Hey Adam. Thank you for your subscription and support and kind words! It is a hobby that brings me to wonderful places and people. So much to learn and discover. :-)
Wow! what a heartfelt expression of your kindness to the friends that reply to your episodes. Nice work my friend and thank you for your hard work to give us all joy in the stamp world.
Hi Bill. Thanks for the nice compliment. The only thing I can and should give is myself (authenticity) and openness. And I am glad I am back. Got nice plans, big plans, but will take my time and release a video when I think it is ready. Thanks for being here and commenting!
Hi. Yep, maybe it is. I do struggle with that. But I think collecting 'everything' or not limiting yourself is not for everyone. So I am going to try and limit myself at least a bit :-) What are you collecting? Thanks for your comment!
Brilliant concept, Chris. Looking forward to seeing how things develop on your channel. Your content is always fresh and entertaining and, by what you have told us, you're taking it up another level. I agree with you regarding the engraved stamps, which is also my main focus. Earlier periods (when stamps were only one ink colour) gave us these art miniatures and the postmarks, too, tell an added story. Glad we can tag along on your journey, my friend. Thank you!
Hi Jens. So true about these stamps with one colour. Although some have a few more colours and are well engraved too. Cancellation is pretty important to me too when collecting used stamps. Thank you for being here! And commenting!
Chris, it is nice to finally be able to put a face to your channel. I know that the decision to do so was not an easy one. You are right, this community is AWESOME and very supportive. Look forward to your next video. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Hi Chris! It is a great and pleasant surprise to meet you "in person"! It is pretty scary to do that, and I am glad you took the step. It was very interesting to hear your plans for your collecting and channel going forward. You thought it through very well. I think the "re-set" brought out some good and some creativity. Your discussing your plans made me want to go back to the drawing board as well! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us. Video editing is indeed extremely time consuming. I sort of loose track of how much time I spend on it. For me the most difficult part of making the videos is my eagerness to improve, and the need I see to improve, but I am not sure how and in some areas I am just not able to! I hope you remember that plans are flexible and that they must serve you and you must not serve them. They are just a start. And I really hope you remember to make joy, being relaxed and not to get overwhelmed the first priority going forward. 🙂Wow, that was a bit of preaching! I think as a beginning your collecting areas list is a good start. I think you must not worry about stamps sitting in a box or envelope that you are not able to process because there is just not enough time. The stamps are there for whenever you can give attention to them ... or not. For me I can see how difficult it is to focus, but I decided to relax and "go with the flow". 🙃🙂One of my collecting areas is also just stamps that are beautiful to me. This will allow me to collect all over the place, just for fun. That was my reasoning. Thanks again for this video, Chris. You are very inspiring.
Hi Charnie. It was scary to show myself. I have to find my way how to incorporate that into the video. I am pretty decent with planning, but way worse with execution and sticking to it :-) What would you like to change then, what are you considering? Video editing and recording is pretty funny actually, as in that once I have hit record (after I have set up and tested everything), I record in one go. I do additional little video segments (overlays) from time to time, to spice things up, make it more interesting. The annotation bit is often the most time consuming. I will remember what you said, that plans should be flexible. The channel should not lead me, I should lead it and be in the driver's seat. Interesting what you said about your 'beautiful' stamps collection, allowing you to collect all over the place. I believe some of us need that. Thank you for watching and commenting and hope moving will not stress you out too much! Take care!
You are so right, Charnie, about keeping your plans flexible. As much as I talk about limiting my collecting to 3 countries and a few topics, the fact is I still make a lot of exceptions and buy sets outside those focus areas.
Chris, my biggest hurdle to jump, when planning a new episode, is getting in front of the camera. I’m still not totally comfortable filming myself. It can take days and days of me thinking, I need to start filming, before I finally start. Once I get started, though, the stage fright dissipates. It’s just hard to get over the initial hesitation.
Ted is great. I have found a couple of great channels through him and was reintroduced to yours. I had seen the how I organize my stamps video a couple of months ago but lost your channel amongst all of the noise on youtube. I am subscribed now. BTW, I used that video for the basis of how I am organizing my collection, just a little modification on the labeling. So thank you!
Hi. That is a nice compliment that a video I made helped you in a way. Good you subscribed to me now, here's to hoping you won't lose me again :-) Thanks for commenting!
