Saturday 31st October 1970. I made a note in my first Senator Medium album. I was 18 years old. And I thought I was starting a hobby as a serious collector of Irish stamps.
If this story begins on 31st October 1970, then there is a prologue that probably started around 1962. My father bought me a paper-back pre-printed “Trusty” stamp album in Woolworths in Belfast and some stamp hinges and stamps. Most of my friends had similar albums. But few really stuck at it. They all moved on to other hobbies.
But I…more or less …stuck at it. Stamps (say) “25 Belgium” or “20 Sport” were bought at a counter in Woolworths. The “Trusty” album was soon too small and I upgraded to a hard back pre-printed album. And then to two “Selby” loose leaf albums…one of which I still have.
Certainly I was interested enough to read magazines and pick up tips and the schoolboy years of the 1960s, I had picked up three basic tips.
1…loose leaf albums give a lot of freedom
2…find a speciality (a country or a theme)
3…”write up” the collection.
So in the autumn of 1970, I had bought my first Senator Medium album. I had decided to specialise in Ireland. And was writing up the pages, one page for each issue.
I used this Netto catalogue as a guide to compiling a Wants List. Basically Ireland had a fairly conservative stamp-issuing policy. There are only 261 stamps (or 522 mint and used) issued between 1922 and 1969. To put this in context about 2,600 stamps (or 5,200 mint and used) have been issued between 1970 to 2019.
Really the period 1970 to 2020…is about five phases as much as decades.
The 1970s …the Belfast Years. The Troubles Years. The Single Years. And in Stamp Collecting terms, balancing specialising in Ireland and keeping up to date with stamps from newly de-colonised nations.
The 1980s…the Small Village Years. The Married Years (from 1982) and trying to balance family commitments with that Wants List. Like all newly married couples, we were cash-strapped. I almost sold my Irish collection (then three volumes) about 1987. Thankfully the offer was derisory. I kept my stamps.
The 1990s …Another Village. The Frustrating Years. The over-issue of stamps from the Irish Post Office making that balancing act between Family and Stamp Collecting more difficult.
The 2000s…The Years of Adult Children, The Grandchildren Years. The Retirement Years. The Peace Years. The Internet Years. The Wilderness Years. I had given up Stamp Collecting in 2001. It seemed appropriate. I could not really afford it. And somehow Stamp Collecting seemed very 20th Century. The Irish albums (now six volumes) were locked in a metal cabinet in the garage.
The 2010s…The Re-born Years. My older son found the albums and the dedication to my wife (1982) and to him (1983). And somehow on 10th March 2012, I was in Waterstones bookstore in Belfast and bought the just published Stanley Gibbons Ireland Catalogue.
So of course, this catalogue became the basis for a new Wants List of stamps (mint and used) issued between 2001 and 2012. I set myself a budget and a target so that I would complete this by 10th May 2017 (my 65th birthday). And that worked out well for me.
Completion? Well, there are still overprints that I need. So again it is a question of availability and shopping around. But in some bizarre way, a Stamp Collection is always a work in progress. There is always an elusive stamp. There is always a new issue.
I suppose I gave up stamp collecting in 2001 because I was becoming obsessive. There was no sense of Relaxation.
I feel better today. My interest in Irish stamps is obsessive and drives me insane. My “juvenile” interest in world-wide stamps is fun and it keeps me sane. Thus…I am a well-balanced person.
Collecting Stamps of Ireland 