Next New New New Question Haha

Hey guys. Thank to all of you who helped me in my last post. If you haven't seen it here's a short summary. Ima brand new collector with not one stamp to my name. I may want to start. I want to focus on united states stamps only. Not modern. Old ones. From what I've gathered stamps were first used in the us in the early 1900's so I guess that's the time frame I want to focus on. There is a stamp shop literally two miles from my house so I'm thinking about dropping by to do a little coin collecting business. While I'm there I figure ill get my first stamp. For my first stamp im not spending a lot so my price range is 0-10 dollars. Based on all this criteria what do you guys think I should get?

Baltimore, I just read your other thread and you got some great advice from some very experienced collectors. My advice is to go slow and learn about pricing. Perhaps you should go to your local library and look in the latest Scott catalogue Volume 1 for US stamps. The US issued its first stamp around 1845 and the earliest stamps are quite expensive for both mint and used. When you buy your first stamps try to get one with nice centering, light cancel and not faults. For your first purchase with a price range of 0-10 dollars, I would suggest that you look at Scott # 65 which is a Washington 3¢ rose colored stamp issued in 1861/62 that has a catalogue value for used at $3.

Baltimore
mhc99 is of good advice and i'm not a US stamps collector so I will add just this "Buy what is appealing to your eyes or present historical interest for you"

First and foremost, you need to decide if this is a hobby, or an investment. I approach it entirely as a hobby. So I (like timbres667 suggests) just buy what I like the looks of, and is in my miniature budget.

Having a focus area is not a bad plan, but it can be a from a nearly unlimited number of areas.

There are lots of reasonably priced gems in the late 1800s and early 1900s US stamps. Much like Canada, they have done a really nice job of creating interesting areas to collect.

You might look into getting a somewhat older Scott's catalogue. Given your interest in the earlier US stamps, you don't need a really recent one, and can pick up a copy pretty cheap. There is lots of useful info in the front of the catalogue, and of course, pricing info for good quality copies of the various stamps.

Remember that the guys on this forum are a priceless and nearly infinite source of information. I've found this forum to be an amazing resource.

I would say that stamps are even less of an investment tool than coins.
I have not been collecting stamps long, but I am approaching 40 years with coins.
If coins were an investment, most collectors would be rich. However, you know
how it goes with coins.... Sometimes you win big, sometimes you lose big, but
most of the time you just break even. Collect anything for the enjoyment, and
the small victories will just be icing on the cake.

With stamps, it is a buyer's market right now, unlike coins, so it is concieveable
that stamps bought now could possibly return to their former glory and become
a win, but I wouldn't go into it thinking like that. With anything I collect,
I just think that maybe my grandkids will benefit one day and appreciate.

Hi

If you go to the library look at the Scott US Specialized catalog rather than Scott Volume 1. If you are serious about collecting only US stamps then I would suggest purchasing a Scott US Specialized. There is a lot of information in it that just doesn't exist in the regular Volume 1. A fairly recent edition will suffice and save you the purchase price of a new one (which you can always get later).

Jerry B