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Collecting by subject.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

Some collectors specialize in a single country’s stamps, or stamps with a particular
purpose, and some don’t specialize at all.

But others collect stamps of a particular subject.

“Topical collecting is collecting not by nation or by type of issue, like special
delivery or airmail, but by topic or theme, like horses, cats, dogs.”   RUNS :10

Jack Denys is the president of the American Topical Association, the group dedicated
to collecting stamps by subject.

“We have almost 3,000 members in the ATA — that’s worldwide. We have members in 55
countries.” RUNS :05

Then there are the A-T-A’s study units, which concentrate on particular subjects, such
as penguins, firefighting or chess. Denys’ own specialties are quite esoteric.

“I collect the Bayeux tapestry, which is an embroidery that was made almost a thousand
years ago,   after William the Conquerer conquered England. I collect and exhibit
Albrecht Durer, Andrew Wyeth, and for fun, palindromes,  words spelled backwards and
forwards.”  RUNS :16

Besides the interest in the subject, topicals have another appeal.

“There’s no sense of needing to complete something, that you can collect any dimension
of any topic, and every topical collection will be different from every other one.
RUNS :11

The American Topical Association is holding its annual show and convention in mid-summer
in Portland, Oregon. It’s free and open to the public. More details on both the show and
the A-T-A are available at american-topical-A-S-S-N-dot-org.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more on stamps and stamp collecting,
visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com.

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