收集邮票，是一件极有趣的事情。
记得大约在初中那会儿，我也曾痴迷过一阵子集邮。那时没有太多讲究，只凭眼缘——偏爱图案精美、色彩鲜艳的外国邮票。一枚小小的纸片，竟能承载异国的风景、文化甚至历史，每每翻看集邮册，都像打开一扇通往世界的窗。
可惜的是，那段热忱并未留下任何影像或实物佐证。我的集邮册早已不知去向，连一张照片都没能保存下来，徒留记忆中那些斑斓的方寸画面。
最近偶然间，我又重新接触到了集邮。如今的玩法早已今非昔比：ASG、源泰评级等专业评级机构为邮票打分，赵涌在线交易平台让邮票交易像淘宝一样便捷。更让我惊讶的是，第一套生肖猴票——那枚从小耳熟能详、总听人说“很值钱”的邮票——如今市场价5000元左右。这还是我第一次对“猴票值钱”有了具体而真实的认知。
原来，那些曾被我随手夹进册子里的小小纸片，不只是童年的消遣，也可能是一段被低估的时光投资。即便不再集邮，回望那段纯粹因美而收藏的日子，依然觉得温暖而珍贵。
Collecting stamps is an utterly delightful pursuit.
I remember back in middle school, I went through a brief but intense phase of stamp collecting. Back then, I wasn’t picky about rarity or value—just drawn to what caught my eye: beautifully designed, vividly colored foreign stamps. Those tiny paper squares carried distant landscapes, cultures, even fragments of history. Flipping through my album always felt like opening a window to the wider world.
Sadly, that youthful passion left no physical trace. My stamp album has long vanished, and not a single photo remains—only colorful, postage-sized memories linger in my mind.
Recently, by chance, I stumbled back into the world of philately. Everything has changed: professional grading services like ASG and Yuantai now assign official scores to stamps, and platforms like ZhaoYong Online make buying and selling as easy as shopping on Taobao. What truly surprised me? The very first Chinese zodiac Monkey stamp—the one I’d heard about since childhood, always described as “incredibly valuable”—now trades for around ¥5,000. For the first time, the phrase “the Monkey stamp is worth a fortune” became real and tangible to me.
Those little slips of paper I once tucked casually into an album weren’t just childhood pastimes—they were quiet investments in time itself. Even if I never collect again, looking back on those days of collecting purely for beauty still fills me with warmth and quiet gratitude.
