Collecting Goals / Plan

Thanks for your comments philatelia Bermuda has been mentioned twice, so that's a thought. I already have most of the GB used which I am currently finishing adding the last few years to. Q.E.II commemoratives that is. Whichever country/region I decide on I'm leaning towards used stamps. I have always enjoyed viewing cancellations/postmarks & the like on worldwide items.

Thanks Beryllium Guy  

I feel like it might change weekly, depending on how my brain is functioning, but I managed to write out a bunch of collecting goals in a journal a while ago, and I still agree with most of them.

USA: All major Sc# within reasonable pricing to 1951 (Used primarily till 1869, then mostly mint where price works out) (Airmail as only B-O-B, don't really have interest in the others, and no CSA)
USA: Postmark Calendar of the 1851 3c (Sc# 11/11A)
USA: All First Day covers listed in Mellone's for the 1934 8c Zion National Park issue (Issued on September 18, which is my fiancees birth day)
USA: All of the non-experimental Barr-Fyke & Barry machine cancels on cover.
USA: Covers from each PO in Monroe and Onondaga County in New York. (Including HPO, RPO, etc)
Canada: All the Unitrade numbers for the Small Queens that aren't unique/super scarce or rare. Attempting Mint, but some are out of my price range. (Including major re-entries, not including every precancel style.)
Canada: Postmark Calendar of the 1c (Sc#35) or 3c (Sc#37/41) Small Queen
Canada: All the major Sc# for the Large Queens issue Mint or Used. (Not picky with condition, I love the design, but these are pricey.)
Denmark: All the major AFA# Used (within reasonable pricing)
Denmark: Plate reconstruction of one or more of the following bicolored ore issue (Sc#31, 32, 33, 34, 50, 51, 52)
Switzerland: Work on plating the 1900 UPU issue (Sc#98-100 + 101-103), maybe do paper studies as it's one of the few areas not explored for the stamp?
Austria: Figure out what I want to do with cancels on the Franz Joseph issue 1867-1880, I don't have a plan or the literature on this issue. (yet!)

I also want to own a lot of the important literature on these subjects, I have a large spreadsheet of books to acquire, and what I already have, but this is a philately forum, and not a bibliophile forum, so maybe that can be posted somewhere else. 

This is a question I've been trying to answer for a few years. I've inherited two collections, one from my grandmother who's collection was pre 1930's. Since then I've been adding post 1930's stamps to build the collection to current dates which I soon discovered is impractical. I don't like albums and hinges so I'm using stock books. A complete set of Scotts International Albums might be the solution, but not affordable for me, and again I don't like hinges. Her collection covered several dozen countries, many that no longer exist. I want to keep her collection intact, and picking only a few countries to expand on. Which ones? Japan, Austria, Canada, Australia maybe?? And then I see several thousand stamps in a bin from Spain, Netherlands, France, Italy, Great Britain, Germany, and Hungary. OMG, it seems like Hungary issues a new stamp every week!!! What to do??

What to do? I decided what to collect mostly based on one simple thing - which stamps did I most enjoy working on? If a country feels overwhelming or boring to you then that’s a great clue to skip it. Like many of us, I used to be a worldwide collector, too. Back in the 1980s, I was trading with a nice man, ummm, I think his name was Reverend Munson. Anyways, at the time the one area I definitely decided that I would collect was Scandinavia. He agreed to take all of my stamps from countries that I decided to drop in exchange for his Scandy duplicates. Over a period of a few years, my list of countries collected kept getting shorter and shorter until I reached the point where I had a manageable number of countries. I recently cut 5 more collections to allow me to concentrate my time and funds even further. 

My point is this; try taking a list of all the countries and start crossing out ones that you don’t really enjoy all that much. Sometimes it’s easier to start from the other end and keep eliminating possibilities - like a big sports tourney such as March Madness - until you hit the final four or 16 or whatever. That also forces you to consider all of them at least once. 

FYI Here’s my list of keepers; Ireland, Scandinavia, Vatican, Japan, Austria, Bermuda, Venezuela, Canada, and USA. Still a big list but doable. I decided to keep one from several major Geographic area - one Commonwealth, one Asian, one Latin American, etc. Canada and USA because hubby is Canadian and we live in USA - Simple proximity mostly. All those little British areas are fun, but opted for only one. 

Anyways, this ties in with the original post asking us to consider our goals. I think I’ve reached the point where I can’t cut further except perhaps in setting cut-off dates for collections. I think I’ll keep going as is, but stop collections when they started issuing self-adhesives. (Ick!) 

Looking forward to watching where philately takes you, drmellow ! Remember, you can always change your mind. 

Drblade. Looking at the criteria you mentioned in your post you might consider AAT (Australian Antarctica) or FSAT=French & Antarctic Territories, and British Antarctic Stamps. I have learned quite a bit from working with part of the world's stamps. Also, if you want to look for a country that does not have a ton of stamps some South American countries would fit the bill.

Just my suggestion.
Nick

If you want to stay with GB, maybe you should look over B.A.T. That keeps your collection focused on Great Britain. That collection has a load of great looking stamps.
Nick

My goal is to have 1 of each major Scott number from the US. Will it happen before I die? I doubt it but I enjoy the hunt and showing others my collection so far.

I too changed the journey due to financial considerations. One expensive stamp vs hundreds/thousands of inexpensive stamps.