Been Away From The Hobby For Way Too Long

I started collecting back in the late 50s. I more or less stopped active collecting in 1980 but kept an active interest. I'm in my early 70s now and want to do a little catching up. I collect US only and all goes in a Scott National album. My collection is nearly complete from about 1925 to 1980. Before 1925, a bit spotty.

Other hobbies are: fountain pens, reel to reel tape, hunting, and film photography.

Also, I did try my hand at writing a book. (Not rich yet)

Glad to be here.

Chunk,

Enjoy having fun with stamps! That is the name of this game. The greatest value your stamps have is that they came up through your family.

Collecting for the enjoyment of collecting, whatever that might be, is the name of the game. Don't hesitate to ask questions especially if you need basic information and especially more advanced sources of information for any possible topic. You should be able to find folks on this board a little further along on their collecting journey glad to share experiences.

My personal bias is a used stamp loses the story of its journey in the postal service when it is removed from the cover it transported to its destination. Collecting postal history adds a whole new aspect to your journey in our hobby.

Wishing you many enjoyable future days in our hobby. Russ

Hello Chuck and welcome

Welcome back, Chuck!

Following a similar trajectory, I got re-immersed so rapidly that it now feels like I never left.

Turning to eBay to fill in many of the early holes on your album pages
can be a productive endeavor, but approach it with a skeptical attitude. Hundreds of successful (buying) transactions for me came with a few early scars. Actually, buying stamps on eBay is like playing the board game, "Candyland" with a grandchild.......one errant draw and your colored token is sent all the way back to the peppermint forest (much to the delight of your grandchild, I may add).

Stick with it and enjoy,


Greg

Welcome!

Dale

hi Chuck
welcome.
A bit similar to me, as I have a break of 20 years, nowadays it's definitely easier to exchange stamps via internet.
On the other hand, I have feeling that maybe less land less person are philatelist
cheers

Welcome.
Don

Welcome back!

In about 10 to 15 years, the number of those "returning" will dwindle dramatically since I do not think many started in the 80's then stopped and later to return.

Welcome to the forum and back to collecting!

Have you decided what you'd like to focus on next, like go further back before 1925 or get some newer album pages and work on moderns?

I did.




I'm curious about e-bay as I've been buying quite a few stamps there lately. Do you mean you ended up with fakes? I've seen people mention that that's not unusual in some of the earlier, more valuable US stamps. I've not gotten into that area as I'm still getting common, inexpensive issues, mostly MNH US year sets from the '30s thru the '60s, along with some special sets like Famous Americans.

In one set I got a couple damaged stamps and the seller promptly sent replacements. I've been very impressed thus far. The quality has been solid and the prices a pleasant surprise. Though I see the fairly inexpensive year sets stop at 1926, so I'll run out of those before long. At what point would I need to really get concerned about fakes?

"Have you decided what you'd like to focus on next, like go further back before 1925 or get some newer album pages and work on moderns?"

I'd like to fill in from 1980 to 1993 as that's where my pages end - for now.

As for pre 1925, I'm going to take it slow. Add a Columbian, or Trans Mississippi, and a few from the Civil War era. I had a 2 cent Jackson Black, but traded it off years ago. Got to get another.

PS - how to use quote?

Second to last icon on the format line above (page with red arrow). Make sure that you place your cursor to right of flashing cursor.