PHILATELY AS A HOBBY By J ‘FEMIFOLA DUROSOMO General Manager Nigeria Philatelic service

DEFINITIONS Philately can be defined in a number of ways: To the General Public Philately is the hobby of Postage stamp collecting.

TO THE PHILATELISTS Philately is the art and science of collecting, studying and keeping of postage stamps and other artifacts of postal heritage, for pleasure, knowledge and business.

TO THE ISSUING AUTHORITY Philately is the business of producing and packaging of Philatelic products that meet the needs and satisfaction of customers with due compliance to best practices and international standard.

TO THE STAMP DEALER Philately is the business of making Philatelic products available to customers at a profit. What is your own definition of Philately?

WHY PEOPLE ENGAGE IN PHILATELY FOUR MAJOR REASONS? Knowledge (Information) Business (To make money) Fun (Pleasure) Friendship (Connection, through networking. why do you engage in philately?

AREAS OF STAMP COLLECTING General Collector: Collect everything under the sun. Thematic Collector : Collect with a theme or topic informs

AREAS OF STAMP COLLECTING 2 are you a thematic collector? What do you collect? Is it Astronomy? birds? bridges? chemistry? clocks, explorers, gemstone? medicine? military? nobel prize? railway? religion? ruby? space? tennis? football etc. Country Collector: Focus on a particular country as area of collecting.

ARE YOU A COUNTRY COLLECTOR? Which of the Countries? Is it Nigeria? Great Britain? USA? The Americas? Africa. What do you collect? AREAS OF STAMP COLLECTING 3

WHERE TO COLLECT YOUR PHILATELIC MATERIALS. Primary Source Philatelic Bureau Post-Offices (Designated) Philatelic Sales Points

WHERE TO COLLECT YOUR PHILATELIC MATERIALS. 2 SECONDARY SOURCE Philatelic Agents Stamp Dealers Stamp Collectors WHERE DO YOU GET YOUR STAMPS AND PHILATELIC PRODUCTS?

CATEGORIES OF PLAYERS IN PHILATELY Stamp Collectors Nominal (casual) Collectors Serious Collectors

CATEGORIES OF PLAYERS IN PHILATELY 2 Philatelists These are the real Hobbists. They collect study and keep. Academic Collector: (study for information purposes.) Philatelic traders :Agents, stamp dealers and consultants (trade in Philatelic Products) Philatelic Speculators: (speculate in Philatelic market.) Issuing Authority: (Postal Service) which category do you belong?

Support Services Provider Stamp Designer, Artists Security Printers Exhibition Planners Philatelic Journalists, Writers, Producers of Philatelic Documentaries and catalogues.

CLASSES OF PHILATELY For the purpose of competitive exhibition, Philately is categorized into following classes.

Traditional Philately This class is concerned with the native, Production, Classification and usage of Postage Stamps. Its basic components include, Postage stamps, initiative sheets and first day covers. It could also include autograph works, essays proofs and printers specimen. Postal History This is basically the study of Postal rates, Post markings and mail route. The Postal historians are mostly concern about Postmarks, either ordinary and special postmarks, including first day of issue. CLASSES OF PHILATELY 2

Postal Stationery This covers all postal products imprinted with stamps on information that shows that Postage Stamp is prepaid. Examples are Postcards, Envelopes, registration envelope and aerogramme. Thematic Philately This is stamp collecting with the theme (topic or subject) as the underlying interest. Thematic collections accommodate all Philatelic materials resorted to the topic. Aero philately This are collections that has to do with Aviation developments or stamps used on mail carried by air, and associate covers/Air mail). CLASSES OF PHILATELY 3

Astrophilately This are postage stamps and covers associated with space exploration. These include stamps and covers which has rockets and space flight as its theme. Maximaphily This aspect of Philately consist of Collection of maximum cards. These are postcards bearing a cancelled stamp. A maximum card comprises of the card, the postage and the cancellation. Philatelic Literature Philatelic Literature class comprises of collection of all materials used by collectors to study and understood the theme and materials related to philately. This also include CD-ROMS, Bulleting, e.t.c. CLASSES OF PHILATELY 4

Revenue Stamps This class of Philately focused on revenue stamps Youth Philately This class of Philately focus on Youth up to 21years of age. It was designed to develop youth collecting skill in Philately. They may participate in any of the classes of Philately noted above. MOPHILA Mophila is a class of stamp collecting that focus on modern postage Stamps. It is confined on issues of the last fifteen years. Mophila class dispel the rumour that Philately is the study of old stamps. Which class of philately do you belong? CLASSES OF PHILATELY 5

ORGANISED PHILATELY Philately organization is based on hierarchy. Ranging from Local Philatelic club to the international Federation of Philately. Prominence Among The Hierarchy Are The Followings: CLUBS Local clubs (geography) Specialist clubs (Concentrate on one area with membership world wide) NATIONAL FEDERATION Administrative policy unit on Philately in a country. CONTINENTAL FEDERATION Administrative policy unit in a continent. Example: Federation of European Philatelic Association (TEPA) for Europe Federation of Inter-America Federation (FIAF) For North and South America Federation of inter-Asia Philately (FIAP) for Asia and Australia.

CONCLUSION Philately is a discipline. To be a good philatelist requires a lot of information studies, Training, and Networking. These are necessary corollary to self development in Philately. You may soon become an expert. Keep on collecting Keep on studying your collections.

Keep your collections in a safe and conducive environment. Your collections are valuable asset that may fetch you a fortune. …………….Thank you for listening.