Category Archives: Society Meetings

Where do I go from here? Starting on a new collection

Presented by Brian Austin at the 31 March 2021 Workshop.

“Where do I go from here?”  This is a question sometimes raised when a collector feels that they have built up a collection and come to a standstill.  This happens when you know that your prized Mauritius is never going to contain a Post Office issue and your British Guiana has a gap in 1856 or when the Australian roos come to a stop at a used 5/- and the budget does not go further.  What do you do?  All however is not lost, there are still plenty of things that can keep you collecting.  You just need to relook at the situation and widen your horizons.

Where to start?  Well let’s start with what you have and what you’re interested in.  Remember the cardinal rule is that you should feel interested in the field and want to have a connection to it, not just “Oh well let’s collect that for something to do.”  An interest will keep you with it and reward you.  Having a link to a country, a place, a theme, a period – these can all spark that interest and head you in the right direction.

Thinking on it along the lines of horizontal, vertical and other dimensional integration shows ways of where to go.

Horizontal is going sideways, i.e. to a new collecting area, such as :

  1. Starting with a new country – maybe a country you have visited or have an interest in
  2. Starting a new thematic collection – think of a topic or theme that takes your fancy
  3. Starting a related postcard collection (may also be vertical)

It moves sideways from where you are into something completely new.

Vertical is going up or down within your field, further specialising or into related fields that enhance your current collection area, such as:

  1. Spreading your era of collecting into preadhesive material or pre/post independence eras, e.g. Ceylon to Sri Lanka; Gilbert and Ellice to Kiribati and Tuvalu, predecimal to decimal, etc
  2. Branching into a new field within the same country e.g. postal stationery, postal history, postmarks, etc
  3. Developing a collection of the postal usage of your stamps
  4. Starting a related collection, such as postcards of that country

Other dimensions are sort of related to Vertical but are related to further specialising into your current collection .  Going into a bit of specialisation of your prime countries’ stamps and or postal history , such as:

  1. Specialised date range -Australia and George V heads, GB and machins, USA and prexies, etc
  2. Specialsed usage of stamp range, e.g. Living together on cover, use of 1d or Australian 45c stamps or Machins usage
  3. Specialsed regional usage, e.g. Mining towns of WA, incoming mail to WA in a period
  4. Flight covers
  5. Commemorative postmarks/ slogan postmarks/ other markings

Once we start on those it is a matter of where to start, such as:

  1. Working out where to get information – stamp clubs, catalogues, online, reference books, etc
  2. Acquire an accumulation/collection with gaps
  3. Start looking for that sort of material
  4. Sourcing material – club meetings, auctions, stamp shows, online – eBay, etc, pen friends, other
  5. Developing your collection

Challenges:
Competitive philately has in the recent past looked at challenges.  In these collectors were given a challenge to start from nothing on a new area to build up a competitive exhibition display within given parameters over a set period – say a couple of years.  They tended to look at more modern material to give it a bit of a run.

Examples were the Middle East post-war, Post war airmails, Post 2000, and Frugal philately (where all items must be within a set budget limit per item, say $2).

Let’s set a challenge for the Stirling Annual  Competition.  A new collection from an area that the person does not have a collection of.  Work out some parameters that everyone can meet and let’s see what we can achieve across the group.  As part of it we will set a budget limit for the highest value stamp and an overall limit for the entire display.  The key thing is that everyone starts from a nil or low base.

Meeting 24th April 2019

My other hobbies night
It was a very interesting evening – mostly stamps in the sale-by-tender- a lot of themes – even some Western CDs! – very little in postal history or covers.
The display was my other hobbies

Joe brought beer mats – including a huge one from Heineken,
Ken a set of “stamps” that Princess Cruise line puts out for each cruise,
Brian, maps, a torch and a compas for orienteering and Rogaining,
Graham – Books on soldiers of various wars or campaigns,
Roger- badges of Silver chain and the Gould Society.
Brian gave a monologue of Albert at the Tower of London,
Pam brought stamps depicting her hobby of cooking and swimming
Russell brought along magnificent photos of African & Sri Lankan fauna that he’d taken on various trips away.

To finish we had Anzac biscuits for supper.

Notice of General Meeting to alter the Rules

Stirling Philatelic Society (Inc) is convening a general meeting at which the following resolution/s will be proposed as special resolutions to alter the rules of the association.

The meeting will be held at 8.00pm. on Wednesday, 26 September 2018.

The meeting Will take place at Clubrooms, Charles Riley Reserve, Wendling Road, North Beach.

SPECIAL RESOLUTION/S:

Currently the Constitution states as per Attachment 1 and it is proposed to alter this  Constitution by replacing the current constitution in its entirety by the attached Constitution (Attachment 2) which is set on the Model Rules drafted by Consumer Protection of the Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety (W. A.) in full compliance with the Associations Incorporation Act 2015.

Moved: Brian Austin                                  Seconded

Date of notice: 22 August 2018                Approved by:

Treasure Hunt 2016

Printable version

The rules are short and simple:

  1. You should be a member of the Stirling Philatelic Society,
  2. You can use as many or as few stamps as you like to complete the list above – you can also use any philatelic items that will complete your search,
  3. Your interpretation of what or how you display them is up to you, except it is to be restricted to a maximum of 15 pages,
  4. The committee will present prizes (not limited to) for
    1. The most unusual
    2. Popular vote.
    3. Good Luck & Enjoy!

