Stamp Collecting Season is about to start!

Here in the USA, it was just Labor Day Weekend.

Out through my window I have been seeing more heavy grey skies with low clouds; there have been stiff cold breezes and it has been raining... more rain on the way although it is sunny, for the moment. The leaves on the trees are starting to get that "tired" look, and soon I will mow the lawn for the last time until spring.

As a stamp collector, Labor Day weekend has always marked the beginning of the stamp collecting "season" for me. Although this first weekend in September seems fairly random, it often marks a significant change in the weather... the first reminder that we will soon be focusing more on indoor activities.

Much as I would like to think of myself as a "serious" stamp collector, I must confess that I am largely a "seasonal" collector. By the time May rolls around, I spend far more time in the garden than I spend with stamp albums... and it's really not until the days start to get shorter that the stamp albums start to sound interesting again.

As I started looking at the new "season" ahead of me, I made the decision to get a bit more focused with my collection interests... and also determined that it is time for me to start getting rid of the many "bits and pieces" I have accumulated over the year with the intent of "eventually turning them into some kind of collection."

Fact is, I have more than enough on my "collecting plate" as is, and I don't need to be adding any new things. I also realized that I have a substantial amount of money tied up in "dormant" stamp collections-- and that it would serve me much better (not to mention keep me interested) to sell off those stamps and use the money to buy something I am really and actively interested in.

Good intentions are nice, but they really don't (at least for me) lead to anything much more than a slight annoyance at the things I never seem to have enough time to get around to.

And that doesn't work-- because I want to enjoy stamp collecting, not feel like I am failing to make good on "obligations" I have set for myself.

Taking my Stamp Collection "On the Road."

When I was a kid, stamp collecting was mostly quite seasonal.

Growing up in Denmark-- which is far north and has dark wet winters and bright clear summers-- I'd spend lots of time indoors from October through April, and working on my stamp collection was one way to pass time when it seemed like it was going to rain for three weeks in a row. As the days got longer and April gave way to May and June, we kids would spend more and more time outside, building tree forts, riding our bikes or playing football ("soccer") in the roundabout at the end of our street. Although we didn't exactly "put away" our stamp collections, the albums ended up spending more and more time on the shelf.

When school let out for the summer-- in mid- to late June-- we'd often head off to spend some time at the "summer house" (basically an overgrown cabin, away from the city). However, even though there might be rainy days where we couldn't be outside, I don't remember ever bringing my stamps. Most of the time, however, the weather was "too nice" to be sitting inside with stamps, and we'd end up going to the beach. And since it would usually stay light past 9:00pm, there really wasn't such a thing as working on the stamp collection "after dark."

It wasn't until my early 30's, when I started traveling quite a bit for work, and to attend workshops and conferences, that I started bringing some of my stamp collection along. I realized that on those occasions where I might stuck in a hotel room, or in some remote location, I preferred to occupy myself philatelically, as opposed to watching mindless TV or surfing the Internet.

I'm about to enter a period-- until late July-- where I will be gone quite often. As I thought about that, I realized that I will probably get more stamp "work" done while I'm on the road, as I will be spending quite a few days in hotels and at conference centers. I have lots to catch up on, and stamps from this winter that I want to get listed for sale online-- stamps are small, light, and easy to bring along; the only thing that will weigh me down would be stamp catalogues, but I will focus on one area for each trip.

Stay tuned for reports "from the road!"

Stamp Collecting Seasons

When I was little and growing up in Denmark, stamp collecting was more of a wintertime hobby.

Winters in Denmark were dark, wet, often cold and generally the period between the end of October and mid-March involved a lot of indoor activities, because being outside was pretty miserable. Stamp collecting was a good way to keep the "young ones" occupied inside, in a way my mother felt wouldn't destroy the house. My best friend Henrik and I spent many a winter afternoon after school "playing" with our stamp collections.

Summertime in Denmark! 

Come about mid-April, the days (and sunbreaks) would get longer, and we would increasingly often be kicked outside to play. So we went out to play soccer, play in the street, go to the beach, or the woods, or whatever. When I think back to those days, I realize that I rarely looked at my stamp collection during the summer-- even when school was off.

Now that I'm an adult, I don't exactly have a time when I completely put away my collection for the summer. Let's face it... it's summer where I live, right now, and I'm writing these words on a stamp collecting blog! But I'm not really doing much with my collections, these days: any new acquisitions get put into a glassine and tossed into a box with brief notes about what I need to do with them, later. I haven't been anywhere near eBay in about eight weeks. Tomorrow will more likely be given to working in the garden, getting house projects done and even going for walks with my wife or beach combing. Other days are given to going on holiday, or on short trips.

For some, there are no "seasons," of course. If you call Key West, Florida "home," the idea of long cold dark winters is alien to you. Others, who might be retired, experience seasonality as less important. For some, stamp collecting is their primary interest, and so they are always at it.

How about you? Are you a seasonal collector, or someone whose collection is going ALL the time? Do you completely stop during the summer, or just cut back your time? Does "holiday" mean you have more time for your collection, or that you put it away completely?

Please share your thoughts and comments!