Random ruminations on collecting and Philosateleia
New United States stamps
We’re only a little more than a month into the new year, and already there are dozens of new stamps for those of us who collect modern U.S. material. As is the case with a great deal of modern material, however, finding some of those stamps used is probably going to be a challenge.
So far, I’ve acquired only three of the new stamps for my own collection. I have two of the weather vanes—one of which came on a piece of mail from my credit union, oddly enough—and one of the bonsai stamps. That’s it. I’m still seeing a lot of holiday baubles at work, but hopefully the newer issues will gradually replace those as time moves on.
Editor’s note added March 27, 2012: Rachel asks, “Why can’t you just mail yourself to get a used stamp?” An excellent question—and of course, you can. What I meant, but failed to convey, was that finding a lot of new issues used commercially rather than by stamp collectors won’t be easy. My thanks to Rachel for pointing out my omission, and giving me the chance to clarify!
In local news
A couple of projects are in progress here right now. First, I’m working on posting images of and write-ups about my landscape stamps. That’s not exactly a small undertaking, and I don’t know how long it might take me to get everything online, but I’m doing what I can.
Something else on my plate is the stamp gallery as a whole. I’m trying to bring the look of the oldest pages, some of which haven’t been updated since 2006, up to speed with the rest of Philosateleia. This is an “as time permits” sort of thing, but it would be really nice a uniform look across the entire site again one day.
New Post Horn, new album pages
The February issue of the Philosateleian Post Horn is just about ready to go. My current plan is to distribute that on Sunday. That newsletter is free, so if you’re not already receiving it, sign up.
After that’s done, I’ll need to turn my attention to putting together the Spring 2012 supplement for The Philosateleian U.S. Stamp Album. As I mentioned earlier, there are several dozen new stamps for which we’ll need spaces. Look for the new pages by the middle of March.
Show your support
I try not to spend a lot of time on this topic, as I like to think of Philosateleia as a public service of sorts. Nevertheless, I do appreciate your support, whether it’s a small donation to help cover expenses, a link from your website or blog, or even just an e-mail letting me know you’re using my stamp album pages. Finally, you can like The Philosateleian on Facebook, if that’s what floats your boat.