1  19th Century Stamp
2  American Indian
3  Bicycle
4  Bridge
5  Butterfly
6  Castle
7  Composer
8  Cosmology
9  Cover
10  Cuba
11  Elizabeth
12  Factory
13  Feet
14  Fishhook
15  Flag
16  George V
17  Gorilla
18  Hair
19  Helicopter
20  Lace
21  Mountain
22  Musical Instrument
23  Nobel Prize
24  Painting
25  Parachute
26  Persia
27  Postage Due
28  Precious Stone
29  Reptile
30  Return to sender
31  River
32  Robin Hood
33  Sailing Ship
34  Scotland
35  Seaweed
36  Sheep
37  Singer
38  Slogan Postmark
39  South American Iron Ore
40  Statesman
41  Statue
42  Submarine
43 Surcharge
44  Table Tennis
45  Telephone
46  Tracked Vehicle
47  UPU
48  Waterfall
49  Wine
50  WWII

Treasure Hunt – March 25th 2015

Printable version

The rules are short and simple:

  1. You should be a member of the Stirling Philatelic Society,
  2. You can use as many or as few stamps as you like to complete the list above – you can also use any philatelic items that will complete your search
  3. Your interpretation of what or how you display them is up to you, except it is to be restricted
     to 15 pages,
  4. The committee will present prizes (not limited to) for

    1. Competing – (must have at least 40 of the list below)
      – Got less? Bring them along anyway
    2. The most complete
    3. The most unusual
    4. Popular vote.

 

1

10c

 

26

Medal

 

2

19th Century stamp

 

27

Money

 

3

2014 Issue

 

28

Monument

 

4

Aboriginal

 

29

Motor Vehicle

 

5

Actor

 

30

Mouse

 

6

AFL

 

31

Music

 

7

Africa

 

32

Pig

 

8

Allegorical Figure

 

33

Post-box

 

9

Arachnid

 

34

Postmark

 

10

Bolivia

 

35

Precious Metal

 

11

Book

 

36

Rainbow

 

12

Castle

 

37

Roman God

 

13

Chemistry

 

38

Sailing Ship

 

14

China

 

39

Shells

 

15

Clown

 

40

Shoes

 

16

Despot

 

41

Sky

 

17

Harp

 

42

Something beginning with Z

 

18

Heart

 

43

Stamp with 2000 on it

 

19

Henry Ford

 

44

Steam locomotive

 

20

Imperf

 

45

Tartan

 

21

Kangaroo

 

46

Test Cricket

 

22

Kettle

 

47

Western Australia Stamp

 

23

"L"

 

48

Whale

 

24

Lighthouse

 

49

Windmill

 

25

Map

 

50

Wood

 

Thematic Night, June 2014

Our Thematic display nights have almost no rules – yet sadly few people enter.  Those that do enter entertain us with a great selection of material.
 
Russell – Apes – Gorillas, gibbons, orang-utans, chimpanzees – a great range of stamps with great research into the different apes.  A nice display typical of Russell and most commendable.

Brian W – Smiles –  Needless to say a superb range of different sorts of material including stamps, die proof, covers, slogans, stationery and various stickers and other bits featuring smiles.  Some of the stickers for dental care were very silly but it made a great display – a worthy winner and I daresay that it brought a smile to everyone who looked over it.
 
Although won by Brian he claimed to be disqualified as he did not put in enough sheets  (10 instead of 12-15) and defaulted the prize to Russell.  It was nice show– if only to see a die proof of the NZ Smiling boys in Brian’s display.

They were both good and offered different perspectives on how to approach a thematic display.

Value for money workshop

29th May 2013 –
14 persons were present including Matt. from Kalamunda.
Presentations were by John McP., Mike A. and Brian A.
 
John spoke about using the 3 most popular catalogues ie Gibbons, Michel and Scott and the variations in their pricing. Also using specialist ones like Brusden White. He also described how he set his selling prices as a proportion of catalogue price according to factors like the era of issue if mint, lightly hinged higher if older issues or mint unhinged for modern stock etc.
 
Mike spoke of buying collections, particularly on the web, where the main value to you may only be in a few stamps however if  you are astute and knowledgeable you could defray the cost of purchase by onselling the balance of the stamps. Bargains could sometimes be found because it wasn't a specialised area for the vendor.

Brian made the point that whilst some covers sold at very high prices at some high profile dealers' auctions, it was often possible to pick up amazing items in junkboxes at stampfairs and similar shows. Dealers often didn't have the time to price some (to them) unfamiliar material.  Brian went on to emphasise this point by showing a large numbers of covers including ones showng the use of the correct stamps to reflect the postal rates of particular eras.

Brian has kindly submitted his notes. Value_for_money_Workshop_May_2013-SEC

Please note the contents of Brian's notes and the information given above are copyright and no permission is given to copy, print or use the information without written permission from Stirling Philatelic Society Committee, which may be obtained through the webmaster.

Society meeting 22 May 2013 – This is what I collect

A very entertaining evening:
Members discussed the Melbourne Stamp Show and Stamp Mart, the new Stirling Philatelic Society web site was unveiled, and a very successful sale by tender preceded members who discussed and displayed "What I collect"
Brian A.  showed his Usage on Australian covers, Mt Everest Cinderellas, Early India, the Coronation Durbah and other wondrous items that interest him.
Graham B. displayed raptors and Eire.
Steve H. showed Postage Dues, postage dues on covers, stamps on stamps on mini sheets, and coins.
Mike A.  showed Turkey – the child protection issues.
Russell VB. had an unusual display of elephants, in different materials – soap stone, shell, coconut shell, crystal.
Brian W. exhibited postal markings of Perth
Joe W. displayed the year in postal markings from the Perth Mail exchange, Musical score on stamps. Machin Head Horizon Labels, and SOAR – 600 in a roll.a
Tom C. showed Machin Heads


A vote of thanks was given by John M.
The evening concluded with a light supper.