Your First Stamp Purchases. Starting Your Collection

These are the first stamps I have bought with a view to starting my own collection, having inherited a modest collection. I was inspired by some stamps of snowflakes I saw in the 'octagonal stamp' thread. I know they are not octagonal but fortunately the thread meandered a little! I would love to see what other people decided on the first time around.

I am going to follow a snow, ice, winter, skiing type theme and am already eyeing up some beauties.

And so it starts...

Good luck. You're gonna need it.



[edited to clarify the reference...lots of room to play with that topic. Keep us up to date on progress.]

You could call it "The Polygonal Collection"

Sure I still remember the first nickle I spent on the hobby...i was in a hobby shop and saw a glassine with 3 Liberia triangle airmails for 5 cents..they were the most colorful things I had ever seen..i could not wait to part with my nickle !!

'The Polygonal Collection'... I like it!

I remember my first purchases when I was only 12. Not much of value when compared to my wish lists of today but at the time I stared at the stamps for hours dreaming of places far away. When I took up the hobby after I retired 5 years ago, I was shocked at the prices of some stamps but focused my efforts and limited money on used Canada stamps which I really enjoyed collecting. Now I have expanded to six countries and spend countless hours on this great past time. I only hope that my grandchildren will show an interest in this hobby so I can share my countless spares with them.

Hexagons!
Thanks for posting.

yes, lots of people use the term hex to mean hexagons, septagons, octagons, nonagons, (6,7,8,9-sided) etc. It is just easier somehow. But the reverse happens a lot also. people here and at the stamp club refer to hexagons as octagons. Is all good though, people love to help, and that is a big thing about this community, all the help available and freely given.

mhc99, welcome, if I haven't said so before now.

I have just received these. The Norwegian booklet has a great cover but contains some bland stamps. The Tromso card was fantastic to find as I love all things Arctic.

The Shackleton booklet is beautiful, contains machins and has a superb little woodcut illustration. I understand there is a set of these...can anyone help?

Alexarne

Lovely items.
Dor, our new member, would love to see the Tromso Card !
I will nudge her.

The GB Booklet [Shackelton] is one of a series of 9: 2 each of Shackelton,Mary Kingsley and Livingstone; and 1 each of Scott,Frobisher and Captain Cook.
XP series, 1968-70, all with Pre-decimal Machin Panes.

Your booklet has the nice unshaded GPO Cypher emblem.

Londonbus1

9!! Guess I will have to look out for some more snowy ones! Do I need to look for similar emblems on any others I can get my hands on?

Hope the nudge is well recieved

The first stamp I purchased was a 1967 South Korean stamp and souvenir sheet commemorating the 6th Presidential Inauguration of Park Chung-Hee. This was the to be the first of many purchases for what has now become my goal of completing a country collection for South Korea.

Hi

I started at 6 or 7. I had an aunt in the millinery business and she gave me a shopping bag full of European stamps. She then took me to the Minkus counter at Gimbel's department store and bought me a Minkus worldwide album and a Scott Modern album. Then to get me started she bought me my first purchased stamp, an used Israel 9 (1000p) for 50 cents. That is one stamp I will always keep.

Jerry B

An Israel #9 for 50 cents ! An Israel #9 has NEVER been 50 cents.

Where did it come from ?

Amazing.

Post a pic please.

Hi LondonBus,

I do not have a scanner so cannot post it. The stamp was bought late 1948 or early 1949 and was sold by Minkus. Not too long after Minkus sold Israel stamps for hefty prices, especially with tabs. The stamp is used with a light cancel. I am pretty sure the price was around 50 cents, a mint example was a lot more. My aunt wanted me to collect Israel thus the reason for buying the stamp.

In the military I was stationed for a year in Rabat, Morocco. There I met with a stamp dealer who was selling Israel stamps. He wanted current US stamps so I bought sheets of stamps on the base and traded for Israel. It was a good deal but for some reason I got interested in France so my Israel collection is sparse. Now I only collect Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela.

Jerry B

If you're looking for canadian stamps with snowflakes, you might want to buy 555 to 557...and 689 also

jbcev,

What a story !
I can imagine that in 1948/49 when you went to Gimbel's, the info given to Minkus was still a bit vague.
Today, a F/U copy without Tab will cost about $50-$100, more or less.
I assume your copy is without Tab ?
And what are the perf measurements?

Even 60-odd years ago, I would guess at $10-$20 for that stamp.

I can understand why you would never want to part with it.

Londonbus1