ABOUT US
The Dublin Stamp Society (DSS) is a collection of people who are interested in the hobby of philately or stamp collecting. The Society was founded in 1948 and has been active ever since, serving the needs of the members.
DSS members are a very diverse group, male and female, old and young, and from all social backgrounds, mostly based in the County Dublin area but with several country members who also occasionally attend. The Society meets twice a month, excluding the Summer months and December, where members discuss many stamp-related topics, exchange information, put on displays of their collections and stage auctions, or “Bourses”, of stamps, collections, and other postal-related ephemera which members may find has become surplus to their needs.
Once a year, there is a Members Day Out which features a visit to some interesting location; examples of some recent outings include a guided tour of Glasnevin Cemetery and a visit to the Dublin Literary Museum on Stephens Green.
What does Stamp Collecting entail?
Members of the DSS have many and varied tastes when it comes to what they collect. Some collect all worldwide stamps, others confine themselves to one country, eg. Ireland, or a limited number of countries, eg. British Commonwealth, the EU, or North America, etc. Another popular pursuit among members is thematic collecting where people collect only certain subjects, eg., birds on stamps, or ships, animals, royalty or Christmas; the choices are endless.
Still other members collect Airmails, or stamps from ‘dead’ countries, ie., countries that no longer exist like East Germany, Czecho-slovakia, Rhodesia, or Indo China, while others are more interested in the actual franking marks on the stamps and the stories they tell, eg. British stamps used in Ireland before 1922 with frank marks from Irish towns, or early postmarks, and some people collect complete envelopes which can tell their own interesting stories of their travels, etc. Stamps are normally collected in albums or stock books, of which a wide variety is available on the open market.
So, variety is the order of the day when it comes to what DSS members collect and anything in the area of postal history is fair game.
Where do the members meet?
The DSS meets on the first and third Tuesdays of the month (excluding June, July, August and December) in Ely House, 8, Ely Place, Dublin 2, which is just off St. Stephen's Green, and meetings start at 7pm and usually conclude about 9pm. Newcomers are welcome and applications for membership are available at these meetings from the Secretary, Chris McDonagh.
What does it cost to become a member of the DSS?
The annual membership subscription is € 25 which runs from the beginning of the calendar year for the next twelve months and is renewable annually. However, members joining after the 1st June are entitled to a 50% reduction on their first subscription.
Meet The Committee
Paul Tattersall
President
Chris McDonagh
Secretary
Brian Warren
Treasurer
Mike Burrington
Bourse Secretary