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Stamp Collecting future?



 
 
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  #11  
Old November 3rd 03, 03:32 AM
Frank Emanuel
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"Tracy Barber" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 03 Nov 2003 01:18:46 GMT, "Bill G." wrote:

I'm with Dave on this one. When I was a kid here in the U.S.A., some of

the
big department stores had stamp departments. Not any more. In fact,
brick-and-mortar stamp stores have all but disappeared. Also, the

American
stamp publications all have declining readership. Here in Texas, the

number
of, and attendance at, stamp shows is on a quick decline. For example, I
attended a recent bourse in San Antonio, a city of one million

inhabitants,
and there were, maybe, ten other collectors there during the entire day

(not
counting the dealers). Young people here have zero interest in stamps.

The
same is true for 99.99 percent of adults, too. I hope the situation is
different in other states and countries.


Why are people using 50 year old standards for compiling their
results? I'm curious, is all.


A closet collector can pretty much sate their habit from ebay alone, none of
their peers needs know how geeky they really are.

Frank


Ads
  #12  
Old November 3rd 03, 03:34 AM
Tracy Barber
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On Mon, 03 Nov 2003 01:18:46 GMT, "Bill G." wrote:

I'm with Dave on this one. When I was a kid here in the U.S.A., some of the
big department stores had stamp departments. Not any more. In fact,
brick-and-mortar stamp stores have all but disappeared. Also, the American
stamp publications all have declining readership. Here in Texas, the number
of, and attendance at, stamp shows is on a quick decline. For example, I
attended a recent bourse in San Antonio, a city of one million inhabitants,
and there were, maybe, ten other collectors there during the entire day (not
counting the dealers). Young people here have zero interest in stamps. The
same is true for 99.99 percent of adults, too. I hope the situation is
different in other states and countries.


Why are people using 50 year old standards for compiling their
results? I'm curious, is all.

Tracy Barber
  #13  
Old November 3rd 03, 03:37 AM
Tracy Barber
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On Mon, 3 Nov 2003 09:46:06 +0800, "Rodney"
wrote:

Looking amongst the myriad of early stamp magazines from 60's 70's,
children were always involved, and there were many contests
for them to adjust to their focus level.
I do not see this in modern magazines very much.


Stamps aren't the only thing missing from modern magazines. There's a
lot of stuff seen in the 60s not seen now.

My son is bewildered by my interest in the little pieces of paper
and shows no interest at all.


This is a hit or miss thing. To expect a child to have your interests
is a wee bit assuming.

I feel I have sowed the seed though, and when the right time comes along
I am sure he will discover a need to investigate too.


Something, at least! :^)

I seem to notice most serious collectors, had a dibble in their youth and then
came back for a re visit later.


Many have, including me.

Tracy Barber
  #14  
Old November 3rd 03, 03:43 AM
Grandpa
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We just had a stamp show this weekend and I attended both days for
several hours. There was a table set up for kids to take all they
wanted free from a large box of paper-on stamps, and all told I saw
maybe 15-20 kids rooting around in there for quite awhile. I noticed
several more were at various tables looking at stamps. Both of the kids
I happened to chat with briefly were looking for bird themed stamps.
Admittedly the 'Cast from Cocoon' was there tooG. I chatted with
another guy who was snagging stuff for his young daughter who was at
soccer practice and couldn't attend.

Dave wrote:
I just returned from a local stamp bourse. To be honest it looked
more like a gathering of the AARP (Assoc. of Retired People). I feel safe
to believe that the only person there under the age of 40 was a young girl
who was obviously with her stamp dealer dad (wether she collects... only dad
can know for sure).


  #15  
Old November 3rd 03, 04:14 AM
Grandpa
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We just had a show this wekend in Albuquerque, 600,000 in the greater
area and it had a steady stream of people attending. Maybe 20 tables at
most but probably a few hundred attendees, plus around 20 kids. By the
same token, we have no stamp stores at all and only 3 semi-viable coin
shops. We do have a number of crafts stores that do a booming business,
but not much to the kids in general.

I think life is pretty fast paced in the US so kids spend little time at
home except on computer games & TV etc. The media and movies influence
them greatly and a lot of illegal activities are glamorized. Little
parental supervision or family time occurs and many homes have 2 working
parents who are tired after the day and have little time for the kids.
Few read anything, let alone stamp related material. Collecting hobbies
are too slow paced for many of the kids here. "Stamp, yeah, cool, Ok,
so whats next?" Our societies interests (US) seem to be in making fast
cash and spending it just as fast - live for today and let tomorrow take
care of itself. Little time is spent doing anything leisurely, s in
slower paced. The media does not lend itself to quiet time either,
nothing much does really, even the entire gambit of Scouting. Apathy is
alive and well in the US. Yes, I'm a native US citizen - 55 years young.

