Welcome to my Philatelic Blog

So I've taken the plunge and decided to start a blog. Check that, start TWO blogs on two very different themes - stamp collecting and club culture.  This is the stamp collecting blog (aka the philatelic blog to use the more posh term for the hobby). Here I will focus mainly on sharing my growing collection and, on occasion, my musing on current philatelic news and new releases. I've been a philatelist (no, not the duck-billed animal!) since my late father introduced me to the hobby in the late 1970s, and my first collecting phase lasted until the early 2000s when I sold my collection to fund a business venture.  The business didn't last (damn technological change) but the love of philately never completely went away. When my father passed away in 2009, I inherited his collection and dealer stock (he was a part-time dealer in the St Lawrence Valley of New York state, where I am from originally). That rekindled the fire, and now I am back at the hobby as much as my free time allows.

I collect worldwide, but for the last couple years I have focused on the stamps of the French colonial empire, especially the period from the introduction of the first pictorial issues to the end of the colonial era (or the change in status of some colonies to Departments d'Outre-Mer in wake of the 1958 referendum).  Mainly collect mint, hinged pre-1960, never hinged post-1960 (though if I can get earlier issues NH I won't turn them down either!)  I also have a soft spots for circular date stamp cancelled stamps and am forming collections of those for the various colonies.  So if you have an interest in philately, follow me as I share my adventures in building up my collections.