Why I started collecting postage stamps

Hello:

It seems the subject of postage stamp collecting only favors the old
timers for now. I have seen a post to the group about 'the simpsons'
getting on stamps or is that labels ? Seems the US Postage is off on
another wild goose chase making labels for kids sticker books. I may
be wrong as I am always, but I started in 1955 with my sisters stamp
album, which I still have, and branched out to 5 Harris books and
assorted albums that caught my eye, seeing they had pictures of the
stamps instead of blank spots with very few pictures. I go to stamps
shows and look for basic 'Europe between the wars' and find a lot of
help in that area. I might have the oldest collection of stamps, but I
take them out and see each one, that I chased after, soaked off of
paper or traded for. I hate giving my duplicates away, seeing my
memories are what I live with. So what I am getting at the newest
stamps out there are mear fancy labels with no meaning behind them.
There is beauty in all our collections, some engraved, some with
sentimental meanings, and then there are those stamps that remind you
of your youth. But please John Q Public remember what that postage
means to you.
I am stepping off my soap box now, going back to my Harris books and
fondle my collection that means more to me than all the labels I can
make with a label machine and put on a envelope. To me this is what
stamp collecting is all about.
Dare tell us how you all started and I will understand all the
centimental feelings you will have.
JIM

jim wrote:
Hello:

It seems the subject of postage stamp collecting only favors the old
timers for now. I have seen a post to the group about 'the simpsons'
getting on stamps or is that labels ? Seems the US Postage is off on
another wild goose chase making labels for kids sticker books. I may
be wrong as I am always, but I started in 1955 with my sisters stamp
album, which I still have, and branched out to 5 Harris books and
assorted albums that caught my eye, seeing they had pictures of the
stamps instead of blank spots with very few pictures. I go to stamps
shows and look for basic 'Europe between the wars' and find a lot of
help in that area. I might have the oldest collection of stamps, but I
take them out and see each one, that I chased after, soaked off of
paper or traded for. I hate giving my duplicates away, seeing my
memories are what I live with. So what I am getting at the newest
stamps out there are mear fancy labels with no meaning behind them.
There is beauty in all our collections, some engraved, some with
sentimental meanings, and then there are those stamps that remind you
of your youth. But please John Q Public remember what that postage
means to you.
I am stepping off my soap box now, going back to my Harris books and
fondle my collection that means more to me than all the labels I can
make with a label machine and put on a envelope. To me this is what
stamp collecting is all about.
Dare tell us how you all started and I will understand all the
centimental feelings you will have.
JIM


As I remember I was about 8 years old and was home sick with the flu. My
mom bought me a couple envelopes of Harris stamps that were on sale at
the local Woolworth's if I remember correctly and thus started a now
lifetime hobby of stamp collecting. I have a fairly complete mint US
back into the 30's. My prizes are a few mint Columbian's and C1 through
C6 that I have purchased through the years. I have collected quite a
few fdc's over the years and and have enjoyed collecting some space
material especially Shuttle launch covers, and now have brached out into
collecting some of the Ariane V launch covers from French Guiena. My
wife likes peguins, so I started her a collection of Penguin stamps, now
she looks forward to a stamp outing as much as I do.

Jim

"jim"
Dare tell us how you all started and I will understand all the
centimental feelings you will have.

Started as a kid,
then had my stamps stolen.

I returned the moment I saw a line engraved stamp
as a full screen image from a scanner. I was hooked.