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Reference Archive

• Coin Collectors World Apart. Editorial
• How One Organization Assists New Collectors
• 200 Million Collectors in America. Part 1 of a series.
• 200 Million Collectors in America. Part 2 of a series.
• Kennedy Collecting and the Aging Process
• Getting Younger People to Collect
• Memories Made in Adolescence Fuel Collecting

How One Organization Assists New Collectors

Ken Martin, American Philatelic Society, writes "in response to your query on what organizations do to assist new collectors, 10 specific approaches used by the American Philatelic Society (postage stamp collectors) at our annual upcoming August 23-26 show and convention at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center near Chicago's O'Hare Airport follow:

1 - We charge no admission and make registration as simple as possible, asking only five questions such as how they learned about the show.

2 - Before attendees even reach the main show floor, in the registration area we will have a `Beginners's area.' This is staffed by knowledgeable collectors and includes pamphlets and information on stamp collecting.

3 - Free guided tours of the exhibits are offered each of the four days of the show. In addition to exhibits of the most famous and most valuable stamps, we always try to have exhibits of local interest. This year we have six Chicago related exhibits.

4 - On the Saturday and Sunday of our show we have adult beginner courses. There is a nominal $10 charge for non-members but each participant is provided with stamps and hobby tools that cost us much more than the $10. This year's courses are broken into four sessions including stamp identification, stamp soaking, tools of the hobby including use of catalogs, and stamp storage. Classes are limited to 20 students to allow hands on instruction. We also have one similar youth beginning course.

5 - There is a 4,000 square foot youth area available for the entire duration of the show. Provided in cooperation with the Postal Service we also attempt to defray the transportation costs of any school classes or other youth groups (Scouts, Boys/Girls Clubs) who come to the show. The youth area includes free stamps and computer games and youth who complete six or more activities are given a free prize bag which includes a t-shirt, philatelic items, and mini stamp album.

6 - We ask the dealers if they cater to beginners and include a list of those who indicate they do in the free program. (About 50 of 175 answer positively.) The first page of the show program provides tips on attending a stamp show. The program also includes indexes based on subject so attendees can quickly find exhibits for their collecting interests. With more than 14,000 pages of exhibits, it is next to impossible to review every exhibit during the four show days.

7 - Because of the booth fees most dealers tend to offer higher cost material. To insure that low priced material is also available we offer a limited number of reduced rate booths for dealers willing to sell all items for $1 or less and even less expensive booths (below our costs) if all items are to be sold for 10 cents or less. These booths are popular enough that there are normally attendees sitting in the aisles looking at the material. At one of our previous shows one dime booth dealer claimed that he took in $4,200 in sales which would require selling 42,000 stamps at 10 cents. We have 12 $1 booths and three dime booths this year.

8 - In addition to these bargain booths we have one booth in which the Society provides the material and a small bucket full of stamps is available for only $3 or $1 for youth age 15 and under. Most of the stamps are common but we always sprinkle the hundreds of pounds of stamps with a few better items and some collectors have spent the entire show day searching through the mixture for these gems.

9 - On the Sunday of the show we have a "What's It?" booth at which anyone may bring items for identification/evaluation.

10 - A list of the meeting places and times of our local chapters is provided in the 80 page show program. There is also a booth with applications for and information on all 200 of our affiliated national specialty organizations."

We appreciate Ken Martin's contributions. Obviously, different collecting areas have different circumstances, challenges, and opportunities, but Ken has put forward a number of ideas that may well be applicable to other collecting conventions.

Again, please let us hear your opinions. What your club, your mall or shop, your show or publication or auction house is doing...or could be doing...to assist the new collectors to have a satisfactory experience, and to educate them about other collecting areas. E-Mail: info@collectors.org or write to: Collectors.Org, 18222 Flower Hill Way #299, Gaithersburg, MD 20879. 200108