The Punk Philatelist Manifesto

Punk Philatelist is out to prove that stamps and other philatelic stuff are not just dusty things for old people to collect before they die, but a fascinating and vibrant expression of pop culture.

Based in Melbourne, Australia, Punk hit the internet in 2015 with a manifesto:

How the hell has it come to pass that the cool young people are wearing gingham dresses and crocheting and trimming their beards with scrimshaw knives, while remaining oblivious to the joys of the wonderful olde-schoole world of philately?

“Philately? You mean stamp collecting?” Pfft! Stamp collecting is for children and idiots. Let the Punk Philatelist lead you to where the grown-ups live. A world where murderers and millionaires connive, where countries go to war over a postage stamp, where a life can be changed by the chance discovery of an old envelope in an attic…

Artists, passionate about their work, create tiny masterpieces every day, only to see them increasingly ignored in favour of soulless electronic labels. The forces of Boring are winning the war. Every time you meekly slap another dreary postal barcode on your mail instead of using your consumer power to demand a stamp, you don’t even realise you’re the bad guy. There is a better way.

So, what IFL Science has done for quantum physics, the Punk Philatelist intends to do for 1930s zeppelin mail. (Just look at the Art Deco majesty of those beauties. Come to Papa.) And it’s worth paying attention, because your grandfather will die soon, and you’ll want to leg it with his stamp album.