Towards a Graceful Inheritance

Towards a Graceful Inheritance


I am writing this article more as an open letter to the older members of the stamp collecting community. In the past five decades stamp collecting has slid down enormously in value and enthusiasm. Part of the reason is the changing times of how we live our lives with so much to compete for our attention from the World Wide Internet to Video Games to Special Effects in Dolby sound movie theatres.

The other part of the decline is our responsibility. It has become apparent we spent so much time collecting stamps and in many cases stationery, first day covers and all sorts of variations like cut squares that we forgot to make a connection to where these stamps will land once we pass. Not many collectors, as evident from the mass dumping of tens of billions of stamps on the market, made plans to safeguard their lifelong pursuit. Stamp collecting is one of the very few hobbies that attract solidary people unable or unwilling to share their passion.

I do not share this observation as means to hurt anyone's feelings. But from the view of the living I watch families literally trip over themselves attempting to sell entire collections as if they hit the lottery. Their lack of knowledge about stamps is only exceeded by their lack of respect for stamps, their relatives and the facts of the current marketplace. Past collectors in their isolation did their family's and stamp collecting a disservice by not educating them about the meaning of stamps.

Now the rest of the stamp community is left to deal with a market incredibly flooded by a total of a trillion stamps thrown on the marketplace and offered by thousands of overinflated internet sites. Even stamps older than a hundred and twenty years in superior condition are worth pennies. And nearly every inquiry from non stamp collecting relatives centers on a hundreds ways to ask about "value." What's it worth?" "Why did my grandfather amass such a collection"? The truth is unsexy and quite possibly unsettling: they loved stamps.

I write this to implore present day collectors to pass on their collections through a last will and testament. As someone who practices what he preaches I have done so already. Please do not leave your life long hobby in the hands of a generation that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. If you cannot locate anyone in your family that will safeguard the tradition, then please make plans to have the collection donated to a charity capable of converting it into currency to help people or animals or a local stamp club to be used for general stamp education purposes.

Because of the Internet it can be honestly said that stamp collecting has received its Second Wind and continues to be make a devoted comeback. But this comeback is not about "value" or "money" but about appreciating miniature works of art that speak to a world in need to understanding each other in a better manner. Stamps have and can again bridge that gap of fear and knowledge about other lands, languages and lives equally invested in a most curious hobby.

Get a will. You don't need a lawyer. You can print it off the internet for free. You can get it notarized at your bank for free. And you can pass into the great beyond free of the concern that your collection is being tore apart on that digital garage sale called Ebay. Speaking for myself I haven't pursued this passion to have it splattered across some web site of gawkers and goofballs. I bought parts of it in the actual countries I traveled or lived in. It means something special in terms of stamps, memories and the hard work of re-mounting, rearranging and reviewing the collection as a whole. If you care, as I do, leave your love in suitable hands.

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