Hi. I added his channel to my list. All upcoming videos should automatically have his link featured now also. Thanks for mentioning that. I watch his channel, unsure why he was not in the list.
@@tedtalksstamps oh that's great! I think it's one of youtube's best-kept secrets! I was delighted when I discovered it. I don't think its videos can get a lot of presence in people's feeds as none of it is designed with the algorithm in mind. Enjoy :)
What a freaking JOY to see you back!! Your list of stamps to collect looks fine to me (especially since you have included my native France), but you and I know that at some point, we are all carried away and include more countries or topics to our list... which is the sweet insanity of true stamp lovers! 😉 And you are spot on on the fact that we don't want nor need elitists to look down on us, and we sure need to support other philatelic channels! THANK YOU for the huge smile your video put on my face and.. WELCOME BACK!
Hi Laurent. You do not see me 'back'. This is the first time you actually see me in a video ;-) France....I think a lot of people agree that France has produced the nicest engraved stamps. Together with all the mariannes to collect I find it an intrigueing country to collect. Nothing is set in stone, but I cannot imagine not collecting France at this point. Just need to so some more research on how the availability is on mint stamps. Might be that I am going to collect used stamps as France has nice cancellations also. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@chrislovesstamps Bonsoir Chris. What I really meant was "to have you back." As for you looking for some mint French stamps, I might be able to help you as I belong to a Philatelic club here, near Marseille. My friend (and President of the club) Philippe Garibaldi has a huge online store on Delcampe. His prices are extremely fair, and I will definitely ask him to give you a discount on what you like. Beside the bi-monthly meetings at the club, I go to his place (5 minute walk from my home) once to twice a month to have coffee and buy some FDCs, 18th, 19th-century, WWI, and WWII mail... at a friend's price! I know.. I am lucky! 😉😉 As always, sending my very best wishes from Provence.
Have you thought about a subset of Great Britain stamps? Very widespread and cheap on Ebay - but some pretty interesting collecting angles. +1 on Germany stamps though - fascinating history, and you even have the hyperinflation stamps too. You could collect the countries you mentioned IF you niched down to a subset. Like the new concept for the channel and good luck!
Hi. I have thought about Great Britain. I like their design but definitives also. But I would apply a similar subset (if that is what you mean) to Great Britain as what I am planning to do for the other countries: collect to a certain year. I think there is still a lot to collect then indeed. I am not much of a specialist (yet), and do not plan to be. Maybe that is something that 'just happens'. For example: I really like the way Ken (from the channel Ken's Stamp Collection) laid out how one can collect machins. If you haven't see his video: I can highly recommend it. I am curious if that is what you meant. If not (and also if so) I would be interested in the collecting angles. Thank you for your comment!
@@chrislovesstamps I think you are right and this is one issue with collecting when you start which is this - you really don't know what you want to collect because you only just started!!! :) Once you built some collections and got some experience then I think that is when you will likely specialize, but initially you don't necessarily know anything yet - what you like, what you don't like. It is a dilemma! For example, I stopped collecting BUNC coins, but unless I had collected some, I wouldn't know I didn't want to collect them after all. Crazy I know! :) But on the up side those BUNCs can easily be shifted on Ebay should I want to consolidate at any point. On collecting angles I think it's personal a bit. My story on stamps as an example. When I received coins from Ebay, many collectors would use old stamps as a nice touch - I started recognizing stamps from my childhood, especially the xmas stamps so I decided to start collecting those MNH. Something else might "trigger" others I guess, such as an interest in a historical period, or a design like the Machins. etc. I will check out Ken's videos thanks for that!
Looking forward to more videos Chris - I hope fun and enjoyment is the first priority in your filming and collecting. Also, as you mentioned in comments, if there are a lot of collecting years ahead there is also a lot of time to explore different areas, etc. and change what, how, periods collected. How stamps are collected is changing a lot (and for the better) with younger collectors.... the snobbery found on bulletin boards is just old people being conservative and resistant to new ideas... we are really just temporary curators of our stamps before they are passed onto the next generation. My stamps have been through hundreds of collectors hands and have been organized a hundred ways.... its exciting to think what life they will have after me.
