14 ms·

Stamping the joy out of collectors

158 points by jasonhansel 6y ago

celesti 6y ago
Maybe because stamp collecting was the first shopclerks "business" he did not really see the joy in it any longer? Logical arrangements are nice but aesthetic arrangements are also nice!
zabzonk 6y ago
Yeah, you should collect what interests you. My Dad, who was an RAF V-bomber captain, had a great (and quite valuable) collection based on early airmail, with pictures of airships and biplanes on the stamps.
kingsuper20 6y ago
The fight for status among males will never end. It took me decades to chat in bars about things I have a lot of detailed knowledge about. Learning to listen to stories and not automatically correct took some time. Nobody loves a pedant.
- vmception 6y ago
  > Nobody loves a pedant. I’ve taken it a step further and play along with spiritual and astrology talk from women. About 2/3rds of guys and 1/3rd of other women act very confused that I’m not immediately denigrating the person talking about signs and dietary restrictions. Turns out all you have to do is not do that, and a lot of things open up with very visually attractive people. Yeah, I’ll talk about higher vibrations with the fun lean vegan woman. They're used to people pedantically challenging their belief system, but many can amplify their interest in you if you simply don't do that.
  - lupire 6y ago
    How about just being a decent human being instead a creepy pickup artist?
    - vmception 6y ago
      I don't mind that belief system, and I'm actually advocating for people to not denigrate or lecture people that talk about astrology. The bar shouldn't be so low. I'm pretty sure this is being a decent human being, you're assuming a lot for a reason beyond me. I would still use the term play along because it is accurate.
    - mcphage 6y ago
      Are the only 2 kinds of people “creepy pickup artist” and “asshole”?
- Guthur 6y ago
  Maybe because generally men have a lot of trouble identifying their self worth in society, maybe because few people are actually that sympathetic to men and their struggle to find meaningful fulfillment within their lives. Every struggle is seen as a negative, some "toxic" side of masculinity that needs to be eradicated rather than embraced and understood. We are positively hostile to it. And somewhat strangely we also attack femininity, though in a less openly hostile manner, more killed with compassion. We seem to feel sorry for outward femininity which appears to be having the effect of pushing women towards a more masculine outlook. I feel we no longer adore femininity like we once did. Some may argue that this is all for the best, and that we need to push us all to some more less defined state, but I'm not so sure that the cost in diversity is worth it.
  - kingsuper20 6y ago
    This brings to mind Ted Kaczynski's manifesto in terms of the need for achievable, non-trivial goals and the inability of so-called 'surrogate' goals to really satisfy that need.
    - pmiller2 6y ago
      I love when people reference Kaczynski's work in serious discussions like this. Ted Kaczynski the domestic terrorist and murderer was not a person to be admired, but Ted Kaczynski the anarcho-primitivist philosopher is one of the most underrated and important intellectuals of the late 20th century. There's an awful lot packed into his manifesto, and I wish more people could see past his crimes in order to take that in. BTW, I found out he's updated the manifesto, and that it, along with some other of his works, was published in an anthology in 2010: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski#Other_works https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski#Other_works
  - msrenee 6y ago
    I've definitely had my femininity attacked in an openly hostile manner. Often. When I was in junior high and high school, I thought women were the lesser sex and eschewed girly hobbies and clothing in favor of more masculine things. No dresses, no makeup, I cooked in order to eat, nothing fancy. I hung out with the guys and played video games. It wasn't until the last 5 years or so that I realized I could wear skirts out shopping and work a blue collar job during the week. I know masculinity is under attack in many circles, but it's quite the claim to say that femininity is less so.
- wisty 6y ago
  Is it really just a "fight for status among males"? If you don't correct someone, I only see two possibilities: 1. The topic is so worthless (to you) it doesn't matter if they're wrong. 2. They are so worthless (to you) it's not worth correcting them on an important topic. 2b. They lack the intelligence (IQ or EQ) to grow from being corrected. Of course, a some of the time this is right. Yes there's also a chance that you're wrong (in which case correcting them may result in you being corrected, or at least a potentially fruitful discussion), but the same would apply - is the topic and person worthwhile the chance of upsetting a thin-skinned idiot?
  - solveit 6y ago
    1 is correct. Most times, the conversation has little to do with its purported subject. Instead, it's a long-winded ritual affirming friendship.
irrational 6y ago
I wonder what those 2 guys in the store were doing all day? Just buying and selling rare stamps? Maybe hoping to find that one stamp to complete some collection?
justin_oaks 6y ago
> So, for you, it was just a form of mindless entertainment? A hobby? Wow, such condescension. Reminds me of the saying "Everyone thinks other people's hobbies are a waste of time". For some it's stamp collecting, others it's watching musicals, and others do programming. Everyone should be allowed to do what they love in their spare time without others looking down on them.
- true_religion 6y ago
  Many people who go to stamp dealers are collecting because of a personal interest in history. It's a hobby, but it's a serious hobby for them with non-entertainment goals. It's those people who start stamp stores, visit them, and generally keep the entire industry alive. Finding someone who simply does it for 'joy' is against the grain. It's like having a Porsche and not knowing anything about its internals or engineering history and simply driving it for fun on the track. If you join a car club, they'll think you are weird for not caring or knowing the displacement of your engine or your tire size.
  - bartread 6y ago
    > It's like having a Porsche and not knowing anything about its internals or engineering history and simply driving it for fun on the track. If you join a car club, they'll think you are weird for not caring or knowing the displacement of your engine or your tire size. Who cares if they do? If you want to buy a Porsche to enjoy hooning it around the track without knowing about any of that stuff, and if you can afford it? Why not do it? Who cares what those people think? I absolutely don't mind if people want to geek out on the details or really take their hobbies seriously: that's totally cool. I do start to mind a bit when they expect me to do the same when that might not be what I want to do.
    - true_religion 6y ago
      > I do start to mind a bit when they expect me to do the same when that might not be what I want to do. I definitely agree that it's annoying.
    - deleted 6y ago
MattGaiser 6y ago
Just to add some context for why the dealer probably acted that way. Stamp collectors for exploration are quite a bit different from the kinds of collectors that tend to go to stamp dealers (I am one of those collectors). You end up focussing on extremely narrow areas of the hobby to the point where you are hunting down which library has a painting a stamp is copied from or trying to track down an envelope sent by a particular person from a particular city. You can have 10 different variations of a stamp that look all the same except under a magnifying glass. There are collectors who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in their collections and all of the same single stamp. Just 1000 different copies of it. The premier component of my collection is an exhibit on the 1982 Canadian Philatelic Youth Issue, a single stamp series (about stamps). So for a lot of collectors (including the ones willing to spend thousands a year) it’s less an accumulation hobby and more a specific research project. Not excusing the behaviour of the dealers, but meeting someone who collected so widely could be unusual for them.
- yannis 6y ago
  I have collected stamps as a kid and I have been collecting Postal History for decades on and off, focusing mainly on research and writing up the covers that I have managed to collect. Kept me sane during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Philately is not about 'chasing madly a missing stamp', but a journey for those interested in history, especially local history. It is still a great hobby and to anyone interested to start, start from buying a small collection. Most collectors will either buy from a dealer, but most often from an auction. See https://stampauctionnetwork.com/ https://stampauctionnetwork.com/ as an example. You can build a collection with very little money or spent hundreds of thousands. It inspires me to hold an old letter (cover or wrapper in philatelic jargon), that has travelled through a ship across continents and has survived for 200 years and now is in my collection. Pre-stamp letters go for very little, especially North American, British and really for a song for most European countries. The bitcoin of the early eighties was 'getting into hard assets'. Lots of funds invested into stamps and drove prices to levels that collectors couldn't buy. They burnt their fingers, while collectors waited. It is still a huge market possibly 3-5 billion USD a year. As an investment I would not recommend them, but as a nice indoor hobby and to socialize outside your own circle is worth it.
