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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;davidh, post: 2111652, member: 15062&quot;]I was once an avid philatiest, a stamp collector.&nbsp; I have amassed a fairly large collection which I stopped adding to in the late 70&#039;s.&nbsp; I own every commerative issue to that time period, also every air mail issue to the same period.&nbsp; I also have at least 75% of every regular issue stamp to the same period, including the early issues.</p><p><br /></p><p>At one time, the regular issues were brought out in series which lasted 10 years, or more.&nbsp; Commemorative issues were limited to six per year.&nbsp; Then things began to change to the point where new regular issues were issued about every year and commeratives were issued in mass amounts every year.&nbsp; There are years where there were over 100 commemoratives issued.&nbsp; These were issued in sheets of 50 or 100 different stamps commemorating birds, flags, comic books, famous (and not so famous) people, classic cars, flowers, etc, etc, etc.</p><p><br /></p><p>It became obvious to me that stamps were no longer something special to be collected and studied but merely a money making racket by the Post Office.&nbsp; &nbsp; Stamps obviously were not being issued for postage alone as fewer actual stamps are being used each year.&nbsp; They are no longer depictions of historical events, just junk.&nbsp; With millions of each example being produced each year, &quot;collectors&quot; now just fill up 8-10 pages, every year, with little colored pieces of paper.</p><p><br /></p><p>I see coin collecting going the same way.&nbsp; At one time we simply had the regulat denomination coins, dated each year, for a number of years, changed only when the design changed.&nbsp; There were the occasional commemorative halves or quarters issued but only to a limited extent.&nbsp; Throw in proof sets and year sets and you had a manageable set for each year.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>Now, added to the above mix we have Silver proof sets, gold proof sets, clad proof sets, individual proof coins, proofs in different finishes, platinum coins, several dollar coins, several presidential coins, a gold buffalo coin, quarters with multiple reverse designs, Kennedy halves, first spouse coins, American eagle coins and a handful of medals.&nbsp; Many of these are offered in either gold or silver, and many are issued by more than one mint.</p><p><br /></p><p>As the BEP started issuing stamps not intended to serve as postage but rather to increase revenue, so the US Mint is issuing products not intended for commerce, but to increase revenue.&nbsp; While once the average coin collector could collect everything issued in any particular year, today this can only be done by persons with very large amounts of disposable income. Casual stamp collecting is on a decline for these reasons, will coin collecting follow?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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