I have two uncles left who are stamp collectors (two others passed away a few years ago). One is my godfather and has been collecting for over 70 years. He recently decided to pass along parts of his collection to me, as I am the only remaining "youngster" in the family who still collects. This is bittersweet to me. I am grateful for his generosity, especially when it falls into my areas of collecting, but I am saddened to know I am the only person in this otherwise vast family who still has philatelic interests. Of my 40 cousins, I'm it, and none of their children or grandchildren collects stamps (well, my nephew's 3-year old likes those pretty Disney stamps but I don't count her as a collector ... yet!).
It's sad on two counts. It is reflective of the broader society picture where philatelists are becoming an increasingly older group, with few new interested parties. It is also distressing from a personal perspective to think what will become of my collections, with the pride and enjoyment I put into them. I hate to think they will end up on one of those eBay big lot dealers, picked clean of individual items of any value, the rest considered throw-away or charity jobs.
There was a post in a forum recently that talked about making your collection more personalized and more of a family heritage item than "just a stamp collection." The more I think about it, the more brilliant it sounds. That will be my new project, especially with respect to my special collections.
I think I am a bit more optimistic about the younger people finding the hobby. One reason I feel this way is what I've seen happen to another hobby of mine, knitting. For years it was a 'grandma' thing, but the last 5-6 years it has boomed among the 20 somethings. They have taken knitting to the internet, and have latched on to knitting for things related to their generation and so knitting is here to stay for a long time now. So it could happen in stamp collecting. The thing we older (ahem) collectors have to do is to stand aside and let that generation collect as they want. They are not going to follow the rules, but it's been a good thing in the knitting world, it probably would be a good thing in the philatelic world. I have no answers for the question how do we get them interested in the first place. I only have the statement, watch out, if we do.
Good points! Thanks. I have a knitting story to share with you; no, not me. I can't even thread a needle, let alone be coordinated enough to knit.
A project I worked on was to help inner city kids; you know, gang, truancy, and drug use/high risk behavior prevention. Anway, the project had a neighborhood open house and they tried all kinds of stress reduction things to no avail. Then one day a boy saw the knitting class and decided to join. Well, no-one teased this tough 14 year old and soon other boys joined. They made caps, scarves for their mothers and girlfriends, etc. No-one in the neighborhood dared to laugh at or question the group of four boys waking down the street, the junior members with yarn balls in their hands and the lead boys knitting as they walked. The ony thing was, the weave (or whatever its called) was very tight. One commented it was a great way to let off steam! True story. Still going on as far as I know.
That is a great story. I believe it too. After all, those knitting needles do have sharp points LOL. You don't mess with a knitter whatever age!
My mom, who has days, weeks and maybe months left on this world was both ~ crochet and stamp collector. She has left many of both to me. She tried to teach me knitting and crocheting but I never got the right grip down. But the stamps are of course a blessing. Now as I go through her worldwide stamps, which I never go into collecting, I marvel at the amount. Many will go into my store, but among my dwindling family, I'm the only one interested! But my dear remaining family collects them for me. As far as the grandkids, one can only hope. I've been to many a show and seen many a kid pouring through the bins, but have also noticed that there are 30-40 yr. old people collecting too. I don't think our hobby is in jeopardy. And I am fulfilling a life-long dream of having a stamp store, which is just what I am doing, never thought it would be on something called the internet, tho. I often wonder what would happen to all these stamps that I have left...
Dianne, I still have relatives dutifully cutting out stamps from covers they receive as mail, and holding on to them until I show up. Most are not "worth" anything since they are all contemporary US or foreign stamps that are dime a dozen. But these relatives treat this like a ritual: "Oh don't thrown that envelope away until you've cut off the stamp for my nephew!!" one aunt will admonish her seniors' club members.
I too am the last philatelist in the family, so my remaining two stamp collecting uncles are slowly passing their legacies to me. This last trip to Vancouver, one came for the wedding from Seattle, so he brought three large albums full of covers! Remarkably, they fit in my check-in luggage but guess what, now I have a good collection of First Day Covers again.