Stamp collecting

There's an interesting if slightly whimsical article in today's Independent on Sunday; a feature looking at the rising popularity of stamp collecting. I've collected these colourful little pieces of paper myself ever since my dad took me to Stamp World London 1990, a large international exhibition held at Alexandria Palace designed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the first ever postage stamp, the iconic penny black. It kick-started an interest that still hasn't abated, even if finding time to spend with the collection isn't always easy to come by as it used to be.

What is interesting about the state of the hobby as reported by the Indy - aside from the obligatory celebrity endorsements - is that it seems to be doing rather well; stamp dealer Stanley Gibbons' sales were up by a quarter last year while Ebay saw a 30% rise in transactions in the same period. This development is something of a surprise in that it contradicts what has been a long-held tenet within the hobby in that it is in a permanent state of decline.

Historically speaking the problem facing the industry was largely demographic; children were electing to play video games instead of collecting stamps and so not replacing older philatelists who had died or otherwise moved on. As a youngster attending fairs and the like it had always been surprising how few other adolescents also went along.

But perhaps that might have been the case for a lot longer then people realised; retired professionals were always likely to form a large majority because of the time and money available to them to pursue their hobby. And children would always find it difficult to attend stamp-related events without a willing parent to take them, something not always easy to come by.

What has really propelled philately, it seems, is that another age group previously difficult to reach has begun to engage in the hobby. Thirty- and forty-somethings are now taking an interest either as 'returners' - coming back to collecting after giving up in childhood - or as complete beginners. It's true that some of this is driven by the investment opportunities presented by stamps but for whatever reason the appeal of stamps is widening across the demographic spectrum.

And that can only be a good thing. Stamps are an excellent way to not only find out about the world but the way history has shaped modern political relationships. And education is not the only positive; knowledge of an obscure and remote country can also prove pretty handy in a pub quiz.

Which makes it a very real shame that the UK - the inventor of the adhesive postage stamp - no longer has a dedicated postal museum. The premises once occupied by such a museum, near St Paul's Cathedral in London, were sold in 1998 and since then the national archives have been moved to another location in the capital whilst the collections themselves are in a museum store in Essex. Both are available to the public but their ease of access has been greatly restricted and their contents are not presented in an informative museum-like fashion.

That philately is doing so well despite all the distractions it finds itself in competition with is extremely encouraging; if positive industry figures can encourage the reestablishment of the National Postal Museum then the benefits of stamp collecting would be all the more tangible.