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This column originally appeared in the American Philatelic Society's monthly magazine, "The American Philatelist." Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.

February 2000

Stamp Collecting is the world's most creative and dynamic hobby.  Our subject covers every aspect of human and natural history, and entertainment from the ridiculous to the sublime.

We're all sleuths, artists, historians, researchers and masters of the arcane, not to mention frugal negotiators buying, selling and trading our little gems.  There's the thrill of the hunt, swift chases and long safaris, as we search for that golden stamp, and in the end we're always surprised by the gem we actually find.

Now we're finding philatelic treasure on the Web and finding out that there's nothing new under the sun, or on the Web.  What's old is what's new again, and all the cliches apply because the Web is just people doing what they've always been doing.

Web Outposts

No one watches TV in department store windows as they did 50 years ago, and we don't linger at the sites of the savvy stamp bureaus as we did five years ago.  

Then a philatelic bureau on the web was a novelty, worthy of at least three or four visits just to revel in the experience, but every country developes it's own www at its own pace.  For instance, while fixed rates for unlimited 'Net access are standard in the US, the British pay about five cents a minute for Internet access.

Less developed regions are still five to seven years behind, and even then they tend to get trampled by the sheer volume of pages from the USA and Europe, and likewise, the small philatelic bureaus get overlooked.

The Rock's fledgling stamp site that's very easy to use and informative.  Gibraltar remains throughly British as evidenced by its statesmen issues, but it's more domestic issues have a strong Spanish influence.

Gibraltar
http://www.gibraltar-stamps.com/

Uganda Post is a simple site, but with a nice feature.  It offers an e-mail mailing list for new issue and event notifications.  Not only is that helpful for the collector but also for Uganda Post, and they have a gallery of their buildings, to bring that far-off country closer to home.

Uganda Post
http://www.ugandapost.com/

Over on the west coast the Nigerian Postal Service's philately section has been over a year in construction, though you can put your own melody to the lyrics of the Nipost song.  Making and maintaining a web site is like digging through to the other side of the world: Sounds simple, but after six feet the heavy lifting starts.

Nipost
http://www.nipost.com.ng/

Heading into the evening sun and turning left, you'll come to Ascension Island, a flyspec in the South Atlantic.  Its post is run by the UK, but this is a very small office.  Check the site and the post office's vehicle, mailbox and office.  I think the site fits the island nicely.

Ascension Island
http://www.ascension-island.gov.ac/postoffice.htm

Further south we come to the Falklands, whose stamp website is part of the government's general informational site.  It's a good page of information, but looks and reads like a gov't report with no stamps or illustrations to see.

http://www.falklands.gov.fk/3b.htm

The Pacific's Pitcairn Island web site is a small island on the web that's surprisingly well-populated and lush, though it does point out that the bureau, itself, is maintained in New Zealand to overcome its isolation.

Pitcairn Island
http://users.iconz.co.nz/pitcairn/NewPhilatelicPage.htm

Brunei Darussalam's philatelic web site is simple but extensive.  It looks like what the web was in '96, but what's important is the stamp information.

http://www.brunet.bn/gov/post/phil.htm

Each of these bureaus on the www has its own particular character, and whether by chance or design they are all unique that still shows that it's what's on the envelope that counts.