Stamp collectors lament hobby’s declining status

Thursday, Dec. 14, 2000 | 8:35 a.m.

The problem with e-mail? No stamps.

How will future philatelists (stamp collectors) perpetuate their hobby if there's nothing to collect?

Actually, stamp collectors don't fear a lack of stamps in the distant future, but rather a lack of heirs to whom to leave their stamps. Children today don't share the same passion for the activity as their parents and grandparents, they say.

When the International Coin, Stamp, Antique Watch, Jewelry & Collectibles Exposition is held at the Tropicana this weekend, children will be as rare as some of the stamps.

"There is too much for them to do, too much competition," said Israel Bick, executive director of the International Coin and Stamp Collectors Society in Van Nuys, Calif., which is sponsoring the event. "Stamp collecting is more of an intellectual hobby. Kids are being weaned on watching television, not on reading books.

"Stamps are not an instant gratification."

Ed Rosen, 60, a Redwood City, Calif., resident who holds about 40 stamp fairs a year (including two in Las Vegas), agrees with Bick.

"Young people are much more interested in computers and computer games," Rosen said. "Everyone is trying to create an interest (among children) -- there is so much history and geography to learn about -- but it is very difficult."

The Internet, if anything, is increasing interest in a hobby that began sometime after the world's first postage stamp was issued by Great Britain in 1840 -- known among philatelists as the No. 1 Penny Black (worth $3,000 if uncirculated; $180 if not in mint condition).

"The Internet has brought in more collectors," Rosen said. "A lot of people buy stamps on the Internet that wouldn't buy for a long time. It has changed the buying habits of a lot of collectors."

Bick, 63, said the U.S. Postal Service estimates there are 22 million stamp collectors in this country, and that last year it made a profit of $200 million from the hobby.

"I think that's (the number of collectors is) kind of high. But they count anybody who accumulates stamps as a collector," he said.

Bick said bona fide collectors aren't people who just hold on to one or two stamps because of an interest in a subject, such as the Elvis stamp issued in 1993 (517 million were sold).

Elvis was a special-issue stamp -- one of several categories of stamps that are collected. Others are definitive (those found on most mail, featuring former politicians, statesmen and national shrines) and commemorative (stamps issued in observance of historical events, noted Americans and topics of national importance).

Special-issue stamps are among the most popular. They may cover almost any topic from automobiles to zoology.

"A true hobbyist has an album of stamps and spends some time with it," said Bick, who has been collecting stamps for 57 years and has been a professional stamp dealer for 45 years.

He said his interest in stamps began when he was a child in New York. "We were very poor, living in the South Bronx, and stamps was my only escape. I was 6 years old. Instead of spending money on candy, I bought stamps."

In those days, during and after World War II, collecting stamps was popular with children.

"I started selling stamps to friends in school," Bick said. "Most kids collected."

He's licked

Fil Cornell, 74, former president of the Southern Nevada Stamp Club, laments the passage of those days.

"None of my children or grandchildren are interested in stamps," he said. "When I turn up my toes, my kids will sell my collection for less than it's worth."

And so Cornell is selling the thousands of stamps he has collected since he first became interested in the pastime at age 11.

"Now the collectors are mostly in their 60s and 70s, and they will be kicking the bucket and there won't be anyone to carry on."

Who will replace people such as Cornell?

"Sometimes people in their 40s and 50s are starting, but it's rare," he said. "A tiny fraction of the people in this country are starting to collect. My guess is it is not possible to turn around the decline.

"There is interest among a lot of people, but they're getting in the twilight of their lives, most of them. For everyone who turns up their toes, there's not another one coming along to take their place -- maybe one in 40."

Cornell said it is a shame. "It's such a great hobby. It was great for me as kid. I learned a lot of history and about different countries."

He's disappointed that his family doesn't share his passion, but he is outraged by developments in the stamp industry. He's so angry that he is abandoning the hobby that has occupied so much of his time through the years.

"I quit," he said. "I am so disgusted with the amount of stamps coming out."

According to Cornell, a 1997 survey revealed that nearly 15,000 stamps were issued around the world that year.

He said countries in Africa, Asia and other areas are printing large amounts of stamps geared toward the collector market as a major source of revenue.

"Many countries are issuing 50 stamps for every man, woman and child in the country," he said.

It has become such a major business that representatives of some countries, such as Liberia, have agents in the United States who work with American companies that design and print stamps for the foreign countries, and then sell the stamps to collectors here.

Betty Mauck, 73, treasurer of the Southern Nevada Stamp Club, is trying to keep the interest in stamps alive among the children -- or to reignite it.

She visits Clark County schools and scouting organizations and talks to students about the hobby. During the sessions she distributes packets of stamps, which are donated by stamp club members.

"They love it when I talk to them," Mauck said. "They are amazed at all the different stamps -- baseball players, planes, cats and dogs. But there are so many other interests they don't stay with it or their parents don't have time to keep it going.

"And most schools aren't too anxious to encourage it. When there is free time or club time, schools want the students to do something more strenuous."

She said the best time to start collecting is around age 11. "Any younger and they really don't understand and can't handle the stamps properly."

Her own children are in their 50s and used to collect, but sold their stamps when they grew up. Mauck has grandchildren, but they aren't interested in the hobby.

"So many collectors have a problem with that," she said. "There is no one to leave the stamps to. Their heirs don't want them and don't know where to dispose of the stamps, so collectors in their 60s and 70s are selling the collections and turning them into cash."

Stamp-ede to sell

Many customers at Ruth Hilliard's Charleston Stamps, on West Charleston Boulevard, are people selling collections they have inherited. But most are avid collectors looking to fill a space in their albums or to sell something.

"A good share are older people," she said.

She sells starter kits for children, which include a book with stamps, magnifier, labels and other paraphernalia.

"I tell parents who are getting their kids interested, 'Don't collect for the monatery value, it's for the hobby, the learning, the history,' " Hilliard, who has been dealing in stamps for 16 years, said.

Most people collect stamps that are worth a few cents or few dollars, say the experts. Investment-quality stamps can range in price from a few hundred dollars to hundreds of thousands.

The highest price ever paid for a stamp at auction occurred in November 1996, when an 1855 Swedish stamp stamp printed in yellow (the issue had been printed in green) sold for $2.3 million, according to news reports.

Hilliard said age is not necessarily the determining factor in the value of a stamp.

"Scarcity, condition and demand are what's important," she said.

Hilliard said there are more collectors in Las Vegas now than there used to be, but she doesn't know if that's because the population has grown or because the interest has grown.

She is so busy she doesn't have time to collect stamps.

"I'm surrounded by stamps," Hilliard said. "I get to enjoy them for the time they're here."

Rosen, host of the semi-annual Las Vegas Stamp Fair, said there will always be stamps and stamp collectors.

"As the generation gets older, many become interested in stamp collecting," he said.

Most people become interested in stamps because they are curious about the place where the stamps come from, or the subject of the stamp.

Bick collects stamps related to the birth of the nation of Israel while Mauck collects United Nations stamps (first issued in 1951) and Easter Seals stamps dating back to the 1920s.

"Stamps are a tremendous education tool," Rosen said. " It's also very relaxing. A lot of high-tension people, like doctors and attorneys, are stamp collectors."

It isn't a profitable hobby for most people. The pleasure comes from what the collection means to the individual, not its monetary value.

"Every collection, every stamp has a value. The intrinsic value of any collection is in the eye of the owners, what it means to them, what they have gone through to fill the spaces," Carl Cullison, a Las Vegas stamp appraiser, said. "It's not a good investment, but it's a beautiful hobby."

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