How Did You Get Into Collecting Stamps?

Wow, I absolutely love reading the stories.

For me, it was my grandfather. He was a serious collector of British North America, and the commonwealth.

Got me started with a number of the duplicates he had in a filing cabinet, with glassine envelopes for everywhere I could imagine.

Wonderful stories! Many of you have such talent and flair, it's tough to follow in your footsteps!




Jeff, I love this statement and boldly proclaim I intend to use it myself, someday :)

My story begins in the spring of 1980. I was 10 years old, and my parents were recently divorced. My mother, sensing I needed some focus in my life, encouraged me to find something constructive to do (suggesting I could pick strawberries & beans over the summer as she had as a girl). We had just moved to a new neighborhood and one of my new friends was a paper boy. I loved this idea far better than picking produce, so after getting in touch with the local distribution manager, I was given my first paper route.

As strange as it might seem now, we were entrusted to deliver bills and collect payments from our customers. It was during one of my stops to ask for payment from a customer that I discovered stamps.

Stepping into the home of Mr Leo McFee, my eyes were immediately drawn to shelves and display cases full of military memorabilia; Leo had served in Europe during WWII. From there, my attention turned to his kitchen table which probably hadn't been used to eat at for years untold. It was covered in stamps!

Without so much as a spoken word I invited myself to walk across the room and stare and all the beautiful stamps he had laid out in messy piles. "What are these?" I asked. He then took the time to explain to me his hobby of stamp collecting ... which he had started as a boy during the Great Depression. "I used to sell newspapers on the street corner when I was your age." He, stated. "I earned a penny per newspaper. On a good day, I could make a dime."

Enamoured by what I saw, I asked if I could have one. "No. But I will gladly sell you stamps."

And so it began.

That summer, I spent most of my earnings on stamps from Leo. I also picked strawberries that summer to earn extra money for my new found hobby; eventually purchasing a Scott Minuteman US album, an equivalent Scott Canada album, and a Minkus specialized Poland album (Poland had cool dinosaur stamps).

I was quite ambitious!

Like so many others, I took a long break during my late teen years before trying to take up the hobby again in the mid 90s. But it wasn't until ebay came along that I really got back into it. My first stamp purchase on ebay in 1999 was a used set of the 1901 Pan American issues. From there, my love for stamp collecting was reborn.

I don't know what the future holds for the hobby, but I intend to enjoy philately for years to come.

Brian

"Well, how did you become interested in Stamps?"

My sister, who was ten years older than I, was a keen collector and I was very young when I was attracted to her hobby. At that time, I adored her for she was much closer to me than my parents, and the first stamps that I remember were the Bosnian pictorials issued in 1906. Probably my sister gave me some duplicates and it must have been about 1912 when I went with her to visit our local stamp dealer, Alec Abrahams, who had a shop in the Fulham Road. Out of kindness, my sister let me choose what stamps she should buy for her collection and the recollection is that my first choice was always for line-engraved stamps.

When war broke out in 1914, my sister left home selling her collection to me for a few shillings, not because she needed the money, but, I suspect, because she thought I would value it more if I paid for it.

Abrahams was a good friend and thought nothing of talking about stamps for an hour, leaving me to look at the treasures in his collection while he broke off to attend to someone else who had come in the shop. In retrospect, probably the most valuable thing he taught me was the difference between buying and selling. In those days, a packet of 1000 different stamps cost about three shillings — he explained that if one bought these one was buying a lot of pleasure for a little money. They were worth nothing monetarily if one wanted to sell them. At the other end of the scale (or my scale) was a fine penny black which cost two shillings. To buy such a stamp gave one a great thrill, this was a classic, one would be proud of owning one of the first and most lovely stamps, and if one wanted to sell it, one could be sure that the dealer would give you at least a shilling for it.

It was very early on that I became fascinated with forgeries and whenever I could, bought a forgery to mount alongside a genuine stamp. It must have been Abrahams who introduced me to old Benjamin of 1 Cullum Street, who had, with his late partner Sarpy and their engraver Jeffreys, been convicted of uttering forgeries and served a prison sentence.

