Here's a highly-unscientific report on trends in stamp collecting - based only on one small supplier's experience with selling stamp supplies: there may be a great many mint sheet collectors out there and a large number of people saving stamps for their personal satisfaction rather than to complete an album page.
I'm amazed at the volume of mint sheet albums and pages, first-day cover albums and pages, stockbooks and stock sheets we sell. Additionally, traditional albums are not selling nearly as well as binders and blank pages.
It's been my good fortune to meet lots of wonderful people at stamp shows. Many are shyly enthusiastic about the enjoyment they get from their stamp collection, and somewhat embarrassed they are not doing it "right."
To me, the fact they are drawing enjoyment from their hobby means - THEY ARE DOING IT RIGHT! The hobbyists (as opposed to 'investors') can't lose as long as they store their items safely in a way that gives them pleasure. There's no need for anyone else to understand. Someday, their collection may land in the hands of some of those who don't understand. If a dealer tells them "it's not worth anything," they'd be wrong. Whether there is a market for the tangible result of the hobby pursuit or not doesn't matter. The value was in the doing - any dollar value gained in disposition is merely a rebate.
