WHAT THEMATIC PHILATELY IS?

 

In the beginning all of us we began collecting stamps from the correspondence of our family, from the friends and acquainted. Some moment we cogitated  that it should be better to collect stamps of our country, perhaps of some others too. Later we bought stamps from the post, from merchants...

It will be not late the day that we ascertain the difficulty to make a complete or sufficiently complete stamps collection of a country. Classic stamps, but also some  more recent, are most expensive and unavailable, with result to be practically unattainable a complete collection of this kind. For this reason our albums remained with empty "black" holes: because of the high cost or the rarity of the stamps that may cover them.

Once, some philatelist watched some of the stamps of their collection; supposing  the pictured below.

On the stamp we can distinguish the following themes:

Goddess Demeter, archaic tunic, trident, ears
(in the goddess' right hand), tractor, break, tilled land etc.

 

They ascertained what a detail, what art, how many messages and information emerged from their depictions! they apprehend that each of them could narrate a whole story or, at least, a part of it.

This detailed observation drove them to the conclusion that on using selected stamps they could compose a narration, e THEME. In other words, they thought that  instead to collect stamps of a country, they could deal with a thematic collection related to birds, animals, cars, athletics, medicine, theatre, painting, history and thousands others, more or less prototype themes, which could have relation to their profession, their science, their hobby!

Thereby THEMATIC PHILATELY was born.

THEMATIC PHILATELY is, therefore, the way of collecting that gives the possibility  to select and develop a theme, using stamps and other philatelic material, following the routes of our logic, sagacity, composing ability, our personal aesthetic. Through the composing effort from the rank our personal possibilities they rise our attitude  for  inquest, close examination of the theme that we treat. THEMATIC PHILATELY is the  par excellence training philately, as it challenges deep and detailed study of our theme, so that all its parameters will be covered. In this way THEMATIC PHILATELY contributes to the permanent training of the collector/philatelist and conduces to the perpetual enrichment of his knowledge. 

When of course a thematic collection is exhibited at an exhibition of competitive level, is intelligible that it may follow concretive rules (general philatelic and special thematic), same for everybody, so that the comparison and partial evaluation could be possible.

The development of these thematic rules consists one of the aims of this site.