Hi. Yeah, I will prioritise that. There is so many ways to collect stamps, hardly any wrong ways I can think of. I hope it changed for the better. I think when philately was at its peak, 70's, 80's?, stamps were worth more, or the promise of them being worth more in the future was a thing. We know better now. Maybe some people are still stuck in that time. I like what you said about the curator bit, that is exactly that. It is impressive that a stamp from for example the US, has been put on an envelope by someone somewhere in the US, posted it, and eventually ended up on my desk. That stamp was responsible for delivering a message, maybe one of hope and love, but maybe of a more sad message also. Regardless of that, the stamp had a very distinct useful purpose. And they still do. We treasure and respect them. Thanks for your comment and being here!
Hello Chris. I have to much too, I bought stamps because they were cheap, I liked them and I wanted to collect everything but you realise that you never have the time or space to do anything with them. I wish you the best of luck with your channel, and I hope you can move forward, take care 🙂
Hi Jerry. That is the thing, I used to buy stamps in a vacuum. But in the bigger (whole) picture, you actually realise you do not have time for it, or if you do, you won't have time for other stamps you already bought. Personally I find that hard to deal with. I lose track of what I have and also the connection with the stamps that I bought. Thanks for watching and commenting Jerry. I like how I have seen both our channels grow and how we have connected and how we still do.
You’re right, Jerry. As small and light as postage stamps are, it is amazing how you can become overwhelmed with too many stamps taking up too much room whhich end up being neglected.
Keep it going... nowadays everything is on demand.. compared to when I grew up (Sunday 9 PM Sopranos)... Just keep going.. and I agree I like the older stamps much better as well... especially the imperforated stamps from the 1840/50s
I think for the bigger countries it's important to work on only a small part of the country at a time in the interest of staying sane! I have a Germany collection, but most of it is currently in envelopes. I'm now organising and adding to my DDR and Bundespost stamps, and when I've progressed far enough with those, I will pick another part of the collection to focus on. Probably Bayern, because I have quite a lot of those stamps, and although they will take some time to research, it will be a small research challenge compared to other parts of the collection. I know this approach wouldn't work for everyone, however, I'm happy to have stamps waiting in envelopes until I get around to them. They are still part of my Germany collection, and they will be organised eventually, so it doesn't bother me that I've done no more than look through them yet. For me this is preferable to trying to organise and research all periods at the same time. That would be far too chaotic for me! :)
Hi. Good point about breaking down the bigger countries. 'I collect Germany' is one of those sentences that you still don't know what they collect. Could be everything, but a lot of people specialise also. I really like how you approach collecting and leaving stamps in envelopes and remain sane :-) Thanks for the comment!
I really enjoyed the video! Such a nice surprise to see you in person! It will change the whole feel of the channel if we sometimes see you in the videos - very excited to see what is to come. I'm looking forward to seeing where you take the channel next. Sorry again that I missed the premiere. :)
Hi. I already feel it changes the feel of the channel/video. I hope it is for the good. For me this episode was too much Chris, but it is not an episode that will be representative for the channel, luckily. No problem about missing the premiere. Thanks for the comment!
Chris, this episode is superb. Very inspiring and encouraging both for yourself and your viewers. I hope to post more content soon (I have been away) and in time, boost my quality. I will reach out to my son for that😉. But you have encouraged me to act on it. I enjoyed your approach in the episode and being able to see your notes is actually helpful as well. All ideas for me to think about. I appreciate the list of content creators and being included; I will certainly go through and check out ones I am not familiar with. I have to yet to force myself to focus more specifically on collecting interests and have all kinds of projects on the go and I am OK with that. My recent travels had me visit six counties from Austria through to Romania and yup, now I find myself drawn to their stamps and stories. Romania especially was a fascinating land with a deep history to tell. Thanks again for your work, keep up the wonderful episodes.
Hi Jeff. Hope you had a nice trip. Seems like you had. I can totally imagine being inspired to collect stamps from countries you visited. There is no one forcing you to limit or focus on certain collecting areas. There is absolute benefit and beauty in collecting multiple countries or even being a world wide collector. Furthermore, there is different stamp channels and different styles often offering various approaches to enjoying the hobby, and I love that. Find your style by doing, just creating, not overthinking, evaluating if you can, should or want to change things and make that change. Just create what you would like to watch. If you need any help, feel free to send me an email, I can give you insight in how I plan, record, edit etc. Thank you for your lovely comment!
