About this DCStamps

DCStamps.com is a website based on collecting stamps and currency from countries which no longer exist — often defined as a “dead country”. According to Linn’s Stamp News, the definition of a dead country is “any area that has ceased existence and no longer produces postage stamps”. Although my definition is somewhat different (see my definitions page), the spirit remains the same, a focus on collecting postage stamps and/or banknotes from countries, colonies, revolutionary entities or occupational forces which no longer exist (in my case, ending before 1956).

My name is Michael Adkins, and as an avid collector in this area, I have a fairly broad collection and knowledge of the subject. The purpose of this site is to share my interest in this specialty and begin documenting what can be a daunting area for collectors. While I enjoy the organizing and collecting aspect of the hobby, I find that understanding the people, the historical context, and the political situation of the country from where it came, provides huge insight into the individual pieces of history we collect.

Another purpose for this site is to begin organizing and sharing my personal collection. I read on a blog a while back about building a digital stamp album. This concept intrigued me as I can organize and display my collection where it can be viewed it in a meaningful fashion, while the actual items remain safely in my stockbook, without hinges, albums or over handling the specimens.Making these digital albums involves 4 simple steps. 1) Designing a country by country album using PowerPoint, 2) Scanning the items in my collection into a .jpg format, 3) “Pasting” the scans digitally into the album, and 4) Converting the album into a .pdf format for easy display.

This site will always be “under construction”. It will take quite a while to put together album pages for my entire collection, I plan to continually adding to my collection, and of course I am always learning new things about the history of a region or country.

About this Me

My name Michael Adkins and I have been a collector of stamps from “dead countries” for many years. While I am not an expert on banknotes, I do collect banknotes from Dead countries as well. However, it a secondary to stamps, primarily because of the expense and difficulty in locating notes.

My interest in stamps started at a young age, as my grandparents were postmasters in a very small town in California. In fact the post office was an extension of their house. They got me interested in stamps by buying me new issues when they were issued, and since my grandfather also ran a small export business on the side, he would receive mail from many different countries, always giving me the envelope and stamp to add to my collection. I believe that this gave me a keen interest in geography, maps and finding out about far and distant lands. Over the years, as I developed a love for travel, and an interest in history and culture, my collecting interests gradually narrowed to countries which no longer existed — “dead” countries.

Currently, we live in Florida. As you can see from the picture of me and my wife of 29 years at Machu Picchu, one of my true passions is travel. Over the years, we have visited more than 80 “non-dead” countries, including living in Japan for 3-1/2 years. But when at home, stamp/banknote collecting allows me to explore the unique history of an area, and to “travel when I am not travelling”.

Please feel free to explore the site, offer suggestions, ask questions, let me know of countries not on my list, or even debate my definitions of a “dead country”.

Thank you for visiting.

Michael
Your comments are encouraged.