Well, stamp collecting can be dull, really. Especially, if one regards the stamps just as a financial investment (like a shareholder). To be honest, I'm not surprised at all that young people develop very little interest in stamp collecting when mass media do report mostly about unaffordable rare stamps. Young people rather wish moving in mind instead of moving on bank accounts, I think.

Philately is a matter of real love. But this you cannot buy. In this point there is no difference between stamp collecting and the normal life. Stamp collecting becomes interesting only by devoting our attention to the stamps themselves. Questions like ”From where do those postage stamps origin?”, ”What languages and writings are used?”, ”What is shown on the stamps?” lead us to always new expeditions which might be perfectly interesting and even exciting. The actual charme of philately lies mostly in the questions and answers behind the stamps.


As a Star Trek fan, I like it to remember the creator of Star Trek, Gene Roddenberry, who told his fans to go out and discover the universe... What that's got to do with stamps? Very simple: For me stamps are like little windows which let me take a look at other countries - provided the stamps show native subjects, of course. How is Lesotho looking, or Samoa, or Hong Kong? In this way, I did learn about all countries around the world with numerous sights, landscapes, traditional costumes and customs as well as many famous people who did influence history decisively. Yes, also I found new friends in foreign countries.

Anyway, by stamps one can learn many more than about countries only. What about football, space research, locomotives, flora and fauna, buildings or volcanos? Like music or movies also stamps can be boring – or gripping. There is so much to discover, one must just study it.

This universe is really full of fantastic inspirations. Let's collect them all and boredom was yesterday. And now get happy with stamps...