Hi Jade. Thank you for your kind comment. And I thank you for joining the stamp community! Thanks for subscribing. Feel free to contact me if you need help or have questions. Looking forward to your journey/videos!
Hi Ted. Thanks. I think you started 'immediately' with being on camera, am I right? It is confronting...I prefer to only see myself in the mirror when I tidy my hair ;-)
@@chrislovesstamps Yes, I was on camera from the start. Having my face on camera doesn't bother me, it's public speaking that makes me nervous. That's why you will see many edit points in my videos. I just cannot talk for more than a few seconds without tripping over my tongue.
Thank you for a very thoughtful video. The wonderful thing about our hobby is that no decision need be set in stone. We can try something for a while and if it doesn't work, go on to something else. I am from the US and to tell the truth, do not like our stamps very much and do not collect them. At ;my age, I don't buy very much any more and most likely won't start anything new. But in addition to the countries you listed, Bermuda, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein are some of my favorites. They produce nice stamps and their issuing policy is very conservative. Iceland has basically stopped new issues with the exception for special occasions. Good Luck iwth you choices. It is great to have you back.
Hi Jeffrey. Greed, no rules and one can come back from a decision, that is what I like about this hobby. Interesting, I do like the US stamps, at least from the last century. Probably going to collect upto the year 2000. But the US to me is a fascinating country and that is reflected in their stamps. I do not collect 'my country' (The Netherlands) either. It is not a rule to collect the country you're from, but I often see people doing that. Maybe 'in the old days' it was easiest to get stamps from your own country. Maybe it stems from there. I like what you say about issuing policies. I am sensitive to that too. Therefore I will allow myself cut off dates for most collecting areas. I am not too familiar with stamps from Bermuda, I am with Liechtenstein and Iceland. Nice stamps, and indeed, good issuing policy. Luxembourg is there too in my opinion. Thanks for the comment and for saying 'great to have you back'. Thank you so much!
There's no need to keep to a strict schedule. Viewers will be happy to see a video whenever it drops. If you want to try to cover periods while you're away or busy, then perhaps you could develop a series of short 5-minute videos that are easy to make and standalone, and then keep them in reserve until you need them. :)
Hi. Could be an idea to develop content that is stand alone. In a sense I have been thinking about that with the 'history series' . I think that 'stamp collecting on a budget' is a thing that I 'need' to do regularly, as in once a month, which should be doable. All the other videos I can work on in the meantime.
Another reply to this post you made. I have been thinking last week more and more about this comment, about the smaller episodes, like 5 minutes or something. I think the Rudolph episode inspired that partly, and your comment. It was more work than expected, but it could be an idea of releasing shorter videos. The idea was to make one episode where I would cover approx. 5 stamps and tell their story. That would translate into episodes of 10 to 15 minutes long. I am not sure if content/videos shorter than 5 minutes is something I would want to make or if it works at all, but it is worth trying. Because 5 of those videos in one episode will take a long time too. And shorter episodes could make for variety in content and length as other content is longer 10-25 minutes generally. Thank you again for this point and comment. What do you think?
@@chrislovesstamps I love your idea of a series of short videos focusing on single stamps or a set of stamps! The Rudolph episode was brilliant and it got loads of good comments! I think it only has low views because you didn't mention stamps in the title or thumbnail (maybe viewers didn't recognise it as being from your channel when they looked in their feeds). Also there is less time required to make a short video, so maybe you will feel less pressured to make them? Looking forward to seeing more from your channel in 2025. Merry Christmas to you and your family. :)
Hey, thanks for watching. I'd really like to know what you think. I hope you liked the video!
It is an honor to subscribe and support you Chris! This hobby provides education to all that subscribe to it! And it’s so much fun! Well done 👍 sir!
Hey Adam. Thank you for your subscription and support and kind words! It is a hobby that brings me to wonderful places and people. So much to learn and discover. :-)
Wow! what a heartfelt expression of your kindness to the friends that reply to your episodes. Nice work my friend and thank you for your hard work to give us all joy in the stamp world.
Hi Bill. Thanks for the nice compliment. The only thing I can and should give is myself (authenticity) and openness. And I am glad I am back. Got nice plans, big plans, but will take my time and release a video when I think it is ready. Thanks for being here and commenting!
Great to see you!
Hi, thanks Silk!