Their most popular line had been pairs of the forgery of the Sydney View one penny, first produced without clouds, and subsequently having clouds added to imitate the re-engraved plate. Before they were caught, the price was 2/6 for a single or 5/- for a pair, but after they came out of prison they doubled the price and sold them as forgeries. Such was the benefit of publicity. Out of his profits, Ben bought a little villa in the Old Kent Road which he called "Sydney View" and it is only a few years ago that it was demolished in the name of progress. Ben was kindly, showed me his stock of cancellations and many of the forgeries which were for sale to the unwary bargain hunter. He gave me a copy of the forgery of the New Zealand one shilling which I still have.

During the war, I met with an accident which prevented me completing my formal education. Abrahams suggested that I "went into stamps" and my last year at school was glamourised by visits to stamp auctions and selling what I did not want to my fellow school boys — capital was built up!

Thinking that I should learn something about the trade, I got a post with Fox & Co. which was run by Humphrey Golding. At 9 a.m. on the 3rd May, 1920 I presented myself —at 9.20 a.m. I was fired. On the next day I made the decision. Abrahams bought my collection for £18, £2 cash was added and on the 6th May I opened my bank account at Barclays. I was in stamps for life.

On the 6th May, 1970, the directors of Barclays Bank Ltd. gave a dinner to the directors of Robson Lowe Ltd. commemorating the fifty years association. Among the guests were representatives of the other British Banks whose services are used by the RL group.

A great litttle read
well done!

Robson Lowe was certainly larger than life.

A prolific researcher and writer, and as a stamp dealer, handled some of the rarest stamps in the world.

this thread has been great to read and I must admit my story is pale by far in comparison.... but pale or not here it is.....

i am a psychologist by trade and by nature.. I question everything and attempt to experience as much as I possibly can (not always a good choice) ove the years I have done many things.. many types of jobs, many hobbies (or attempts at them) and some time ago I found I loved fish keeping. fresh water is easy once you have the learning and experience in it and salt water is a wonderful challenge... it challenges the mind, the heart, and the wallet (mine had its very own credit card! you laugh but I am not kidding) so after I decided I can no longer invest in a hobby that was killing me I began to search for something that would serve many purposes ... I needed to be challenged intellectually, I needed to be able to enjoy the hobby with out going broke, and if I decided to slow down at some time in the future I was not risking anythings life, I also needed a way to get my family more connected.. over the years we have had to make many choices that were for the greater good of the family but not always good for our relationships with in the family context.. change was needed and about a month or so ago I recalled that some one had given me 2 stamps once long ago... no real reason why that just came to mind so I thought I would explore collecting.... after all I really had nothing to lose.... shortly after I found this site and began my journey ... a few days later I bought my first grab bag of stamps and was hooked..... I have not been here long nor have I collected long... but I have made some of the best connections in my life through this new beginning... thank you to all who have started me and continue to guide me on my adventure your friendship and help has been a reconnection with the human side of life...

Well said, Bearwithfish!

Ahhh Bearwithfish brought a smile to my face,

I have two hobbies, amateur radio and stamp collecting, one complements the other and each has its expense for sure.
Every time the wife says "you sure have an expensive hobby" I remind her I could be taking up golf, bass fishing, bowling, etc. etc.

If I remember correctly around 1950 or so I probably was thumbing through my latest issue of "boys life" and noticed the stamp ads.
Free stamps! Ah great, sounds like fun, but did I really understand the words (fine print) With Approvals? 3 months later why did dad want to know why these folks want to throw him in jail for not paying for the Free stamps! uh-oh!! Ah the word Approval. Lesson #1, read the fine print. The stamps were long mounted and not very well done I might add. But dad paid (out of my allowance for a while) and I was off into stamp collecting.
It ebbs and flows but its always there and I really do enjoy it.
It can be a I.D. challenge but just like ham radio the thrill of the chase when that next rare station comes out of the noise.

Thanks here to the many members that make this forum an excellent read on a daily basis. I am learning something each day.

73 (best regards)
Chuck

A lot of great stories here.

For me it was a friend who brought his stamp collection when he visited one day. He gave me some Ethiopian stamps, and I took an immediate likening to the stamps. Many of my friends collected stamps at this time, and we even had a local stamp club hosted by a senior collector. There we traded or bought stamps, had auctions, learned a lot from the senior collector, and had fun just hanging out together with our stamp collections. Great times.

