmarks, and the French are capricious fun.

the lanai guy | 12:11 PM | 0 comments |  

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