Excellent, keep the videos coming! It is impossible to keep stamp collecting limited. One always learns something new.
Hi. Yep, maybe it is. I do struggle with that. But I think collecting 'everything' or not limiting yourself is not for everyone. So I am going to try and limit myself at least a bit :-) What are you collecting? Thanks for your comment!
Brilliant concept, Chris. Looking forward to seeing how things develop on your channel. Your content is always fresh and entertaining and, by what you have told us, you're taking it up another level. I agree with you regarding the engraved stamps, which is also my main focus. Earlier periods (when stamps were only one ink colour) gave us these art miniatures and the postmarks, too, tell an added story. Glad we can tag along on your journey, my friend. Thank you!
Hi Jens. So true about these stamps with one colour. Although some have a few more colours and are well engraved too. Cancellation is pretty important to me too when collecting used stamps. Thank you for being here! And commenting!
Chris, it is nice to finally be able to put a face to your channel. I know that the decision to do so was not an easy one. You are right, this community is AWESOME and very supportive. Look forward to your next video. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Hi Daniel. Was not an easy decision indeed. I might have a 'radio face' :-) Thanks for being here.
Enjoy your channel
Thanks Steven 🙂
Hi Chris! It is a great and pleasant surprise to meet you "in person"! It is pretty scary to do that, and I am glad you took the step. It was very interesting to hear your plans for your collecting and channel going forward. You thought it through very well. I think the "re-set" brought out some good and some creativity. Your discussing your plans made me want to go back to the drawing board as well! Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Video editing is indeed extremely time consuming. I sort of loose track of how much time I spend on it. For me the most difficult part of making the videos is my eagerness to improve, and the need I see to improve, but I am not sure how and in some areas I am just not able to!
I hope you remember that plans are flexible and that they must serve you and you must not serve them. They are just a start. And I really hope you remember to make joy, being relaxed and not to get overwhelmed the first priority going forward. 🙂Wow, that was a bit of preaching!
I think as a beginning your collecting areas list is a good start. I think you must not worry about stamps sitting in a box or envelope that you are not able to process because there is just not enough time. The stamps are there for whenever you can give attention to them ... or not. For me I can see how difficult it is to focus, but I decided to relax and "go with the flow". 🙃🙂One of my collecting areas is also just stamps that are beautiful to me. This will allow me to collect all over the place, just for fun. That was my reasoning.
Thanks again for this video, Chris. You are very inspiring.
Hi Charnie. It was scary to show myself. I have to find my way how to incorporate that into the video. I am pretty decent with planning, but way worse with execution and sticking to it :-) What would you like to change then, what are you considering?
Video editing and recording is pretty funny actually, as in that once I have hit record (after I have set up and tested everything), I record in one go. I do additional little video segments (overlays) from time to time, to spice things up, make it more interesting. The annotation bit is often the most time consuming.
I will remember what you said, that plans should be flexible. The channel should not lead me, I should lead it and be in the driver's seat.
Interesting what you said about your 'beautiful' stamps collection, allowing you to collect all over the place. I believe some of us need that.
Thank you for watching and commenting and hope moving will not stress you out too much! Take care!
You are so right, Charnie, about keeping your plans flexible. As much as I talk about limiting my collecting to 3 countries and a few topics, the fact is I still make a lot of exceptions and buy sets outside those focus areas.
Chris, my biggest hurdle to jump, when planning a new episode, is getting in front of the camera. I’m still not totally comfortable filming myself. It can take days and days of me thinking, I need to start filming, before I finally start. Once I get started, though, the stage fright dissipates. It’s just hard to get over the initial hesitation.
Ted is great. I have found a couple of great channels through him and was reintroduced to yours. I had seen the how I organize my stamps video a couple of months ago but lost your channel amongst all of the noise on youtube. I am subscribed now. BTW, I used that video for the basis of how I am organizing my collection, just a little modification on the labeling. So thank you!
Hi. That is a nice compliment that a video I made helped you in a way. Good you subscribed to me now, here's to hoping you won't lose me again :-) Thanks for commenting!
Thank you, Doug. I appreciate the kind words. I’m also excited to see what Chris has in store for us.
Also thank you for that list of channels you shared.. will subscribe to all of them that I don't already subscribe to
Hi. Yeah, good idea to subscribe to other channels. Thank you!
