What do you collect?

During the lockdown I was looking at my collection and this triggered some thoughts. Mind you, this is my opinion, and everyone is free to think differently.
How it started: In 1987 I started collecting the theme "motorcycle". Easy, I thought.

Soon I got some stamps with a motorcycle, and my collection started to grow nicely because several countries honored the 100th anniversary of the motorcycle with an issue in 1985.

To create some clarity for myself, I looked up the definition of what was a motorcycle according to the Dutch Regulations for Traffic Rules and Traffic Signs (RVV) 1990.
This became my frame: motorcycle = "a motorized vehicle on two wheels, with or without a sidecar or trailer".
Well, that was clear. So what do we do with scooters, solexes and mopeds? Include them in the collection. Or not? Personally, I put them in my albums, in line with my framework.

And what to do with a 3-wheeler, like a tuk-tuk?

So I adjusted my frame a bit and it became: motorcycle = "a motorized vehicle on two or three wheels, possibly with a sidecar or trailer".
But okay, then you will come across items such as a 3-wheeled car or trike, which are not in our catalog.

Thus, include them in the collection according to the above framework? I do, but that is my own choice.
And in this way the expansion of my collection went on until I came across a snowmobile.

Yes, it has an engine, but no wheels. What to do with that? I myself draw the line here. No wheels, so no motorcycle.
But well, we also have the Deutsche Reich stamp of the "Kettenkrad" with part wheels, part tracks.

Next we come to the gray area of the quads.

In the Netherlands, these are again divided into different classes: unlicensed / not registered, moped, motorcycle, car, company car. Incidentally, the term quad does not appear at all in the RVV.
For me (even though they are in the MFN catalogue) they have 1 wheel too much, so I leave them as they are.

But we're not there yet.... Because under the pressure of the climate fanatics to all start riding green, electric motorcycles are now also coming onto the market.

My choice is to collect them also. My frame thus becomes: motorcycle = "a motorized vehicle on two or three wheels, whether or not with a sidecar or trailer, powered by a combustion engine or an electric motor".
Clear, you would think. But what to do with an electric autoped?

Or even worse: a Segway?

I will keep them in my collection for now. After all, they fall within the framework I used. Who knows, maybe I'll have to come up with something else soon to define my framework?

I hope that this article has given you a little insight into how I have set the boundaries for my collection (and also had to adjust them over time).
There is always a gray area, and everyone has to decide for himself what to collect and what not. Fact is that it is still fun and challenging, and my collection is far from complete. But that's what makes thematic collecting so much fun!

Hans Baartman

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