- 6y ago
sneak 6y ago
I think a lot of collectors collect specifically for the same reason people grind in RPGs: to get the mental and emotional satisfaction from the "complete set" (of stamps, or rare armor, or whatever). Collecting without such a goal would, to people like that (who I assume comprise the large majority of collectors) would seem like a colossal waste of time. Why grind out the dungeon to get the greaves and the chest plate and then not spend a few more hours to get the helm?!! Most human behavior is not very rational, and I say that referring to both parties in this story.
- lb1lf 6y ago
  -The problem, of course, being: What do you do when the collection is complete? (I ran into that problem once - I collected stamps fairly seriously during my childhood and youth, spurred on by my father who was and is really into it. However, I narrowed my collection to two themes - Norway and scout-themed stamps and letters from all over the world. Once the Norway collection was complete to the current date, it was a massive 'meh' moment - just obtaining new stamps as they were issued wasn't much of a challenge, so the Norway albums were put on the shelf, and interest in stamp collecting withered quickly. Oh well. It was great fun while it lasted. :)
  - compiler-guy 6y ago
    Not every hobby needs to be a lifelong hobby. The things you learn and the enjoyment you get while it is current can be worth it alone.
  - dehrmann 6y ago
    The process of collecting was probably most of the fun, anyway. That said, I could see how the internet ruined it because 99% of what you're looking for can be in your hands in a week for the right price.
    - lb1lf 6y ago
      -I've met collectors (of records, in that case) who had what I consider an admirable attitude towards the perils of instant eBay gratification - seeing as the chase in most cases was better than the catch, they'd imposed a 'no Internet' rule - albums were only bought in physical record stores, at record fairs, garage sales &c - but, as it was put - 'Unless I can chat a bit with the seller, then put the money in his hand, there's no deal.' I'd imagine it makes the hobby equal measures more rewarding and frustrating. (I've since tried to adopt this approach myself as far as practically possible - seeing as for me (YMMV), the social aspect of discussing music and artists with other enthusiasts is a major part of the appeal, helping me discover new music on ways no auction site can.
lordnacho 6y ago
What? You're just coding for fun? Where's your helm charts? If you're going to be serious about this, you'll need to learn three languages. HTML isn't a language. Make sure it works across platforms, too. Also, you have make it multicloud.
- gamacodre 6y ago
  What? You only put in one load balancer? What were you thinking?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
Vaslo 6y ago
Funny to see this - had a similar situation recently (sort of) with a train shop. I couldn’t care less about collecting trains - I bought a train a few years ago for xmas and my kids loved it so I bought a year round one as well. Lionel trains are not cheap and easy to repair. Both have already broke where a significant repair was needed. I watched videos and tried to fix one that wouldn’t fire up at all. Took it to the shop and the proprieties seemed kind of annoying with me as I asked for their help to repair (of course intending to pay). They gave me a lecture about letting a four year old play with a train like this. Usually I’d lose my temper and start arguing but my son really missed the train. They ended up replacing the engine board ($120 bucks) and took forever to get it back to me. I get that people have sacrosanct hobbies like coding, sports, etc. They have to understand that dilettantes like me may want to dabble! Also I am a self taught DBA and never ever use keys. I’ll take in any incoming fire as probably deserved :).
- ansible 6y ago
  I was nodding along with you (though I'm not into trains anymore) until this: > Also I am a self taught DBA and never ever use keys. I’ll take in any incoming fire as probably deserved :). ... that's like saying "I'm a self-taught programmer, but I never use functions." I mean, yeah, you can still get some things done that way, but if you spent a little time learning what's possible, you might be a lot happier with the end product.
  - grawprog 6y ago
    >that's like saying "I'm a self-taught programmer, but I never use functions." Once you've mastered if/else and goto, what else do ya need?
    - ansible 6y ago
      Well, technically... you are correct. It would still be an improvement over the older BASIC dialects, because with those it was common to have a limit to the number of variables due to names being one or two letters.
dehrmann 6y ago
> I am just sentimental about my childhood pastime and keepsake, and I want to recapture it as best as I can. Sigh. I get the desire, but it feels like it just won't be the same.
- michrassena 6y ago
  I've had a similar realization rather recently when cleaning out my parent's house after both their deaths. My father got me into stamp and coin collecting as a young child and it was an opportunity to bond and have something in common. For many years now, I haven't given the hobby much thought. Seeing the remnants on the old stamp collection brought back some memories. As I looked up values and got a better idea of what the collection might be worth, I could see clearly that even sheets of uncanceled stamps, which I used to prize, were near worthless. Some of that difference in perceived value is explained by the perceptions of a child versus that of an adult. But these stamps just hadn't appreciated much in value over many years, certainly not the degree anyone could call them a good investment. But what was most striking to me, which I hadn't really thought about when I was young collecting these for entertainment, was just how particular and stultifying the grading systems for any collectible can be. I think the system, and how it interacts with money, is the culprit. There is this undercurrent of curation and preservation that goes along with collecting which leads to perfectly preserved toys in boxes. I appreciate things in themselves, and not just for their use. But I dislike the idea that a blemish, like a torn perforation on a sheet of stamps, can devastate the value of an object. For the objects I have several of, their use contributes to my enjoyment. If other people want to maintain museums, that's up to them.
  - philjohn 6y ago
    I'd argue that since they brought you and your father closer together, and was something you spent time with him doing, they're priceless - what does it matter if they weren't a good investment monetarily, time, and especially time with people who you won't have in your life for the entire duration, is worth more, because no amount of money can buy more of it.
    - 6y ago
ISL 6y ago
Collections can be both free* and compelling: https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/diamondsigns/diam.html https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/diamondsigns/diam... * at least in capital cost. I imagine he expended plenty of time and travel on the subject.
temp0826 6y ago
Reminded of the scene in the movie Unbreakable when Samuel L Jackson's character refuses to sell the rare drawing to the man after he reveals it was going to be a gift for a young child, who would be unable to fully appreciate it.
bobsled 6y ago
I know what I am meant to think and feel in response to this article, but I don't. Keeping in mind that this was written by the one of the three people in the story, who took it upon themselves to post about the experience online later, I can only assume there is some level of bias and quite possibly exaggeration. Put simply, these are the facts of the interaction: 1. An inexperienced individual enters a highly specialized area. 2. Someone who we can assume is highly experienced takes time out of their day to explain to them their (probably popular) conception of how the specialized area functions. 3. This experienced individual gives them something of value relating to the highly specialized area (I do not know what the cash value of this thing is, but it is nonzero), likely in hopes of future business. 4. The inexperienced individual is upset and posts about the interaction online, tagging it with "jerk". I understand the point of the article, but the characterization of the shopkeeper seems unfair. If you're unwilling to learn from someone because they don't understand what exactly you're trying to do, or because they speak condescendingly, or because they smell bad, or because you disagree with their opinion on X, Y, or Z, you will not learn very much.
- bittercynic 6y ago