If many of the kids in Denmark are as Mette describes as in her group(s)
then I'm happy for them as I think they'll be better adjusted adults
because they are taking the time to 'discover' and absorb as they live
as opposed to discovering and moving on to the next thing quickly and
absorbing little along the way.

Bill G. wrote:

I'm with Dave on this one. When I was a kid here in the U.S.A., some of the
big department stores had stamp departments. Not any more. In fact,
brick-and-mortar stamp stores have all but disappeared. Also, the American
stamp publications all have declining readership. Here in Texas, the number
of, and attendance at, stamp shows is on a quick decline. For example, I
attended a recent bourse in San Antonio, a city of one million inhabitants,
and there were, maybe, ten other collectors there during the entire day (not
counting the dealers). Young people here have zero interest in stamps. The
same is true for 99.99 percent of adults, too. I hope the situation is
different in other states and countries.


  #16  
Old November 3rd 03, 05:05 AM
Bob Ingraham
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I just returned from a local stamp bourse. To be honest it looked
more like a gathering of the AARP (Assoc. of Retired People). I feel safe
to believe that the only person there under the age of 40 was a young girl
who was obviously with her stamp dealer dad (wether she collects... only dad
can know for sure).
It seems to me to be a sad view of our hobby, but there it is. It
becomes more and more obvious as time goes on that the young generations are
not the least bit interested in spite of all the gimmics, childish stamp
subjects and advertising.


And I too have just returned from a bourse, at the last day of VANPEX 2003,
sponsored by my stamp club, the British Columbia Philatelic Society. My
experience was different than Dave's.

While certainly the majority of collectors, exhibitors and dealers were
older than me (I'm 60), it wasn't a great majority. We had several young
exhibitors, the youngest about 12, the others in their mid-20s. Some dealers
are certainly younger than me, and while I saw few young people browsing at
the bourse, there were certainly people younger than me there. The best item
I found was offered by a very knowledgeable dealer, Tom Watkins; I expect
he's in his mid- to late 30s.

I've written it before that new collectors are probably more likely to
be recruited from the older generations (about 40 years old and up). We are
getting at that age to be more sedate and a hobby that fits into that is
good. We have more money to spend on hobbies since we find the fads,
fashions, & such less appealing. Lots of reasons really... older people are
more interested in learning, using their minds, etc. They are quite likely
looking for things that don't demand any more time than they are willing to
give, relaxing, doesn't take up room, can be shared with spouse, as cheap or
expensive as you want, can easily tie in topically with other interests, is
a quiet pasttime and many other things.
Change the slogan to "Introduce a senior citizen to stamp collecting".
Young people just aren't interested.


I think you are mostly correct. I think that there's even room to consider
youthful stamp collecting to be an utterly different hobby than adult stamp
collecting. I don't think it's necessarily a given that knowledgeable and
mature stamp collectors can only be grown from youthful stamp collectors.
Typically, I collected stamps from about age 10 or 11 through 16 or 17, then
gave it up until I was in my 40s. About 95% of what I know has come from my
activities as an adult collector.

Perhaps my enthusiasm for stamps was sparked in my youth, but I suspect it
could also have been sparked in my 40's or 50's. In fact, my primary
interest now is not stamps but commercially and privately used covers, which
were only introduced to me shortly about 15 years ago. Cover collecting, at
many levels, has little to do with stamps per se. In fact, many of my covers
are free-franked, or were franked with stamps of minimal interest. Anyway,
I'd like to revise Dave's revised slogan to, "Introduce an adult to stamp
collecting".

Bob

-------
Climb along as my friends and I climb New Mexico's Cook's Peak.
http://www.ingraham.ca/bob/cookspeak1.html. (OK, I confess, it was a few
years ago!) There's no stamp which shows Cook's Peak, but there should be.
-------




  #17  
Old November 3rd 03, 05:26 AM
TC
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On Mon, 3 Nov 2003 09:46:06 +0800, "Rodney"
wrote:

Looking amongst the myriad of early stamp magazines from 60's 70's,
children were always involved, and there were many contests
for them to adjust to their focus level.
I do not see this in modern magazines very much.

My son is bewildered by my interest in the little pieces of paper
and shows no interest at all.
I feel I have sowed the seed though, and when the right time comes along
I am sure he will discover a need to investigate too.

I seem to notice most serious collectors, had a dibble in their youth and then
came back for a re visit later.

Victors page on Ayn Rand is a classic example, and for me, her description
of the motives behind the hobby describes my journey to a tee.





I don't know what your countries do, but the schools
here do not teach geography or history except as an
optional subject.

These are two subjects that stamps can teach well.

Can this be one of the reasons?

Blair





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  #18  
Old November 3rd 03, 05:31 AM
TC
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On Sun, 2 Nov 2003 14:45:14 -0500, "Frank Emanuel"
wrote:


"Tracy Barber" wrote in message
...
I have been focusing my attentions via the 'Net and collecting. I
suppose, though, soon enough - I'll join a local stamp club. :^)


The local stamp club is one of those things that has a amazing potential and
takes the hobby from a solitary pursuit to a brilliant social masterpiece.

