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Hi everyone,

I'm still unsure which stamps to collect and so collect any stamps that I get. As of now I'm still thinking of completing a worldwide collection. I know it really won't be complete since there are rare stamps which are already in someone else's collection or which wouldn't be within in my budget.

But aside from this is what I'm thinking of even possible? What problems/issues could I possibly encounter along the way? Also, can you give me any ideas as to how I could do this or what I could do realistically?

Thanks.

There's a related thread here: http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=33824

You might like to take a look.

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A man might as well marry ... if he finds a good wife he will be happy ... if not, he will become a philosopher.
Collecting Greater New Guinea & Macropods (Kangaroos & Wallabies).

Of course it is possible, as long as you have no desire for "completeness" anywhere (except maybe North West Russia). I have (probably - I have never counted them) 150,000 or more face different worldwide stamps from Abu Dhabi to Zululand, all in quality 64 page German Stockbooks. At about $35 - 50 each, the housing is not cheap for such a collection (about $3,000 to date, and still growing), but it's a lot of fun, as filling any gap becomes an event.

I think that the thread linked below indicates that many of us still do this.

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=25680

To me it is very enjoyable to recieve a junk lot of stamps where maybe 10% of what I get can go into "gaps" and the other 90% in a box. I am sorting through such a pile of stamps at the moment with many postally used North Korea, modern Thailand and North Vietnam, all on paper, and they all need to be soaked, and enjoying the "job".

Plus, instead of always hunting for that elusive missing stamp, there will always be plenty of missing stamps that you can aspire to. And if you get bored with one area, you can simply switch to another.

I do have some collections which I like to keep complete, (New Zealand first and foremost) and once a year or so, I simply shoot off an order to my New Zealand supplier for everything that has been issued in the past year. But that is an exception rather than the rule.

Just do what you enjoy doing. Stamp collecting is an individual hobby, and no one can tell you what, or what not to collect.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Try Used 1840 to 1900 , Why used , well you get the history of the postmark , adds interest and you can Clean and Wash and Press flat a used Stamp for vast improvement ,when you finish that era , I very much doubt you will ever go past say 1950 as we then start to get Subject and Image Child like Stamps , Cartoon like even , only my personal opinion of course , but I could never think you could actually lose money unless you buy too high in this era, Spacefiller Quality is OK for the Sell the house priced Stamps, you will find Oohs and ahhs on them anyhow because no one usually has ever seen one in the flesh ever.

You will get other advice and debunking of these thoughts , Tread your own path , just remember Moderns mean Money back for you Grandsons , maybe.

As an afterthought, I need to mention that there are well over 10,000 face different stamps issued from Postal Authorities annually. Keeping up with these alone is virtually impossible and since hardly anybody puts stamps on mail any more, cheap used Kiloware once used to to source collections, is almost out of the question.

Just a couple of examples from a leading dealer:

Modern Greenland $3,850 per Kilo.
Modern Faroes $1,750 per kilo.
Modern Liechenstein$1,750 per kilo.
India Commems. $A770 per Kilo

(probably around 4,000 stamps per Kilo, with lots of duplication)

This sort of thing is why I stopped collecting Australia in 2006 when Australia Post (in it's wisdom ) issued around 100 face different stamps in two weeks for the Commonwealth Games. Complete overkill.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Thanks muruk for pointing me to the other thread. Good read. I did try to search the topic before posting but I didn't find it. Think I might have used the wrong search words.

Yes, it's very easy to spend half an hour searching for something you know is here, but can't hit the exact word the writer used. Can be quite frustrating at times.

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A man might as well marry ... if he finds a good wife he will be happy ... if not, he will become a philosopher.
Collecting Greater New Guinea & Macropods (Kangaroos & Wallabies).

As long as somone in the thread types in the key words: worldwide collection, all world collection, whole world etc, it will be indexed and a search will bring up all of them pointing to this thread.

So if you give it a day and type in: worldwide, one of the hits will be here.
If you search for "worldwide collection" (both words) then that will narrow the search possible to just 2 or 3 threads.

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Why not start a Thematic Collection.on a subject dear to you.
That way you can collect stamps from all over the world related to YOUR OWN theme,
Include Stamps, Postmarks,Booklets,Covers,(FDC and Commercial) this way you get the best of all worlds,
Also you will have a ONE OFF Collection that no one else has,

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Nunawading Stamp Fair
Last Sunday of Every Month - Jaycees Hall Silver Grove - Nunawading.

