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#21
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Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message ...
Make that 52,575 - I just subscribed todayG. Nope! You'll be counted in next years dwindling subscribers. Ought to be about 49,227 - whoops 49,228....you just joined! Handshakes, Dakota |
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#22
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#23
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Maybe the legend was ivory handled tongs, pince-nez, and lupes...can't
remember. I can't help think that in terms of older stamps that their numbers are diminishing what with fires, war, floods, theft, and innumerable other negative effects. Statistics show (maybe it was in Linns) that the profile of a stamp collector also fits a weapons collector and mercenary who lives in an area of frequent natural disasters and smokes in bed. In other words stamp collectors are an adventurous and dangerous lot who live on the edge. And stamp quantities suffer for it. Just imagine the philatelic losses chronicled in the sweeping stamp epic "Gone With the Hinge". all right I'm going, tl Rodney wrote: | The philateliphant graveyard (near Nigeria, i think). legend has it that | it is knee deep in tweezers. .........Sounds very much like my good wife's makeup bag. (Don't use one myself, I'm pretty as I am) .......hang on! is that a hair growing out of my ear? -- Tom Loepp Email: Website: http://loepp.home.mindspring.com/tom/ |
#24
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Doug Spade wrote:
"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message ... Make that 52,575 - I just subscribed todayG. Congrats! I'll bet you stay with them for a good long time. (Now if I could just find the time to start catching up on that stack I've got of the past five issues...........) Mike I heard that! Went to the library and scored 5 free copies from the past 4 months of issues I want to read. So they're old, the info is still goodG. |
#25
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"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message ... snip I heard that! Went to the library and scored 5 free copies from the past 4 months of issues I want to read. So they're old, the info is still goodG. Which to do this weekend: Catch up on Linn's or watch Michigan/Ohio State? Decisions, decisions. Guess I'll do both at the same time! Mike |
#26
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Tracy:
- My personal observation at exhibitions in what concerns the number and the age of visitors. We have discussed this. Taking kids to these expos is almost sadistic in nature! Most old farts (I'm getting there soon enough) would rather look at exhibits and hawk with dealers rather than bring the kiddies to the show. There, are, though, some exceptions as we have seen written about here. Interesting segue you've made - I gotta point out that us "Old Farts" don't have kids to take to stamp shows. We have grandkids or even great grandkids - but they mostly don't live within hundreds of miles of us. And those grandkids are not gonna give up their X-Boxes or Playstations to drop by for a weekend just so they can accompnay us "Old Farts" to a stamp show/bourse. Just because the "new guard" hasn't been seen heavily - don't discount the hen's output before the eggs are layed. The "new" guard" will come around and do the shows in due time. Perhaps, if there are still any dealers left around to attend shows. I know some 20-25 dealers who were going strong 20-15-10 or even 5 years ago. they are no more! Every time I attend a show/bourse I note here or there a favorite who is missing. Asking around I hear the same thing. "He just wasn't making it". And some of these were dealers who seeing the possibility of the net did come up with nice web pages, listings, offerings. It just wasn't enough. On further questioning all the dealers at the shows seem to be of a like mind - they all say business is maybe 10%-25% of what it was 5-10 years previously. If not, a new way - like the 'Net, will provide expo enough capabilities for many. I'm not discounting the value of the net - there appear to be lots of dealers there hawking their wares. eBay and Delcampe come to mind quite easily - Earl Apfelbaum - lots of the larger dealers, they're all there. I also see lots of auctions close with very reasonable prices being unrealized. Delcampe is probably the most obvious because their auctions just keep rolling over and over and over until the item is sold - or withdrawn. There are some items that I've watched for over 8 months! It's no longer necessary - except to get the obligatory medals and prizes - to show off one's goodies LIVE. This may seem blasphemy, but I just never ever got excited over panes/panels - (whatever their called). I hear the Ohhh's and Ahhh's - the medal/ribbon is presented, the pane/panel is carefully placed in the back of an SUV and 6 weeks - 2 months later it pops up at another show where it garners more pieces of ribbon. In the end the owner is gonna die and if it hadn't already been sold, it will be, to people who will rip it apart hoping to be able to find someone to buy it. - The interest in stamps of my own daughter, who played with stamps as a child, but who then switched to Internet and computer games (and who learned from them more and more useful things than she could ever learn from stamps, for example the English language and the use of computers, both her daily "tools" now). Do you need more? Maybe other participants will tell you. Yes, I do. I am FIRMLY NOT CONVINCED that stamp collecting is "dying" as so many pundits keep tossing our way as they seem to espouse "abandon hope, all ye who enter here" and do nothing to further the cause. It isn't abandoning hope, simply observations (certainly not statistical observation with charts and graphs) that dealers are vanishing. I have a couple of 'special' dealers that I visit regularly. One that I visit most often says business stinks. I remember a few years ago he was open at 7AM on Saturday and didn't close