Philatelists or Stamp Collecting as a Hobby - Know It's Values

A hobby is an interesting way to spend leisure time. Most people have a hobby, it varies from person to person and their interests. Stamp Collecting is one of them. here, it is a beautiful essay on stamp collecting.

Stamp Collecting

Stamp Collecting - So Simple Even You Can Start It Now

What is Stamp Collecting?

Stamp collecting is a hobby for those peoples who has a knee interest in History, Geography, Politics, Arts and world culture. After the first issue of the stamp in 1840, stamp collecting becomes a hobby for many people. No matter what your passion and interest there are stamps out there to fit your choice and interest. Anyone can choose to be a stamp collector, it mere an interest. Generally, Stamp collecting is popular in western countries.

Why Collect Stamp?

Stamp collecting is fun, it is something that can give you pleasure. It not only gives pleasure to any specific age group of people but it is for everyone. And more important is that you can collect the stamp on any budget. It is really awesome. Collecting stamp helps you in many ways, it increases your knowledge about geographical locations, historical events, sports events, personality and many more. All together stamp collecting increases your knowledge.

Paragraph on Philately

Philately is the science of collecting postage stamps. It is a hobby that originated within a few years of the first issue of penny postage in England in 1840. What began as a hobby slowly developed into a scientific pursuit cultivated under the auspices of numerous societies, and possessing a large body of literature. The name was suggested by a Parisian in 1865.

When and how the hobby began is not exactly known. Though Rowland Hill introduced the penny postage in 1840, most European countries did not adopt the system until about 1849. The hobby of collecting postage stamps began sometime later. The two oldest existing collections were begun in 1853 and 1860.

Postal Stamp-Stamp Collecting

The French were the earliest to make systematic collections. They noted the different shades and designs, different schemes of water-color, different perforations, different border-marks. Stamps were collected and arranged in terms of these, and a good collector has to be something of a connoisseur.

Paragraph on Stamp Collecting

Stamps are printed not only for daily use but for commemorative purposes. We have had stamps commemorating our Independence, the Buddha Jayanti, the Universities centenary, men like Karve, and many other events and persons. hence stamps have historical importance, and though of recent origin, they remind us of forgotten things. Thus there is a stamp commemorating the short-lived Republic in Zululand which is now a forgotten episode in history. Stamps also carry geographical information. A Tasmanian stamp will tell us of waterfalls and lakes on that island. WE can know from postage stamps something of the flora and the fauna of a country, its art and architecture, its great men and great achievements. Stamps have been truly described as 'medals stamped on paper'.

Philately was recommended as a hobby worth cultivating by no less a person than Thomas Huxley. There is much to be said for it as a hobby. It is of absorbing interest, a perpetual side-issue that may always accompany a busy man of affairs. he is forever on the lookout for a new discovery, a new find to fill up a gap. He has friends all over the world with whom to consult and exchange interest and information. It thus helps a man to get a pleasant relief from the pre-occupations of life, to build up a congenial fraternity of like-minded hobbyists. 

Historical Stamp Collection

We live in a utilitarian age. The profit-motive is paramount with us. Philately is also a profitable business. Valuable collections fetch fabulous sums. There is a regular market for the buying and selling of stamps. But it is not of this aspect that we speak. We are speaking of the hobby as something which has no other end in view than to bring personal pleasure. As such, a collector of stamps can assure himself of a constant source of engagement for himself. To secure good specimens, to hit upon a freak issue, to assort, identify and classify stamps according to a system, to build up a neat and presentable album, and to turn over these pages every now and then in a delicious mood of relaxation and reminiscence-- such is the joy to which a stamp-collector has constant access.

This hobby is probably the most wide-spread. But why? The reasons are simple. One invariably gets tired of a hobby, and there comes a time when one puts it by as something childish. A good collector then can go to the market and sell his collection at a considerable profit. pleasure is thus coined into profit. It is the same as the collection of old coins or old chinaware. But there is a difference. The latter is likely to be expensive unless one is so fortunate as to light upon an ignoramus who has dumped such ancestral legacies as so much lumber. But the stamp-collector can proceed on modest lines. Usually, he begins as a school-boy rummaging his parent's waste-paper basket or rifling rejected envelopes. Then with the experience, he extends his area of exploration-- until he has his own chain of correspondents ranging from china to Peru. he is a unit in a co-operative fraternity, a free-mason of a secret lodge. That surely is as ample a source of satisfaction as one may wish.

Who killed Stamp Collecting as a Hobby?

It is seen that every kind of stamp collectible goes in and out of the style. These days people are not passionate about the stamp collecting as earlier. There is a reason for this. The growing use of the internet, especially e-mail and SMS Services keep people away from the sending postal letter. The Internet makes our life easier and convenient that's why today's generation chooses e-mail, SMS over the postal letter. That is the core reason for the declining of stamp collecting in the past 20 years.
We believe that stamp collecting has declined for several reasons besides the Internet. Primarily, even though there are thousands of beautiful and interesting stamps to collect, and more being printed every day, the physical object of the stamp has limited appeal when compared to other collectibles. It is small and less substantial collectibles. It just not that much rewarding than other types of collectible who possess some weight and dimensions. Besides this, people now people are collecting stamps to sell to make money instead of a hobby.

Stamp Collecting Hobby