This NG is somewhat of a surrogate local stamp club. It does lack some of
the features, but the collective knowledge in this NG is astounding.

But astounding too is the amount of knowledge in the local club. Where else
can philatelic generations meet without the deliberate agenda of trading
stamps? At the club one is able to really mine the depth of knowledge and
build deep relationships around common interests.

The club is a funny place too. The cliques form and are evidenced by who
sits where. You will find me at the end with the nickle a stamp guys looking
for bargains, pouring over books. Across the way the Brits (those who are
Brits and those who collect British Stamps exclusively) sit around talking
about their areas of expertise while maybe thumbing through a box of covers.
These groups represent the two ends of our horseshoe setup, there are
several other special cliques respresented all around the room. I have tried
to jump into several of these groups but always end up back at the nickle
end buying for the many holes in my colletion and joking around with my
friends.

I hope that everyone in the hobby at least gets to try out a club. I had an
older gentleman (my father in law) introduce me to my club in Ottawa, when I
was in Truro I also made it to a few club meetings as a youth. There is no
place like it (good as this NG is) and it really completes the hobby - if I
might be so bold in saying.

Frank

================================================== =

Aha! The Ottawa Nickle Box Clique is revealed.
38*P

Blair

================================================== =


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  #19  
Old November 3rd 03, 05:41 AM
Tracy Barber
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On Sun, 2 Nov 2003 21:32:11 -0500, "Frank Emanuel"
wrote:


"Tracy Barber" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 03 Nov 2003 01:18:46 GMT, "Bill G." wrote:

I'm with Dave on this one. When I was a kid here in the U.S.A., some of

the
big department stores had stamp departments. Not any more. In fact,
brick-and-mortar stamp stores have all but disappeared. Also, the

American
stamp publications all have declining readership. Here in Texas, the

number
of, and attendance at, stamp shows is on a quick decline. For example, I
attended a recent bourse in San Antonio, a city of one million

inhabitants,
and there were, maybe, ten other collectors there during the entire day

(not
counting the dealers). Young people here have zero interest in stamps.

The
same is true for 99.99 percent of adults, too. I hope the situation is
different in other states and countries.


Why are people using 50 year old standards for compiling their
results? I'm curious, is all.


A closet collector can pretty much sate their habit from ebay alone, none of
their peers needs know how geeky they really are.


You say that as if it was a bad thing...

Tracy Barber
  #20  
Old November 3rd 03, 05:47 AM
Tracy Barber
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Posts: n/a
Default

On Sun, 02 Nov 2003 20:14:58 -0700, Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net
wrote:

We just had a show this wekend in Albuquerque, 600,000 in the greater
area and it had a steady stream of people attending. Maybe 20 tables at
most but probably a few hundred attendees, plus around 20 kids. By the
same token, we have no stamp stores at all and only 3 semi-viable coin
shops. We do have a number of crafts stores that do a booming business,
but not much to the kids in general.


We have 2 stamp stores in Albany, N.Y. We also have several stamp
clubs. We're MUCH smaller than Albuquerque.

I think life is pretty fast paced in the US so kids spend little time at
home except on computer games & TV etc. The media and movies influence
them greatly and a lot of illegal activities are glamorized. Little
parental supervision or family time occurs and many homes have 2 working
parents who are tired after the day and have little time for the kids.
Few read anything, let alone stamp related material. Collecting hobbies
are too slow paced for many of the kids here. "Stamp, yeah, cool, Ok,
so whats next?" Our societies interests (US) seem to be in making fast
cash and spending it just as fast - live for today and let tomorrow take
care of itself. Little time is spent doing anything leisurely, s in
slower paced. The media does not lend itself to quiet time either,
nothing much does really, even the entire gambit of Scouting. Apathy is
alive and well in the US. Yes, I'm a native US citizen - 55 years young.


This type of thinking will achieve even more apathy, my friend! I'm
47 and not past the point of apathy no return.

If many of the kids in Denmark are as Mette describes as in her group(s)
then I'm happy for them as I think they'll be better adjusted adults
because they are taking the time to 'discover' and absorb as they live
as opposed to discovering and moving on to the next thing quickly and
absorbing little along the way.


This may be partially true. As has been mentioned, kids at a certain
age are no longer kids and get interested in (ahem) extra-curricular
affairs of the heart. Hmmm...

I have been approached by many moms / dads / relatives about scouting
merit badges for stamp collecting. Hmmm...

Kids also like to play sports, play with computers - that we didn't
have as kids, play video games - which we didn't have as kids, and
many other things - we didn't have as kids.

I wonder what our parents / grandparents would have said about us if
we had the goodies they have now. Many of those are temporary
diversions - some kids burn out on them.

Stamp collecting, as well as other hobbies like that, seem to last
longer or reappear later in life.

Tracy Barber
 




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