The Tuscora Stamp Club helps keep philately alive
Tuscora Stamp Club welcomes new members to its meetings.
In its 70th year, the Tuscora Stamp Club calls itself the “biggest small stamp club in Ohio.” With 35 current members, the club meets on the first Wednesday and third Tuesday of every month in Emmanuel Lutheran Church, 202 E. High Ave., New Philadelphia.
As with so many other events, the club’s April stamp show and auction was cancelled. According to Floyd Swinderman, vice president of the club, they are working with Tuscora Park to reschedule the event in the fall.
Swinderman said he was bit by the stamp-collecting bug when he was 14 years old. “The father of one of my best friends was a stamp collector, and he gave me the stamps he didn’t want,” he said.
Swinderman said it was nothing of real value, but it was enough to whet his appetite and get him started collecting.
Swinderman acknowledged philately has changed quite a bit over the years and has concerns about the future of the hobby. “Right now they’re putting out too many stamps,” he said. “Last year 100 different stamps were issued. When I was a kid, they only put out about 10 a year, and they cost only 2-3 cents.”
Compare that to the cost of stamps today.
Swinderman also mentioned the cost of Scott’s Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, a guide to all stamps available and their value. “It comes out every year and has 16 volumes with all of the stamps numbered so a collector can look up, for instance, a U.S. 26 and learn the value,” he said.
That set now costs more than $700, so very few libraries carry one. “The only one we know of in Tuscarawas County is the main Dover library,” Swinderman said.
The internet to the rescue
The internet today offers thousands of websites for collectors to view dealer offerings and compare prices. One website, www.StampFinder.com, has placed something like the Scott’s catalog online, but it allows people to buy only the sections they need for their specialties.
“Most people collect according to their interests in what is called ‘topical’ collecting,” Swinderman said. “That topic could be flowers, horses, cars or any number of things.”
Swinderman said others collect by country. Yet another way to collect is called thematic collecting: when a person collects not only stamps based on a topic, but also other items that relate to that topic, which could be anything from artwork, to pillows, to clothing.
The American Philatelic Society said in a recent article that the future of stamp collecting is still bright, partly due to efforts on the internet. The article said, “The same computers which have distracted our youth so thoroughly have also opened up a whole new world of philately.”
In addition to helping people find the stamps they desire, the StampFinder website also provides an investment grade rating for collectors to determine the value of their stamps. Another feature is the ability to list collections worldwide to interested buyers.
A little history
The hobby of stamp collecting first appeared after the introduction of postage stamps in the 1840s but really took off in the 1850s when it grew steadily for about three decades. The APS said there were an estimated 25,000 stamp collectors in the United States by the 1880s. In 1886 there was talk of forming a national organization of philatelists. Some 400 collectors expressed willingness to form such a group.
In 1886 the American Philatelic Association was formed, electing an avid philatelist and prominent attorney from St. Louis, John K. Tiffany, as president. Membership dues were $2 per year.
What is today known as the annual Great American Stamp Show began with the organization’s first meeting on Sept. 13, 1886.
Back to the present day
Swinderman said the Tuscora Stamp Club welcomes new members to its meetings, which start at 6 p.m., giving collectors time to trade and talk about their stamps before the 7 p.m. meeting.
“We may even give a new person a few stamps to put in their collection,” Swinderman said. “Our members will gladly talk with people and give them direction on what to collect and how to go about it.”