My personal thoughts on collecting stamps (philately)

"There are two forms of science: physics and stamp collecting."
Sir Ernest Rutherford 1871 - 1937
(1908 Nobel Prize in chemistry)

Musings and ramblings of a stamp addict. I use the word "addict" carefully, because between the years 1994-6 I did spend about 26,000 GBP or 43,000 USD on mint QV GB material. I have scanned this material on this website for your enjoyment. Only an addict would spend that amount of money on stamps. The great collector and I guess stamp addict, R M Phillips gave his collection to the nation in 1965 so we can now all enjoy it on-line. As a kid over 35 years ago I went to the National Postal History Museum, twice, to see his collection. It has taken me 35 years to fully appreciate his stuff, it is a great collection.

Stamp collectors or philatelists? Philatelist=Greek philo- (love), + Greek ateleia, exemption from payment (because a postage stamp indicates prepayment of postage). Yes, we love stamps, for all sorts of reasons. A philatelist does not necessarily collect stamps, he studies them. A collector wants the 10d embossed for his collection, the philatelist wants to know why it was issued. You could say that it is attention to detail that makes the difference between a collector and a philatelist.

These are my personal thoughts on collecting GB stamps. Yes, I am British, so I am proud of our national stamps, the Penny Black, Rowland Hill etc.. I have tried to give a bit of insight into the phsychology of collecting stamps. For me it is an emotional issue. In other words I get emotional satisfaction from collecting and studying stamps. For many other people collecting things is also an emotional source of satisfaction. Maybe that is a luxury for us in the West, we have free time and money to indulge ourselves. For most of the world's poor it is a question of survival. If I go to India I usually hand out English coins to the children, and they love them. The great English collector Reginald M Phillips gave his fabulous collection to the nation in 1965, he could not take it with him. Only our deeds follow us, whether good or bad.

Collecting 'things' seems to be a basic human instinct. When I go overseas I like to bring back an object to display in my house, usually a ceramic vase or a wood carving. I am a process control engineer, I specialize in cement kiln control, and I have worked in 21 countries. I once saw a five year old girl who collected bits and bobs from the street as she walked along, her mother said to her, 'you are a scavenger'. To scavenge is the basic instinct of the collector. But following on from that is to build a complete set of stamps. It is not just to scavenge but to build an orderly collection of things scavenged. I guess order is built into the human psyche. What helps us to put things in order? The stamp catalogue. For us GB collectors we have Stanley Gibbons and for those in the USA Scott. For our politically correct times the stamp catalogue should be banned because it gives rise to addictive behaviour. I have to admit that in my late thirties, I did indulge myself and spash out many thousands of pounds on the little gems you see on this website. I did it as a collector rather than as an investor, in hindsight the stockmarket would have been more profitable, but much less fun. And financially I have not lost out as stamp values have appreciated over the last ten years. But I do sometrimes wonder whether that person who thoughtfully gave me my first stamp album and stamps for Christmas when I was a young boy was doing me a favour or not. Still you have this website as a result and I hope that it will give pleasure to many.

I also collect Indian Miniature Paintings. because I appreciate the fine artistry that has gone into these paintings, as with stamps, I appreciate the fine detail that has gone into these Indian works of art. In the case of British Victorian stamps great artistic skill has also gone into the design and creation of these miniature works of art. I also specialise on the book of Revelation in the Bible, I have amassed over 40 commentaries on this book (collecting and hoarding instinct), and written my own, again attention to detail is important to get the most out of this book. In the case of a book we are dealing with literary imagery, in the case of stamps with visual imagery. In both the thrill of seeing something new, gives me the energy to go on studying. Stamps are a thing of beauty and so is literature.

Why do we collect stamps?

• They are aesthetically pleasing
• They are miniature works of art
• Desire to complete and arrange a set or collection
• National pride, we tend to collect stamps from our own country
• They have historical value, they show our Kings and Queens (or presidents)
• Intellectual stimulation
• Nostalgia, the good old days, memories of when I was young
• Hoarding and sorting instinct
• Sorting stamps to find a valuable one
• They might become valuable one day
• To avoid the wife
• Your Grandad gave you his collection
• I want to be the world expert on the 1d red
• To gloat over my collection
• You enjoy stamps - you have the stamp 'bug'
• You have an attention to detail
• To spend some time during a winter's evening
• You want to do philatelic research
• A financial investment

It should come as no surprise that one of the most basic tools for the stamp 'collector' is the stamp 'catalogue' which has already arranged issued stamps into some sort of order and price. A large part of collecting is to fill in those gaps in our collection. Most of us, has or, will buy a rather defective (but very expensive stamp in good condition) stamp known as a 'gap filler' to fill an unsightly gap in our collection. I like to buy mint Victorian stamps, but frequently I resort to stamps overprinted 'specimen' because these are much cheaper than the mint example, I call "specimen" stamps the "poor man's mint". Personally I prefer a specimen stamp to a very fine used example. I guess that a purist would scorn "specimen" stamps and prefer a fine used example, but as for me I would prefer a specimen stamp any day.

