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It is read by about 2,400 society members across the country who pay $45 a year to be a member. Colling hopes to add articles from stamp collectors especially if he can find young people to write about their prized postage. He fears email and texts have not only cut down on mailed letters but also future philatelists. “The people who collect stamps may be a dying breed,” he said.

It’s easy to get into stamp collecting these days since boxes or albums of stamps are available at auctions for a few dollars, he said. Stamp collections get thrown out by people who aren’t aware of what they have and Colling expects there will be fewer of the rare stamps around in the future. “It’s like a treasure hunt.”

Colling isn’t banking on finding a super valuable stamp. He sees stamp collecting as a way to learn about the world and at club meetings he can swap stamps like kids trade baseball cards in the school yard.

“When you look at stamps you find a world you never realized existed.”

Photo by Nick Brancaccio / Windsor Star

Like his Lundy. It has three puffins as the denomination of the stamp and a Norse king on the front. Colling didn’t know what it was when he found it in with a bunch of stamps. With some sleuthing, he was able to discover it came from a little island off the coast of England. The owners of the island decided to create a stamp in 1929 which was at first only a sticker but decades later Britain decided it would consider the Lundy as a legal stamp.

It’s not worth much but it has a fascinating story that will be in his first edition. It’s those stories he hopes collectors will want to tell and add to the usual scholarly articles and notices about auctions and meetings. Colling, who has written five books including a new one about Ford City coming out this year, is busy in his Belle River dining room on the March/April edition. Stamp collectors interested in writing for the journal can contact hacolling@cogeco.ca

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shill@postmedia.com

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