What are names of any philatelic periodicals that are currently being published? I remember in the 70's, I subscribed to one that was called "Stamps". And Scott published one called "Scott Monthly". With both of them out of paper publication; what is left?
My recommendation would be "Linn's Stamp News", by Amos Publishing. They have I believe also
taken over publishing of Scott's and I think also some other brands like Minkus albums and such.
If you subscribe to them, you get a hefty discount on their goodies. I think they sell other supplies
as well, but not sure what else tho. Others on here would be more knowledgeable on the full lines
they carry.
They have the most informative articles, and then there is always all those classified ads in the
back. I found the best mail-order stamp dealers in the 70s-80s in those ads. Some are still active
that do not have internet access or care to fuss with techie stuff.
Thanks Ken and Chris for the info. But, surely there are other periodicals. Has the hobby deteriorated to the point no publisher is interested in publishing magazines for the collectors of stamps anymore? I remember when I was young in the 60's & 70's, it rivaled coin collecting.
It still does rival coin collecting. Hobbies such as ours tend to prosper in countries with
developing economies, like Middle-East, China, and Russia. Our economy is on the de-
cline, and many collectors here have retired and are selling off their collections.
China has gained 20,000,000 new collectors in the last decade. It is not a geek hobby
over there, like it used to be here in the 60s & 70s. Over there it is considered a status
symbol. Because it is fairly affordable compared to other status symbols, like luxury cars,
it has become universally popular there.
Take a look at rising prices of classic Great Britain material (Victoria, and Edward), and
you will see huge price increases. The Chinese favor by a high margin classic British
stamps. In China they are scarcer than in Europe or the states. That is why nobody
over here gets these prices, and sells off the British stamps for way below their value.
But it is hard to do business in China, and makes it hard to get into that market.
Don't worry, we stamp collectors aren't going away anytime soon. I only mentioned Linn's
because that is the only publication, that I know very much about. There are others,
but I don't know enough to recommend them, or if they are even still in print.
Don't forget "The American Philatelist," the APS monthly journal. New editor Jay Bigalke has made some nice improvements since taking over. Membership in the APS is worth the subscription alone, but has many other benefits.
to answer the part about the deterioration of the hobby: YES. Numbers of subscribers has been in sharp decline for several decades; and membership in APS has mirrored that.
I am a publisher, and there's no way in the world I would ever attempt to enter this world if profit were among my concerns
David
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
Some of the specialty clubs have excellent publications. If you're interested in something like Scandinavia, Ireland, Japan, Topicals, etc, try looking into joining one of those groups. They are information dense. The membership fees are worth the cost of the journals.
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"Just one more small collection, hun, really! LoL "