Saturday, March 3, 2012

How many stamps in my collection??

This is a topic I was long wanting to talk about, write, discuss etc etc. I didn't have the final figures with me so far. Well they are here now. Every one of us stamp collectors, atleast most of us, is interested in knowing how many stamps we have in our collections. To me the purpose is again purely fun. I have been working on and off on this for the past two months. No, I don't have a massive collection or something, that would take me that long to be able to arrive at figures, its only after finding time from family, home and work (priorities in exactly the order) that I am able to use it for all of this and therefore the time taken.

So, as on date my collection stands at 20,379 stamps. This includes all stamps in stock books, sheets and on my covers. I do not remember exactly when I started tracking my collection but here's the story. It was around the first time I got my very own laptop / computer. Let me see, that would have been sometime around year 2005. Then there was a lull till around 2010 or so but since then these figures are being updated regularly on an annual basis. My collection is steadily growing at about 3000 - 5000 stamps a year. My ultimate goal is to have as much fun as possible in accumulating, collecting, completing, studying, discovering and sharing.

How do I go about the tracking? Well, I do not use any stamp inventory program. Never tried any. Not intending to either. I use MS Excel 2007.

A small snapshot of what the numbers list looks like.The list of my stamps stored in stock sheets in binders:



Below is specifically of only my Indian stamps.


I have a list similarly for each of my country specific collections that I intend to have complete collections of over the others. Australia, Canada, USA & UK. In addition to that my topical collections of Christmas and Odd shapes have a similar separate list. Again for my general country collection in stock books there is another list and so is the case for my covers and stamps. I eventually intend to have all my stamps stored in stock books only.

The cover collection is another long list that I am not including here. The figures as on date are as below

No of individual countries of which I have covers - 60 out of a possible 268.
Total no of covers - 123

This list obviously is always a work in progress. As I keep upgrading my tracking list I will also try to include the completion level against each of my specific interests in country and topical collections.

I hope to hear from you now on suggestions or comments or just critique. :):)





2 comments:

  1. Thanks Marina, but I think its just about OK. I have a long way to go and maybe when I get close to about a lakh or so of stamps, then it will be worth calling it a big collection. But I am thoroughly enjoying the journey.

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