Good bye 2010, Hello 2011
In philatelic terms, year 2010 was good for me. My stamp collection grew with roughly 10,000 stamps, mostly with somewhat modern (1970s or later) items from mainstream countries like Australia, US and Germany. The table below lists 10 countries where I managed to increase my collection most (and which accumulate to nearly one third of total increase):
| # | Country | Number of new stamps I acquired in 2010 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia (1913-2009) | 554 |
| 2 | Austria (1850-2009) | 483 |
| 3 | USA (1847-2009) | 417 |
| 4 | Japan (1871-2009) | 382 |
| 5 | Germany – DDR (1949-1990) | 298 |
| 6 | Canada (1868-2009) | 292 |
| 7 | Germany – BRD (1949-2009) | 279 |
| 8 | India (1852-2009) | 193 |
| 9 | Venezuela (1859-2009) | 189 |
| 10 | Soviet Union (1923-1991) | 182 |
Last year was extremely uncanny for this blog too. In past 12 months, the number of pretty much everything (monthly readers, comments etc) doubled. I’m more than humbly graceful that my “crusade” for the pleasures of worldwide stamp collecting continues to attract so many.
They say stamp collecting is dying. Bah, humbug... If my misc writings gather an audience of nearly 8,000 monthly readers, then hobby is far from dead IMHO
Last, but not least, I’m very grateful for all the new friendships I made in 2010. It’s amazing how sharing a common hobby combines people across the globe 
So I have a lot to be grateful for the past year. So what do I have in mind for 2011?
Definitive stamps, especially the long series, have always been of interest to me. One of my new years resolutions is to put more focus (and order) into these.
During my holiday I did play with UK's Machin-series, and it will be one of the topics I will be displaying later this month. As you can see from this album page, I still have random missing stamps I need to find before reaching completion.
I know that my stamp exchanges interest many people. Sadly they will continue to remain in somewhat complete halt for next couple of weeks, as my work is keeping me heavily busy till the end of this month. Such is life 
But till next time, happy collecting!
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Congratulations on adding 10,000 stamps last year. Even though I currently collect only 1840-1940, I’ve always been intrigued by the Machins and have even bid (unsuccessfully) on a few starter collections. I look forward to reading about your experiences.
Hi Bob,
for what I read on your Filling Spaces blog, You too had quite a good year hunting down some earlies.
Re, the Machins… They are truly interesting, and I think they will definitely cause a love/hate-relationship to everyone attempting to deal with them. LOL.
You’re right Keijo…Machin stamps is a matter of love or hate…experience is speaking… Alas, You’ll be very happy when my sending arrives…for sure!