That's exactly what I did and came up with 4 threads which weren't quite what I was looking for. The two words were also not together on these threads.

Completeness is the key for me. What exactly is complete? Does it mean a copy of each stamp including the different variations or just one of each face? I find that just thinking of having to peer at all the stamps front and back to see variations on watermark, perforations etc. is very daunting and scary.

You don't have to be that complete. However even a basic one of each will prove very difficult (well, impossible really), as there are about 1,000 stamps where there are only a few known and about 10,000 stamps that would each cost over $100 to buy, many nearer $1,000.

Want a basic one of each Cape Triangle set in reasonable condition? There goes $1,000 already for just 6 stamps.

But you can break your idea of completeness down into "complete sets" and in "complete countries". Also you can decide on a cutoff point - which year to stop or which year to start? You'll save $50,000 just by starting at 1900.

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Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

I would think so. You would be moving from a basic one of each face different (around 500,000 stamps is my guess) to a minimum of 1,000,000 or more with perforation and watermark variety, and millions more if you want to include shades.

And you would need a selection of specialised Catalogues that would run into thousands of dollars, plus stamp storage costing probably $10 - 15,000 minimum (using my stockbook method..

Norm

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

I nearly quit when I realised how hard (impossible actually) task it would be to complete Worldwide.
But then this year I started again with Classical period, pretty much the first hundred years of stamps.
It does really go up to 1950 with several countries and I still collect even recent with some countries but
you have a helluva less stamps before 1950 than AFTER 1950.
Still, plenty of early issues of some countries cost more than everything for the same country issued after 1950,
except if it's all mint perhaps.

I'm not not after quick completition but rather a fun chase, tour in history and geography and in some cases, a bit more specialised collection mainly of postmarks/cancels.
No matter how much money you got, there would always be something you could add to make it more perfect
and with some countries, it's virtually impossible to get every stamp. I mean the greatest rarities here.

Toivo

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My blog on philately http://toivostamps.blogspot.com

The good thing about specialising in worldwide is that you can have a month focussing on one country or theme or aspect. I've been doing USA mainly for the past few weeks, but also keeping my eye on USSR and Green Libya issues. I think I will turn my hand to France and her old empire soon.

Allanswood, I like the idea of making complete sets or complete countries though right now I have no idea which set or which country it would be. Maybe something more feasible. Perhaps countries that don't issue too many stamps (if such exists) but still easy enough to acquire stamps from.

Perhaps I have a bit of OCD because I feel that I have to finish my collection ASAP so I have bought lots of kiloware but have found it a bit frustrating since most have duplication or have stamps from dune states. What am I supposed to do with them? I assume that not many people would want them. Also, you can't get high value ones.

Catalogues? Don't tell anybody but I've been hogging the library's copy of the SG catalogue. I've asked them if and when they get the latest version, would they sell the old ones to me. Nope, can't do since they sell it on eBay.

Another great challenge would be limiting your collection to the dead countries: from Hejaz to Siam to the Uglies... on and on. These give very interesting histories and they aren't issueing frustrating numbers of new stamps every year.

Once complete, well, there likely will be a new "dead country" or two by then

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Stamps on eBay: USA & worldwide. Lots of Dr. Who, Star Trek & Star Wars comics, too. Do Advanced search for Seller ddaannv and Keyword the country you collect (or leave Keyword blank).

I used to ask that question and now I change it slightly to: "can I enjoy collecting stamps from the whole world?". So far, the answer is "yes"!

I went through a phase of several years where I focused on scandinavian stamps and enjoyed it immensely. But two things happened: people started offering stamps from those countries which I didnt much like, and I started admiring stamps from other countries.

Then I started taking an interest in time periods. Between the wars. KGVI issues. 1966. But I started trading for modern used Australia and enjoyed that a ton.

Then it was themes. Football (soccer to some). Bread and agriculture. Vegetables. But then I started sorting my Machins. Sigh.


So now I'm using keijo's method (http://stampcollectingblog.com) of sorting, storing and cataloging my collection and am seeking out a mega job lot to sort through. When the urge strikes to specialize for a while I will. But I love my wide view of the stamp world. Near infinite possibilities.

One piece of advice. Take enough time to sample the whole world until you find something that strikes your fancy. It would be sad to focus on your home country only because you think you should, and miss the treats in Chile or Sweden or Senegal.

Mark

I suggest you limit yourself to a smaller region. I am collecting Australian Colonies from 1850 to 1912 and there is more than enough there to keep me broke for the rest of my life!

