Good News for the Hobby

Pessimism and philately have always seemed like stamp and tong-they just go together. Visitors to stamp clubs in the 1970s will all tell you stories about how the old timers then talked about the “good old days” and predicted the demise of philately. But as Mark Twain said in a slightly different context, reports of our hobby’s death have been great exaggerated. The editor of Linn’s, Michael Baadke, had an interesting and eye opening article in the January 30, 2012 of Linns Stamp News which he was kind enough to provide a link to. The article references a Wikicollecting.org study that places philately as the most popular of all the collecting hobbies. Badaake then goes on to some statistical analysis and finds that membership in the APS today on a per capita basis  is about twice as great as it was during the supposed philatelic heydays of the 1960s. This statistic is all the more meaningful as in 1960 membership in national philatelic organizations was more necessary to a serious philatelist than it is today. APS membership was the best reference for new auction bidders and it provided a lifeline of news and philatelic contact that can easily be obtained by collectors today simply by going online. This confirms what we are seeing and what other stamp professionals are telling me. Our hobby seems to be doing just fine.