IkeyPikey,
I agree. I feel the same way. I think two things are at play here:
1. The writers always bring into the article all the neat often overlooked facts and history of the collecting interest and then they picture the most eye-catching (pricey) items from the area.
2. As collectors, we get excited about any cool collecting area whether it be in our "wheel house" or not.
no, but I'm still easily wrangled into new collecting areas, often by the acquisition, usually whimsically, of a stamp or cover. Some articles, though, have brought me to collect stamps, notably the one on LVF (thanks Lars, for the recent free ones, Jan Simon for those couple, and Lionel, for the two luft stamps in the series).
Often something in those articles will catch my interest. A while back I read an article about ship cancellations and it said the US Navy started to use them in 1909... the tail end of my 1903 Franklin stamp’s reign! So I took a look around and started to find them! Now I have about a dozen in the Franklin collection and grab them when I see a ship I don’t have at a reasonable price.
I may see an article where I learn something that expands on the catalog that perks my interest. Too many articles are more guided tours of countries illustrated with stamp images (stamps as history) and less about the stamps themselves.
For example, I have been primarily a US collector but now collect worldwide but lack the knowledge of history of stamps in these countries so topics like Wildings perk my interest.
I read an article on Indonesia and it's fight for independence and after visiting several times and seeing first hand their fight through dioramas in their "Monument to Independence I decided to collect the stamps of the revolution, after the defeat of the Japanese.
The fight by the Dutch to "Reclaim their Territory" using troops from other countries including Great Britain.
This is the "Monument to Independence" in Denpasar
Brian
I don't read as much of the stamp collecting press as I used to...
But, ya, ikey, I feel that craving to start a new collecting area on a regular basis. Sometimes it's stimulated by a book I'm reading (got into post-war Trieste that way), or I'll serendipitously encounter something during a general search for other items. Like, that Iowa Midlands RR postmark that I encountered while searching for old covers from near where I grew up. I'm anxiously awaiting a book documenting the Iowa Midlands RR. Should be here TODAY! And, I fully expect that collecting area to blossom from the hints that I'll get from reading the book.
Just the other day, I got a copy of Jane's All the World's Aircraft, 1913. Rather strange formatting, but it lists ALL of the pilots known for ALL the nations, and shows their license numbers. Louis Bleriot was #1 in France. Glenn Curtiss was #1 in the US. Also lists ALL of the pilots that had died by then, from the beginning of manned, heavier-than-air flight, by nationality. Now THAT opens up some collecting ideas!
HEY, I didn't know that there was a pioneering aircraft engine manufacturer in Dubuque, Iowa! Adams-Farwell. They made 3 different sizes of a 5-cylinder Horizontal Rotary - 36hp, 63hp, and 72hp. The company survives to this day. I also believe the original site survives, at Adams and E 4th, between the RR tracks and the River. I wonder if they had an advertising cover....
.
Those "consider collecting X" articles are a staple of the philatelic press ... and other hobbies, too.
Unless they are terribly written, these articles almost always work their magic on me.
By the time they're half-way done, I am all the way there, ready to pull out a fresh binder, print-up some pages, dedicate a stock book, write-up a want list, join a new club, and, oh yeah, dive right in.
None of that ever happens, but none of that ever matters.
I still enjoy the ride, and look forward to my next fix.
So how about you?
Q/ Have you ever started a new collecting area after reading one of those "consider collecting X" articles?
Q/ If 'no', do you still eagerly read every one of them?
Q/ Which one do you remember best?
Cheers,
/s/ ikeyPikey (who dreads other necessary staples of the philatelic press, such as re-printed press releases)
re: So what about those "consider collecting [x]" articles?
IkeyPikey,
I agree. I feel the same way. I think two things are at play here:
1. The writers always bring into the article all the neat often overlooked facts and history of the collecting interest and then they picture the most eye-catching (pricey) items from the area.
2. As collectors, we get excited about any cool collecting area whether it be in our "wheel house" or not.
re: So what about those "consider collecting [x]" articles?
no, but I'm still easily wrangled into new collecting areas, often by the acquisition, usually whimsically, of a stamp or cover. Some articles, though, have brought me to collect stamps, notably the one on LVF (thanks Lars, for the recent free ones, Jan Simon for those couple, and Lionel, for the two luft stamps in the series).
re: So what about those "consider collecting [x]" articles?
Often something in those articles will catch my interest. A while back I read an article about ship cancellations and it said the US Navy started to use them in 1909... the tail end of my 1903 Franklin stamp’s reign! So I took a look around and started to find them! Now I have about a dozen in the Franklin collection and grab them when I see a ship I don’t have at a reasonable price.
re: So what about those "consider collecting [x]" articles?
I may see an article where I learn something that expands on the catalog that perks my interest. Too many articles are more guided tours of countries illustrated with stamp images (stamps as history) and less about the stamps themselves.
For example, I have been primarily a US collector but now collect worldwide but lack the knowledge of history of stamps in these countries so topics like Wildings perk my interest.
re: So what about those "consider collecting [x]" articles?
I read an article on Indonesia and it's fight for independence and after visiting several times and seeing first hand their fight through dioramas in their "Monument to Independence I decided to collect the stamps of the revolution, after the defeat of the Japanese.
The fight by the Dutch to "Reclaim their Territory" using troops from other countries including Great Britain.
This is the "Monument to Independence" in Denpasar
Brian
re: So what about those "consider collecting [x]" articles?
I don't read as much of the stamp collecting press as I used to...
But, ya, ikey, I feel that craving to start a new collecting area on a regular basis. Sometimes it's stimulated by a book I'm reading (got into post-war Trieste that way), or I'll serendipitously encounter something during a general search for other items. Like, that Iowa Midlands RR postmark that I encountered while searching for old covers from near where I grew up. I'm anxiously awaiting a book documenting the Iowa Midlands RR. Should be here TODAY! And, I fully expect that collecting area to blossom from the hints that I'll get from reading the book.
Just the other day, I got a copy of Jane's All the World's Aircraft, 1913. Rather strange formatting, but it lists ALL of the pilots known for ALL the nations, and shows their license numbers. Louis Bleriot was #1 in France. Glenn Curtiss was #1 in the US. Also lists ALL of the pilots that had died by then, from the beginning of manned, heavier-than-air flight, by nationality. Now THAT opens up some collecting ideas!
HEY, I didn't know that there was a pioneering aircraft engine manufacturer in Dubuque, Iowa! Adams-Farwell. They made 3 different sizes of a 5-cylinder Horizontal Rotary - 36hp, 63hp, and 72hp. The company survives to this day. I also believe the original site survives, at Adams and E 4th, between the RR tracks and the River. I wonder if they had an advertising cover....