Covid-19 and the Renewed Interest in Stamp Collecting

Since this is a stamp collecting blog, I am not interested in delving into the socio-political and philosophical ramifications of the Covid-19 Pandemic. I'll leave that up to the political punters.

Danish "star" cancel of LANDET

What we can say — without reservation — is that the various degrees of mandated quarantines, shelter-in-place orders and travel/movement restrictions around the world has resulted in most people spending more time at home, and indoors, than normal.

As a result of that, we have found ourselves exploring "indoor activities," in order to keep ourselves occupied, and — in some cases — to keep the insanity of "cabin fever" at bay.

In a strange way... the pandemic has actually been really good for stamp collecting.

I keep data/tabs on a number of stamp-related selling venues and discussion forums, and most have enjoyed a steady uptrend in activity since the spring of 2020. Some are even at their highest level of activity since 2015-16... and we are not even into the traditional fall/winter "collecting months," yet!

Personally, I have picked up the tongs again, after pretty much quitting in 2016 (that was for financial reasons, though...) because I have always enjoyed this strange hobby of looking at little old pieces of paper! In addition, my wife and I closed our local art gallery in mid-2019, and I have been able to start working from home again, allowing for some more flexibility of time. 

As a book editor, I don't have to worry about a "working week" or "opening hours," I just do the work as it comes to me... and whereas I put in many 10-hour days, those days might be from 5:00am till 3:00pm OR from 2:00pm till Midnight, depending on how I am feeling.

I remember these locomotives from my childhood in Denmark

Whereas we are by no means financially "secure," we are managing to scrape by... and I am finding that I can "take my mind off things" by working with stamps. Sometimes it's just finding items for my own collections, but I am also poking through a lifetime of holdings (and ill-advised purchases!) and slowly dribbling what I no longer have an interest in out to the various online sales venues I have used for many years.

It feels good to be "back," and I plan to get back to blogging a bit about stamps now and then, and perhaps giving this old site a bit of an overall facelift.

After all, I did start blogging about stamps in 2006, so it deserves a little TLC!

In the meantime, everyone stay safe out there... and Stamp On!