Covers

One of the most noticeable changes in philately in the last forty years has been the change in the importance of cover collecting. When I first started stamp dealing, First Day covers, Special Event covers, First Flights, Airmail covers, Space covers, and Zeppelin covers were all collected by far more people than they are today. Today, true postal history, that is stamps used for purely postal purposes in the manner in which they were intended, continues to enjoy popularity. But stamps used for philatelic purposes or for commemoration purposes are not popular with modern collectors.I think the reason for this is simple. In the year of my birth-1953-the United States issued just three postage stamps (that’s not a typo-three). Now each year finds hundreds of new issues all of which can be bought in perfect condition and at face value at the post office. The novice collector imagines that his investment is safe-perfect stamps that will never go down in value. And as many new ones as any novice collector could want. The collectors who would have added First Day covers and commemorative type items to their collections are sated and no one ever needs to go back to collect older items. This is in essence the problem with modern day philately- the average collector who spends a few hundred dollars a year on his hobby can easily do that buying hundreds of new issues each year along with mounts and albums for them. Fewer collectors have the time and inclination to investigate older material.