News items. General trends, new issues, new policies etc. **Whatever** you like. WORLDWIDE. Start a new thread on your question. Please do not discuss ebay in THIS forum as we have a separate and popular Forum for that discussion.
Given that it is anonymous those that want to fib can, and others can be honest, and no-one except them will know who is telling porkies.
Figure of course would encompass ALL your stamp related spending. 'Stamp News' sub etc is $70 or whatever and a few accessories a year or new stockbook or hagners etc will take you well over the $100 without even buying a stamp. 8)
Buying just an Annual PO Album is around the $100 mark too of course.
And all dollars are oz dollars before anyone asks!
I'm afraid that my hobby is now an obsession and I fall into the top bracket, over $5,000pa, but for God's sake don't tell my wife.
I suspect she knows but you can never be sure with women. Every time she sees me with a new box of stamps I just tell her that its stuff I've had for ages and I'm just moving it from room to room.
I think she tells me the same story every time I see her in a new outfit, what's good for the goose is good for the gander too !
Hard to say for me. I may spend £2000 on stuff, keep a portion of it, sell the spares for £3000, and then spend that on more stuff.
So I've spent £5000, but it's only cost me £2000.
Always on the lookout for Australian pre decimal First Day Covers.
Oh we're talking Aussie dollars ... hmmmm well I have to add 14% to my total.
I think that within the last 12 months, I've spent around $1,700 CDN if we are including binders and newspapers / magazines. I guess that is about $1,900 Aussie, more or less.
I voted >$5000. I've been known to drop $2 or $3K on a single purchase. But I sell most of that stuff. As far as what goes into my personal collection, maybe $3K per year.
Now of course it doesn't speak for everybody, but if you think about the numbers in this poll and how they are spread out, it shows you there are a lot of serious collectors posting here.
About how much a year do you spend on stamp collecting?
Zero
0% [ 0 ]
Zero to $100
1% [ 1 ]
$100 - $500
5% [ 3 ]
$500 - $1000
11% [ 6 ]
$1000 - $5000
44% [ 23 ]
Over $5000
36% [ 19 ]
Too Much! I spend between 2 & 3 Thousand U.S. (well, I have been the past couple of years) mostly from dealers and not e-bay, 'tho' I do buy that way also. I've found over the years that I get a better deal in the long run from dealers who know me, and I end up with what I thought I wsa buying.
I would ask a question then:
Would you splurge on your indulgence if you had a windfall like winning a lottery of say A$20,000?
Or, are you a marathon-style collector? A steady paced rate of building/completing your collection. No frustration at Ebay because you don't use a snipe!
Aaaand, just for the record, fellas, it's not just you that can get into trouble Dunno about obsessive compulsiveness, but, as the saying goes, opportunity knocks once. Trouble is, temptation keeps banging on the door. My ole man cannot see the value in 'dirty little pieces of paper' so all I can do is try (???!) to keep my workspace clean(ish)
FORESTS OLD, PASTURES NEW
"Truth is stranger than Fiction, but that is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't." MARK TWAIN
Currently i'd say over the $5000 mark a year, of course the other half doesnt realise this! My problem is i buy collections still for the odd item to keep and i'm meant to resell the rest, just never get round to doing it!
A wardrobe with over a million stamps that i don't want will testify to this
Between ebay, the odd purchase from Glen , a couple of stamp shows and the rest on monthly approvals would probably break down my where my expenditure goes over the year.
Now that i've decided to get rid of all my KGVI stuff and only concentrate on KGV and earlier mint i'll be able to afford more , just need to start offloading stuff more frequently.
Collecting early empire MLH up to and including KGV.
I'm in the Aus$ 1000 - 5000 bracket but it's not the end of the year yet
But i'm a bit of a bargin hunter and don't spend a lot a single item.
It's interesting excerise totting up all the stuff i've got this year,
you don't think you spend much on your hobby until you add it up
If I go for MLH in the next three stamps I want for my collection they will ALL be in the top bracket.
I learnt too late to buy the expensive stuff early (once you know what to look for) and the cheaper stuff that will always be cheap and available later.
We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.
For me it's $100-500. That's primarily for American Philatelic Society/Local Post Collectors Society dues and an occasional upgrade to my Scott catalogue, but I also buy the odd new issue that fits into my topical collection (landscapes).
My stamp budget is now down to about zero. Several years ago I probably spent around US$2000-$4000 per year. But after having been laid off from work for 6 months before landing my current job, and with 8-yr old twins, a home mortgage and a very shaky economy, I am trying to save whatever I can. (Never know if another layoff is coming.)
But I have found great pleasure in remounting my US revenue collection and my NZ, and Australian States. In switching from Scott to Stanley Gibbons, I have found all sorts of varieties and endless hours of relaxation. All for no cost!
That's the beauty of our hobby. When cash is short, you can read about stamps, re-mount your collection, soak that kiloware you've had for 10 years, tidy your bookshelf or any other of myriad things.
You might just sit back and flick through your collection with an appreciative eye 8)
Always looking for KGV British Commonwealth, mint, used, covers, anything
Since I picked up my stamp collection again this summer, I don't have a whole year of spendings. But from my calculations of what I've spent on these months, I will end up somewhere between $1000-$5000.
I have used a lot on equipment, such as stockbooks, catalogues etc. So hopefully I can use a larger percentage of my stamp money on stamps next year.
Although I've rationalised my collecting a lot (I used to just about buy anything that took my fancy), I still love what I have. Now I'm simply into MUH pre-decimal blocks and PNC's. Not sure why that combination, but oh well.
As I am trying to get some of the more expensive material now I find it is cheaper to buy a collection for a mini sheet or some harder to obtain stamps. Often these are purchased from dealers in Europe so the cost is in the thousands and not the hundreds of dollars.
I have started to put together albums of spares (just about a complete 1932 - 1945 collection of German spares , excluding the very expensive items) to sell at the club. I have been through & removed any faults (errors) that I have discovered and don't need what is left. Time is what I am short of at the moment!
Always interested in trading German material especially post war period.
Years ago, I used to buy blocks of 4 and half shhets of gutter stamps of all Australian stamps plus 4 annual PO Books.That would have come to nearly $1000 per year for about 20 years. Probably worth about 100 trillion zimbawe dollars now.
Then I turned off stamps for a few years, but now I'm back trying to work out what I should collect. Roos and early PNG at the moment, but I am very fickle. I can collect anything. Anyway I will be spending more than $5,000 a year on stamps from now on.
