Well 2nd time around - joined a while ago but sometimes life bounces the ball other ways and I never really ended up with the time to spend here. As a very young boy I started stamp collecting for Cub Scouts and when I started a paper route the weekly profits went into stamps(well maybe minus a couple of Hostess cupcakes and a coke). I started a stamp club in my town as well as in High school. Started buying collections from classified ads and from a local consignment shop. As a Junior in HS, I saw a classified ad from the next town over - the husband had died and the wife was looking for a buyer - she took me into the Dining room - well it really was his collecting room and a smaller adjoining room had shelves with albums, stock books, and boxes full of things I could only imagine buying and certainly not on paper route or odd job income. She had a sheet protector album that was full of air mail sheets- mint but as I flipped sheets I came on the Zep's a sheet of each denomination and then more singles and blocks. He had a home brew album with several pages of Ben's and Georges - singles and strips - all were used and in Crystal mount. Now I had only been there for maybe a half hour or so and the impression on me was something else. I told her I couldn't afford to buy these stamps - she needed to get HE Harris or one of the other big guys from down town Boston stamp dealer area. She told me that Harris had been out and offered her several thousand dollars and even little collector me knew they were trying to rip her off assuming she knew nothing. She told me she was going to give it to her kids and grandkids. I asked if I could join the family jokingly. I told her I only had $20 on me that day(this was around 1963) - she went into the other room and brought me out a cigar box and a shoe box - the cigar box had lots of old US stock - at least old to me then and a shoe box which was full of European stamps in envelopes, on paper and on covers and asked me if that looked like $20 dollars worth. I went back numerous times and she always asked me how much I had to spend and then loaded me up - one time I went home with a brown paper grocery bag full of cigar boxes of stamps. One day I called to go visit her and no answer on the phone - the Next week her Obit was in the papers. Never knew what happened to all the wonderful stamps she had. Probably will never see that again as at my age it is difficult to buy like that in this day and age. I collected stamps, did some small bourses and worked several adult clubs till about 1976 or so and then it was difficult for me to properly care for all I had. The market had fallen out on the Vatican and Israel tabs and Ryukus I had split off on. Took my beating and went on with life - two years ago I took it up again - starting with ducks and now working on Germany, USA BOB, territories primarily. Due to limits of SS and medical issues so I can no longer work a part time job right now, I have had to limit myself and it seems like
ebay over the past two years is getting too rich for me. So will try to find other ways to start to really specialize in limited areas and use the rest to support those specialties. But I will always have the Memory of Mrs Tucker's Hubbies collection - never have seen such a sight again in my life and don't expect it will happen.
Posted 12/18/2015 12:45 am
To Our Community.
