Post by steve712 on Jan 11, 2015 22:20:34 GMT -5
Hello, interesting stamp board you have here, hope you don't mind if I join! I participate in a couple other stamp forums and I've lurked here occasionally.
I'm a 45 year old male from Sioux City, Iowa. Germany including all related areas is my main focus (I'm newly a member of Germany Philatelic Society), but I also collect many other countries on a casual basis - mostly in Western and Northern Europe. I started collecting as a very young child and collected on and off until my late 20's, when I dropped it for over a decade. I've been back collecting in earnest again for about two years and I have no intention of ever dropping it again - collecting is a very big part of my life now. I also soak a lot of kiloware and buying a penny stamp packet and sorting through it is still a thrill to me.
What I like most about stamp collecting is probably the history and the exposure to a wider world and various cultures. I'm an intensely curious person and stamps have been a great vehicle for learning more about the world. As far as the history, well, a perfect example for me is my favorite collecting area: Germany. Perhaps no other nation has undergone more changes over the last 170 years than Germany and all of it is reflected in its postage stamps. From a collection of states, to an empire with colonies, to defeat in WWI and the post-WWI plebiscites (inc. Danzig, Saar, etc), the rise of the Third Reich and it occupied territories, postwar Allied occupation of Germany, Cold War East & West and Berlin issues, and finally a unified nation. All of it is there in its postage stamps, and I find it quite thrilling to own small bits and pieces of that history. I didn't come here to sell anyone on German Philately, just to give you all a little background of where I'm coming from and what I like about stamp collecting. Similar stories are told in the stamps of many of the world's great nations and I trust that most of you will understand where I'm coming from.
Anyway, I'm glad to be aboard and I look forward to many lively and informative discussions!
I'm a 45 year old male from Sioux City, Iowa. Germany including all related areas is my main focus (I'm newly a member of Germany Philatelic Society), but I also collect many other countries on a casual basis - mostly in Western and Northern Europe. I started collecting as a very young child and collected on and off until my late 20's, when I dropped it for over a decade. I've been back collecting in earnest again for about two years and I have no intention of ever dropping it again - collecting is a very big part of my life now. I also soak a lot of kiloware and buying a penny stamp packet and sorting through it is still a thrill to me.
What I like most about stamp collecting is probably the history and the exposure to a wider world and various cultures. I'm an intensely curious person and stamps have been a great vehicle for learning more about the world. As far as the history, well, a perfect example for me is my favorite collecting area: Germany. Perhaps no other nation has undergone more changes over the last 170 years than Germany and all of it is reflected in its postage stamps. From a collection of states, to an empire with colonies, to defeat in WWI and the post-WWI plebiscites (inc. Danzig, Saar, etc), the rise of the Third Reich and it occupied territories, postwar Allied occupation of Germany, Cold War East & West and Berlin issues, and finally a unified nation. All of it is there in its postage stamps, and I find it quite thrilling to own small bits and pieces of that history. I didn't come here to sell anyone on German Philately, just to give you all a little background of where I'm coming from and what I like about stamp collecting. Similar stories are told in the stamps of many of the world's great nations and I trust that most of you will understand where I'm coming from.
Anyway, I'm glad to be aboard and I look forward to many lively and informative discussions!
and Hello Steve! We are very happy you joined us here on Stamp Bears.
!!
