With nearly 40,000 followers across his social media accounts, one philatelic influencer has propelled the hobby into the 21st century with an “extreme” take on collecting stamps. Graham Beck grew up in South Africa, where he collected new issues with his childhood friends, before moving to the United States, where he now lives in New Jersey. In December 2016, he launched the Exploring Stamps podcast on YouTube and has since garnered 3.29 million views and about 29,400 subscribers. While most episodes centre on a specific country or subject, some of them take a more general approach with videos about collection storage, tongs and tweezers, perforated initials (commonly called “perfins”) and pen cancellations to name but a few. Some of the most popular episodes explore “extreme philately,” a term borrowed from extreme sports such as skateboarding and BMX biking, both characterized by their high risk. “It’s become known as extreme philately in the online community – the idea of getting a stamp, taking it out of your collection and bringing it to a location to line it up with a photograph,” said Beck, whose channel is available at youtube.com/c/ExploringStamps. Continue reading →
Exploring Stamps podcast host Graham Beck (right), of New Jersey, accepts an honourary membership for the North Toronto Stamp Club from the group’s membership chair Les Selby at CAPEX 22 last June in Toronto.
