Any long time stamp collectors on here?

[abbynormal]

I have been a collector for 35 years and was wondering who else collects and what are your areas of interest. I have always collected British Commonwealth with an emphasis on postally used. Although I've tried some different albums over the years, I've always come back to stampalbums.com for album pages I can print myself.

 

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[A.J. Griffin 00]

I've been collecting for five years for what it's worth.

 

[Mackaydon]

Abbynormal,
IMO, and unfortunately, I see stamp collecting going the same route as the slide rule and the telephone land line. To make my point, call your local Boy Scout troop and ask for the Stamp Collecting Merit Badge coordinator. Then ask him how many young Scouts does he have in his program today. Or go to a Stamp and Coin Show and see how much space is taken up by stamps versus coins. For any hobby to grow, the youth must get interested; and today the youth (again, IMO) has little to no interest in stamp collection; especially compared to coin collecting.
But I digress........my emphasis has been on US issues--though over the years I've favored several countries, including those within the British Commonwealth. To give you an idea how long I've collected, I bought the complete BC series celebrating the Queen's coronation when they were first issued.
Happy New Year,
Don...........

 

[Minrelica]

I don't collect now but as a kid 35 years ago I used to get big bags of stamps from all over the world at the Ben Franklin convenience store and place them in a thick stamp book that I had... Has anyone else here purchased a bag of stamps like that? Now that I think about it, that was pretty cool.

 

[K*E*L*L*Y]

There are so many questions with stamps its overwhelming... Are they worth more, NOT IN THE BOOKS? Are the FOREIGN ONES WORTH MORE?
I received a huge stamp collection when a family member died :/ ? and I find very few people even deal with stamps or even want them.
*and dont try to pull off the stamps that have been glued into the books* LOL

......and WIT I went to a store called Ben Franklin as a kid too.

 

[outdoorfunblonde]

Yes, I've been stamp collecting since I was in elementary school. (late 70's)
I have stamps new and postmarked. From all over the wold, as well as sets made for collection. I have not really been making effort to collect for the last 8 yrs or so, but they come to me because family knew I have a collection"going"
I have loose stamps all over the house, and probably every drawer. Kinda fell behind on putting them in my books...
Some of my favs are the triangle stamps, and Princess Dianna stamps.

 

[jspero]

I've been collecting since about 1975 when I got my first Harris world album that came with a few hundred WW stamps for Christmas. I focus on US through 2000 and Canal Zone. I prefer US BOB, especially some of the more esoteric materials (postal seals, local posts, test stamps, etc.). I do believe the hobby is slowing down, if not slowly heading for death. I'm in a financial position to obtain some of the things I could only dream of when I was younger and the upper-end sector seems to be alive and well. I'm just hoping my kids don't mail my collection when I croak. I do try to use stamps when I help them with history homework or projects, but there are just too many other distractions for kids these days. They also tend to text and e-mail vs. using the mail (remember how exciting it was to get something in the actual MAIL that was not a bill?). I present stamps as little works of art and that gets some traction, but not enough for them to actually collect.

 

[Mackaydon]

Jspero,
As I mentioned on this thread two years ago, I get satisfaction giving my seconds and "who cares" stamps to the Boy Scout counselor in charge of the Stamp Collection Merit badge--then encourage the counselor to 'press' the history behind each stamp.
Don...

 

[abbynormal]

Yes, I've been stamp collecting since I was in elementary school. (late 70's)
I have stamps new and postmarked. From all over the wold, as well as sets made for collection. I have not really been making effort to collect for the last 8 yrs or so, but they come to me because family knew I have a collection"going"
I have loose stamps all over the house, and probably every drawer. Kinda fell behind on putting them in my books...
Some of my favs are the triangle stamps, and Princess Dianna stamps.

I started young as well. I have had times throughout the years that I spent more or less time on stamps, but I've never stopped collecting.

 

[jspero]

Mackaydon,

I did not notice how old this thread was. Oops.

Yes, I remember your response in other threads as well and its a great idea. I just found out a new friend is a scout master for one of our local troops. I'll ask him if there is any interest with his gang. I have a ton of material (as most long time collectors do) that would be great for them. I remember it being hard to actually get that badge but mostly because there was no leader in my troop interested in making it happen.

jspero

 

[Mackaydon]

jspero,
Yes, stamp collecting is a fading hobby; unfortunately. Our local troop no longer offers the merit badge for the reason you mentioned--lack of counselor leaders for that badge. If Scouts are serious about earning the badge, they have to meet a counselor in the next town.
Don.