Come on, go for it! There's nothing as wonderful as collecting worldwide. It gives you all the freedom to look for and enjoy the stamps you like. And you can generalise or specialise as much as you like, on a set by set or even stamp by stamp basis.

I used to listen to those who go on about limiting your scope, so I thought I'll just do definitives, but then, what about those gorgeous recess-printed commemorative stamps from the mid 1900s? Or just do Europe. But then, what about those absolutely stunning Hong Kong Elizabethan definitive sets?

No, no no, just collect it all, mint, used, who cares. Enjoy your stamps, and when you like something more than other stuff, go a bit deeper, or as deep as you like. You may eventually even decide to have a specialist collection on your all-time favourite subject/stamps, and still maintain a general world collection on the side.

Mine is a mixture of general stuff with sometimes a bit more specialising, such as for the Machins or other definitive sets from around the world. And on the side I have this Queen Wilhelmina collection which goes deeper and deeper as time goes by.

Sometimes I'm into birds of the feathered kind, so they get included as well. But I wouldn't dream of starting a thematic collection on birds 'cos I'd be bored within a month and would never look at them again. Having them included in my all-world albums, which get opened every night, I come across them when looking at say Finland, and enjoy them so much more. Same goes for windmills, or heraldry, all favourite topics of mine which find their place in the collection.

And once you decide to make your own pages (dead easy), you'll have even more cause to enjoy the fruits of your collecting.


Adrian

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Adrian
My blog: http://blog.stampmagazine.co.uk/

Don't know yet what theme is dear to me mrboggler. I have thought about collecting dead countries but I'll have to do quite a bit of research on it. Actually, I'll have to do a general research on stamps and stamp collecting. Maybe in the next few months as I'm still swamped with soaking and segregating kiloware.

I got one of those 1000 world wide stamps years ago and recently decided to organize it. I take a country and make a page for all the stamps I have for that country. I use Open Office and create a page that fits inside preprinted stamp blank pages. I make a table for the stamp showing the year, stamp image, scott number and description. I google the description and write a short paragraph about the subject. It is really a great way to apprecate the stamps and learn alot as well. It's a lot of work but since I'm retired I've got pleanty of time. After I complete this, my goal is to try to get one stamp from each county listed in Scott's catalog.

I forgot to add this

That looks very good flitzen. Someday I hope to do the same thing after I've sorted through my kiloware. Now, if only someone can stop me from buying more kiloware.

Very nice, stamp collecting at its best in my opinion! That's how I would like to create my pages aswell. Information on stamp, on country... it's like a trip around the World.

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My blog on philately http://toivostamps.blogspot.com

Very nice, except for one small problem: the country is spelled Colombia. "Columbia" is the spelling for the Canadian province, British Columbia.

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Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

Go for it imworld! You'll have so much fun. Don't forget to check out op shops, second hand book dealers, markets, garage sales etc!

I decided a while back to concentrate on Australia, Canada and New Zealand but all the bargains (read: old albums, boxes and bags) I got from people had more world stamps than anywhere I had decided to concentrate on!

Oh, don't forget to check out your local tip now and again if you're allowed to! Some people, who have no idea about stamps, just throw out whole collections when someone has passed on!

So, I just have fun doing the whole lot! Just remember to leave some room on your pages for later acquisitions . I bought some albums a while back comprising world stamps from the 60's. I ended up having to re-arrange all of my albums to fit them in as I had not left ANY spaces for something I had none of!

Even if you do decide to specialise in some particular area later on, you'll have a lovely collection to just look at (and play with !).

Have fun. Anne

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I am having fun collecting WW and Indian States.

If you can get past any frustrations of not being able to complete a particular country and if you have room for storing LOTS of albums then there shouldn't be any problems

Cheers,

Robert

Thanks Anne for such encouraging words.

Thank you too to all who have given me advice/thoughts on collecting worldwide or otherwise. I think that for now I'll collect everything and see how it goes. One day I might decide to specialize but in the meantime I'll have fun with my stamps.

By the way, does anyone know how many stamps there are worldwide? Say up to year 2010? Thought it might be good to know just how far away I am from this goal.

As I posted earlier in the thread, probably around 500,000 face different, and growing at over 10,000 per year (am I the invisible poster?), not including perforation varieties, plate numbers, watermark varieties, shades, printing errors, freaks and oddities, unofficial issues, stamps from Countries which don't exist, duty stamps, labels....and sand dune type issues (which are stamps that were produced specifically for collectors and never released in the Country of origin for actual postage).

