My First Collection (30+ Years Ago)

OK I was like 12 in 1974 and most of these are from then. I know they are in a sticky book (I was stupid then) This is page 1 and 2 of the 9 page book. Is it worth posting more or are these common? And is anything worth anything? Its the first time I have pulled these out in a long time. Any comments are welcome. Most of the others are like Popes, New Zealand, Africa, Islands, Dubai, Iraq etc....

PS Sorry about page 1 upside down!

Wouldn't have a clue, I like the look of some though

You've got some nice space stamps there! Are all the stamps cancelled or are there any mints in that album?
How can you pull the stamps out of that kind of album without damaging them? Aren't they stuck in there? I have photos in that kind of album that I cannot get out.
I don't really see anything of exceptional value--but the value is in the collector's desire for a particular stamp.

I would like to see some more from that album!
Thanks for posting!
Gussyboy1

There is probably 15 Mint the rest are post marked. As far as stickiness, it seems to be wearing off over time but that stuff lasts longer then I though at 12. I don't know but there has to be someone that knows how to remove these thing!

Hold on I'll post page 5

Jeff

OK, The popes and others on this page are Mint.

Here is the pic.

Hi Jeffery.....

I doubt you will be able to salvage anything from this album. The gum used to hold photo backing paper will always damage stamps. As you can see there are gum lines showing through some of the stamps. On the up-side they are all fairly common stamps and easily replaced. As a twelve year old, using this album does not make you stupid, it just means you didn't know it would damage your stamps. If you would like help creating a collection to be proud of, you've come to the right place. You will find plenty of friendly helpful folks here.

Jeffrey - What you did is no worse than what most of us have done at one time or another, and as Tom said, at least your didn't ruin valuable material. And we made many of these mistakes as adults, not 12 year olds!
We had a thread a few months ago where we all listed the "ignorant" and careless things we've done in the past. There were some real doozies with some valuable issues. I'll see if I can find it.

Here's one: https://goscf.com/t/1162

the other is "Top Ten Beginner's Mistakes"

If you think that's "stupid," at one time a stamp company used the very same stuff in making their
stamp packets. I believe it was Harris and "Honor Built" but am not positive. Wonder what they
were thinking other than saving time. Had a couple of old packets of this kind show up in a lot
I won on ebay a few years ago and the stamps could not be removed. Don't know if it would be worth
the trouble, but xylene or xylol will dissolve wax.

Jeff, just think of it as an experiment that didn't
work and move ahead with the knowledge gained!

Much knowledge can be gained here.

Well, I was about 3 in 1974...

But when I was 12, I too made stamp-collecting decisions that pain me today. So many mint stamps, hinged, just because I guessed that those particular stamps weren't that valuable. Luckily, I was usually right, but I'm sure that's simply because the odds were in my favor: the overwhelming majority of stamps really aren't high-value.

But to be fair, I think it's a rare 12-year-old who wouldn't make some of these mistakes without some sort of knowledgeable mentor.

Using hinges is natural. Have had some albums come through in lots
I have won where the scotch tape or double-sided tape was used instead.
But again, beginners will seldom have something of real value to mess up.

Yeah, I have some of those scotch taped stamps in my album too, although I bought them that way in the album a at a garage sale. That darned tape even discolored the album pages. I went through and replaced all the scotch tape with hinges because I didn't want to throw the stamps away, and they are still in there.

Charles.

i guess theres room for improvement in all of us...i remember one rather advanced character who used to smoke while he worked on his stamps..i have seen some beautiful souvineer sheets with brown burn marks on them !