 

[Slingshot]

I've collected stamps for over 50 years now, and have boiled it down to just US postally used, with my main interest in #720 & 721, tons of variety in that simple issue. Then I like SOTN's in the 20's -90's when I can pick them up inexpensively. It's a dieing hobby in the US, still active overseas though. I don't care for the newer stamps and cut my US off at 2001, Thinking about cutting it back even farther, and will be liquidating my WW collection this winter, after spending years building up a nice 1840 - 1930 collection in an old Scott's hardback Junior album, which is a collectors item in it's own right. MY present US collection is my third one that I've built, as I sold the first two after years of building each of them. Lessons learned is to find stamps that are fun to collect that don't cost much money, collect them how ever you want, and don't use tape for crying out loud!

 

[Mackaydon]

Slingshot,
You mentioned you built 'up a nice 1840-1930 collection in an old Scott's hardback Junior album..."
Did you mean that?
You also mentioned #720 and #721. I show that as a Washington 3 cent issue.
Again, are you referring to that stamp?
Don.......

 

[Slingshot]

Yeah Mackaydon, Spent many years and much treasure developing a WW collection of 1840 - 1930 in a beautifully preserved 1930 Scott's Junior stitched hardback stamp album. Lots of fun, but ready to move on to something else. I collect only postally used in US, and find 720 & 721 extremely interesting. They were the first class standard definitive issue from 1932 - 1938, 6 years during the height of the Great Depression, and for instance I have found 12 distinct shades of the 721, 13 recut plate varieties, along with hundreds of interesting cancels. It was hard times and ink mixing was variable over it's printing life, along with the recut plates to keep them alive for more printings, all of which make for stamp collecting at it's finest. You, a stamp, magnifying glass and totally uncharted waters, as you search for varieties everyone has ignored for decades. You can literally buy them by the pound already soaked off paper for just a few bucks. I paid $10 for my last pound of these, which runs at around 7,000 stamps, and I'm having a blast collecting them. I also collect other issues the same way, like C23, C46 with actual Hawaii postmarks, j79-j86 which are the Postage Due issue from 1931 - 1958, America's longest running issue with tons of shades, colors, and plates being recut for 27 years! Talk about a complex issue, these really bog me down, but are fun collecting and not expensive either. Then I pick up SOTN's at shows and from other collectors and have managed to acquire hundreds of them, trading for the majority of them. I am just getting settled in from a move and will try and get some scans up of some of what I collect next week to give you guys a better idea of the fun you might be missing out on.

 

[DeepseekerADS]

To keep this thread alive, I've collected since age 9. Back in the late 50's, the city dumps were open to scavengers. I'd walk around looking for boxes of old letters & such, and along the way I'd pick up a few small collections. After late puberty as my interests changed I kinda abandoned the hobby. Over the years from there, I'd pick up the collections of others, and just kept accumulating stamps, save them till this day. At one point I thought about selling the collection, and then saw the hobby had faded in people's eyes. So, I'll just pass it on when I pass on.

I have zero idea how many stamps I have. Bought a database, and over a period of 3 months I cataloged over 12,000 stamps. Didn't even put a tiny dent into the stamps.

Stamp collecting is still a very interesting hobby. But no one else knows anymore.

And Don, once again you impress me!

 

[tokenhead]

When i was 9 yrs.old.But now it has been 15-20yrs.Of collecting Erie,PA.&Erie County,PA. postal history(cancel's,ad.cover's,etc.),I'm 57...HAPPY HUNTING ALL!!!
P.S. I love the "killer"cancel's&Stamp less covers most!

 

[nh.nugget]

I started in the late sixties. Got so many lost count. I would go to flea markets buy old collections and people would give them to me just because I showed an interest. one of my Uncles' mother used to save them we're talking from the 40's on up until she passed. She would sort them and tie them into bundles with thread. My uncle gave me 3 shoe boxes full 2 US. 1 foreign. All in bundles.

 

[NellsCollect]

I have been collecting on and off since the mid-1990s. Hard to explain WHAT stamps I collect... basically what strikes my fancy and I can afford! Certain topicals (cars, trains, flowers, etc), nice engraving, etc. Also US revenues.

Oh, and did I mention nice engraving? I am a sucker for nice engraving...

 

[Beezly]

Ive collected for about 28 years. It started with just hinged stamps in a little 3x3 booklet as a kid. Now I collect everything from the typical volume 1 to the back of the book, except for US possesions, i don't have much interest in them. For my volumes i dont really care if a stamp is used or mint but my other albums i try to get mint never hinged. I have a favorites album for stamps that I feel are really nice designs or just plain strange. I have a few topical albums: space, non denominated, national parks, military history, test stamps. I love mint sheets from the 1940's through the 1960's. Plate block first day covers of my favorite stamps are a must, and recently i got hooked on postal history. Stampless covers in my opinion are the coolest postal thing to collect, the penmanship is usually amazing. Embossed post cards from the early 1900's are pretty neat too. My wife is growing tired of my never ending need to buy another binder, and the ever present "Honey, i'm out of mounts again..."