Stamps My Fun Things could go on the list. It's an outstanding channel for learning new stuff about stamps and covers! :)
Hi. I added his channel to my list. All upcoming videos should automatically have his link featured now also. Thanks for mentioning that. I watch his channel, unsure why he was not in the list.
I was not aware of that channel, but I have now subscribed. 😀
@@tedtalksstamps oh that's great! I think it's one of youtube's best-kept secrets! I was delighted when I discovered it. I don't think its videos can get a lot of presence in people's feeds as none of it is designed with the algorithm in mind. Enjoy :)
we need our stamp community.
We certainly do! 🙂
What a freaking JOY to see you back!! Your list of stamps to collect looks fine to me (especially since you have included my native France), but you and I know that at some point, we are all carried away and include more countries or topics to our list... which is the sweet insanity of true stamp lovers! 😉 And you are spot on on the fact that we don't want nor need elitists to look down on us, and we sure need to support other philatelic channels! THANK YOU for the huge smile your video put on my face and.. WELCOME BACK!
Hi Laurent. You do not see me 'back'. This is the first time you actually see me in a video ;-) France....I think a lot of people agree that France has produced the nicest engraved stamps. Together with all the mariannes to collect I find it an intrigueing country to collect. Nothing is set in stone, but I cannot imagine not collecting France at this point. Just need to so some more research on how the availability is on mint stamps. Might be that I am going to collect used stamps as France has nice cancellations also. Thanks for watching and commenting!
@@chrislovesstamps Bonsoir Chris. What I really meant was "to have you back." As for you looking for some mint French stamps, I might be able to help you as I belong to a Philatelic club here, near Marseille. My friend (and President of the club) Philippe Garibaldi has a huge online store on Delcampe. His prices are extremely fair, and I will definitely ask him to give you a discount on what you like. Beside the bi-monthly meetings at the club, I go to his place (5 minute walk from my home) once to twice a month to have coffee and buy some FDCs, 18th, 19th-century, WWI, and WWII mail... at a friend's price! I know.. I am lucky! 😉😉 As always, sending my very best wishes from Provence.
Have you thought about a subset of Great Britain stamps? Very widespread and cheap on Ebay - but some pretty interesting collecting angles. +1 on Germany stamps though - fascinating history, and you even have the hyperinflation stamps too. You could collect the countries you mentioned IF you niched down to a subset. Like the new concept for the channel and good luck!
Hi. I have thought about Great Britain. I like their design but definitives also. But I would apply a similar subset (if that is what you mean) to Great Britain as what I am planning to do for the other countries: collect to a certain year. I think there is still a lot to collect then indeed. I am not much of a specialist (yet), and do not plan to be. Maybe that is something that 'just happens'. For example: I really like the way Ken (from the channel Ken's Stamp Collection) laid out how one can collect machins. If you haven't see his video: I can highly recommend it.
I am curious if that is what you meant. If not (and also if so) I would be interested in the collecting angles.
Thank you for your comment!
@@chrislovesstamps I think you are right and this is one issue with collecting when you start which is this - you really don't know what you want to collect because you only just started!!! :) Once you built some collections and got some experience then I think that is when you will likely specialize, but initially you don't necessarily know anything yet - what you like, what you don't like. It is a dilemma! For example, I stopped collecting BUNC coins, but unless I had collected some, I wouldn't know I didn't want to collect them after all. Crazy I know! :) But on the up side those BUNCs can easily be shifted on Ebay should I want to consolidate at any point. On collecting angles I think it's personal a bit. My story on stamps as an example. When I received coins from Ebay, many collectors would use old stamps as a nice touch - I started recognizing stamps from my childhood, especially the xmas stamps so I decided to start collecting those MNH. Something else might "trigger" others I guess, such as an interest in a historical period, or a design like the Machins. etc. I will check out Ken's videos thanks for that!
Very true in my opinion. I was only able to 'specialise' more only after having collected 'too much'.
Looking forward to more videos Chris - I hope fun and enjoyment is the first priority in your filming and collecting. Also, as you mentioned in comments, if there are a lot of collecting years ahead there is also a lot of time to explore different areas, etc. and change what, how, periods collected.
How stamps are collected is changing a lot (and for the better) with younger collectors.... the snobbery found on bulletin boards is just old people being conservative and resistant to new ideas... we are really just temporary curators of our stamps before they are passed onto the next generation.
