Some people are not interested in learning. They have a way of life and don’t care to add to it in any way. If they happen to be stamp collectors, the part of the hobby that they are enjoying is sufficient and all the articles published plus all the information available from club or society…
Take a look at the advertisements of stamp dealers. Did you ever notice how few of them stay in the business for as long as five years? Many of the big advertisers of 1960 have long since gone. The new ones in their place will mostly peter out by 1990. This is a tough business….
During more than forty-five years of membership in and contact with Philatelic organizations, I have found them to be almost completely free of the bigotries and antagonisms that so frequently enter into other phases of life. In my personal experience, a man’s ancestry, faith or race have seldom been asked when he applied for stamp…
Most of us are moody. We feel exuberant on Monday and Tuesday. Then something happens that we don’t like, and all day Wednesday we act as if the end of the world would be most welcome. We are up and down in greater or lesser degree for what are generally trivial reasons. Stamp collecting suffers…
A correspondent has written to me complaining that my references to First Day Covers are not praiseworthy enough. He objects to my calling them sideline philatelic material. I believe that his objection is based on a lack of understanding of stamp collecting. Actually everything that we put into our collection is “sideline” except the stamps….
Many thousands of collectors have never purchased any stamps except as new issues. While I cannot quite understand the pleasure derived from such easy stamp collecting, it is their privilege to collect as they will. On the other hand, every one of them is missing the joy of the hunt, the thrill of the acquisition…
We are all aware of the great breadth of interest in stamp collecting. We will realize that it can entertain even the most erudite as well as those of just ordinary learning and intelligence. It not only entertains them but also adds to their knowledge and frequently is the mental tonic so badly needed in…
There is a great deal of misleading information in much of stamp collecting publicity. To my mind, the very worst publicity from the viewpoint of recruiting new collectors is the overemphasis of the sale of great rarities for high prices. It frightens off innumerable potential philatelists. They get the impression that only millionaires can make…
I recently took a 26 day cruise. There were 17 passengers on the ship. So far as I could determine, none of them collected stamps. Many of them had collecting friends for whom they bought assortments and packets at the various ports where we stopped. Almost all my fellow passengers were between 50 and 70…
In fifty years of philatelic activity it has always been my experience that France is one of the most popular countries. Through good and bad times, war and peace, the land of the Gauls has issued much sought after philatelic material. Of course, the home market in France itself is a strong factor in this…
In 1966, in a burst of publicity, the final closedown of a forger and counterfeiter who lived in Merida, Mexico was disclosed. I wish to express my personal appreciation for the part played by various American Philatelic Society officers and members in this drama. May I say that the dishonest dealings of Raoul De Thuin…
One of the difficulties faced by today’s stamp clubs is the problem of arranging programs with a broad enough base of interest to hold the attention of a large group of collectors. In recent years, the fragmentation of philately has resulted in collectors who restrict their activities to smaller, more manageable collecting areas. Some restrict…