Why did I create this website?

I have been a collector for nearly 40 years, and back in 1994-96 I spent a lot of money on mint Great Britain Queen Victorian stamps, stuff that you and I only dreamed of when we were young. Like king Solomon I indulged myself to the full only to find that all is vanity, that is not quite true, but I have to keep them in the bank, and those little pieces of paper could buy me a nice car instead of the 15 year old banger I now drive. The truth is that now I have scanned the stamps, and created this website, I can now sell them without much emotional loss, because I can still view my cyber collection.

I bought them partly to fill in the blanks, and partly because they were beautiful items. I already had a website devoted to pictures I have taken on my business travels. Then in about 2000 I decided to scan some of my stamps to put on the net, so that I could exhibit my collection. Then in 2002 I had about four weeks in which I added additional info about the stamps. In 2003 I had another four weeks in which I added even more info and I did a lot of research about my material. I have even begged and borrowed scans from other dealers and collectors to illustrate certain features that I have been researching. I have become particularly interested in plate layout and pane and marginal markings. What I have discovered in this process is that I have changed from a collector to a philatelist.

For example, before 2002 I did not really understand wing-margins and when I scanned a stamp I would digitally cut off the wing margins from the scan so that the stamp would fit in with the rest of the stamps. Now that I understand wing-margins I realise that this was a big mistake. The fact is that wing-margin occur because some stamps are printed as panes on a sheet, and wing-margins occur on stamps adjacent to another pane. In fact you will find some wing-margin stamps that have been re-perforated.

As we specialise we also want to fill in gaps in our knowledge about stamps. Why, for example, did Britain issue the 1s, 10d and 6d embossed stamps in 1847, 1848 and in 1854 respectively? The first surface-printed stamp was the 4d in 1855, this was followed by the 6d and 1s in 1856, the first surface printed 10d was not issued until 1867. The specialised catalogue gives us some answers but not all. Perhaps the postal historian, rather than the catalogue, has the answers. (see The British Postage Stamp of the nineteenth century, Robson Lowe, 1968).

As it has turned out, I learned a great deal more about British Victorian stamps when I did the research for creating this website. I was particularly pleased when I discovered the difference between the "I" (as in FIVE) and the "1" used for the plate number of the Five Pound Orange. This was a product of attention to detail as well as luck as I happened to own a £5 Orange with corner letters DI.

As I continued to research this website, the more I learned. Stamp trivia is fascinating, the more I study the more I learn. And each new discovery, is a new joy to me, because I have never seen that before.

I also learned a great deal about wing margins, plate layouts and current numbers. Plus the fact that William Wyon's design was based on a sitting by Princess Victoria when she was only 14 or 15 years of age and was the basis of the portrait of the queen used on stamps until she died aged 81. Even the colours used on stamps are interesting, despite the rainbow colour trials the colour black was used for the first stamp, the Penny Black. Less than one year later its colour was changed to red. Then with the Jubilee issue two colours were used between 1887 and 1911, and from then to 1960 only one colour was used on each stamp, the first multi-colour stamp appears in 1963.

Why did I start collecting stamps?

I was born in London in 1955 three years after Queen Elizabeth was on our stamps, as a boy I remember the 3d lilac and the 4d blue definitives. Someone gave me a stamp album and some stamps for Christmas when I was 9 or 10. It contained an old looking stamp which looked like it might be worth something, even at that tender age money came into my thinking (as a boy I used to scavenge for bottles to get the 1d return money). It turned out, that it was a common Dutch stamp, the queen was old but the stamp was not, it was catalogued by Gibbons at 3d., but by then I was hooked. Most of the reasons for collecting stamps listed above would apply to me, except to avoid the wife, I don't have one. But that also means that I have more money to buy some juicy philatelic morsels!

Specialising:

Because of limited financial resources it is probably worth specialising in an area you like as soon as possible. Here is roughly the path I took.