  I thought this was written in an open enough way to leave room for a wide range of takeaways, and it also seems fair to say the shop keeper was acting like a jerk. Not that he's obliged to serve a client who's looking for something so different from what the shop provides, but he could have been more pleasant, and just let the customer know he doesn't have what he's looking for. I think there is a place in the world for people with specialized interests to have a shop that caters exclusively to other people who are deep into the hobby, and to be a little brusk to normies who wander in looking for something else. It sure would have been a lot nicer if the shop keeper just understood the situation and kindly explained "That's not what we do here", but, hey, not everybody's gonna be super nice. It's part of life.
- II2II 6y ago
  Perhaps it is honest rather than embellished. I have had similar experiences with bike shops. Some seem to be more interested in converting or repulsing customers who don't fit their definition of serious. That being said, the author did walk into the shop with a rather difficult request. How do you recreate something personal?
klelatti 6y ago
Lots of discussion about collecting (and in seeking to own a complete set of stamps, coins etc) vs exploring. I wonder though if for most if the pleasure is in a combination of the two. When I was very young I collected the stamps of my country - which I guess will be fairly common. Seeking out issues that I was missing was appealing and there was definitely a thrill in tracking down missing items. At the same time I learned about history (albeit in a superficial way) both from knowing about the era in which the stamps were issued and, for more recent issues, from the topics depicted on the stamps. That knowledge seemed to stick too and more so than just from reading books. I guess I also learned a little about markets and scarcity. I wonder if that knowledge would have stuck without the effort of seeking and the reward of finding and whether we have lost something in the ease of access to information today.
jonnycomputer 6y ago
This story reminded me of something I lost about the same age. My grandfather was a surveyor and he gave me his compass. It was not an expensive one, though it was made of bronze. I took it with me to Los Angeles. I don't think it ever came back. But I don't know where I lost track of it. I wish I still had it to remember him by.
readingnews 6y ago
I think OP failed to realize there are 0011 kinds of people in the world. 0001) your average joe. He just wants a stamp. 0010) You. You want some stamps, but you are not "into it". 0011) Those guys at the store. 0001 and 0010 are rubbish and should not be speaking to them, for they are elite stamp collectors, just like everyone else should be. It is getting harder to just find people "into it". I am a hi-fi enthusiast. I also have advanced degrees in EE and Physics, but I try to not let that get in the way. Talking to people on hi-fi forums seems MUCH harder than say, 10 years ago (and I never left the forum). Now I am one of the silent lurkers. My point is not to go "forums now suck", but I think that "real collectors" are too extreme now... hrm, perhaps just like everything else? Polarized?
- TheAceOfHearts 6y ago
  A friend recently pointed out that fandoms are like a fractal, and as you zoom in it becomes increasingly hardcore and dedicated. The next layer on your list is probably the stamp collector that only loves a certain kind of stamp with some obscure feature and will talk your ear off about it. Probably something like how only the stamps made in a specific year by one company are any good because they use a highly specialized glue which really makes it the pinnacle of stamp technology. A real "they just don't make em like they used to". People become obsessed with things to such an extreme degree that they end up drowning out anyone without an equivalent level of dedication. It becomes a problem when people chose to play status games instead of just enjoying their hobby.
  - dehrmann 6y ago
    > A friend recently pointed out that fandoms are like a fractal, and as you zoom in it becomes increasingly hardcore and dedicated. Almost everything is like that. Turtles...
  - nicbou 6y ago
    I noticed this with history. You can go from general history to people who can tell you where a WW2 jeep engine was built based on its serial number. I also found that unlike with most hobbies, I find history talk much more civilised all around. People are eager to share, and generally willing to accept well-sourced disagreement.
WalterBright 6y ago
> It takes me several years to actually accept that the stamp album is gone, not hiding in a box somewhere or shelved away in some dusty corner of my mum’s garage. I lost my comic book collection. I was sure it was stolen. I looked everywhere for it. About 20 years later it reappeared in the back of the closet. I have no explanation.
- StavrosK 6y ago
  Isn't it obvious? The thief returned them after they finished reading them.
  - tudorw 6y ago
    hmm, possibly, seems more likely that an unnamed superhero has been working behind the scenes in a decades long battle against his arch nemesis, the Comic Thief, and has finally tuned the tide discovering a trove of comic collections and worked around the clock under extreme circumstances to reunite the collections with their rightful owner, no?
    - StavrosK 6y ago
      Nah, who does that, that's too easy. It's more likely that the GP's comic book collection was the key to unlocking a portal to an alternate universe where the heroes had not been defeated, so the remaining heroes could go there, learn the secret of their victory and come back to rewind time and never have lost to their nemesis in the first place, which explains how the GP's comics were in the closet this whole time after having been stolen.
nlh 6y ago
I collected coins avidly when I was ~10-13 and the hobby just re-ignited itself with me again, now 30 years later (I can't exactly explain how or why, but here we are). I went to a coin show today on a whim and what I discovered was that there are ALL types of collectors, and everyone should really understand that: * There's 10 year old me that was obsessed with finding the rare die varieties hidden in the $1 bins, * There's 42 year old me that is now getting deep joy buying the rare gems (1790s silver dollars, $20 gold pieces, etc.) that were beyond out-of-reach of 10-year-old me * There's folks who obsess over filling every date of a specific series Etc. etc. etc. Find your joy and run with it, and definitely don't try to tell someone that their joy is the wrong one.
- bernardv 6y ago
  Exactly - just enjoy it.
- jurassic 6y ago
  Coins are a great hobby. Something at every price point, with art and history to appreciate. My current “serious” collecting project is to assemble an AU quality US half dollar type set, but I also have a few themed collections (sailboats, trees) composed of mainly dollar bin world coins. Both ways of collecting give me a lot of joy.
  - MikeTheGreat 6y ago
    Genuine question: could you (and other collectors) expand on the joy you experience with a 'collecting' hobby? I'm curious about things like 'is it the part about knowing that you've got the things' and/or 'is it looking at the things' and/or 'remembering the effort needed to successfully get the things', etc? I never quite 'got' why some people like collecting stuff and would love to hear more about what brings y'all joy :)
    - coins_r_fun 6y ago
      For coins specifically, I can tell you what I like about them. I collect coins from all across time (literally back to the 7th century BC, when the first coins were minted), and all over the world. To me, they're tiny little objects of art, pieces of history, and artifacts worthy of study. Adding a new coin to my collection is a reminder that I'm its temporary caretaker. My collection, to me, is like a tiny museum of history, art, metallurgy and economics. Also, I think they're cool, and I like owning cool stuff. I don't think that's exactly what you asked for, but, then, I don't think I actually can explain it in a way that will make a lot of sense to you. It's either you have the collecting impulse, or you don't, I've found. Edit: duh, coins were invented in the 7th century BC, not the 5th century BC.
8bitsrule 6y ago
Stamps are one of the most portable collectibles. (Along with bugs.) Moves forced the loss of other collections ... but I've kept the collection of "only about 6000 or 7000 stamps" I made as a kid (I counted once). It went with me to stay at grandma's, on babysitting jobs, on summer trips that went to nowhere to do nothing. Open the book, get out the hinges, dive in. I learned a lot about world geography, culture, arts and crafts, and political BS from those revealing little bits of 'official' history. The 'most valuable' stamp I found (nothing printed on it) taught me -nothing-.
- coins_r_fun 6y ago
  You missed an opportunity to learn from that blank stamp, I think. It probably could have taught you something about the manufacturing process of stamps.
MayeulC 6y ago
We have a relatively big stamp collection that used to belong to my great-grandfather, but we're not quite sure what to do with it. Should we give them away? Sell them online? Keep them around in case a family member becomes interested?
DoubleGlazing 6y ago
As a seven year old I was a member of my schools philately club. I could buy mixed bags for 20p each, the local police superintendent was a very knowledgeable member as well. I would talk about stamps and countries with my fellow members, it was wonderful. After leaving primary school I kept collecting, but slowed down as a teenager. Then as an adult I got serious again. I visited a few philately shops to buy the missing pieces in my UK and Ireland stamp collections. The owners were totally disinterested. They were more interested in knowing about what I had. I did have some very rare stamps, worth about 4-figures. I didn't want to part with them because family members gave them to me. But the way those dealers were obsessed with money over simple enjoyment bothered me. Some people care about the enjoyment more than the money.
