The Armchair Traveler

Guest Opinion

By Karen Mulvahill | Jan. 13, 2024

My father led me by the hand into the dusty store lined with glass cases. The entire world was there, represented by postage stamps issued by every country in existence and some that were no more. A small man seated near the back looked up from his magnifying glass. “May I help you?”

My parents had given me a stamp album for my ninth birthday, and we were about to start my collection. The proprietor quickly assessed the situation and waved us over to where he sat. “I have just the thing for the new collector,” he said, taking a large waxed-paper envelope from the counter. “This,” he said softly, “contains stamps from all parts of the world.”

There are plenty of getaways that don’t involve leaving the area. For those of us unwilling to suffer the insults of modern travel, unable to afford that resort with the five pools and waterfall, or just happy to be homebodies, we have an undeniably long period of cold and gloomy days before sighting a crocus. Pursuing a hobby is one way to increase our enjoyment of winter.

As a society, we tend to prioritize leisure activities far below working or other activities considered “productive.” We may even feel guilty for spending time on a pleasurable hobby. But studies have shown that engaging in a hobby has significant mental health benefits, primarily through lowering stress levels. Both cortisol level and heart rate are lowered while engaging in a hobby. Self-esteem is increased, as is general overall satisfaction with life.

Collecting objects is a hobby that became popular during the Victorian era, when aristocrats displayed cabinets of curiosity containing such things as fossils and zoological specimens. Today, more than a third of us collect something. Sometimes it’s serendipitous. You find yourself with two or three beer coasters, and soon you’re asking friends on a European tour to get you a Fou’ Foune from Belgium. People collect pencils, napkins, even the stickers from grocery store bananas.

Stamp collecting has fallen pretty far out of favor over the years. At one time, nearly 20 million people were collectors; the present estimate is 500,000. I rediscovered my album recently, during one of my regular reorganizations of books. The “Ambassador Album” has a blue and yellow plastic cover illustrated with a picture of the globe, its pages organized alphabetically by country. My name and address are inked inside in my mother’s handwriting.

Stamp collecting was my gateway to learning about geography, art, history, and biography, a form of armchair travel that I suspect fueled my interest in visiting other countries. I have a colorful group of San Marino Olympic stamps from 1964. Yes, San Marino is still a country, one of the smallest in Europe and completely enclosed by Italy. Founded in 301, it is the world’s oldest republic, a gorgeous, mountainous place full of clay-tile-roofed stone buildings. I learned the names of many other countries: Monaco, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco. I learned that Canada had a queen and Africa had zebras. I learned that Persia was also called Iran.

Stamp collecting may also have fueled my interest in art. It takes a magnifying glass to really appreciate the intricacies of some of these works. Many are actual reproductions of art by artists including Thomas Hart Benton, Edward Hopper, Mary Cassatt, and Dorothea Lange. (For a local touch, art specifically commissioned for stamps includes a series of Great Lakes lighthouses by Howard Koslow in 1995.)

While the popularity of collecting stamps among the general public has waned, the interest among investors has boomed. Anyone who’s seen the movie Charade knows that a single stamp can be extremely valuable. The Mauritius Post Office One Penny Red Stamp from 1847 sold for nearly $13 million in 2021. My San Marino Olympic stamps can be bought on eBay for $1.29.

Usage of postage stamps in the mail has of course declined with the emergence of postage meters and emails. Still, postal departments worldwide commission special stamps by topic and season. This year’s U.S. stamps include celebrations of people—Ernest J. Gaines, Chief Standing Bear, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Toni Morrison, and Roy Lichtenstein. Subjects include tulips, pinatas, railroad stations, waterfalls, endangered species, winter woodland animals, and snow globes.

If stamp collecting is not for you, get out your cookbook, your coloring book, jigsaw puzzle, snowshoes, or matchbox cars. Invite some people over for a game of euchre or Catan. Enjoy the winter without leaving home.

(And please—skip those boring Forever stamps. Make your mail more artful by using special edition stamps. And maybe save a few just in case.)

Karen Mulvahill is a writer living in northern Michigan.