An Intro Of Sorts, Maybe A Question.

Hi I am NOT a stamp collector and nor do I need another hobby. I fish in my spare time and goodness know THAT needs all the help it can get! That said I wasn't feeling well yesterday so I thought "hey lets look at those old stamps dad gave me when I was a kid" When I was a kid the internet was something foreign presidents used to launch antique ICBMs, not a resource! Wow is there a lot of stuff about stamps on the internet, if it had been around when I was a kid I would have been sucked right in! (I do NOT need another hobby)

So my dad had sifted out what he has bought as a kid in the 40's older Canadian US and British stamps. OK lets look at some Canadian stamps. Yup I have a 3 pence beaver stamp, and that IS a nice stamp for a Canadian collector to have! It was interesting about how perforations make a difference and how some older stamps can be counterfeited to the more valuable newer stamp (? OK whatever) There was no crime in the 1940's so mines original. LOL! Moving on yup I have a 5 cent beaver stamp, thats neat. So hours later I've sifted though hundreds of stamps of Queen Victoria or Prince or King whomever. Not a bad way to spend an morning not feeling so well!

So that afternoon I tackled the American folder. Whats first? An American Benjamin Franklin 1 cent blue stamp. Holy moly that thing's worth a million bux!?? Ok so there must be a line up to buy it too I'm sure, (with visions of tropical islands in my future) I dig deeper. OK there are only 2 and if mine is another it needs to have a Z grill visable to the trained eye. Well I don't have a trained eye but I do have an iPhone with a magnification app! OK lets look. By the way I have no idea what a Z grill even looks like...... But no harm in looking. Now that little iPhone app is pretty good I can almost see dehydrated bacteria with it but nothign that looks like a Z . Right more research....... but wait is that a Z right there??? Oh boy!! I have a Z! OK so I'm not totally brain dead where's the grill part? I assume ol Ben didn't own a BBQ and its before MACK trucks so what on earth is a Z grill? NOW I go looking for what I am supposed to look for. Hey I said I wasn't feeling well.

Ah after some looking I learn what a Grill is and as I suspected its the more important factor. That Z I saw might well have been the last dying trail of the afore mentioned bacteria! So my 1 cent Benjamin doesn't seem to have any grill at all, there goes my tropical paradise! But there's a whack more US stamps there that might have Grills of some variety or perhaps not or perhaps my iPhone app isn't really as good as I think! :)

Anyhow I am NOT getting back into stamps I don't have time. I mean I have only spent 2 hours on it this morning. I mean it was facinating how they used those grills to stop people re-using stamps, pretty clever really. Best sick day I have had in a while!

Oh my question what's the best way to store stamps? Meaning NOT a box in a closet. Something that might sit near a computer say.

So a little more about me. I am a contractor both heating and general carpentry and a farmer. Married 2 kids one dog too many cats. we raise sheep cattle and chickens here although thats all about to get a shake up. My hobbies include fishing, and gun collecting. WW2 and earlier Canadian rifles and side arms and Browning Handguns, pretty much exclusively. I would add artillery but my budget really doesn't allow for that! :) I like stamps and as a kid I did try although there weren't the resources back then and hey I was a kid on a farm with a pellet gun and fishing rod. I wish I was a kid today! Seriously I would like to save whatever I can of the stamps my dad gave me and that I collected. I know there's no money in them there books, but its fun to pan for gold too. So I will be asking for help with organising things and gettign my stamps in a safe storage condition and if such a thing exists for stamps to restore or repair some.

Sometimes its good to cite an internet presence so the admin here can see if I'm a complete crack pot. I have been a moderator over at homesteadingtoday.com for the past 10 years. I'm real enough and just a little nutz. :) Great site you have here!

Me thinks you doth protest too much. Welcome to the wonderful world of stamp collecting.

I read bla bla pellet gun bla bla fishing rod and rediscovered stamps after years . Pretty well me looking in a mirror. Now its crazy that I spend more time with stamps than fishing rods and considering my name its a big statement. Next step is go look on ebay for stamps and you'll get that little urge and 1 click and your hooked. Your already a collector so stamps will grow on you faster than I Phone bacteria.

Yeah we'll see, I have a fairly demanding life as it is. :)