Stamp Packets Of Yesteryear.

What attracted kids in the 1960's

Many collectors got their start on these types of "dime store" packets. I remember the old H. E. Harris packets like this being sold in Woolworth's and Duckwall's stores in the U.S.
Edit: Do you know who the packet makers were?

Interesting that the stamps in the second packet were attached with a latex adhesive (shudder)

Remember those red/orange fabric bags of worldwide on paper stamps at Woolworth's? I used to love those things. Anybody have one of those bags yet? Here is a postcard of the Woolworth's in Minneapolis Minnesota, where I started my stamp collecting at.I started in the early 60's so it was a few years after this postcard was current.

I remember the fabric bags of stamps -- that was H.E. Harris & Co. -- and bought them at Woolworth's, too. Actually, H.E. Harris & Co. is today part of Whitman Publishing and if you go to their website at this link you can actually still buy them (plastic instead of fabric bags, though) and, of course, the price has gone up from the $1 to $3 they were priced at back when I remember them in the Woolworth's days:

http://www.whitmanbooks.com/default...SubCatOID=24

Fred, where was that Woolworths? That isn't the corner of 9th and Nicollet, is it?

I think the bags are still surviving, in one fashion or another...

http://www.whitmanbooks.com/default...SubCatOID=24

They are offered in 300 US or 300 world iterations. I don't remember how many stamps were purported to be found in the older bags, but they were fun...

7th and Nicollet, Cjd are you from Minneapolis?

Sounds like a lot of us long for the old days when a FW Woolworths, SS Kresges, WT Grant, JJ Newberry, etc., were around. Brings back childhood memories of a quieter time before Walmarts and Targets sprang up all around us.

I can remember driving into H E Harris in the Back Bay in Boston. Talk about a pile of stamps. I thought I was looking at all the stamps in the world then.

I remember by first H.E. Harris bag was 750 stamps on paper for 99 cents.

Fred, I don't live in Minneapolis now, but I grew up there. I don't make it back often enough. It is a top-notch city. The postcard reminded me of the Young-Quinlan building at 9th, but I didn't think that was ever a Woolworths.

I think they still make those bags but out of plastic. Was at a Hobby Lobby store and checked out their stamp section. Lots of stuff for begining the hobby. But skimpy for anything specific.

I haven't lived in Minneapolis long enough to know if it was a Woolworth's or not, but I do know the Young-Quinlan building as I have done work there.

Russ,
we didn't have an H E Harris,
our national bulk stamp supplier was "Seven Seas Stamps"
of Dubbo New South Wales.
They had the stamp market locked up from what I gather,
they also published the famous
"Australian Stamp News"

Seven seas produced most of the packets shown
but I don't think they were responsible
for the latex gum bag, or the "Bulldog" brand
that was probably an import from the UK
for Woolworth's Australia

"Stamps on approval" was a major teaser advert
in boy's magazines like "The Phantom" and "Superman"

A teaser "Free stamp packet"


An expensive packet (3/6d) ! from seven seas aust


English "Bulldog" brand..
Emblem is a bulldog with a sailor's cap "HMS Tops" (cringe)
Probably marketed through woolworths or "Coles" stores.

Rod, thanks for the info.