Stamp collecting is probably one of the most popular indoor hobbies that exists.  Collecting stamps adds tons of information to our brains, whether young or old, we learn things we may not have learnt otherwise.

Geographically, stamps represent the countries of the world and peak our interest in finding out more about specific countries, perhaps more unknown or small countries, for example Guyana, Cook Islands, to name a few.

Both in a historical and geographical sense they are important, showing us names of countries we perhaps don’t know as the name of the country has changed over the years, e.g. Southern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe.

They may also have the name of a country in that country’s language or even in a different script, e.g. the cryllic script used in Russian countries

 

Space Travel is also a very interesting subject depicted on stamps.  When Yuri Gagarin became the first man to travel to space in 1961, the USSR brought out 3 stamps to depict this occasion.  The United States also issued a stamp to commemorate the First Man on the Moon (an American) in July 1969.

Historically, many stamps portray the anniversary of some great event.  For example, many countries issued stamps 100 years after the first stamp was issued in Great Britain.  Stamps have often been issued to commemorate a special occasion.  We all know about Mothers’ Day, for example, but are we aware that in 1934 the USA issued a stamp to commemorate mothers all over, so Mothers’ Day is not just a modern day commemoration.

In a sporting sense, we will learn about World events and the years in which they took place, e.g. England winning the Football World cup in 1966.  I came across a stamp from Guyana  showing Cricket players at a time when many of the strong West Indian players came from here.  Stamps depicting the various Olympic Games alone can fill many albums and while collecting, sorting and cataloguing these stamps, research will be undertaken into the various Olympic Games, where they took place etc.  Remember the expression “Google is your Friend” so that if something piques your interest, just go and look it up.  Even countries that do not participate in the Olympic Games issue stamps to commemorate the event.   Unusual sports are depicted on stamps, ec. La Crosse on a Canadian stamp, Pelota on a French stamp.  I looked up Pelota on Google and discovered that it is a ball sport esp. in France and Spain using what looks like a football.  There are different forms of the game, using your hand, or a bat or even a racket.  So if someone were to mention Pelota, I’d know that it is a ball game played mainly in the Basque region of Spain.

Ships are a very common subject on stamps,  showing us old time sailing ships such as the Cutty Sark  to the modern day QE 2 Passenger liner.  Trains are also often depicted on stamps, even motor cars from the early 20^th century are depicted on stamps.

All these different designs give the modern day stamp collector the opportunity of moving away from the standard way of collecting stamps by country and date of issue, to collecting by design or subject.

So whether you are 4 or 40, stamp collecting has much to offer on many levels.

Kindly feel free to leave any comments below.