Some hobbies fade away
As we all have experienced, hobbies come and go. There have been many fads over the years in my lifetime, but there are always the few that remain.
Do you remember “Pet Rocks”? How about the vast comic book collections that most of us had when we were kids? There are still those collectors out there, collecting the old and those of the superheroes, where grownups like to relive their childhood.
Most “Pet Rocks” have now found their way back to the riverbeds. A lot of old comics have taken their toll with young kids. Even a lot of sports cards have become recycling along with some stamp collections.
All these hobbies are dwindling because those collectors are aging. We are all getting older and we can’t stop the clock. So, a lot of stamp collectors are dying to get out of the hobby.
Here’s what will happen to stamp collecting and the business around it. There will be collectors and there will be investors. We need not worry about the investors unless you buy the rare stamps that I can’t afford, or want.
Looking at Canadian stamps, they basically can be divided into three main areas. There is the older stamps up to the end of the Queen Victorias, along with the provinces including Newfoundland. Then, there are the bulk of stamps up to about the electronic age, just after the start of the 21st century, 2010. The third part is the current stamps being flogged on the market by the post office.
The stamps in the first area will always be a collectable item and unless a large quantity exist, they will hold their value and will likely be viewed as investments. The problem with the second group after Queen Victoria is availability and future demand. Most everyday collectors had a generous supply as their collection progressed. Those of us that started in the ’60s bought a sheet of stamps of each one, took out a corner block and a single and stashed the rest for those future collectors. Now, everybody has one and you can’t give your investment away. Most of this part of the Canada collection in the future will become a penny collection.
You can buy the new stamps from Canada Post. They are perfectly pristine and just like any kid’s label collection, until somebody in a post office cancels that stamp on a letter. That is where today’s stamp collecting business is. Actually used, timely cancelled stamps are virtually impossible to find on letters or parcels. Stamps, like the “hockey card” series that some postal employees don’t even see as stamps, were never designed to be used as postage. They are too big for letters and too pretty on parcels. Another is the maple leaf $5 stamp. It would cover the whole of a letter.
Trying to collect the recent used stamps is where the action is.