The History of Stamp Collecting - Part III


This post continues and completes our series on the history of stamp collecting.

The 20th century saw a steady increase in the popularity of stamp collecting, with the number of stamps that were available for collecting positively exploding.  Many of the stamps from the 1910s-1940s are not rare, but they are nonetheless fine examples of design and engraving. 

Although the period between 1840 and 1940 is often called the "Classic Era" of stamps, the period right around 1940 probably represents the peak of the so-called "Golden Age" of stamp collecting, at least in the US.  Franklin D. Roosevelt, an avid stamp collector himself, was President and stamp collecting garnered publicity and prestige through him.  During this period almost every young boy (and many young girls) collected stamps.  They spent many an hour every week happily trading stamps and otherwise working on their stamp collections.  Philatelic periodicals and stamp shops were plentiful, and even ordinary department stores all had stamp departments stocked with stamps and stamp supplies.  I well remember the Gimbels store stamp department and how going there was the highlight of every weekend.

The periods immediately before and after World War II gave birth to a variety of interesting philatelic items - everything from Weimar inflation stamps through Hitler head stamps to stamps from behind the Iron Curtain during the Cold War.  Some countries that formerly issued stamps went away and became so-called dead countries, while other countries, such as East Germany, sprung up.  The British Empire was seeing its final days but stamps from exotic British colonies were still of very high quality, and seeing them let us have a glimpse of life in those exotic places.

After the war, new stamp printing technologies were developed.  Stamp issuing countries began to realize that they could garner significant income by marketing their stamps directly to collectors.  Collecting mint never hinged stamps became the rage.  Some countries (and pseudo-countries) issued stamps solely for the purpose of selling them to collectors, with no intent to ever be used on the mail.  The number of stamps issued throughout the world hugely increased, with the result that building a comprehensive worldwide collection is now very difficult if not impossible - there are just too many stamps being issued.

Even though the US now produces more than 100 new stamps every year, in today's era we see post offices printing postage labels to be affixed to mail.  Post offices should be selling stamps at the counter for use on the mail, and in truth they do, but they'd rather just print those labels and sell stamps to a few die-hard users and collectors.  But that's not the only strike against the future fate of stamps:  postage also can be printed using peoples' home computers and printers.  

Are stamps becoming irrelevant to the mail?  Perhaps so.  In the future it may well be that the only stamps sold are sold to collectors.  A dire prediction and a bleak thought, because that will likely bring the hobby to a crashing end.  

How to avoid this?  Buy stamps, but use them on your mail in addition to adding them to your collection.  And don't just buy self-adhesive definitive stamps, either - buy some commemorative stamps.  Don't let the post office put those postage labels that they print out onto your mail.  Use stamps whenever possible.  That's the best way to ensure the hobby continues.