Some thoughts about stamp collecting, our hobby - FIP

Some thoughts about stamp collecting, our hobby
There are some new and previous ideas to promote philately at national and international
stamp exhibitions between the federations of FIP or of a continent that should bemore
strongly supported.
All of us know that youth philately has a worldwide problem to find new blood. 1988 the
World Stamp Exhibition „JUVALUX 1988“ under the patronage of FIP took place in
Luxembourg, where young people in all age groups showed their exhibits in 2010 frames - the
highest frame number ever reached at a Specialised Stamp Exhibition for Youth Philately.
Since then the number of young philatelists constantly diminished, and in the last years there
were no more FIP Specialised Youth Exhibitions. The question is why do we have these
problems with youth nowadays ? We know that young people are attracted by the
computerworld, and we should try to use this to develop our hobby, and find ways to combine
„computer and philately“. We have to find the right way for the future of youth philately and
waken their interest in mounting and exhibiting collections in and out of competition,
combining it with all their other hobbys.
Many young people and even adults do not realise how much knowledge stamps and
philatelic documents convey and how much one can learn from them. For the youth one can
combine in school and while mounting an exhibit in or out of competition, in the local stamp
association, the stamps and the documents with history, geography and many other domains,
or explain these through the philatelic items. In some countries that are affiliated to FIP
philately has been inserted in the teaching programme at primary schools. By means of
illustrative material the teachers and the responsible persons should render stamp collecting
and the mounting of an exhibit pleasant and interesting for the young collectors. With
patience and tenacity the interest for this class of philately may be wakened, the sense for
order and structure sharpened, the love for a clean cancellation, for a cover with an interesting
postage, for the balanced illustration of an album sheet inspired.
For the adults a well thought stamp collection gives worthy knowledge on the culture, the
history, political and economical development, fauna and flora, as well as many other aspects
of the concerned countries. Stamps are more than mere tax labels. They are the mirror that
shows us the manifold aspects of the present and of the past in a most artistic way.
There have been many discussions on Open Class and One-Frame-Exhibits on national and
international level. Such exhibits will be seen more and more at international and FIP
exhibitions, now that we have gathered experience on these ways of exhibiting. The One-
Frame-Exhibits are implemented in most of the classes and the relevant regulations give the
collectors of all FIP member federations a standard guidance, whereas Open Class needs
some more promotion in the FIP world. There are still many countries where this way of
exhibiting is not really known and / or implemented as an exhibiting disciplin. These new
ways of collecting will certainly contribute to attract more collectors in future to our hobby.
It gets also always more difficult to find sponsors for international exhibitions under the
patronage of FIP, because of the high costs of such exhibitions. We have to consider how we
can shorten these costs in future and thus stimulate Postal Administrations and Federations to
organise FIP exhibitions. In the next years there will be no FIP exhibitions in the European
area, only continental shows, where the costs are still easier to survey. Of course, smaller

multilateral exhibitions between a few federations are also a very good promotion of philately
and are intermediaries between the FIP exhibitions.
In future the international exhibitions can be made more attractive by including additional
activities for all age groups. Also other hobbies can be combined with philately, other
exhibiting areas included to attract a new public.
Postal administrations, dealers, seminars, conferences, etc.. contribute to the success of an
international exhibition, so together we should try to find a way to render the future
international exhibitions as successful as LONDON 2010 in London, ANTVERPIA 2010 in
Antwerp and PLANETE TIMBRE 2010 in Paris - our thanks go to the organisers of these
wonderful shows. The next exhibitions under the patronage of FIP will take place in Asia. In
Europe and the Americas the partners have to find ways to waken the interest of sponsors for
FIP Stamp Exhibitions and to find federations willing to organise these events. The exhibitors
are no problem, as at every FIP Exhibition a high percentage of exhibits have to be refused
out of lack of space. The organisers could be sure to get enough exhibits to fill the frames.
The only problem is the cost of FIP Exhibitions and the lack of sponsors - this point has to be
discussed between future organisers, the FIP Board and the Posts as possible sponsors to
ensure the future of world philately.