philatelia
Member
Captain Jack - my best kiloware find ever!
Posts: 3,622
What I collect: Ireland, Japan, Scandy, USA, Venezuela, Vatican, Bermuda, Austria
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Post by philatelia on May 6, 2024 11:51:03 GMT
I’ve settled on a new system for setting cut-off dates for my collections. I have a few collections that I consider my “guilty pleasures” - countries that are mostly cranking out new issues and marketing to collectors plain and simple. They are Guernsey and Jersey, with a few Nordic areas from my Scandinavian collection that seem to qualify for that description. But what I do is I don’t buy new issues - I don’t even put them on my wishlists. I only put a few sets from where my collection tapers off on my “need” list. In other words, I set my cutoff date wherever my collection ends. I mainly build my collections by buying collections at a low fraction of catalog. I wait until I find lots that include several years past my cutoff date, thus bumping the cutoff date forward. I collect both mint and used - trying to get one of each, not either/or, so I buy both mint and used collections. Then I go through and try to upgrade the quality, picking the best cancels, centering, etc. Anyways, if you were to look at my wishlists on Colnect, the most recent stamp on the list is where my collection falls off and I probably need most issues after that date. So - how do YOU set the cut-off date for your collections? Do you have any collections where you try to stay up to date on new issues? Let’s hear from some of our newer members, too. Join in the chitchat ![:)](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/smiley.png) ps - I was able to write this with my head stabilized on the pillow. Yay! Love this portable iPad!
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Post by greaden on May 6, 2024 12:59:39 GMT
None of my collections neatly stop anywhere, aside from the demise of dead countries, but attempts at completion do give way to casual accumulation and topical quests.
For the US and France, the millennium commemoratives do make neat stopping points, as they coincide with the decline of actual mail and the explosive rise of new issues.
For the German area, I have a fuzzy end point: when the dust settles after the war.
There are a few countries with consistent quality of design such as Tunisia, Czechia, Iceland, and Ethiopia. I keep extending my wantlists by a few years at a time.
For colonies, it would seem that independence would be an obvious end point, but often the first few issues afterwards are interesting declarations of a new country's identity.
My collection is semi-defined, but like the rhizomes of my irises. They expand and divide, branching out. Some peter out while others keep growing at blooming.
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Post by Statesman Stamper on May 6, 2024 18:37:44 GMT
For my main worldwide collection, I'll happily take anything that comes my way. If it fills a space or upgrades a filler item, then I'll slot it in. The more, the merrier, issued anywhere from 1840 to five minutes ago. For my "side" collections, each has a tidy cutoff. US used singles, 1932 - 2020. This covers the span of years my parents were alive, which feels appropriate. "Virtual" Minkus Master copyright 1965. The album contains spaces for stamps issued 1840 - 1964. Easy enough boundaries to respect, especially considering the Master includes over 60,000 spaces. British Empire/Commonwealth Simplified (per Gibbons), 1937 - 1967. Mostly affordable and avoids a lot of the wallpaper/topical flood of issues.
With the exception of my US used collection, the other side collections are populated from my duplicates. Easy enough to accumulate those as a world collector who likes buying mixed lots.
Dale
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stainlessb
Member
qaStaHvIS yIn 'ej chep
Posts: 4,799
What I collect: currently focused on most of western Europe, much of which is spent on France, Belgium, Germany and Great Britain Queen Victoria
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Post by stainlessb on May 6, 2024 21:04:32 GMT
For me, each has a cut off date, with a few exceptions,
Great Britain is limited to the Queen Victoria Great Britain issues only.
France, 1959 (the year I started collecting) and basically pre-decimal, with the exception of a few definitive series that were issued beyond 1959
Germany- ends with Deutsche Post
Memel - only under the 'oversite' of France
Austria - this one is still up in the air whetyher to end with WWI or WWII
and then there's Hungary..... TBD
Belgium - 1949 -no real reason....
Jugoslvia - Government in exile issues
and then there's the countries I have stamps of but have as yet done much beyond sorting into varios. Some may ultimately be traded off (or sold)
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Hugh
Member
Posts: 441
What I collect: Occupation Stamps and Postal History, Worldwide; Canada, the UK, France and Germany.
