Human beings love to collect things. Well.. most human beings do. It is very appealing for a few different reasons. And stamps fit very well into all of these reasons!

It is a bit of a quirky thing, stamp collecting. When you stop and think about it there is even a little bit of an absurdity to it. After all they are little pieces of paper with drawings on them. But we do love to collect things. Let me cover a few different reasons for collecting and why stamp collecting perfectly fits it.

The Crow - The Magpie and the Crow have the reputation of collecting shiny things. Whether or not that is true doesn't matter for them . But for human beings it most certainly is true. We love shiny little things whether they be jewels, baubles, electronic devices or the whole host of other things. And stamps are a perfect fit for that. You can cheaply gather a collection of lots and lots (tens of thousands) of stamps. Each one unique and different. Kind of fun yes?

The Organizer - This is part of a need within human beings to exercise control over our environment. We like to set things into order. And stamps fulfill this very well. Stamps are carefully defined by numbers and there are lots of albums that will hold them perfectly preserved and in perfect order. Checkmark for this one too!

The Historian - This goes to curiosity. Every single stamp has a story. Yup! That is kind of wonderful. And it is a layered history. What I mean is that the stamp itself tells a story or commemorates something with a story. And the birth of that particular stamp often has a story. How did that stamp come into being itself.

The Banker - This one is probably the trickiest but it holds very true. Stamps have value. They have real value and they have collectible value. By real value I mean they can be put on envelopes and used to pay for the letter to be sent. And by collectible value I mean they have a perceived and loosely agreed upon price between a stamp seller and a stamp buyer. And.... a stamp collector with time and investment can accumulate value in a collection. Which means money :) The stamp at left ($1 Columbian) typically sells for over $1,000.

So, all of thes different aspects of human behavior are all very well suited by stamp collecting. Is it no wonder that we do it?

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