esfandia 6y ago
I used to collect stamps till I was about 14, then had to leave the country and leave the collection behind. 30 years or so later, my mom managed to find and send me my old collection (well, some of it, and with none of the valuable stamps that probably were lost). Of course in the meantime I lost interest in collecting stamps (or anything else for that matter; leaving a big collection behind was a bit of a heartbreak I never truly recovered from, I guess). So now my question is: what to do with these stamps? I want to give them to someone I'd care about and who would value them, but that is easier said than done. Any ideas?
- TheManInThePub 6y ago
  > I want to give them to someone I'd care about and who would value them, but that is easier said than done. Any ideas? You could always sell them to a bricks and mortar stamp collecting shop. You won't get full market value (the guys have to pay their overheads), but you know they will end up with people who appreciate them. Alternatively, donate them to a local stamp collecting club for distribution to the young members.
s0rce 6y ago
I really see the moral of the story here is to simply not care so much what other people think. You do you. There are always these kinds of people who think their way of doing the hobby/passion is the right way or even the only way. You see this in cycling where you have to have a carbon fiber road bike and fancy lycra to be a cyclist, you obviously can't be having fun on an old bike just leisurely riding around the neighborhood! If you want to collect stuff and organize by country go for it! Don't let people take away the joy because they are narrow minded.
- Emphere 6y ago
  Honestly, this is a problem with everything. Snobs are sort of a double edged sword. They are great because they are very passionate and likely spend a lot of time on the topic at hand (could be anything. Maybe it's running, classical music, Buddhism, beer etc.). You can learn a lot from them. On the downside, since they are so opinionated they can be frequently insufferable. I think you have to learn to not take their opinions too seriously and continue to have fun.
- tectonic 6y ago
  Well said!
- megablast 6y ago
  > You see this in cycling where you have to have a carbon fiber road bike and fancy lycra to be a cyclist, you obviously can't be having fun on an old bike just leisurely riding around the neighborhood! I’m Confused. Who exactly cares what you ride?? Someone has actually said something to you??
  - xyzzy21 6y ago
    You can hang out with bike riders in a club or riding group, and you'll see this the very first day! There's ALWAYS one guy talking about his new top-end Cannondale or about how he's using a carbon fiber frame because the titanium frame was so obviously too heavy. They often spend more time on this than actually riding. These guys (it's usually guys) will also be the first to snear at your econo-bike that you bought just to try out the hobby. Strictly speaking for stuff like amateur radio, I get it - I'm more interested in the building of equipment than the using. But it's not the mean of the hobby; more of an outlier and it's best to realize that and check your ego/expectations of others who may enjoy other parts of it.
psychomugs 6y ago
I find it interesting how many collections come from a continuation of childhood. Maybe it's survivorship bias. I've been collecting Japanese robot figures since I was a kid. I always dreamed of walking into a normal retail store and seeing the figures in person rather than browser-shopping. Most of my "modern" collection is comprised of figures I found in person when I was living in Japan. Not only were they usually much cheaper than online offerings (often by factors of 1/2 to 1/4), but the thrill of hunting through secondhand stores imbues is more romantic than waiting for UPS to drop off a brown box.
acomjean 6y ago
When I was a kid in the 70s I had a small stamp collection. We'd trade them with my friends. Bought a few. A friends Mom worked at a university and would get a lot from overseas stamps to bring to us. They're like little pieces of art and are pretty cheap. They're a window into history. For example 2020 US stamps cover a range of topics: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1022-usps-unveils-2020-stamps.htm https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1022-... There is even a Stamp Museum we'd visit from time to time (Its still there in Wellsley Ma). http://www.spellmanmuseum.org http://www.spellmanmuseum.org They have a brief overview of the museum. Its a targeted a little at the younger set, but a decent overveiw. (They have boxes of stamps they sell to kids for a couple cents each according to the video). They show the first stamp, an owl stamp collection (hedwig included) a box for mailing eggs, and a dress made of stamps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giZs2ZNkbXU&t=4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giZs2ZNkbXU&t=4s I stopped collecting in high school. One wonders if stamp collecting will continue to be a thing?
- humaniania 6y ago
  Stamps are definitely still a thing! Lots of cool new sets are put out by the post office every year.
brudgers 6y ago
The HN analog to the Australian album experience is a new acquaintance telling a software engineer about their idea for an app. The stamp shop people were professionals, that's why it looked like an office. They showed the author how their business worked. Showed what it would be like to do business with them. That's not what the author wanted. There wasn't anything personal about it. They didn't string the author along. They didn't provide ambiguous social signals. The author was just a little slow on the uptake. A little slow to say thanks for your time. Educating potential customers is part of a professional's life. The author learned something about stamp collecting. It's no more exclusively what he does than it is exclusively selling Australian collections.
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TheBolivianNavy 6y ago
If anyone is interested in stamps as more of a casual hobby where you get more joy in seeing a wide variety than a pristine, ordered collection, I highly recommend https://www.postcrossing.com/ https://www.postcrossing.com/. It's an international postcard exchange program, most certainly low-tech in this day and age, but I find it immensely satisfying. I buy as many combinations of stamps as I can (the US's international stamp is boring) and love choosing the perfect ones for my postcard's recipient. List in your profile that you like stamps or even say the type you're interested in. You'll be amazed at some of the ones you'll get from all over the world.
ping_pong 6y ago
I collect comic books. But speculation has run rampant and comic prices have quadrupled or more for most "key" comics since Jan 2020. It has made the hobby absolutely unaffordable for most, like me. I don't chase the same comics as most people do, like Spider-man 300 (first Venom), New Mutants 98 (first Deadpool), Hulk 181 (first Wolverine), etc. But even comics with large print runs have gone through the roof, which is frustrating as heck. It has completely taken the joy out of the hobby for me, and I'm patiently waiting for prices to crash, but I'm worried they never will.
borepop 6y ago
This resonates with something I've thought about as a surfer, which is that humans have a really perverse tendency to overvalue scarcity and undervalue what is good but common and easily accessible. In the surfing context, humans cluster very densely on waves that are deemed "good," and then complain about crowds, while endless miles of coastline with different waves go totally unridden. We all want that "rare" wave, and have trouble being happy with the sort of waves that are commonplace.
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xyzzy21 6y ago
It's definitely bizarre to focus ONLY on "complete collections". WTF! It kind of speaks to making EVERYTHING about money and some bizarre and screwed up ideals as well. I have a pretty decent stamp collection that I inherited from my father who collected stamps since 1940 up to shortly before he died. He picked up stamps partially based on historical relevance (so NOT 100% from any one country - but for example he liked the inter-war stamps of countries involved in WW2) and then because he thought some were simply pretty. He easily spent $200K on stamps over his lifetime. The obsession with 100% of everything seems OCD to me - not healthy. I also collect rocks and minerals - I don't try to collect "one of everything" but rather simply what either looks cool or that is chemically/geologically fascinating to me.
logbiscuitswave 6y ago
Seems like every fandom has its gatekeepers. I’m sure the person in the first shop actually thought they were being helpful - in their narrative they were the wise sage just trying to impart their wisdom about “the right way” not realizing the damage they were doing in the process. I am sure I’ve been as guilty of this as anybody when it comes to something I’m really knowledgeable and passionate about.