Lost interest in my late teens as many others, but got into stamp collecting after two ebay purchases (a United Fruit cover and a postcard as souvenirs after completing my master degree in history). I was as interested in the stamps on the covers that I was in my purchases, and the next weeks I spent looking through listings at ebay, reading stamp blogs, stamp forums etc, before I could dig out my old collection. Haven't looked back since then.

hey bearwithfish I also am a freshwater aquarium keeper and have 2 X 500 gallon tanks complete with arrowanna's and fire eels...lol I sent you pics on your email thingy on here. I hope that's ok. Not too often one meets a stamp collecting aquarist!

lol I got it and replied...in the interest of not hijacking the thread we should emial about that topic...


w9nwrwi - I am glad I could shed a little sun shine on someones day !! I am sure your parents were very hot around the collar for some time after your "free" stamps LOL

My start came in school. I attended a convent school where I had a teacher Fr. Gabriel who taught us social studies (6th standard). After one of the final exams where I did well, he gave away some of his duplicate stamps (like was his tradition). I ended up with some really cool Israel, Malta and India stamps and they got me hooked. I started off with a regular A5 stockbook and used to get into fights with buddies over stamp swaps :)

The interest waned during college and graduate studies but was back with a bang once I got a job and found ebay! This was 3 years back... still loving it.

Now that I'm a new member here, I guess it is my turn. I should give a bit of background information first. I'm a military brat and have never lived in one place for longer than 3 years. That said, now I can start. When I was 6 years old (1977-78), we were living in what was then "West Berlin". My father was stationed at Tempelhof. Anyhow, my father decided that I needed a hobby that would keep me occupied. He bought me a beginner Minkus paperback album and a packet of US stamps and a packet of foreign stamps. From that time on, I was hooked. My father's secretary and work colleagues would give him stamps for me to soak and add to my album. Gradually by the age of 10 I managed to fill it up. That year, I got my first "looseleaf" 2 post stampalbum which came from the Sears Catalog. I used to trade with other kids in my neighborhood when we lived in Florida. It was pretty cool because all of us military kids had lived in various places abroad and had duplicates from everywhere! It seemed like stamp collecting was one of the few hobbies our parents approved of because of the weight allowance.
When I was 12, my dad got orders for a NATO assignment in the Netherlands. I went to school with kids from all over the place. They had a stamp club there. I've still got the 3 years of Dutch Christmas semi-postals I bought there!I stayed with it until I was about 14 or 15 and I discovered women. I still didn't give the hobby up totally. I would buy things now and then and set them aside for my collection.
When I enlisted in the Air Force in 1990, I left my collection behind and had an incredible adventure of almost 5 years. I wouldn't sell the experiences I had for a million bucks, but you couldn't pay me a million bucks to do it again! Europe at my fingertips at the ripe age of 19! I still picked up bits and pieces and mailed them home.
Ok.. fast forward to 1995. I've been out of the military for about 5 months. My mother is preparing for the "mother of all garage sales" as she put it. Well, I discovered my old stamp collection and saved it from a fate worse than death. I realized that I'd missed the hobby and found myself wondering why I hadn't continued it. After all, I'd blown so much money and had very little to show for it. I realized that for some time, I woudn't be travelling again anytime soon and philately to me was a bit like travelling and owning my own museum.
At home in the US, I've got a "frankenalbum" of world wide stamps I've made myself consisting of a Harris Statesman album now in 3 vintage "Olympic" (or whatever those huge red bindered albums were called) as well as minkus country albums for East Germany, West Germany, and Turkey. I prefer to use the blank pages and make my own layouts. The Harris pags are more or less for organizational purposes. When I went abroad in 1998, I took my Turkish album with me but left the rest at home in teh US.
Now that I'm in Oman and have ALOT more time on my hands than I used to, I have decided to restart collecting. When I'm stateside this summer, I plan on buying another Harris album but probably being a bit more picky about what I put in it. I'm not sure how I'd get it stateside if I get carried away.

I became interested in stamps (getting rid of them) when someone in my extended family kindly left a big red box filled with them when they died! I am mildly amused by the volume of the stamps and completely confused by hinged or not, perforations, measurements the gum! The second reason for this slight interest in stamps is that growing up in the 50's and 60's I always believed that stamp collectors were nerds, geeks or those who were in the band in high school. Since I know no stamp collectors personally, my imagination still tells me that all stamp collectors are similar to Trekkies...or even those who collect Barbie! Have you ever seen those women???

Ok back on topic, I like the stamps I have, I liked sorting them and attempting to find out what they are or even how to collect. I bought books, read the internet...and now, perhaps my inner geekdom is coming out....stamps rock!