Topical Stamps
A lot of stamp collectors begin to realize that it is impossible to complete their collections after a period of accumulating everything then decide to specialize. Some collect their own country, the country of birth or the birthplace of their parents and grandparents while some focus on covers and postal history.
A very popular choice is the topical collection. It is based on the subject of stamp’s design. When developing a collection like that, a number of things should be considered. First, select a topic which is interesting to you. Choose a subject that will give you a chance of adding new items to your collection. The topic should be limited enough that enables you to have a justifiable chance of achieving completeness.
A myriad of stamp dealers offer stamps by topic and you can buy packets of 100, 200, 500, and even more different stamps of your interest. Many topical dealers also offer a New Issue Service which helps you keep your collection updated.
You must consider the mounting and writings of your collection. Others use stock books or hingeless blank pages. Some use plain or quadrille ruled pages and lay them out themselves. Be flexible with the arrangement by mounting by subject within your topic or in any other way that is consistent and gives you fun. You can even add your logo if you wish to.
Many topical stamp collectors bring their interest to new heights. The president of the American Topical Association is collecting ‘Lighthouses on Stamps’ and travels to coastal areas to explore the lighthouses there. She also conducts researches on the history of these landmarks. One collector of ‘Castles on Stamps’ traveled to Europe in search of some of the castles that she has found depicted on stamps of the world. Another collector of fairytales and folktales on postage stamps has gone to foreign countries around the world seeking for stories which were famous enough in their country of origin to merit a postage stamp.
The monetary factor is not at all important when collecting a topic. Each collector pursues the hobby according to his or her own medium. A topic like World War II for example is too broad. The collector can narrow it down to ships, aircraft, or personalities involved in the war. If the stamps you want is out of the collector’s price range, he or she can find a different stamps or even a used example of the pricey “mint” copy.