158 points by jasonhansel 6y ago

Maybe because stamp collecting was the first shopclerks "business" he did not really see the joy in it any longer? Logical arrangements are nice but aesthetic arrangements are also nice!

zabzonk 6y ago

Yeah, you should collect what interests you. My Dad, who was an RAF V-bomber captain, had a great (and quite valuable) collection based on early airmail, with pictures of airships and biplanes on the stamps.

kingsuper20 6y ago

The fight for status among males will never end. It took me decades to chat in bars about things I have a lot of detailed knowledge about. Learning to listen to stories and not automatically correct took some time. Nobody loves a pedant.

vmception 6y ago
> Nobody loves a pedant. I’ve taken it a step further and play along with spiritual and astrology talk from women. About 2/3rds of guys and 1/3rd of other women act very confused that I’m not immediately denigrating the person talking about signs and dietary restrictions. Turns out all you have to do is not do that, and a lot of things open up with very visually attractive people. Yeah, I’ll talk about higher vibrations with the fun lean vegan woman. They're used to people pedantically challenging their belief system, but many can amplify their interest in you if you simply don't do that.
- lupire 6y ago
  How about just being a decent human being instead a creepy pickup artist?
  - vmception 6y ago
    I don't mind that belief system, and I'm actually advocating for people to not denigrate or lecture people that talk about astrology. The bar shouldn't be so low. I'm pretty sure this is being a decent human being, you're assuming a lot for a reason beyond me. I would still use the term play along because it is accurate.
  - mcphage 6y ago
    Are the only 2 kinds of people “creepy pickup artist” and “asshole”?
Guthur 6y ago
Maybe because generally men have a lot of trouble identifying their self worth in society, maybe because few people are actually that sympathetic to men and their struggle to find meaningful fulfillment within their lives. Every struggle is seen as a negative, some "toxic" side of masculinity that needs to be eradicated rather than embraced and understood. We are positively hostile to it. And somewhat strangely we also attack femininity, though in a less openly hostile manner, more killed with compassion. We seem to feel sorry for outward femininity which appears to be having the effect of pushing women towards a more masculine outlook. I feel we no longer adore femininity like we once did. Some may argue that this is all for the best, and that we need to push us all to some more less defined state, but I'm not so sure that the cost in diversity is worth it.
- kingsuper20 6y ago
  This brings to mind Ted Kaczynski's manifesto in terms of the need for achievable, non-trivial goals and the inability of so-called 'surrogate' goals to really satisfy that need.
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    I love when people reference Kaczynski's work in serious discussions like this. Ted Kaczynski the domestic terrorist and murderer was not a person to be admired, but Ted Kaczynski the anarcho-primitivist philosopher is one of the most underrated and important intellectuals of the late 20th century. There's an awful lot packed into his manifesto, and I wish more people could see past his crimes in order to take that in. BTW, I found out he's updated the manifesto, and that it, along with some other of his works, was published in an anthology in 2010: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski#Other_works https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Kaczynski#Other_works
- msrenee 6y ago
  I've definitely had my femininity attacked in an openly hostile manner. Often. When I was in junior high and high school, I thought women were the lesser sex and eschewed girly hobbies and clothing in favor of more masculine things. No dresses, no makeup, I cooked in order to eat, nothing fancy. I hung out with the guys and played video games. It wasn't until the last 5 years or so that I realized I could wear skirts out shopping and work a blue collar job during the week. I know masculinity is under attack in many circles, but it's quite the claim to say that femininity is less so.
wisty 6y ago
Is it really just a "fight for status among males"? If you don't correct someone, I only see two possibilities: 1. The topic is so worthless (to you) it doesn't matter if they're wrong. 2. They are so worthless (to you) it's not worth correcting them on an important topic. 2b. They lack the intelligence (IQ or EQ) to grow from being corrected. Of course, a some of the time this is right. Yes there's also a chance that you're wrong (in which case correcting them may result in you being corrected, or at least a potentially fruitful discussion), but the same would apply - is the topic and person worthwhile the chance of upsetting a thin-skinned idiot?
- solveit 6y ago
  1 is correct. Most times, the conversation has little to do with its purported subject. Instead, it's a long-winded ritual affirming friendship.

irrational 6y ago

I wonder what those 2 guys in the store were doing all day? Just buying and selling rare stamps? Maybe hoping to find that one stamp to complete some collection?

justin_oaks 6y ago

> So, for you, it was just a form of mindless entertainment? A hobby? Wow, such condescension. Reminds me of the saying "Everyone thinks other people's hobbies are a waste of time". For some it's stamp collecting, others it's watching musicals, and others do programming. Everyone should be allowed to do what they love in their spare time without others looking down on them.

true_religion 6y ago
Many people who go to stamp dealers are collecting because of a personal interest in history. It's a hobby, but it's a serious hobby for them with non-entertainment goals. It's those people who start stamp stores, visit them, and generally keep the entire industry alive. Finding someone who simply does it for 'joy' is against the grain. It's like having a Porsche and not knowing anything about its internals or engineering history and simply driving it for fun on the track. If you join a car club, they'll think you are weird for not caring or knowing the displacement of your engine or your tire size.
- bartread 6y ago
  > It's like having a Porsche and not knowing anything about its internals or engineering history and simply driving it for fun on the track. If you join a car club, they'll think you are weird for not caring or knowing the displacement of your engine or your tire size. Who cares if they do? If you want to buy a Porsche to enjoy hooning it around the track without knowing about any of that stuff, and if you can afford it? Why not do it? Who cares what those people think? I absolutely don't mind if people want to geek out on the details or really take their hobbies seriously: that's totally cool. I do start to mind a bit when they expect me to do the same when that might not be what I want to do.
  - true_religion 6y ago
    > I do start to mind a bit when they expect me to do the same when that might not be what I want to do. I definitely agree that it's annoying.
  - deleted 6y ago

MattGaiser 6y ago

Just to add some context for why the dealer probably acted that way. Stamp collectors for exploration are quite a bit different from the kinds of collectors that tend to go to stamp dealers (I am one of those collectors). You end up focussing on extremely narrow areas of the hobby to the point where you are hunting down which library has a painting a stamp is copied from or trying to track down an envelope sent by a particular person from a particular city. You can have 10 different variations of a stamp that look all the same except under a magnifying glass. There are collectors who have hundreds of thousands of dollars in their collections and all of the same single stamp. Just 1000 different copies of it. The premier component of my collection is an exhibit on the 1982 Canadian Philatelic Youth Issue, a single stamp series (about stamps). So for a lot of collectors (including the ones willing to spend thousands a year) it’s less an accumulation hobby and more a specific research project. Not excusing the behaviour of the dealers, but meeting someone who collected so widely could be unusual for them.

yannis 6y ago
I have collected stamps as a kid and I have been collecting Postal History for decades on and off, focusing mainly on research and writing up the covers that I have managed to collect. Kept me sane during the COVID-19 lockdowns. Philately is not about 'chasing madly a missing stamp', but a journey for those interested in history, especially local history. It is still a great hobby and to anyone interested to start, start from buying a small collection. Most collectors will either buy from a dealer, but most often from an auction. See https://stampauctionnetwork.com/ https://stampauctionnetwork.com/ as an example. You can build a collection with very little money or spent hundreds of thousands. It inspires me to hold an old letter (cover or wrapper in philatelic jargon), that has travelled through a ship across continents and has survived for 200 years and now is in my collection. Pre-stamp letters go for very little, especially North American, British and really for a song for most European countries. The bitcoin of the early eighties was 'getting into hard assets'. Lots of funds invested into stamps and drove prices to levels that collectors couldn't buy. They burnt their fingers, while collectors waited. It is still a huge market possibly 3-5 billion USD a year. As an investment I would not recommend them, but as a nice indoor hobby and to socialize outside your own circle is worth it.
6y ago

sneak 6y ago

I think a lot of collectors collect specifically for the same reason people grind in RPGs: to get the mental and emotional satisfaction from the "complete set" (of stamps, or rare armor, or whatever). Collecting without such a goal would, to people like that (who I assume comprise the large majority of collectors) would seem like a colossal waste of time. Why grind out the dungeon to get the greaves and the chest plate and then not spend a few more hours to get the helm?!! Most human behavior is not very rational, and I say that referring to both parties in this story.