And of course, some of these can never be obtained unless you have a cheque book which has room for lot's of 0's at the end of it. And happen to be around when (if) they come onto the market. Here are just two that would set you back several $Million:





Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Ooops....sorry Norm. You're not invisible at all. In fact, I see your posts everywhere and was quite happy to see it on this thread. I did see your post but somehow, as I was reading the posts again, my brain got muddled up.

I don't hope to get those two stamps that you showed and some others that you haven't but are almost equally rare and expensive. No chequebook with room enough for lots of 0's. In fact, no chequebook at all unless you count my husband's which I (un)fortunately am not a signatory. Will have to settle for photocopies.

Oh... And in case it wasn't clear.

Thank you very much Norm for your valuable input.

It depends on what you count as unique stamp, and what catalog You use. I've done some counting with Michel, and there should be roughly 620,000 major numbers in the catalog.

I've got about 80,000 (~13%) of those in my collection.

-keijo-

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See pics of my latest stamp findings at Stamp Collecting Blog.

Thanks of the edit on COLOMBIA aethelwulf.

A really interesting question! I decided many years ago that a general world collection could not hold my interest - too much to learn and too many gaps. That said, my recent experience tells me that too narrow a focus kills interest in the hobby because, once you've narrowed the collection down to a few missing items, finding what's missing becomes too rare an experience and often too expensive. I envy the super-specialist who can focus on a particular issue (say, for example, the NZ SSF Queen advertising stamps) and enjoy his or her pastime by building a collection based on a very narrow range of stamps. In recent months, I've expanded my scope to several countries and am enjoying the hobby a lot more.

Exactly: collecting worldwide isn't about collecting everything that was ever produced: it's about roaming around the world and picking out things you like or want to know more about or want to (semi-) specialise in. Basically: it's a bigger choice, you have more opportunities to finetune your collection to your interests and there's always something new and fresh to discover!

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Adrian
My blog: http://blog.stampmagazine.co.uk/

Indeed, that's how I prefere it aswell. I'm sure many collectors have it otherwise, collecting full countries only.
I've decided for time being to focus mostly on British Colonies and from there especially 1920s to 1940s era.
And because I want these more than for example Scandinavia, I can trade my Scandinavia away for now.
Worldwide or just wide collecting interests give me a lot of freedom and are very educating, truely fun way to collect.
Just a matter of opinion really.

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My blog on philately http://toivostamps.blogspot.com

Actually dead countries is very interesting. I have been concentrating my collection in this area for many years. The history is facinating, and the stamps (and banknotes for me) tell part of that story and allow me to collect a unique part of that history. In general, I only collect countries which ceased to exist before the end of 1955. I do this for two reasons. One it keeps the limits on what to collect, and second -- well I wanted to limit it to countries that died before I was born.

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Collector of Stamps and Banknotes from Countries that no longer Exist
http://www.DCStamps.com

Thank you everyone for all your input.

I am thoroughly enjoying collecting worldwide. I've acquired lots of stamps from eBay, SB and through private swaps. Some were given by generous stampboard members. While some stamps hold my attention more than the others I think I'm slowly beginning to to concentrate in certain countries and themes.

For the moment, I want to start a collection of Philippine stamps (I was born there) and maybe gradually collect stamps from countries under Spanish rule. I wonder if anyone has already done this?

Complete could mean to have at least one stamp from all issuing countries in the world, past and present.

Ahhh, nickmang...that's cheating...but you're right you know

If that's the case, I'm down to my last few countries!!! Yahooo !

Then what do I do?

Okay, back to the whole w/w collection!!!

Anne

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I am having fun collecting WW and Indian States.

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Melbourne. My daughter dropped me off at a "stampy place" (her words!) to do my thing while she went shopping! I'm not one to complain! I'd much prefer to look at stamps than go shopping with an 18 month old in tow!!

I ended up buying two albums...one world hinged which will need soaking and one stockbook of Great Britian.

Well, I finally got around to sorting the GB album yesterday! Couldn't believe it! I knew it had quite a few I didn't have...but to find out that it contained 10 years of a nearly complete collection was beyond belief!

I estimate about a week while I rearrange all of GB and work out what I am now missing....getting closer all the time to a complete? GB collection!

From 1840-1970, I am missing only 17 stamps! Of course, that's only going on a "one example of each type"...no varieties, only some colour varieties, not checking WM yet!

