I have a question that I would appreciate some input on. I myself have never collected stamps by topic - I have always collected and sold by country. I am not too familiar with what categories of topical stamps are popular. Two categories of topics that I could possibly create approval books for are Olympics and Disney stamps. Is there much interest in those areas ? It would take more effort to put these type of books together so I am not sure if it is worth it or not. Thanks, Steve
The American Philatelic Society recently reduced the number of suggested topical categories due to low sales volumes through the sales division. The current APS topical list is below:
Animals and Flora - animals, birds and plants
Art - all types of art, including animation and movies
Europa
Space
Sports
Transportation - cars, boats, buses, ships, trains, etc.
This should not be construed to be anywhere near a complete list of topics. The American Topical Association maintains lists of all stamps in a large number of topics.
Of course a topic can be a much smaller microcosm of the broader topics listed above. However, the smaller the topic, the smaller the prospective number of interested collectors. For example, under flora, there are many different types, but for a topical collector of only orchids, the number of stamps available is greatly diminished.
If memory serves, the most popular topicals are (not necessarily in the order listed):
Choosing to do a topical collection, and then looking for a topic, seems to me less likely to be rewarding than pursuing a topic in which you already have an interest.
Take a look at the list of lists offered by the American Topical Association:
http://radiofilateliadx.weebly.com/ ... One of the few topics that ever appealed to me was "electro-magnetic radiation on stamps" ... the Radio Philately is broader and, broadly speaking, nicely done.
Cheers,
(Modified by Moderator on 2015-08-02 23:58:40)
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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
"Choosing to do a topical collection, and then looking for a topic, seems to me less likely to be rewarding than pursuing a topic in which you already have an interest."
Same here. I have a few topical pages.. I wouldn't call them collections... in my collection stock books. My collecting went more like, "Oh cool! A stamp with a goldfish on it." and I put it aside. I have a small goldfish and turtle topical hoard. And of course I have a Ben Franklin topical collection that includes commercial covers from businesses named Franklin that use his image in their logo... you name it, anything I come across. And lately I've been buying automakers corner card covers too.
But I think OPs concern was creating approval books and wanted to know if it was worth their while and for what subjects.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 14 Aug 2015 08:37:34am
re: Topicals ?
" ... Choosing to do a topical collection, and then looking for a topic, seems to me less likely to be rewarding than pursuing a topic in which you already have an interest. ...
My advice would be to look through a lot of mixed stamps and examine the ones that interest you. Then find that one that you went back to look at again or that you just could not avoid sharing with your spouse or child.
Are there other stamps in the pile with a similar design, subject matter or image? Bingo ! There is your topic. Who cares whether it is listed as popular with other follow the leader collectors. It's your topic and illustrates something that you enjoy having and displaying.
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".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
To me, the collection would follow the interest. For me, I really like Butterflies. Callaway Gardens in GA has the BEST arboretum, BTW). If I collected topically, that would probably be the first area I would focus on. As it is, I have some beautiful butterfly sets in my country collections (SHAMELESS PLUG: if you collect birds, flowers, or butterflies, check out PAPUA NEW GUINEA!) BOB
Cardstamp wants to make approval books up for the two topics. Disney and Olympics. He has asked if it would be worth his time to do them. Is anyone here interested in those two topics if he makes up the books?
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"Stamp collectors don't go crazy, they just become unhinged."
For now I am holding off on creating any books by Topic. It would be more time consuming to do so, having to gather the stamps from various countries and merge them into an approval book. Secondly, I am not sure there is too much interest in the topics I was considering. I may re-consider my decision down the road.