Member is Online
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Post by Hugh on May 6, 2024 22:34:17 GMT
Interesting posts. In my case:
My core collections:
Worldwide Occupation Stamps and Postal History ... I have no limits. 1790's French Revolution to 2024 Ukraine and anything in between. For me this also includes civil wars and insurgencies. Canada ... Preconfederation to today. However, I'm not really that interested in the stamps past 1970. Since 2000, I just buy the annual year packs from Canada Post to keep the collection current. current. If I see something interesting at a show or club bourse, I'll buy that. UK ... Up to 1953 - the end of Empire. I do, however, have a collecton of Regional Machins - I'm not sure why (smile). Also, the first independence stamps of former British colonies. Odds and ends, the Summer Islands, the Falklands, anything of interest. France ... Up to 1970 - the passing of Charles de Gaulle and also the end of the first phase of the Cold War. St. Pierre et Miquelon until 1950.
Germany ... For the most part, only up to 1952 - the end of the post war occupation. Plus, Berlin to 1989.
Secondary collections:
Japan ... to 1950 ... with a side collection focused on the various wars with China, Russian and Germany.
China ... to 1950.
Korea ... to 1955 (to include the Korean War).
Russia ... to 1970 ... with a side collecton focused on the Russian Civil War and the various wars with Japan.
Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Czechoslovakia ... up to 1950.
I check watermarks and perfs when I need to but, for me, it's rellay about the stories and the history.
Cheers,
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 737
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 May 7, 2024 1:34:45 GMT
My cut offs have more to do with aesthetics than dates. Traditional collections (like Sweden) tend to cut off around 2000, when the issues stop appealing and the cancels get smudgy. Terri can likely back me up, there's a point when Sweden went from nice legible cancels to a thick, sprayed posthorn. That's where I stop. But I seem to be taking a more thematic bent to my worldwide collection. Definitive issues will always have a home, and commems need to reflect either the land or the culture of the place. I just made a New Zealand page with two sets that were issued 5 years apart, but both show Maori culture. They look better together, and I'm not too stressed about ever filling in the sets in between. (at least, not today! ![:D](//storage.proboards.com/forum/images/smiley/grin.png) )
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Cephus
Member
Posts: 166
What I collect: U.S. 1847-1993, Australia, China, New Zealand
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Post by Cephus on May 7, 2024 1:37:00 GMT
Mine is pretty simple. When they go self-adhesive, I stop. When they start looking like they were designed by a 12-year old in Photoshop, I stop.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,568
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on May 7, 2024 10:12:06 GMT
For most it is around 1980 which is the start of the Disney/Princess Di era except for select countries. This is mainly for mounting on page purposes. If I get issues beyond that I just put them on Vario pages. My US stops aroound 2019.
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Post by classicalstamps on May 7, 2024 10:46:39 GMT
Cutoff for me is whenever things get "boring" (for my taste/interest).
Example: For Sweden, I cut off in 1920.
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hdm1950
Member
Posts: 1,798
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 May 7, 2024 10:55:19 GMT
My cut off dates are pretty simple as well. I go as far as the pages in albums I had from my early collecting years. My general world wide goes to 1965. Canada only expanded to 1990 when I ended up with a newer Minkus album like the one I had that stopped around 1970.(Anything beyond 1970 was added by buying large lots of mint for postage.) USA stops at 1980 which was the year I had bought my Harris album. I only add singles and sets for a handful of countries and these are mostly classics. Everything else only gets added to when I am going through old collections I pick up reasonable.
