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Cyn's Hobby: Philately

Philately is the Latin-based word for stamp collecting. For most people, stamp collecting is not a financial investment in the future. It is an absorbing and educational activity to be enjoyed now. I have been active in three aspects of this hobby: collecting, exhibiting, and making cachets.

Cachet Maker: I have created artwork and text for placement on First Day Covers. (A cover is an envelope.) First Day refers to the date a new stamp was available for sale to the public. First day covers (FDCs) have a special postmark to show that date. I am one of many cachet makers selling FDCs to collectors. Here are two examples. You can see more at my other website about Anon E Mouse Cachets

Collecting: I also buy and collect FDCs from other cachet makers. I look for covers with stamps or cachets that have certain subjects: American authors and poets, National Guard, and Women in Military Service.

Exhibiting: I make exhibit pages featuring parts of my collections to show what I know about them and to tell a story about the subject. One exhibit has 48 letter-size pages of material and text about Mark Twain and Bret Harte. I displayed it at our local university and at three large stamp shows in 2018.

I plan to create more pages for each of these hobby areas in the near future.

There is a Society...

Many hobby organizations offer a variety of stamp-related items to collect, suggestions about what to do with your collection, and a community of scholarly researchers and writers to help you learn about what you have. One of those organizations is the American First Day Cover Society; see their website at AFDCS.org I have been a member since 1982, and do not find it filled with stodgy old guys in eyeshades as some stereotypes might suggest. In fact, we are a very social group that knows how to have fun, even outside of our collecting interests. For example, see this You Tube video of a 2012 convention event called Orange Pantyhose Hula.