The album covered 1984-1994 with a few other odds and sods, mainly QE11 stamps and a few King Edward.

Well, I'm happy!...read that as VERY happy!

hutch

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I am having fun collecting WW and Indian States.

That's great Anne! It's always exciting when you get lots of 'new' stamps to add to your collection.

I have a simple goal of collecting ONE stamp from every country in Scott's catalog. So far I have 176 countries but realize I will never be able to afford some of rare ones.

What an amazing if not totally daunting idea. I imagine it will grow like everyone elses collections. I started with canada usa and a schoolboy worldwide and before you knew it I was specific to federal and state duck stamps, usa airrmails and bermuda. I think starting worldwide is a wondeful plan and eventually you'll narrow it down to a controllable group. Ever want some stamps from jersey channel islands just send me an email. Ya never know!

It may be possible to have a worldwide collection, but is it desirable?

A lot of the comments made in this thread against specialising are based around the concept that you soon get to a stage when you are missing only a few stamps which are expensive and/or hard to track down whereas with a worldwide collection you always have lots of gaps to fill.

All this seems to imply that the objective of stamp collecting is accumulating a lot of stamps which are 'different' on a very surface level. Whilst that is probably what we all do at the start, I think that ultimately this is very unsatisfying. Noone collecting in this way will ever make any contribution to knowledge and understanding of stamps, their history, production and use.

To me the biggest thrills in stamp collecting are not the occasions when you find a scarce stamp cheap, but the times when you work out a previously unknown fact which you can share with your fellow collectors. This only comes with specialism.

By all means have a fun sideline; I see how many different countries' names I can collect without paying more than 10p each. But for real collecting pick a small area and collect whatever you can find from there.

Look critically at what you get, read the literature on it, and then start asking questions about what you have: Why was that denomination used on that cover? Why is that postmark so different from all the others? Are those stamps identical or merely similar? Before long you'll start to think up answers as well as questions, and you'll look out for new examples which will prove or disprove your conclusions.

Above all you'll be so fascinated with what you've got that you'll stop worrying about the small number of rare stamps missing from your collection - leave them to the people with long pockets.

It is to me. At the moment I am soaking a mass of kiloware, and I have just reached a group of North Korea, around 300 stamps and probably 100 - 120 different many of which will go into my one of my Asian stockbooks. All appear to be postally used from the 1980's/90's. Among this kiloware is also a large batch of postally used Thailand and North Korea, as well as all the usual suspects. I am enjoying every minute of what I am doing, and all the ones I am missing will find a loving home.

Stamp collecting is an individual hobby, and this individual collects A - Z world wide simplified. My eyesight and colour vision prevent me from doing more than this, and I have probably 150,000 face different stamps, and continue to be delighted when filling any gap.

My favourite anecdote, as told before on this Board was my delight in finding, in a junk lot, a 10 cent Portuguese stamp which completed a definitive set. I had waited probably 10 years for this one stamp, and was over the moon when it finally turned up, after finding 100's from this set without the elusive one. It was as much fun adding this stamp to Portugal, as it was adding a 5/- Bridge to my Australian collection.



This is the way I approach the hobby, and I would not have it any other way. Always something new, and never a dull moment. Get bored with Germany? Move on to new Zealand or Haiti, or African Independant Nations, or French Colonies, or Egypt...... A couple of years ago, I went through a Central/South America phase, and fortunately found a supplier who sold these en masse. Many hours of enjoyment for relatively very little outlay. You could not go to a football match and get the equivalent entertainment in $'s per hour. If I cannot contribute to the higher levels and the stratosphere of Philatelic achievement, because I am just a boring old world collector, well, life is full of sadness.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

These are not mutually exclusive joys, one can experience both. I collect WW (up to ~1950) and dip into specialized areas as my focus changes from one country to the next.

On one such dip I "discovered" several varieties that were not detailed in the catalog. I wrote a wiki article and shared the varieties with my local stamp club. It was very satisfying.

The joy of completing a set or page in an album for a WW collector is not quite as long lasting yet there are many more opportunities.

David

My reason for collecting ww was that I was fascinated by the beauty and the history portrayed in them. Initially I wanted to get my hands on everything at once but after reading lots of articles I've found that there is more to it than just pictures.

I may start out collecting ww but I know that from time to time I'll be concentrating on certain stamps or issues or countries and delve deeper. And there'd be lots of opportunities for that I'm sure.

@newphilatelist - love your avatar