until quite late - he stayed as long as he had customers. I remember always 8-10 collectors in his shop every time I visited. Now when I arrive he actually has to open the shop for me. I was there this last Saturday - he shared with me that the highlight of his week was his finding a used $2 Columbian for a collector - he was delighted that he got $150.00 for it. Before I left he dropped a hint that he was thinking of getting out of the business - "Uhhh...would you happen to know someone who'd like to maybe buy the contents of the shop - I'd sell it cheap." As you well know, I recycle stamps in all forms. This keeps the hobby going. If all of the pundits who writhe with fear over the hobby dying out would do the same, then there'd be no fear of losing the base that's out there and even increasing it. Ah, the "Freebie Stamp Project". You mention it often and God love ya for going to the trouble. I've even donated to it. This is a wonderful thing you do for beginners out there in the ether. Anybody who wants to dispute it is gonna have to go through me! I sure as hell don't want to diminish your efforts. But, sending off a packet of 100 WW or US stamps does not guarantee that the recipient is going to turn into a rabid collector - willing to go out and toss down a thousand bucks for Shaubeck albums - or even $39.95 for a Minuteman album, or is even going to open the packet you sent except maybe for cursory investigation. You say it keeps the hobby growing. It might! But on the other hand, I wonder how many glassines that you went to the trouble to send out, are lying unattended in some dark and dank desk drawer. But why, because this time is obviously subtracted from that dedicated to philately? Because we can't be devoted to it 24 / 7. That would be foolish. A healthy life has a healthy balance of "things" in it. Too much of something may take away from other "things" we may be missing. Indeed, this is true. A life with a single goal is empty and lacking investigation and involvement. I do believe that stamp collectors have a future out there. I also believe that most of them have a life and don't tweak every second with a stamp album. I guess, if you ask "Where did all the collectors go?" then you just haven't looked hard enough to answer your own question. Where did they all go? Golly, I don't know but the only collectors I know are the ones who visit here (and other net venues). I can truly state that I do not personally know a single collector. Handshakes, Dakota |
#27
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"Dakota" wrote in message om... Ok, there may be some collectors who do not subscribe to Linn's (or any of the other publications) - but how many out there are able to add to their collections without having some trade magazine at hand? I have never subscribed to Linn's and have no problems adding to my collection. I'm not sure a subscription rate is going to give an acurate tally. I would suspect that many new collectors rely on the Internet these days. Frank |
#28
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#29
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On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 23:25:25 -0500, "Frank Emanuel"
wrote: "Dakota" wrote in message . com... Ok, there may be some collectors who do not subscribe to Linn's (or any of the other publications) - but how many out there are able to add to their collections without having some trade magazine at hand? I have never subscribed to Linn's and have no problems adding to my collection. I'm not sure a subscription rate is going to give an acurate tally. I would suspect that many new collectors rely on the Internet these days. Wow... I'm not alone. Tracy Barber |
#30
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From: Tracy Barber Organization: The Kidz Reply-To: Newsgroups: rec.collecting.stamps.discuss Date: Fri, 21 Nov 2003 05:27:51 GMT Subject: Where did all the collectors go? On Thu, 20 Nov 2003 23:25:25 -0500, "Frank Emanuel" wrote: "Dakota" wrote in message om... Ok, there may be some collectors who do not subscribe to Linn's (or any of the other publications) - but how many out there are able to add to their collections without having some trade magazine at hand? I have never subscribed to Linn's and have no problems adding to my collection. I'm not sure a subscription rate is going to give an acurate tally. I would suspect that many new collectors rely on the Internet these days. Wow... I'm not alone. Of course you aren't alone! I buy or trade stamps and/or covers from... -- Local dealers (one in particular who is aware of my interests). -- From a local auction. -- From three postal history websites -- eBay -- My stamp club (Shop 'n' Swap nights, auctions, offers by individual collectors who know my interests) -- Collectors I've met via this newsgroup and Stamporama -- The Stamporama auction -- Stamp bourses once or twice a year -- Flea markets and antique shops (two of my better "finds" were in flea markets" and my best postcard, at least in terms of the history behind it, came from an antique store). Two or perhaps three times in the last 10 years I have used Linns or the Canadian Stamp News to contact dealers. For awhile I bought U.S. approvals from an approval dealer who advertised in both papers. I bought a nice bunch of Russian airmails and wartime issues from a dealer who advertised in Linn's. The internet makes it really unnecessary to search classified ads. There is just no way I'm going to send a want list via snail mail in hopes that a dealer might have what I need. There are too many other, more convenient sources. (I admit that I live in a "philatelically rich" city). I became a member of APS so I could get the magazine, and support the APS. Current philatelic publications are constantly being shared among members of my stamp club, so there is really is no need to have any more subscriptions, and I couldn't afford more subscriptions anyway. Periodicals are simply losing their formerly high profile in the philatelic world, largely because of the internet. Bob Ingraham |
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