lb1lf 6y ago
-The problem, of course, being: What do you do when the collection is complete? (I ran into that problem once - I collected stamps fairly seriously during my childhood and youth, spurred on by my father who was and is really into it. However, I narrowed my collection to two themes - Norway and scout-themed stamps and letters from all over the world. Once the Norway collection was complete to the current date, it was a massive 'meh' moment - just obtaining new stamps as they were issued wasn't much of a challenge, so the Norway albums were put on the shelf, and interest in stamp collecting withered quickly. Oh well. It was great fun while it lasted. :)
- compiler-guy 6y ago
  Not every hobby needs to be a lifelong hobby. The things you learn and the enjoyment you get while it is current can be worth it alone.
- dehrmann 6y ago
  The process of collecting was probably most of the fun, anyway. That said, I could see how the internet ruined it because 99% of what you're looking for can be in your hands in a week for the right price.
  - lb1lf 6y ago
    -I've met collectors (of records, in that case) who had what I consider an admirable attitude towards the perils of instant eBay gratification - seeing as the chase in most cases was better than the catch, they'd imposed a 'no Internet' rule - albums were only bought in physical record stores, at record fairs, garage sales &c - but, as it was put - 'Unless I can chat a bit with the seller, then put the money in his hand, there's no deal.' I'd imagine it makes the hobby equal measures more rewarding and frustrating. (I've since tried to adopt this approach myself as far as practically possible - seeing as for me (YMMV), the social aspect of discussing music and artists with other enthusiasts is a major part of the appeal, helping me discover new music on ways no auction site can.

lordnacho 6y ago

What? You're just coding for fun? Where's your helm charts? If you're going to be serious about this, you'll need to learn three languages. HTML isn't a language. Make sure it works across platforms, too. Also, you have make it multicloud.

gamacodre 6y ago
What? You only put in one load balancer? What were you thinking?
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Vaslo 6y ago

Funny to see this - had a similar situation recently (sort of) with a train shop. I couldn’t care less about collecting trains - I bought a train a few years ago for xmas and my kids loved it so I bought a year round one as well. Lionel trains are not cheap and easy to repair. Both have already broke where a significant repair was needed. I watched videos and tried to fix one that wouldn’t fire up at all. Took it to the shop and the proprieties seemed kind of annoying with me as I asked for their help to repair (of course intending to pay). They gave me a lecture about letting a four year old play with a train like this. Usually I’d lose my temper and start arguing but my son really missed the train. They ended up replacing the engine board ($120 bucks) and took forever to get it back to me. I get that people have sacrosanct hobbies like coding, sports, etc. They have to understand that dilettantes like me may want to dabble! Also I am a self taught DBA and never ever use keys. I’ll take in any incoming fire as probably deserved :).

ansible 6y ago
I was nodding along with you (though I'm not into trains anymore) until this: > Also I am a self taught DBA and never ever use keys. I’ll take in any incoming fire as probably deserved :). ... that's like saying "I'm a self-taught programmer, but I never use functions." I mean, yeah, you can still get some things done that way, but if you spent a little time learning what's possible, you might be a lot happier with the end product.
- grawprog 6y ago
  >that's like saying "I'm a self-taught programmer, but I never use functions." Once you've mastered if/else and goto, what else do ya need?
  - ansible 6y ago
    Well, technically... you are correct. It would still be an improvement over the older BASIC dialects, because with those it was common to have a limit to the number of variables due to names being one or two letters.

dehrmann 6y ago

> I am just sentimental about my childhood pastime and keepsake, and I want to recapture it as best as I can. Sigh. I get the desire, but it feels like it just won't be the same.

michrassena 6y ago
I've had a similar realization rather recently when cleaning out my parent's house after both their deaths. My father got me into stamp and coin collecting as a young child and it was an opportunity to bond and have something in common. For many years now, I haven't given the hobby much thought. Seeing the remnants on the old stamp collection brought back some memories. As I looked up values and got a better idea of what the collection might be worth, I could see clearly that even sheets of uncanceled stamps, which I used to prize, were near worthless. Some of that difference in perceived value is explained by the perceptions of a child versus that of an adult. But these stamps just hadn't appreciated much in value over many years, certainly not the degree anyone could call them a good investment. But what was most striking to me, which I hadn't really thought about when I was young collecting these for entertainment, was just how particular and stultifying the grading systems for any collectible can be. I think the system, and how it interacts with money, is the culprit. There is this undercurrent of curation and preservation that goes along with collecting which leads to perfectly preserved toys in boxes. I appreciate things in themselves, and not just for their use. But I dislike the idea that a blemish, like a torn perforation on a sheet of stamps, can devastate the value of an object. For the objects I have several of, their use contributes to my enjoyment. If other people want to maintain museums, that's up to them.
- philjohn 6y ago
  I'd argue that since they brought you and your father closer together, and was something you spent time with him doing, they're priceless - what does it matter if they weren't a good investment monetarily, time, and especially time with people who you won't have in your life for the entire duration, is worth more, because no amount of money can buy more of it.
  - 6y ago

ISL 6y ago

Collections can be both free* and compelling: https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/diamondsigns/diam.html https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/diamondsigns/diam... * at least in capital cost. I imagine he expended plenty of time and travel on the subject.

temp0826 6y ago

Reminded of the scene in the movie Unbreakable when Samuel L Jackson's character refuses to sell the rare drawing to the man after he reveals it was going to be a gift for a young child, who would be unable to fully appreciate it.

bobsled 6y ago

I know what I am meant to think and feel in response to this article, but I don't. Keeping in mind that this was written by the one of the three people in the story, who took it upon themselves to post about the experience online later, I can only assume there is some level of bias and quite possibly exaggeration. Put simply, these are the facts of the interaction: 1. An inexperienced individual enters a highly specialized area. 2. Someone who we can assume is highly experienced takes time out of their day to explain to them their (probably popular) conception of how the specialized area functions. 3. This experienced individual gives them something of value relating to the highly specialized area (I do not know what the cash value of this thing is, but it is nonzero), likely in hopes of future business. 4. The inexperienced individual is upset and posts about the interaction online, tagging it with "jerk". I understand the point of the article, but the characterization of the shopkeeper seems unfair. If you're unwilling to learn from someone because they don't understand what exactly you're trying to do, or because they speak condescendingly, or because they smell bad, or because you disagree with their opinion on X, Y, or Z, you will not learn very much.

bittercynic 6y ago
I thought this was written in an open enough way to leave room for a wide range of takeaways, and it also seems fair to say the shop keeper was acting like a jerk. Not that he's obliged to serve a client who's looking for something so different from what the shop provides, but he could have been more pleasant, and just let the customer know he doesn't have what he's looking for. I think there is a place in the world for people with specialized interests to have a shop that caters exclusively to other people who are deep into the hobby, and to be a little brusk to normies who wander in looking for something else. It sure would have been a lot nicer if the shop keeper just understood the situation and kindly explained "That's not what we do here", but, hey, not everybody's gonna be super nice. It's part of life.
II2II 6y ago
Perhaps it is honest rather than embellished. I have had similar experiences with bike shops. Some seem to be more interested in converting or repulsing customers who don't fit their definition of serious. That being said, the author did walk into the shop with a rather difficult request. How do you recreate something personal?

