Digital Philately: A Scavenger Hunt in Seven Parts – Part 5 Thematic Collecting: Gaining Ideas via the Internet

Many collectors, including those at Op Hoop van Zegels, have set up a thematic collection alongside one or more country collections, and it quite often happens that they gradually derive more pleasure from the latter than from the country collections. That quickly becomes a matter of filling boxes, and at some point, “you have everything, except those few that are financially out of reach.” Thematic collecting can be as beautiful and as extensive as you wish, and it can also be done with a somewhat smaller stamp wallet. Thematic creativity And at exhibitions and in collectors' homes, beautiful examples can be found of the creativity that is evident and the joy that radiates from it. In the Netherlands, there is an association for Thematic Philately with a somewhat boring website and an attractive magazine (Theme), of which, however, only the tables of contents can be found digitally. An overview of those tables of contents already shows that the number of subjects is enormous. A great deal can also be found on Postzegelblog. And there is, for example, a whole international network of thematic associations dealing with religion, including the Dutch one. Gabriel AssociationIt is an invitation to get to work yourself and create something beautiful and individual. Subsequently, there are collectors who display their thematic collections digitally on their own websites, on websites for digital exhibitions, or on the websites of associations. The beauty of this thematic approach is that stamp collecting then also becomes attractive to people with very different interests: football fanatics who record football history in a stamp album, bird lovers who start collecting bird stamps and turn them into entire biology books, or comic book enthusiasts who have started collecting the many beautiful stamps featuring comic book characters. And to stay close to the theme of digitality: you can, of course, also set up a thematic collection of computer games!

Everything included The advantage of the thematic approach is also that you can collect all kinds of other illustrations and incorporate them into your collection. These can be the so-called maximum cards, but also postcards or picture postcards (with or without stamps), or postal stationery, some of which—illustrated airmail sheets—are highly sought after. But they can also be (self-made) photos and cards, and in thematic stamp collections and in the open class at exhibitions, I also see sugar packets, cigar bands, matchbox labels, and football trading cards. Some thematic collections are true works of art, involving the creation of original drawings and self-drawn albums. And nowadays, of course, you can also have stamps made yourself at PostNL, or existing personalized stamps include in it. There are already a great many of these, and not only in the Netherlands. Thematic digital To get an idea of ​​what is possible and how beautiful it can look, it is good to occasionally visit the digital exhibitions that are now springing up like mushrooms and in which Dutch collectors have also started participating. They are fine examples German Exponate (of the German Confederation), and the Czech Exponet. The Canadian Stampedia tries to be a forum where everyone in the world can exhibit digitally and they approach that broadly, with a Facebook account expats must register with the local municipality and obtain a youtube video. In the Netherlands, the stamp society is running Volkel-Without leading the way and they also accompany it with a Facebook pageAnd there are young collectors who go a step further and spread the fun of (thematic) stamp collecting on Twitter. For those who want to be surprised: take a look at Clemens Brandstetter's exhibition on Agent Orange at the German website (no, it is not about Prince Bernhard), or the digital exhibition by René Hillesum, editor-in-chief of our monthly magazine Filatelie, who did that back in 2007 about the Railway station in Helsinki. And of course regarding that surprising Volkel-Uden: just take a look at the digital exhibition about music, bursting with fun, or an over 'Rembrandt', which shows that a written text is perfectly acceptable too. Incidentally, the Volkel-Uden website also provides an overview of various digital exhibition websites, including those of individual collectors, such as Willy Ahlers, who already tried to get us enthusiastic about what he called the E-Kaders in 2010. But also, for example, Henk van de Laak, who digitally displays his own collections (from Rijkswaterstaat to the Suez Canal) on his own website. Volkel-Uden also refers to the Postal History section of our own in this regard. OHVZ websiteIndeed, there is a smooth transition from online publications with texts and illustrations (like very often on Postzegelblog, or like on the websites of associations – Geleen en Nijmegen does that very well – or from individual collectors – such as John Dehé) towards digital exhibiting. And a very special form is what you come across on Pinterest: simply beautiful images, and remarkably often it is young women who make enthusiastic use of them. Among exhibition organizers, there is now a discussion about 'online judging' and making assessments more transparent by making them digitally accessible. And this applies not only to digital exhibitions but also to classic exhibitions with frames in galleries. Incidentally, a list of theirs can be seen at the FIP. international roster of jury membersThere are currently three of them from the Netherlands. But there are also websites that make it possible to make entire collections digitally visible, without any judging involved; simply to preserve interesting collections for posterity. An example is what René Hillesum is now trying to set in motion with the website 'Bookland'. Social and (historical) regional philately

More and more associations are turning to putting the postal history of their own region online, as OHvZ has done and will continue to expand, and sometimes attention is also paid to the postal history of the association itself. There is also increasing attention to what is called 'social philately': a thematic collection centered on a person, an organization, or a social phenomenon. At OHvZ, we now have a few examples online as well, and a start has been made on a digital postal history of companies and institutions. The monthly magazine Filatelie even produced a special issue on social philately in February 2021. Social philately and regional philately connect philately with historical societies, local history clubs, and local archives and the study thereof. In this context, too, picture postcards are natural bridge-builders. Furthermore, the focus on family trees (genealogie70) leads to the use of postcards, stamps, and postmarks as illustrative material when creating overviews of family histories and origins. Rein Bakhuizen van den Brink has already put it online as well. It wouldn't surprise me if, for example, interest starts to grow among migrants in the postal history of the regions they come from and the routes they have traveled. And there are travelers who buy postal souvenirs 'everywhere' they have been and record it in a book. Like Postal Stamps Travelogue.