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DrewM
**Member**
Posts: 31
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Post by DrewM on May 13, 2024 20:44:38 GMT
I don't have one fixed "cut-off date" for all my collections, but I do have various ending dates depending on that country's stamp issuing policies or whether or not I feel like continuing to collect that country's stamps after a certain year. It's not unusual for a country to change its stamp policies, issuing far more stamps than before or issuing stamps about subjects unrelated to that country (typically "topicals") and so on. Any cut-off date I decide on, I'm free to change whenever I'm in the mood to do that. Hey, it's just a hobby, so I can do anything I want, right? For Germany, I stop sometimes "around" 1990 because of reunification. Also, Germany is an absolute flood of stamps to collect, so there has to be an end for any collector. For Britain, I collect up to about 2000 just as an arbitrary cut-off point. For my U.S. collection, I initially chose 2000 as the cut-off year, then pushed it to 2010, but have finally settled (well, we'll see, won't we?) on 2015. After a certain point, it's just buying more "year sets" and that can get really expensive really fast. For various others collections, I just use a convenient year somewhat arbitrarily. For my few Africa collections (well designed, interesting histories), Tunisia goes to 2010, Malawi to about 2000, Congo (Kinshasa) goes up to its flood of inflation era stamps, so about 1990 when overprints proliferated out of control. Egypt also goes to about 2000. In Asia, I ended Japan when it began its endless flood of "pop culture" stamps in about 2000. You just kind of "know" when a country's stamp-issuing policy changes or its stamps become a "flood" or they start to bore you. That's your cut-off date. Scandinavian countries I haven't cut off because their stamps continue to be beautifully designed and relevant to their history and culture. Iceland's cut-off date was easy! It's just a few years ago when Iceland stopped issuing stamps -- so that was the easiest one of all. For Switzerland, I was running out of money keeping up with its expensive "year sets," so about 2010 I just stopped buying them. That's as good a reason as any. My pockets aren't that deep.
I collect about 25+ countries plus I have a general worldwide collection for everything else. I collect the U.S., Canada Great Britain, Scandinavia, most of Europe (yes, too many countries), four or five African countries whose stamps are well designed, a few Asian countries, and others. I'm tentatively beginning to collect some Latin American countries. I am clearly addicted. My general world-wide collection is mainly for my duplicates plus casual collections of those countries I don't really focus on. It's hit-or-miss, and I don't pay very much attention to this collection, so some countries will undoubtedly remain almost empty of stamps. In all of this, my approach is generally to only collect stamps I want to collect, skipping stamps I don't find appealing for various reasons. It's a hobby, right? So I can do this. Besides cut-off dates, arbitrary or not, I use a somewhat different general approach to collecting from most collectors. For many countries, I only collect the stamps I like. How's that for freedom? For most countries stamps about the country's people, history, culture, inventions, important anniversaries, and so on predominate. Those, plus stamps that are just "pretty" or clever, I collect. For others, I omit stamps about various "money-making" topics unrelated to that country or stamps that are so dull they look like bread labels. With some countries, this is hardly ever a problem so I end up collecting nearly all their stamps. With others, I omit a sizable number I simply do not want. Needless to say, those omitted are nearly always modern stamps -- many topicals and from the tidal wave of money-making issues which bring in much-needed revenue (or enrich a few members of the government -- I'm never sure). I dislike souvenir sheets which are this sort of thing so I usually omit them. If stamps are unrelated to a country or seem superfluous and silly, I just omit them. How to do that, and doesn't that leave empty spaces in my albums? It would if I only used standard albums without alteration. But I modify the standard albums I use where necessary by printing replacement pages that omit stamps I don't want. If you use blank pages to begin with, this isn't necessary, of course. This is now much easier with the proliferation of print-your-own album-pages programs. I print my revised page layouts on matching blank pages. Nearly all album makers sell identical blank pages. The results are matching pages without the offending stamps. [One trick is to save print-your-own page files -- like Bill Steiner's pages which are available online -- to any basic online PDF-to-Word program. I use "Small PDF" but there are many others. Upload your pages to the program and then select "save in Word". Then edit them as you like since Word allows that sort of thing. Just delete stamps you don't want. "Highlight" --> "Delete". Then print them out. If you invested in a wide-bed printer you could print directly onto your blank album paper. I use a normal printer, though, so I print onto regular computer paper, then at Fedex I photocopy those copies onto blank bordered album pages. The result is a matching page that omits all the stamps I don't want.] Whatever you do, remember it's a hobby and you can do whatever you enjoy.
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