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Post by nick2302 on Oct 3, 2023 8:29:34 GMT
Now that I am retired, I spend a ton more time working on my collection. Almost every day I spend at least a couple of hours on my collection. When I was working, I might spend an hour each evening to get away from the stress of the day. I have a pile of recent purchases that i must add to the stamp collection. I sell all my duplicate MNH on stamps2go.
When I was working, I would buy and buy stamps and stick them in a box and tell myself when I retire, I will get these into my collection. In 2018 I finally retired and for the next 3 years I opened up30+ carton loaded with stamps. By golly I got them all done and mounted all the stamps and put the duplicates out on stamps2go. I probably worked on those boxes 5, 6 hours a day and now I have a wall of binders of stamps from all over the world.
Now I spend a budgeted amount every month on countries I am into for one reason or another. My Grandparents on both sides came from Italy so that is a collection I have invested a bunch of money on. I started collecting in the US but as the stamps became more cartoonish and expensive I don't collection as much.
Vatican and all the arctic entities are the next most important for me. AAT, BAT, FSAT, Ross Island, some Chilian stamps. France & Belgium I have a fair collection of the engraved French stamps and Belgian train stamps as they are so beautiful, and I am a train nut. I have huge China(PRC) and Russia collection.
Would enjoy hearing from other collectors how they handle and expand their collections'. Hope to hear from y'all.
Nick
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djcmh
Member 
Posts: 773
What I collect: Worldwide
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Post by djcmh on Oct 3, 2023 12:28:00 GMT
I work full time 40-48 hours a week, and my work as Coordinator of the Stamps catalogue at Colnect takes up a good amount of my free time, but I still find time on my nights off to work on some of my personal collection as well.
I'm only 52 so it will be a while before I retire, but I know that when I do, I'll not be short of things to do stamp wise.
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Mr. H
Member
Member - APS #129381
Posts: 935
What I collect: US, Netherlands, Whatever suits my fancy.
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Post by Mr. H on Oct 3, 2023 13:44:29 GMT
I've been trying to spend a few hours a night working on my collections. Unfortunately, for the last few weeks it seems that life has gotten in the way and I haven't spent more than a few hours total. Hope to get back at it before the end of the week and get myself back on track.
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daveg28
Member
Posts: 1,015 
What I collect: U.S., Canada, Great Britain & Commonwealth, France (esp. 1950-80), DDR, USSR
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Post by daveg28 on Oct 3, 2023 13:51:13 GMT
I don't get to spend nearly as much time on my collection as I'd like. My wife always seems to have other ideas to occupy my/our time. ("Really? Mow the grass AGAIN?" "Watch a rom-com movie with you? Now?" "Go furniture shopping? Now?") And then she gets irritated when I leave stamps scattered on the basement{man cave) coffee table in various stages of sorting. If she'd let me finish, they wouldn't be there all the time? (Of course, she doesn't understand...it's NEVER finished).
I'm sure I'm not alone in this situation.
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hdm1950
Member
Posts: 1,607
What I collect: I collect world wide up to 1965 with several specialty albums added due to volume of material I have acquired. At this point I am focused on Canada and British America. I am always on the lookout for stamps and covers with postmarks from communities in Queens County, Nova Scotia. I do list various goods including stamps occasionally on eBay as hdm50
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Post by hdm1950 on Oct 3, 2023 14:14:01 GMT
My actual hands on stamping is minuscule because I am not buying large lots. I do spend hours weekly looking at eBay and auction sites that results in a few stamps and covers arriving most weeks. I tend to spend more time just looking at what I have now.
I try to stay focused on Canada and British America. Because my Canada and Provinces have become pretty well complete without becoming deeply involved in varieties I decided to pursue Canadian revenues. Also Nova Scotia proofs and trial colours have entered my collection. I keep buying these based on Unitrade numbering but do not really know enough about them so I plan to do some reading and research before I go much farther.
Edit: I still do occasionally have large labour intensive lots come my way that I love picking through for my world wide collection but I do not pursue them. Because people know I collect these job lots tend to find me.