klelatti 6y ago

Lots of discussion about collecting (and in seeking to own a complete set of stamps, coins etc) vs exploring. I wonder though if for most if the pleasure is in a combination of the two. When I was very young I collected the stamps of my country - which I guess will be fairly common. Seeking out issues that I was missing was appealing and there was definitely a thrill in tracking down missing items. At the same time I learned about history (albeit in a superficial way) both from knowing about the era in which the stamps were issued and, for more recent issues, from the topics depicted on the stamps. That knowledge seemed to stick too and more so than just from reading books. I guess I also learned a little about markets and scarcity. I wonder if that knowledge would have stuck without the effort of seeking and the reward of finding and whether we have lost something in the ease of access to information today.

jonnycomputer 6y ago

This story reminded me of something I lost about the same age. My grandfather was a surveyor and he gave me his compass. It was not an expensive one, though it was made of bronze. I took it with me to Los Angeles. I don't think it ever came back. But I don't know where I lost track of it. I wish I still had it to remember him by.

readingnews 6y ago

I think OP failed to realize there are 0011 kinds of people in the world. 0001) your average joe. He just wants a stamp. 0010) You. You want some stamps, but you are not "into it". 0011) Those guys at the store. 0001 and 0010 are rubbish and should not be speaking to them, for they are elite stamp collectors, just like everyone else should be. It is getting harder to just find people "into it". I am a hi-fi enthusiast. I also have advanced degrees in EE and Physics, but I try to not let that get in the way. Talking to people on hi-fi forums seems MUCH harder than say, 10 years ago (and I never left the forum). Now I am one of the silent lurkers. My point is not to go "forums now suck", but I think that "real collectors" are too extreme now... hrm, perhaps just like everything else? Polarized?

TheAceOfHearts 6y ago
A friend recently pointed out that fandoms are like a fractal, and as you zoom in it becomes increasingly hardcore and dedicated. The next layer on your list is probably the stamp collector that only loves a certain kind of stamp with some obscure feature and will talk your ear off about it. Probably something like how only the stamps made in a specific year by one company are any good because they use a highly specialized glue which really makes it the pinnacle of stamp technology. A real "they just don't make em like they used to". People become obsessed with things to such an extreme degree that they end up drowning out anyone without an equivalent level of dedication. It becomes a problem when people chose to play status games instead of just enjoying their hobby.
- dehrmann 6y ago
  > A friend recently pointed out that fandoms are like a fractal, and as you zoom in it becomes increasingly hardcore and dedicated. Almost everything is like that. Turtles...
- nicbou 6y ago
  I noticed this with history. You can go from general history to people who can tell you where a WW2 jeep engine was built based on its serial number. I also found that unlike with most hobbies, I find history talk much more civilised all around. People are eager to share, and generally willing to accept well-sourced disagreement.

WalterBright 6y ago

> It takes me several years to actually accept that the stamp album is gone, not hiding in a box somewhere or shelved away in some dusty corner of my mum’s garage. I lost my comic book collection. I was sure it was stolen. I looked everywhere for it. About 20 years later it reappeared in the back of the closet. I have no explanation.

StavrosK 6y ago
Isn't it obvious? The thief returned them after they finished reading them.
- tudorw 6y ago
  hmm, possibly, seems more likely that an unnamed superhero has been working behind the scenes in a decades long battle against his arch nemesis, the Comic Thief, and has finally tuned the tide discovering a trove of comic collections and worked around the clock under extreme circumstances to reunite the collections with their rightful owner, no?
  - StavrosK 6y ago
    Nah, who does that, that's too easy. It's more likely that the GP's comic book collection was the key to unlocking a portal to an alternate universe where the heroes had not been defeated, so the remaining heroes could go there, learn the secret of their victory and come back to rewind time and never have lost to their nemesis in the first place, which explains how the GP's comics were in the closet this whole time after having been stolen.

nlh 6y ago

I collected coins avidly when I was ~10-13 and the hobby just re-ignited itself with me again, now 30 years later (I can't exactly explain how or why, but here we are). I went to a coin show today on a whim and what I discovered was that there are ALL types of collectors, and everyone should really understand that: * There's 10 year old me that was obsessed with finding the rare die varieties hidden in the $1 bins, * There's 42 year old me that is now getting deep joy buying the rare gems (1790s silver dollars, $20 gold pieces, etc.) that were beyond out-of-reach of 10-year-old me * There's folks who obsess over filling every date of a specific series Etc. etc. etc. Find your joy and run with it, and definitely don't try to tell someone that their joy is the wrong one.

bernardv 6y ago
Exactly - just enjoy it.
jurassic 6y ago
Coins are a great hobby. Something at every price point, with art and history to appreciate. My current “serious” collecting project is to assemble an AU quality US half dollar type set, but I also have a few themed collections (sailboats, trees) composed of mainly dollar bin world coins. Both ways of collecting give me a lot of joy.
- MikeTheGreat 6y ago
  Genuine question: could you (and other collectors) expand on the joy you experience with a 'collecting' hobby? I'm curious about things like 'is it the part about knowing that you've got the things' and/or 'is it looking at the things' and/or 'remembering the effort needed to successfully get the things', etc? I never quite 'got' why some people like collecting stuff and would love to hear more about what brings y'all joy :)
  - coins_r_fun 6y ago
    For coins specifically, I can tell you what I like about them. I collect coins from all across time (literally back to the 7th century BC, when the first coins were minted), and all over the world. To me, they're tiny little objects of art, pieces of history, and artifacts worthy of study. Adding a new coin to my collection is a reminder that I'm its temporary caretaker. My collection, to me, is like a tiny museum of history, art, metallurgy and economics. Also, I think they're cool, and I like owning cool stuff. I don't think that's exactly what you asked for, but, then, I don't think I actually can explain it in a way that will make a lot of sense to you. It's either you have the collecting impulse, or you don't, I've found. Edit: duh, coins were invented in the 7th century BC, not the 5th century BC.

8bitsrule 6y ago

Stamps are one of the most portable collectibles. (Along with bugs.) Moves forced the loss of other collections ... but I've kept the collection of "only about 6000 or 7000 stamps" I made as a kid (I counted once). It went with me to stay at grandma's, on babysitting jobs, on summer trips that went to nowhere to do nothing. Open the book, get out the hinges, dive in. I learned a lot about world geography, culture, arts and crafts, and political BS from those revealing little bits of 'official' history. The 'most valuable' stamp I found (nothing printed on it) taught me -nothing-.

coins_r_fun 6y ago
You missed an opportunity to learn from that blank stamp, I think. It probably could have taught you something about the manufacturing process of stamps.

MayeulC 6y ago

We have a relatively big stamp collection that used to belong to my great-grandfather, but we're not quite sure what to do with it. Should we give them away? Sell them online? Keep them around in case a family member becomes interested?