My stamps have been through hundreds of collectors hands and have been organized a hundred ways.... its exciting to think what life they will have after me.
Hi. Yeah, I will prioritise that. There is so many ways to collect stamps, hardly any wrong ways I can think of.
I hope it changed for the better. I think when philately was at its peak, 70's, 80's?, stamps were worth more, or the promise of them being worth more in the future was a thing. We know better now. Maybe some people are still stuck in that time.
I like what you said about the curator bit, that is exactly that. It is impressive that a stamp from for example the US, has been put on an envelope by someone somewhere in the US, posted it, and eventually ended up on my desk. That stamp was responsible for delivering a message, maybe one of hope and love, but maybe of a more sad message also. Regardless of that, the stamp had a very distinct useful purpose. And they still do. We treasure and respect them.
Thanks for your comment and being here!
Hello Chris.
I have to much too, I bought stamps because they were cheap, I liked them and I wanted to collect everything but you realise that you never have the time or space to do anything with them.
I wish you the best of luck with your channel, and I hope you can move forward, take care 🙂
Hi Jerry. That is the thing, I used to buy stamps in a vacuum. But in the bigger (whole) picture, you actually realise you do not have time for it, or if you do, you won't have time for other stamps you already bought. Personally I find that hard to deal with. I lose track of what I have and also the connection with the stamps that I bought.
Thanks for watching and commenting Jerry. I like how I have seen both our channels grow and how we have connected and how we still do.
You’re right, Jerry. As small and light as postage stamps are, it is amazing how you can become overwhelmed with too many stamps taking up too much room whhich end up being neglected.
@@tedtalksstamps Yeah, that is why I am reducing my collection.
Keep it going... nowadays everything is on demand.. compared to when I grew up (Sunday 9 PM Sopranos)... Just keep going.. and I agree I like the older stamps much better as well... especially the imperforated stamps from the 1840/50s
Hi. Yeah, older stamps seem to have more 'personality' :-)
I think for the bigger countries it's important to work on only a small part of the country at a time in the interest of staying sane! I have a Germany collection, but most of it is currently in envelopes. I'm now organising and adding to my DDR and Bundespost stamps, and when I've progressed far enough with those, I will pick another part of the collection to focus on. Probably Bayern, because I have quite a lot of those stamps, and although they will take some time to research, it will be a small research challenge compared to other parts of the collection. I know this approach wouldn't work for everyone, however, I'm happy to have stamps waiting in envelopes until I get around to them. They are still part of my Germany collection, and they will be organised eventually, so it doesn't bother me that I've done no more than look through them yet. For me this is preferable to trying to organise and research all periods at the same time. That would be far too chaotic for me! :)
Hi. Good point about breaking down the bigger countries. 'I collect Germany' is one of those sentences that you still don't know what they collect. Could be everything, but a lot of people specialise also. I really like how you approach collecting and leaving stamps in envelopes and remain sane :-) Thanks for the comment!
I really enjoyed the video! Such a nice surprise to see you in person! It will change the whole feel of the channel if we sometimes see you in the videos - very excited to see what is to come. I'm looking forward to seeing where you take the channel next. Sorry again that I missed the premiere. :)
Hi. I already feel it changes the feel of the channel/video. I hope it is for the good. For me this episode was too much Chris, but it is not an episode that will be representative for the channel, luckily. No problem about missing the premiere.
Thanks for the comment!
Chris, this episode is superb. Very inspiring and encouraging both for yourself and your viewers. I hope to post more content soon (I have been away) and in time, boost my quality. I will reach out to my son for that😉. But you have encouraged me to act on it. I enjoyed your approach in the episode and being able to see your notes is actually helpful as well. All ideas for me to think about. I appreciate the list of content creators and being included; I will certainly go through and check out ones I am not familiar with.
I have to yet to force myself to focus more specifically on collecting interests and have all kinds of projects on the go and I am OK with that. My recent travels had me visit six counties from Austria through to Romania and yup, now I find myself drawn to their stamps and stories. Romania especially was a fascinating land with a deep history to tell. Thanks again for your work, keep up the wonderful episodes.
