Stamp collecting is back. That’s according to Wall Street Journal writer, Andrew Nelson. Mr. Nelson’s article, “Why Stamp Collecting Is Suddenly Back in Vogue,” quotes Scott English, the executive director of the American Philatelic Society as saying that “…online search results listing the APS have roughly doubled to 1.2 million since March.” He also quotes Gerard McCulloch, author of the “Punk Philatelist” blog, as observing that “more millennials and women taking up the hobby in the pandemic.”
I am not sure that these quotes make a case for Mr. Nelson’s headline, but they do provoke some hope that one of the world’s oldest and most rewarding hobbies is coming back. I, as a child, attempted stamp collecting. I can well remember the variety of colors, the exotic countries, and the excitement (maybe a bit strong of a word) of locating a particular stamp.
Yet, yet, it lingers as a warm memory from a time when we all had more time on our hands. Well, actually, we do have more time on our hands, now that so many of us have been marooned at home due to the Coronavirus.
Mr. Nelson mentions two stamp distributors in his article, hipstamp.com, and mysticstamp.com. He writes that they “…offer a variety of stamps, usually collected together as a series or organized by region, nation or theme.” He says that Mystic Stamp offers stamps from all over the world in packages of 1,000 stamps for $16.
The toy industry is good at collectibles. l It might make sense for a toy company to work with stamp companies like Hip Stamp and Mystic Stamp in appealing to a new generation of philatelists.
Maybe something good will come out of all that staying at home with the
kids.
