Along with so many things, hobbies appear to have changed over the past 30 or 40 years. Once hobby shops were ubiquitous in cities and towns. Whether for model planes or cars, coins, stamps, baseball cards, etc., it was hard to travel a few miles or blocks without passing a shop catering to hobbyists. Even many department stores had areas relegated to hobbies and collectibles. There, visions of rarities-to-be-found were the dream of collectors of all ages. Not so much anymore.
Maybe the problem was too many people passing the shops and not enough stopping in. Or, the advent of handheld “smart” devices became far more immediately gratifying versus the challenge of assembling a model or filling a stamp album. Today, the challenge has become finding a stamp, coin or hobby shop much less an actual department store....
Earlier this summer, thousands of collectors descended on a convention center near Chicago. They were there for the Great American Stamp Show (GASS). It’s held every year in a different city to feature exhibits, special issues and hundreds of dealers.
The recent GASS convention was coordinated by the American Philatelic Society (APS). Reports from the floor of the show were overwhelmingly positive. Perhaps as another sign of things changing, many of those reviews came from women. Dealers also reported doing a brisk business over the several days. And, yes, as with so many hobbies, the number of older adults attending far outweighed youngsters. Again, in fairness, convention attendees frequently pay to travel there and are older people of means who don’t mind paying a premium for hotels.
With the looming semiquincentennial of the US barely three months away, it has or surely will put people in the mind of history and how the nation has evolved over the past 250 years. In fact, it was exactly 250 years ago this past July that Ben Franklin was appointed the first Postmaster General of the United States, though it wouldn’t be until 70+ years later that we even had postage stamps.
Incidentally, back in 1775, on the Boston to Philadelphia Post Roads – established in 1673 as the “Kings Highway” – travel between those two American cities that were key for Franklin would take 12 to 14 days. That too has changed. By car, that trip now takes a bit over five hours.
The scarcity/rarity of modern stamp dealers, be they in Philadelphia, Boston or any other town or city means collectors can have a hard time sourcing quality material for their collections. Major APS shows for buying and selling are good but infrequent and sometimes distant. And, while today’s “snail mail” may be looked askance by many, it now offers one of the best avenues for modern collectors. Here’s how.
The APS has long had a service called “Circuit Books.” These are booklets filled with pages of stamps assembled and priced by other collectors. Members wishing to purchase scarce or rare collectible stamps simply sign up to receive the booklets in the mail. They then look through them to see if any included are of the type and price of interest to them. The buyer then removes the ones they want and sends the booklet back to the APS with payment. The books are then forwarded to other prospective buyers over 18-months.
For years this has proven to be a win-win for the buyers and sellers who never have to leave their home. A small commission is charged for the service.
Being no stranger to online opportunities, the APS is also now offering their StampStore of scarce or rare stamps via the Internet. The benefit is a quick and immediate chance to view and purchase other member’s stamps online. Through the magic of electronic magnification, close-up views of the stamps being offered are possible.
All information about the Circuit Books and the APS Online StampStore can be had by logging onto the APS website at: www.stamps.org/shop. At least for collectible stamps, both are effective and modern solutions to the conundrum of disappearing hobby dealers in cities and towns.
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