In addition to its main purpose of confirming prepayment for the postal service, a postage stame is like a miniature blank canvas with the potential to circulate a bold statement around the world.   Despite its simplicity,it documents a country in a snapshot like a selected screenshot from a film. 

Unlike banknotes, differently valued stamps do not have their own themes but are issued in series, perhaps in order to create a visual continuity with which to identify the stamps’ country of origin. The stamp thus becomes a sort of symbol of a country, making it important that the image depicted be carefully chosen. The ‘definitive’ (standard series) postage stamp set in the UK  is the Machin series, which exemplifies the power of iconic design by echoing the famous Penny Black. In the Machin Series, the profile of Queen Elizabeth II is set against a background which is of a different colour depending on the value of the stamp. This variation in something otherwise quite simple is fundamental to the success of the stamp as a desirable, not just consumable, object: the collectability of these cheap and striking images  is obvious.

It is because of their collectors that stamps have life after their use. A casual collector might accumulate  stamps from leftover Christmas correspondences, appreciating their colourful and intricate designs that symbolise a connection with the far flung corners of the world. But philately (the study of stamps) or serious stamp collecting is less concerned with this. As Guy Edwards of The Cambridge Stamp Centre explains, stamp collecting is not  purely about hoarding memories but also about accumulating monetary value. For instance, buying a used stamp from the North Pole through the internet may be more valuable than being a personally received first day issue cover set from the USA. A complete set of stamps from a certain year or country or issue are cherished - this is a leisurely hobby driven by the obsessive desire to complete the set.

However, accumulation on its own is not enough for a collector. Although they are among the most sought after stamps in the world, the series issued in Britain from 1840 to 1935 are coveted because they were not made to be collected and are therefore more difficult to procure.  In contrast, the Royal Mail have scheduled no less than 26 new issues for 2012 and 2013, celebrating all things British from the Diamond Jubilee and Olympics to the 50thanniversary of James Bond films and traditional breeds of farmyard animals – and this is a reduction from the initial number, which buyers complained were too many to cope with. Considering each issue contains at least six stamps, and on 30thApril, the price of a first class stamp increased from 46p to 60, second class by 39%, from 36p to 50p, it seems that this simple hobby has now become a serious financial investment.

Thinking about the economics of stamp-collection should not distract from their visual appeal – despite the profiteering motive that may be behind ssouvenir series and commemorative editions, the designs that emerge from these stamps are often exquisite and iconic reinventions of traditional stamps. Recent notable issues include a set from Malaysia in which nocturnal animals are given glow in the dark eyes, and a set from Tonga in whic heart shaped stamps are overlayed on metallic foil (Tonga). Austria released a set containing the dust from a meteorite.

It is no doubt the excitement and beauty of such stamps that encourage collecting.  Our idiosyncratic preferences can be seen in the stamp album itself and how it differs with an individual’s level of interest. There are ‘hingeless’ books for casual collectors, in which stamps are slotted into mounted strips from which they can be easily removed for reordering. Then there are preprinted stamp albums where each stamp to be collected has an allocated pocket on the appropriate page. On one level, this could be said to be a manifestation of mankind’s need to hoard and reorganise objects in order to keep track of or make sense of the world – but perhaps stamp collecting begins with something simpler: curiosity in the miniature, and a magpie-like desire to treasure mundane things that glitter.