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TimG
Member
Posts: 163
What I collect: Worldwide
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Post by TimG on Oct 3, 2023 14:27:31 GMT
I retired recently and didn't have the accumulation Nick had, but I'm plugging away at my more modest collection. It is time consuming, but I try to process 50-100 stamps a day.
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JeffS
Member
Posts: 2,607
What I collect: Oranges Philately, US Slogan Cancels, Cape of Good Hope Triangulars, and Texas poster stamps and cinderellas
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Post by JeffS on Oct 3, 2023 15:30:25 GMT
I am now long retired which allows me to enjoy my collections daily, either researching, writing up, mounting, eBaying and posting here. Stamp life is good.
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Post by nick2302 on Oct 3, 2023 17:27:29 GMT
Yes stamp life is good. It certainly lets me escape the stress of life. Those boxes were accumulated for almost 30 years so about a box a year. All with the good intention of working on them. Leaving plenty to work on after retirement. But as others have said life gets in the way. I really did not realize just how much I had until I started opening the boxes and seeing what a jumble of countries I had. It was a shock really that I had that many stamps. Considering I did work some on my stamps especially in the winter months when the garden was not demanding attention.
This year was the year of my crippled walking. It started with one fall and all of a sudden I was falling regularly. Going to doctors, MRI's, blood work, you name it. So that slowed me down. But I must say working on my stamps takes my mind off of the pain. I am very glad I have this hobby to distract me and teaches me something at the same time.
Nick
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Post by sarah on Oct 3, 2023 19:07:26 GMT
Yes stamp life is good. It certainly lets me escape the stress of life. Those boxes were accumulated for almost 30 years so about a box a year. All with the good intention of working on them. Leaving plenty to work on after retirement. But as others have said life gets in the way. I really did not realize just how much I had until I started opening the boxes and seeing what a jumble of countries I had. It was a shock really that I had that many stamps. Considering I did work some on my stamps especially in the winter months when the garden was not demanding attention. This year was the year of my crippled walking. It started with one fall and all of a sudden I was falling regularly. Going to doctors, MRI's, blood work, you name it. So that slowed me down. But I must say working on my stamps takes my mind off of the pain. I am very glad I have this hobby to distract me and teaches me something at the same time. Nick I am so glad I have this hobby as well. I do come in and out as my mental health allows. I find it such a good form of mindfulness. It allows me time to just concentrate away from the stresses of the day. I would be very lost without my collection. It has literally saved my life more than once! Sorry to hear you are in so much pain. Please keep going with enjoying your hobby as it is proven to help with chronic pain. This is an amazing link on helping with living with pain. livewellwithpain.co.uk/ |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 693
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Oct 3, 2023 19:22:40 GMT
My collecting routine varies with my mental health as well. Although I'm not sure if I collect more during a good patch, or a bad patch!  Honestly, it does ebb and flow. I might go a year or more without looking at my collection and resenting the space it takes and the number of false starts I've had in organizing and displaying it. And then something clicks and I spend more and more time with it. This current run has me spending about an hour a day with stamps, and a similar amount of time on TSF (the solo and the social are deeply linked with me). I finally found a method where I can flit about from mini-project to mini-project, sorting a few sets and mounting them up. This week it's been New Zealand, but now that I'm at the 1950's and QEII's first issues, I can feel the urge to push my philatelic sailboat out and find a new adventure for a week or two. |
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Post by msindc on Jan 25, 2024 3:55:18 GMT
This is a great question. I wrestle with where to put my efforts--do I fill this gap or that gap? Do I look for stamps to fill spots or do I look for spots to put available stamps? So many choices!
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kevinv
**Member** 
Posts: 31
What I collect: Canada, USA, Japan
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Post by kevinv on Feb 22, 2024 15:26:33 GMT
My routine is all over the place, between work, sports for our kids and being a Volunteer Fire Fighter.
We try to spend a few hours each weekend.
Right now we are in the process of sorting a box of world stamps we won from a Facebook auction. After that box, we have 4 shoe boxes to sort from the world, Canada and the United States. After this, we will sort, soak, and place into an album.
In this box, we have come across a few different items and will be looking at how they will fit in. There are several stamps with first-day covers, perfins, overprinting, Cinderella seals, and some interesting postmarks.
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