Instead of choosing "a country," you choose a "theme" or "topic" for your collection, like "butterflies on stamps" or "space exploration on stamps." Since most stamps with such designs have been issued since 1950, forming such collections can be relatively inexpensive, while still offering thousands of possible stamps.Īccess to stamps is easier than ever, in large part thanks to the Internet. philately, the study of postage stamps, stamped envelopes, postmarks, postcards, and other materials relating to.
Perhaps the most popular approach in the 21st century is what's known as "thematic" or "topical" collecting. Although billions of dollars changed hands, most people ended up with a financial loss, and many publicly labeled stamp collecting as "a rip-off," even though it was their own greed that caused the problems, in the first place. Alas, there were simply not enough buyers, so prices tumbled. This amazing growth in prices and interest had another side effect: A number of small (and typically "cash poor") nations- that previously had never issued more than a handful of new stamps per year- started issuing hundreds of new stamps specifically "made for collectors." Whereas these stamps were fully "legal for postage," very few were ever used to carry a piece of mail- to some long-time collectors, they were little more than labels, and soon earned the not-so-flattering nickname "wallpaper."Īs often is the case, the meteoric growth was "too good to be true," and the speculative bubble burst when many of the people who had bought stamps " to make money" decided that it was time to sell and take their profits. However, when the Universal Postal Union (or UPU, for short) was created in 1874, the process for international postage was also simplified greatly-as a result of which the volume of international mail increased greatly. The initial uniform postage systems addressed only the issue of standardizing rates for letters inside a country's borders. As the volume of mail skyrocketed, this quickly proved cumbersome and time-consuming, so the printed sheets were "perforated" between each stamp so they could more easily and accurately be separated from each other. Most early stamps followed the British example with individual stamps needing to be cut from the printed sheets with scissors. For a while- 1860-64- the US actually had two stamp-issuing bodies, as the "Confederate States" introduced their own postal system. The first United States stamps were issued on July 1st, 1847, in denominations of 5 and 10 cents. SCB caters over 500 articles, thousand of collector opinions, stamp exchanges and much more. By the 1870s, most nations were issuing stamps. Stamp Collecting Blog (SCB) is the premiere source of philatelic information for all stamp collectors, philatelists and postage stamp lovers worldwide. That's more than #oatmilk (228,888) and #millennialpink (a measly 75,647).Īnd since we're assuming that your grandma isn't active on the social media platform, we can only conclude that this retro hobby has found a new, younger audience.It was not long before other countries adopted similar "uniform postage" systems of their own. We'll admit that we were initially skeptical that this was a thing among the Gen Y set, but a quick search on Instagram revealed over 300,000 #philately posts and 118,000 #stampcollection pictures. A variety of supply items on sale for coin and stamp collectors. Stamp collecting supplies on sale at magically low prices. How can this be, you ask? Do millennials even post letters, anymore? (They do, albeit not often.) Chalk it up to an affinity for nostalgia combined with a desire to escape digital life, similar to other blast-from-the-past trends like vinyl or cottagecore. Stamp Collecting Supplies, Philatelic Supplies. But when it comes to their hobbies, apparently millennials are a lot more old-school.Īccording to a recent article in The Guardian, stamp collecting (aka philately) is becoming increasingly popular with Generation Y.
They're the generation that says yes to prenups and micro-cations, and no to lunch breaks and "just married" honeymoons.
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