Hi Jeff. Hope you had a nice trip. Seems like you had. I can totally imagine being inspired to collect stamps from countries you visited. There is no one forcing you to limit or focus on certain collecting areas. There is absolute benefit and beauty in collecting multiple countries or even being a world wide collector.
Furthermore, there is different stamp channels and different styles often offering various approaches to enjoying the hobby, and I love that. Find your style by doing, just creating, not overthinking, evaluating if you can, should or want to change things and make that change. Just create what you would like to watch. If you need any help, feel free to send me an email, I can give you insight in how I plan, record, edit etc.
Thank you for your lovely comment!
Thank you for deciding to continue to make stamp videos and content for us!
Hi Jade. Thank you for your kind comment. And I thank you for joining the stamp community! Thanks for subscribing. Feel free to contact me if you need help or have questions. Looking forward to your journey/videos!
Great to see you (literally), Chris. I’m only 2 minutes into this video, so I’ll get back to it now. 😄
Hi Ted. Thanks. I think you started 'immediately' with being on camera, am I right? It is confronting...I prefer to only see myself in the mirror when I tidy my hair ;-)
@@chrislovesstamps Yes, I was on camera from the start. Having my face on camera doesn't bother me, it's public speaking that makes me nervous. That's why you will see many edit points in my videos. I just cannot talk for more than a few seconds without tripping over my tongue.
Thank you for a very thoughtful video. The wonderful thing about our hobby is that no decision need be set in stone. We can try something for a while and if it doesn't work, go on to something else. I am from the US and to tell the truth, do not like our stamps very much and do not collect them. At ;my age, I don't buy very much any more and most likely won't start anything new. But in addition to the countries you listed, Bermuda, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein are some of my favorites. They produce nice stamps and their issuing policy is very conservative. Iceland has basically stopped new issues with the exception for special occasions. Good Luck iwth you choices. It is great to have you back.
Hi Jeffrey. Greed, no rules and one can come back from a decision, that is what I like about this hobby. Interesting, I do like the US stamps, at least from the last century. Probably going to collect upto the year 2000. But the US to me is a fascinating country and that is reflected in their stamps. I do not collect 'my country' (The Netherlands) either. It is not a rule to collect the country you're from, but I often see people doing that. Maybe 'in the old days' it was easiest to get stamps from your own country. Maybe it stems from there.
I like what you say about issuing policies. I am sensitive to that too. Therefore I will allow myself cut off dates for most collecting areas. I am not too familiar with stamps from Bermuda, I am with Liechtenstein and Iceland. Nice stamps, and indeed, good issuing policy. Luxembourg is there too in my opinion.
Thanks for the comment and for saying 'great to have you back'. Thank you so much!
@@chrislovesstamps How could I have forgot my major collection? Norway. I think they have very nice designs and a reasonable issuing policy.
There's no need to keep to a strict schedule. Viewers will be happy to see a video whenever it drops. If you want to try to cover periods while you're away or busy, then perhaps you could develop a series of short 5-minute videos that are easy to make and standalone, and then keep them in reserve until you need them. :)
Hi. Could be an idea to develop content that is stand alone. In a sense I have been thinking about that with the 'history series' . I think that 'stamp collecting on a budget' is a thing that I 'need' to do regularly, as in once a month, which should be doable. All the other videos I can work on in the meantime.
Another reply to this post you made. I have been thinking last week more and more about this comment, about the smaller episodes, like 5 minutes or something. I think the Rudolph episode inspired that partly, and your comment. It was more work than expected, but it could be an idea of releasing shorter videos. The idea was to make one episode where I would cover approx. 5 stamps and tell their story. That would translate into episodes of 10 to 15 minutes long. I am not sure if content/videos shorter than 5 minutes is something I would want to make or if it works at all, but it is worth trying. Because 5 of those videos in one episode will take a long time too. And shorter episodes could make for variety in content and length as other content is longer 10-25 minutes generally. Thank you again for this point and comment. What do you think?
@@chrislovesstamps I love your idea of a series of short videos focusing on single stamps or a set of stamps! The Rudolph episode was brilliant and it got loads of good comments! I think it only has low views because you didn't mention stamps in the title or thumbnail (maybe viewers didn't recognise it as being from your channel when they looked in their feeds). Also there is less time required to make a short video, so maybe you will feel less pressured to make them? Looking forward to seeing more from your channel in 2025. Merry Christmas to you and your family. :)