I'm Back !

Have you missed me?

I have moved house. First there was the packing..... then the
move..... Then due to a misunderstanding between British Telecom ( God
Bless 'em) and Sky I was off line for a month.

Now I am preoccupied with the cleaning (yuk ! ) the plumbing, the
plastering, the electrics, the garage, the shed, the garden, the
unpacking ( so far I have located about half my stamp collection but
no shelves to store it !), the......

Anyway Teachers I promise to pay attention from now on. Hopefully your
" could do better" on my reports will now read "much improved". You
may find some replies to out of date threads now I have the time to
trawl the backdates.

Malcolm

On May 1, 3:10*pm, malcolm wrote:
Have you missed me?

I have moved house. First there was the packing..... then the
move..... Then due to a misunderstanding between British Telecom ( God
Bless 'em) and Sky I was off line for a month.

Now I am preoccupied with the cleaning (yuk ! ) the plumbing, the
plastering, the electrics, the garage, the shed, the garden, the
unpacking ( so far I have located about half my stamp collection but
no shelves to store it !), the......

Anyway Teachers I promise to pay attention from now on. Hopefully your
" could do better" on my reports will now read "much improved". You
may find some replies to out of date threads now I have the time to
trawl the backdates.

Malcolm

I wish to welcome you back also Malcolm.
The group seems to have run out of steam. I guess many have run out of
tid-bits of interest.
It could be each individual has no problems or needs help with
philately.
Personally I have lost much of my interest in collecting stamps for
various reasons.

Ralph

On May 6, 8:47*pm, "Victor Manta" wrote:
"Ralphael1" wrote in message

...


Personally I have lost much of my interest in collecting stamps for
various reasons.

Ralph



Would you tell us why, Ralph? It is interesting to know.

Thank you for the response Victor.
My stamp collecting is on the back burner mainly because of the
vast number of stamps being cranked out. Japan is impossible to
collect unless one has a large bank account
Closely following are the Machins. Not too bad unless you try to
collect all the different varieties.
Collecting new issues is a problem. i.e.. Issue date to dealer is a
very long time in some countries.
I have never found a SMOM I was looking for. The format of some stamps
makes it too difficult for me.
I force myself to buy a booklet of French stamps to get one copy for
my collection
My new issues dealer posts new stamps twice monthly and when I order
on the date of post and receive
a back-order makes me think he takes orders and then orders the
stamps.
There are a few other minor difficulties I can live with.

Ralph

If I can pitch in for a moment.

The pursuit of completeness is I think a reason why many collectors
fall by the wayside. The longer time passes- and the multiplicity of
issues old and new in any field of collecting the more completeness
eludes. The concept of completing any part of any collection is now
almost impossible. The best you can do is assemble a representative
selection Leave completeness for those with deep wallets and unlimited
time.

My general collection is huge but nothing even remotely approaches
completion. However as a result my knowledge is broad ( but not deep).
I do not have the patience to study to a depth necessary to amass a
very specialised collection, but I do have the intellectual desire to
go beyond the very basic "one of each" mentallity. I have long ago
wiped the word"complete" from my mind, but I still have the little
extra thrill when I find a new specimen to add to the parts of my
collection which have more "depth" than the remainder ( such as my 5
albums of used Machins ).

I only collect used ( or cto when used is generally unavailable) so
the pleasure per $ spent is more than collecting mint ( which I don't
consider "stamps" at all - but that is my little foible - so please
mint collectors don't get on my case ! ).

The other thing that I have discovered is that by collecting more
generally - even if only of one country, if that is not a
contradictory term, vastly increases what you might call "collateral
knowledge" - things about the country or the world not necessary
philatelic in nature. If you have an inquiring mind, which surely as
stamp collectors we have almost by definition, this knowledge is a
most satisfactory "by-product".

Your collection of Japan must have vastly increased your knowledge of
the country, it's history and culture - and the incomplete nature of
your collection would not reduce this by one iota. My other big love
is gardening - and the stamps in my collection which show flowers
fertilize my interest ( pun intended ! ). I am not a thematics fan
but I can see a case for a collection of botanical stamps arranged by
the linnaen system of taxonomy ( order,sub order, family,genus,species
etc ). I spend summer in the garden and winter in my stamp room - in
the UK winter seems to be 90% of the year these days !

Finally stamp collecting is a pleasure and a hobby not an obsession -
those who pursue completeness TOO avidly should beware of it becoming
an obsession, with consequential loss of balance of mind , with all
that this can lead to.

Malcolm