Mobile telecommunications on stamps

I had recently an interesting discussion with another stamp collector who is more into, what I would call, traditional philately, as he collects all stamps issued by a specific set of countries. We were discussing about the differences between this sort of stamp collection and the topical approach as mine.  One of the question he raised is : how do you choose your topic? Then I explained that you have to choose a topic which is wide enough to have stamps issued about it but not too wide otherwise your collection could rapidly grow and become expensive. You have to choose a subject you like, something related to your hobbies, for instance, or something you want to learn about. I also mentioned the case of some people who select as the topic of their collection their own professional occupation. I remember this nice nurse who started collecting stamps picturing nurses and who later expended her collection to “Medicine on stamps”. She had a very nice collection.

I do not know if I convinced him to give a try to topical stamp collection, only the future will tell.

But few days later, I was thinking back about this conversation while I was stuck in a traffic jam (which is very often for me, not to say every day). And I was wondering if I could start a collection on stamps related to my professional occupation…

I must tell you that I am an R&D (Research and Development) engineer who works since years in the domain of mobile telecommunications. Then I remembered the cover I had received from Pakistan and the stamp picturing a mobile phone. So the challenge was set up: I would try to see if there are more stamps picturing mobile phones.

Below is the result of my quest. As you will see there is not enough material for a complete topical collection, but it was a funny exercise. If you ever see a stamp that contains the representation of a mobile phone (in one way or another) then tell me about it. And if you have a scan this is even better. I’m thinking of starting a virtual stamp collection about this!

The first stamp I found has been issued by South Korea on the 15^th of March 2006 to celebrate the top eight export industries. The stamp illustrates the electronic industry and pictures a mobile phone.

The second stamp was issued by Russia on the 12^th of October 2006 to commemorate the 15^th anniversary of the mobile telecommunications in Russia.

The third one is the stamp from Pakistan issued on the 19^th of January 2011 that was on the cover I showed in the previous post.

The fourth one is from Ecuador. It is part of a series about telecommunications issued on the 8^th of July 2011 and pictures a more modern mobile phone, very similar to one you may know ;-)

The last one was issued this year, on the 7^th of February 2012, by Australia in a series illustrating the evolution of technology.

What about you? Are you a topical collector? How did you choose your topic? What about your professional occupation? Could it make a topic for stamp collection? I would be happy to hear from you.