A lovely read, thank you. I started collecting stamps a few years ago in my 40s. I was kind of concerned that I'd picked up an old person hobby, but like you I love the art work on them and that was my main reason to start collecting. They've taught me a lot about parts of the world I knew very little about. I also discovered that Italian stamps are really rather boring.
Yes, Italy was definitely one of the ‘boring’ stamp producers, like Denmark, West Germany, Switzerland. Maybe they’ve all become more imaginative in recent decades, I don’t know. But I love those Communist-era stamps for their artistry and vast sweep of subjects. I think my lifelong interest in birds began with Czech, Hungarian and Polish stamps depicting the local bird life! And like the covers of favourite books, isn’t it amazing how those mini artworks stick in your head forever?
A lovely read, thank you. I started collecting stamps a few years ago in my 40s. I was kind of concerned that I'd picked up an old person hobby, but like you I love the art work on them and that was my main reason to start collecting. They've taught me a lot about parts of the world I knew very little about. I also discovered that Italian stamps are really rather boring.
Yes, Italy was definitely one of the ‘boring’ stamp producers, like Denmark, West Germany, Switzerland. Maybe they’ve all become more imaginative in recent decades, I don’t know. But I love those Communist-era stamps for their artistry and vast sweep of subjects. I think my lifelong interest in birds began with Czech, Hungarian and Polish stamps depicting the local bird life! And like the covers of favourite books, isn’t it amazing how those mini artworks stick in your head forever?