DoubleGlazing 6y ago

As a seven year old I was a member of my schools philately club. I could buy mixed bags for 20p each, the local police superintendent was a very knowledgeable member as well. I would talk about stamps and countries with my fellow members, it was wonderful. After leaving primary school I kept collecting, but slowed down as a teenager. Then as an adult I got serious again. I visited a few philately shops to buy the missing pieces in my UK and Ireland stamp collections. The owners were totally disinterested. They were more interested in knowing about what I had. I did have some very rare stamps, worth about 4-figures. I didn't want to part with them because family members gave them to me. But the way those dealers were obsessed with money over simple enjoyment bothered me. Some people care about the enjoyment more than the money.

esfandia 6y ago

I used to collect stamps till I was about 14, then had to leave the country and leave the collection behind. 30 years or so later, my mom managed to find and send me my old collection (well, some of it, and with none of the valuable stamps that probably were lost). Of course in the meantime I lost interest in collecting stamps (or anything else for that matter; leaving a big collection behind was a bit of a heartbreak I never truly recovered from, I guess). So now my question is: what to do with these stamps? I want to give them to someone I'd care about and who would value them, but that is easier said than done. Any ideas?

TheManInThePub 6y ago
> I want to give them to someone I'd care about and who would value them, but that is easier said than done. Any ideas? You could always sell them to a bricks and mortar stamp collecting shop. You won't get full market value (the guys have to pay their overheads), but you know they will end up with people who appreciate them. Alternatively, donate them to a local stamp collecting club for distribution to the young members.

s0rce 6y ago

I really see the moral of the story here is to simply not care so much what other people think. You do you. There are always these kinds of people who think their way of doing the hobby/passion is the right way or even the only way. You see this in cycling where you have to have a carbon fiber road bike and fancy lycra to be a cyclist, you obviously can't be having fun on an old bike just leisurely riding around the neighborhood! If you want to collect stuff and organize by country go for it! Don't let people take away the joy because they are narrow minded.

Emphere 6y ago
Honestly, this is a problem with everything. Snobs are sort of a double edged sword. They are great because they are very passionate and likely spend a lot of time on the topic at hand (could be anything. Maybe it's running, classical music, Buddhism, beer etc.). You can learn a lot from them. On the downside, since they are so opinionated they can be frequently insufferable. I think you have to learn to not take their opinions too seriously and continue to have fun.
tectonic 6y ago
Well said!
megablast 6y ago
> You see this in cycling where you have to have a carbon fiber road bike and fancy lycra to be a cyclist, you obviously can't be having fun on an old bike just leisurely riding around the neighborhood! I’m Confused. Who exactly cares what you ride?? Someone has actually said something to you??
- xyzzy21 6y ago
  You can hang out with bike riders in a club or riding group, and you'll see this the very first day! There's ALWAYS one guy talking about his new top-end Cannondale or about how he's using a carbon fiber frame because the titanium frame was so obviously too heavy. They often spend more time on this than actually riding. These guys (it's usually guys) will also be the first to snear at your econo-bike that you bought just to try out the hobby. Strictly speaking for stuff like amateur radio, I get it - I'm more interested in the building of equipment than the using. But it's not the mean of the hobby; more of an outlier and it's best to realize that and check your ego/expectations of others who may enjoy other parts of it.

psychomugs 6y ago

I find it interesting how many collections come from a continuation of childhood. Maybe it's survivorship bias. I've been collecting Japanese robot figures since I was a kid. I always dreamed of walking into a normal retail store and seeing the figures in person rather than browser-shopping. Most of my "modern" collection is comprised of figures I found in person when I was living in Japan. Not only were they usually much cheaper than online offerings (often by factors of 1/2 to 1/4), but the thrill of hunting through secondhand stores imbues is more romantic than waiting for UPS to drop off a brown box.

acomjean 6y ago

When I was a kid in the 70s I had a small stamp collection. We'd trade them with my friends. Bought a few. A friends Mom worked at a university and would get a lot from overseas stamps to bring to us. They're like little pieces of art and are pretty cheap. They're a window into history. For example 2020 US stamps cover a range of topics: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1022-usps-unveils-2020-stamps.htm https://about.usps.com/newsroom/national-releases/2019/1022-... There is even a Stamp Museum we'd visit from time to time (Its still there in Wellsley Ma). http://www.spellmanmuseum.org http://www.spellmanmuseum.org They have a brief overview of the museum. Its a targeted a little at the younger set, but a decent overveiw. (They have boxes of stamps they sell to kids for a couple cents each according to the video). They show the first stamp, an owl stamp collection (hedwig included) a box for mailing eggs, and a dress made of stamps. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giZs2ZNkbXU&t=4s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giZs2ZNkbXU&t=4s I stopped collecting in high school. One wonders if stamp collecting will continue to be a thing?

humaniania 6y ago
Stamps are definitely still a thing! Lots of cool new sets are put out by the post office every year.

brudgers 6y ago

The HN analog to the Australian album experience is a new acquaintance telling a software engineer about their idea for an app. The stamp shop people were professionals, that's why it looked like an office. They showed the author how their business worked. Showed what it would be like to do business with them. That's not what the author wanted. There wasn't anything personal about it. They didn't string the author along. They didn't provide ambiguous social signals. The author was just a little slow on the uptake. A little slow to say thanks for your time. Educating potential customers is part of a professional's life. The author learned something about stamp collecting. It's no more exclusively what he does than it is exclusively selling Australian collections.

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TheBolivianNavy 6y ago

If anyone is interested in stamps as more of a casual hobby where you get more joy in seeing a wide variety than a pristine, ordered collection, I highly recommend https://www.postcrossing.com/ https://www.postcrossing.com/. It's an international postcard exchange program, most certainly low-tech in this day and age, but I find it immensely satisfying. I buy as many combinations of stamps as I can (the US's international stamp is boring) and love choosing the perfect ones for my postcard's recipient. List in your profile that you like stamps or even say the type you're interested in. You'll be amazed at some of the ones you'll get from all over the world.

ping_pong 6y ago

I collect comic books. But speculation has run rampant and comic prices have quadrupled or more for most "key" comics since Jan 2020. It has made the hobby absolutely unaffordable for most, like me. I don't chase the same comics as most people do, like Spider-man 300 (first Venom), New Mutants 98 (first Deadpool), Hulk 181 (first Wolverine), etc. But even comics with large print runs have gone through the roof, which is frustrating as heck. It has completely taken the joy out of the hobby for me, and I'm patiently waiting for prices to crash, but I'm worried they never will.

borepop 6y ago

This resonates with something I've thought about as a surfer, which is that humans have a really perverse tendency to overvalue scarcity and undervalue what is good but common and easily accessible. In the surfing context, humans cluster very densely on waves that are deemed "good," and then complain about crowds, while endless miles of coastline with different waves go totally unridden. We all want that "rare" wave, and have trouble being happy with the sort of waves that are commonplace.

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xyzzy21 6y ago

It's definitely bizarre to focus ONLY on "complete collections". WTF! It kind of speaks to making EVERYTHING about money and some bizarre and screwed up ideals as well. I have a pretty decent stamp collection that I inherited from my father who collected stamps since 1940 up to shortly before he died. He picked up stamps partially based on historical relevance (so NOT 100% from any one country - but for example he liked the inter-war stamps of countries involved in WW2) and then because he thought some were simply pretty. He easily spent $200K on stamps over his lifetime. The obsession with 100% of everything seems OCD to me - not healthy. I also collect rocks and minerals - I don't try to collect "one of everything" but rather simply what either looks cool or that is chemically/geologically fascinating to me.

logbiscuitswave 6y ago

Seems like every fandom has its gatekeepers. I’m sure the person in the first shop actually thought they were being helpful - in their narrative they were the wise sage just trying to impart their wisdom about “the right way” not realizing the damage they were doing in the process. I am sure I’ve been as guilty of this as anybody when it comes to something I’m really knowledgeable and passionate about.