Internet aids rare stamp finds

By Shaun Inguanzo
THE very tool that threatens stamp collecting’s future is aiding dedicated philatelists collect the rarest of specimens.
Members of the Noble Park Stamp Club are using the internet to track down and buy rare international stamps that would have been near impossible to find before the arrival of the technology.
Noble Park Stamp Club secretary Peter Treadwell said that while email could be viewed as a death knell to future generations of stamp collecting, the internet had its benefits for practising collectors.
Mr Treadwell’s revelations come as the Noble Park Stamp Club prepares to hold its annual Stamp and Coin Fair at the old Noble Park Hall in Buckley Street on 12 July between 9am and 3.30pm.
Mr Treadwell said he expected the annual event to generate interest from the broader community, not only stamp club members from different groups around Victoria.
The group is also after new members – which are becoming difficult to find – and is urging people with an interest in stamp collecting to attend its monthly meetings at Noble Park’s Paddy O’Donoghue Centre.
“Stamp collecting is a little bit of a dying hobby,” Mr Treadwell said.
“Most of our members are in their latter years, and are looking at researching the history of stamps, or trying to find an elusive item.”
Mr Treadwell said that prior to the internet, philatelists had to ‘know people’ overseas in order to find rare stamps.
“We have one gentleman in the club with a friend in England,” Mr Treadwell said.
“He provides English (stamps) to our members, and in return the member sends Australian stuff over there.”
But times have changed.
In Australia, the rarest stamps are worth a few hundred dollars – pale in contrast to the thousands of dollars rare international stamps sell for.
“People would have heard about the five shilling Harbour Bridge (stamp),” Mr Treadwell said.
“That can get a little bit pricey, at around the $350 mark.”
Mr Treadwell and many of the club’s members now use the internet and various auction sites to locate rare stamps.
“Most stuff I purchase is from Europe, and I’ve found a website where I can pick up some of the items belonging to the collection I am gathering,” he said.
The process has taken some getting used to, and Mr Treadwell said he had made a few mistakes online that he had learned a lot about stamp collecting from.
But sadly, the local aspect of stamp collecting is still dying slowly, with the Noble Park Stamp Club noticing a decline in membership, and the ageing of its current members.
Mr Treadwell urged anyone with an interest in stamp collecting to attend meetings held on the fourth Monday of every month, except for December.
Meetings take place at the Paddy O’Donoghue Centre in Noble Park and run from 7pm onwards.
Members discuss stamps, trade stamps and buy stamps, and are sometimes treated to guest speakers.
Anyone interested in learning more about stamp collecting or the Noble Park Stamp Club should phone Peter Treadwell on 9711 7085.