Collecting Criteria & What to Collect?

What I thought I was going to collect when I got back into the hobby has become very different.

I am focused on mainly the "classics, but do extend some countries a bit more into the future.  I am interested in (not necessarily in order):

    European countries- more western than eastern

    Series as opposed to chronological order

    Types*

    Nuances/shades/variants*

    Nice postmarks (I prefer used over mint, but hold on to mint stamps as it shows  a entire stamp in good detail)

    I've embraced making my own pages so i can include details, some history and hopefully a more self-explanatory "display"


My original idea to focus on US.... they're still boxed up, with few exceptions!

* this requires that one acquires many many duplicates!

Jon blaamand.......you have many friends worldwide 
René

gatodiablo....you are a real "collector" !!

René

just had to smile when I read gatodiablo's comments about being a 'consummate collector'       I don't think there's been a time in my life when I haven't collected one thing or another, and it's always with passion, which usually means an overdraft - I couldn't imagine life without collecting something.
I think mostly it's been books - old and antiquarian and have to admit to being a fairly mean bookbinder when it comes to repair or rebinding, but I've been through binoculars, fountain pens (of which I do still have almost all including about 60 odd Parker 51s and some cracking N.Y. made Swan/Mabie Todd), coins, old woodworking tools etc. etc.

I did stamps as a teenager, then dropped out for eons - wish I'd kept the Irish collection - did life, love and marriage and kids, and now quietening down have come back to stamps.

When you start, it's everything  -  and then the penny drops and you have to rationalize and be sensible and decide what turns you one, since everything is completely unworkable.       
I love history, so tend to be fascinated by the C19 so get a buzz from collecting Victorian from wherever, but guess it's mostly Commonwealth, and Brits. are lucky insofar as they see their earlier monarchs heads on so many stamps from that thing they called the Empire, so many of which are beautifully engraved images - and so different to modern issues with their glossy surfaces and endless pix of birds, fish etc., which is fine if that's what turns you on.
I think it's an ageist think  -  if you're oldish then it's likely pre WW II issues will appeal - or is that me being plain out of touch and a dinosaur?

But like others here, quirky or unusual also appeals - I'd like to start on the States pre-cancels, and I've got a book which tells me how to decipher the origin of 1d reds, and perhaps in time airmails will get a look in.
The U.K. (London) climate isn't of concern re the welfare of collections  -  I sympathise with philatelia's problems with humidity - perhaps some of the unused stamps stick to their supports.
I enjoy going out and hunting for stamps - sounds like I'm using a Winchester:-).            I've had some good finds in charity shops, and boot sales, but duplicates can be annoying, and the excitement of the unpredictable gives a buzz  -  I'd also agree that ebay prices seem at the moment to be good value for money, and agree that buying collections is the better way to get value for money.

Stay safe:-) 

The short (?) story for me was I did collect worldwide when very young but collection was stolen when we went from Germany back to US. I got interested again when visiting one of my Dad's fellow officers and saw his nice mint US collection.

I gave up my US collection before college but always interested. Even in the post-college years, I had subscribed to Linn's News although not actively collecting. In the 90's I became more active but as I got into the early Wash-Frank issues I got cold feet - too expensive, too much to know without certs. I had a Scott National but switched to Mystic because I did not like paying a lot for supplements.

Eventually, I decided I like stamps but not paying a lot for them as I did not care if I had a set of Columbians. I was traveling for business especially in the Far East so got into British Asia (Singapore/Malaysia) which expanded to British Commonwealth which is now my current interest.

Collecting criteria is as follows -

Must find the period, country or subject interesting and the stamps generally well-designed. Examples would be classic Canada (up to 1940s), French colonial issues (love the designs), any dead country/former colony, etc. Prefer mint because the designs are paramount to me, although I admire a beautiful cancel. I find postal history interesting, but only collect items related to my very small town in Ontario (which means I rarely find them!).

Can't stand modern issues in general, and have a hard cut off date of 1959 for worldwide - I make a small exception for Canada up to the 1990s, but that's just patriotism I guess. Don't collect stamps from what I consider "fake" countries, like the tiny Atlantic British islands, or Jersey/Guernsey. But of course I don't judge anyone else, since they should collect what they like!

Inherited a very large worldwide collection, with extra strength in Canada & Germany and French colonies, so been trying to build on those areas, while culling what doesn't fit.

Sometimes however I'll keep something that doesn't fit in those categories - for example, inherited a nice complete set of US parcel post, all with Philadelphia precancels. I'll hang onto that just because it's kind of cool, even though I don't collect the US otherwise.

As far as the collecting gene goes, I've also collected antique maps & books on a variety of obscure topics - medieval Persian painting being a major one - for most of my life. There's an inherited coin collection somewhere in my closet, so perhaps one day that will see the light as well...

As a world-wide collector, my collection used to take up more than 10 meters of shelf-space, ever growing thanks to Steiner.

I sold that collection 10 years ago, and have since started "again" collecting more specifically.

So - one of mine criteria: Don't take up a whole room :-)

At heart, I will always be a world-wide collector, though.

I think the age thing is apropos. I started collecting stamps in the mid-1970s in the US. US Bicentennial-topic stamps are still among my favorite US commemoratives.

As we age, we also tend to collect what we remember from our youth or our parents. Hence the recent transition in collector interest from Model As and Model Ts to muscle cars, the decline in interest in pre-war (2) toys and trains, and so on.

Of course, some of us are anomalies and collect regardless of era or past personal experience 

I like this thread, thanks for interesting inputs from everybody! 

philatelia - Very well said. This is very much my own experience as well. And to elaborate on that - once you've seen that common definitive a thousand times, one gets more interested in studying varieties of it, shades, perfs, freaks, postmarks etc etc.



gatodiablo - that's funny! And so true, which I can confirm - I'm in the group of anomalies 

I do not have a certain stamp or stamps as a holy grail. I have so many open spaces that I am not into filling specific spots. It is as much of enjoying the journey.

Jon blaamand
I like what you wrote in 5 paragraphs some 3 hours ago (will not quote to save space !) - I wish you a 12d Canada (#3) in the future....  I do not have one, also and never will unless Lotto 649 is good to me and then I will get 2 (one for you) 
René

Wishes to philatelia ?? Where is this information so that I can do the same ? Thanks 

René