A dying hobby

The hobby of collecting stamps may be on the decline, but its relevance is not altogether lost

Stamps continue to tell interesting stories. Pawan Singh / The National

Collecting stamps and collating them in an album was a hobby that once entertained generations of children and adults. It had them excitedly steaming stamps off envelopes, visiting post offices on the first day of issue of new stamps and feverishly swapping with other like-minded souls. It was a passion that was often carried from one generation to the next, a rite of passage between a father and his children.

Unfortunately, few people pursue the hobby today. For this, email and text messages are the culprits, as they have all but replaced traditional letter-writing. Yet original stamps are still being designed and issued, and they are often collectable. As The National reports today, Emirates Post has launched commemorative stamps to mark the sixth anniversary of the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. Even if fewer people are collecting stamps, they continue to tell interesting stories and help our understanding of how the world fits together.