Introduce Yourself

Hello everyone,

Several people in my family collect stamps, like many families I guess. I focus on used British stamps from all periods, although I have a lot of foreign stamps which I should sort properly some day.

As far as Stamp Collecting books go I have two copies of Collect British Stamps (2001 and 2005); Great Britain Concise Catalogue (2002) and British Stamp Market Values (2006).

fluteflute

I've let my collecting lapse in recent years and never focused in on a specialty, but have been collecting for about 40 years. I took a breather because my ex was jealous of my stamp collection and pretty much anything else I did. I've filled two volumes of the Citation album as well as a US album, and have all sorts of first day covers, as well as boxes of loose stamps inherited or found from various folks. I also got carried away at a few auctions and ended up with other people's collections that need to be put right and sorted. I had an auction house look at my collection a few years ago but when they offered me less than the cash value of the uncancelled stamps I decided I would leave it to my nephew.

Has anyone else here read Nassau Street?

'A collection of stories and memories by Herman (Pat) Herst, Jr. about his days as a stamp dealer on Nassau Street in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s.'

I've never heard of it before. Would you recommend it? You've given it three stars. I notice theres a copy on BookMooch.

Greetings all! Thanks for setting up this group. I've collected stamps all my life, with the occasional break for university, small children, etc. I have had a long-standing interest in the stamps of the Falkland Islands and Antarctica, a real link with remote and fascinating places. In recent years the emphasis of my collecting has moved to the stamps and postal history of the Faroes and Denmark. I think my library reflects all of these interests!

Thanks for the invite. I've been associated with stamp collecting for about 65 years. A number of years ago I decided to start a Stamp project for Korea Christian Gospel Mission, and donated my stamps to the mission and have encouraged people to do the same, even saving their common stamps and sending them in. It has been a great time and I have lots of stamps. Now the problem is to get them sold for the mission, but I'm enjoying the work. You can check it out at http://www.kcgm.org
Lopestoper

As a collector I enjoyed Nassau Street, it may have most of its appeal for dealers, especially those from the pre-internet age.

Thanks for the invite, and I am pleased to join my first group. I am currently a stamp collector/dealer selling under the name Soundcrest on ebay and Stamp Wants. I love to collect stamp reference books and as you can tell have accumulated quite a few. My favorite is my copy of the Stamp Collectors Handbook. This my second copy, the first one I bought at Woolworth's in 1957 when I started collecting stamps (I was 6)

I've been collecting stamps for about 33 years (since I was 9?), off again/on again, depending on school/work/life priorities. It usually goes in bursts, at least until someone claims the Dining Room Table for meals instead of piles of stamps and albums and books and such. There are times when I've been more enthusiastic about collecting specialized catalogs and/or philatelic literature -- some in languages that I can't read Hanyingfaderie duizhao jiyou xiaocidian (I think that's a multi-language philatelic dictionary). Of course, I could easily burn my philatelic budget (time and money) with literature instead of stamps, so I try to remind myself that the APRL is only five hours driving distance from my home.

A few years ago, I took home boxes of unclaimed stamps and albums that were buried in my Grandmother's house. After throwing out boxes of mouse and water-damaged pages (whole stamps sheets for years -- my grandfather was a mailman), I've gotten to a manageable point. I'm primarily interested in postmarks, so I have cigar boxes full of stamps to get rid of. And a cigar box full of blocks to use for postage. I haven't gotten the heart yet to just throw out the common stamps. Eventually I'll donate the more interesting singles or find specialty collectors for the precancels and such. It's been an interesting crash course in history and geography for me, so I'm hooked.

I started colllecting 55 years ago (at seven) when I found a stack of letters in my grandmother's attic, that started with Wuerttemberg and cointinued through early Germany. She gave me the corners, I soaked and arranged the stamps, and was hooked. Interrupted by girls, college, and kids, I've continued until albums take up 8 running feet of shelf space, while other material fills a closet.

Like the rest of you, I have been a collector for many years with many lapses. However, I have kept my albums through it all. I started acquiring books about stamps thanks to Ebay which made many unheard of (to me) titles available. At the present time I am not collecting stamps , but will still acquire a book whenever possible.

Well, after a hiatus of over two years since the last posting, I thought that I'd take a swing at revival... Hello!

When I was a kid in the 1950s (do I date myself?) I collected stamps related to Germany (German, German states, German colonies, WW I, WW II) which I sold long ago. I focused on them since (1) I'm from partly German heritage and (2) the Germans have an interesting, varied history and affected a wide geographic area for better or worse. If nothing else, it taught me some history and geography.

I still have affection for and interest in stamps, although I no longer collect. Like rathad - at #11 - I occasionally pick up books on stamp collecting and similar topics.

Greetings Philatelic Souls!
The Rhode Island Philatelic Society has recently started using LibraryThing to provide an online listing of the books it holds in it's member library. Feel free to check out our current holdings and ask questions about stamps and postal history. The RI Philatelic Society is the OLDEST philatelic society in the United States! We're still going strong too!