Types of collecting

• Thematically (planes, butterflies, animals etc.)
• First issues of countries, province, city etc.
• Country of origin
• Empire, colonies
• Reign of King or Queen
• Time period
• Postmarks
• A group of stamps
• Postal history
• Errors
• High values
• mint or used of one of the above
• Dies, plates, colours, shades, watermarks, perfs, constant varieties
• Reconstructing a complete sheet of 240 pennyreds
• Corner letter varieties on penny reds

In the days before television many hours could be spent sorting through a box of penny reds, trying to plate them through varieties on the stamps, that is those stamps issued before the plate number was incorporated into the design. Clearly, an eye for detail, patience and time were required. On those penny reds with the plate number in the design it was always my schoolboy aim to get the complete collection from plate 71 to 225 (still haven't got plate 225). In these days of endless amusements and computer games, stamp collecting is only going to attract a certain type of individual. The study of collectors, including philatelists, would be a suitable study for a psychology Ph.D.

Collecting does not have to be expensive, collecting plated used line-engraved 1d reds is not very expensive. Collecting them mint is expensive. However prices for the humble (and common, but beautiful) 1d red have increased a lot over the last decade (more than the 1d black which has hardly changed).

Investing in Stamps?

Historically (speaking about British Victorian stamps) I would stick with the stock-market, which has outperformed GB stamps over the last thirty years. However, there is not much beauty in the stock-market, you can gloat when it does well or feel depressed when it does badly. Over the last 15 years GB stamps have been in the doldrums and the stock market has greatly outperformed GB stamps, over five years things look better. However, for the hobbyist this means that quality material looks almost cheap (in my opinion). There have been small price rises, but to cover selling costs (25%) you need to hang on to material for at least five years if you want to get back what you paid. So as an investment I would steer clear of stamps, unless you have the stamp bug (in which case now is a good time to buy). Arthur Ryan's Private Treaty list always has some good Great Britain material to tempt you at very reasonable prices. You can still enjoy those stamps when the stock-market is doom and gloom.

As with all collectibles condition is king, it is still best to buy those unmounted mint high values than the mounted mint. Most collections will be full of common material, if you want to sell your collection, the dealer will be interested in those quality items that he can sell quickly to cover his costs. If you want to collect and invest, do your homework, and only buy quality material.

In my view the classic stamps, many listed above, including the Penny Black and the Two Penny Blue, plus the High Values are always a good investment.

Cyber Stamp Collecting

You have no money and cannot afford the real thing, then try cyber collecting. Hunt the Internet for scans of the real thing. Ebay will have many good scans. Dealers will have good scans also. Hunt the auction houses too, you will find great material there. The R M Phillips collection has scans of good material although the scans are not of high quality. I have scanned all of my material, some is good some is bad, but it is free for personal and educational use. You want a cyber copy of the Five Pound Orange, see my scan here, it is not perfect, but better than nothing. See also some dealer scans of the Five pound Telegraph, superb, here.

The Six P’s of Philately from GBStamps.com

Howard Paine, USPS art director and stamp designer, is not a stamp collector but has thought about it in relation to his work. Writing in Linn’s Stamp News of March 1, 1999, John Hotchner reports on Paine’s Six P’s of Philately:

Pursue Stamp collectors pursue the items they want to add to their collection or, perhaps, save for trading.

Possess Once the items are acquired, collectors possess them until they are sold, traded, or given away.

Preserve Stamps and covers are fragile items and collectors preserve them from excess handling, light, and moisture. If not preserved, the items will not only lose their value but their attractiveness as part of the collection.

Present Collectors like to present their material in an attractive manner, for themselves and for whomever they choose to share it with. Presentation ranges from placing the items on stock pages to mounting them in an album to including them in an exhibit.

Ponder Collecting stamps and related material, compared to, say, paper clips, offers an opportunity for study and education. The subject of the stamp, the designer’s method of conveying the subject, the technical details of the stamp and, if on cover, the postal history all offer opportunities for thought, investigation, comparison, evaluation and learning.

Profit Profit is most often thought of in a financial sense; when a collection is sold, careful selection and presentation may result in a monetary gain. However, collecting brings other kinds of profit, too. There’s the satisfaction of setting a goal and achieving it, the pleasure in creating an attractive presentation or an award-winning exhibit, the fun of sharing your collection and your knowledge, and the pleasure of making new friends among fellow collectors.

Your comments would be appreciated:- email: Ross Taylor

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