Do You Ever Look At A Stamp And Wonder....

Do you ever look at a stamp or cover and wonder where it might have been and how it survived until today.... some for 173 years!

I do that. Covers tell you some of their life, but even they don't always tell you the whole story.... did it sit in a draw for 60 years? Why did the person keep it in the first place??

I have lots of postal history in my collection and some items make you really wonder why they survived.

Anywho... just thinking out loud :)

Come to think of it.... I have two covers here posted within New Zealand with "full faced queens" attached. Both from the 1860's.... and I think I know why they survived.... one is from Mr Baker to Ms Bedggood and one the other way... they contained courting letters written in the years before my great great grand parents got married. Keep for sentimental reasons by Eliza Bedggood??

Regards
Gavin

I wonder that all the time. Even looking at individual stamps I wonder Who Soaked it off the paper, what kind of albums has it been it, what parts of the country or the world has it been in?

Reminds me of this old poem (I've posted it before):

Not how it survived... just the history behind the usage and how it traveled; especially about the times in history.

That is what make covers with contents so special. I found a group of 25 letters written from Houston in the late 1880's. The writer was the son of a civil war hero (union) and a founding member of the trusts in the day. He was running a cotton seed oil mill here and writing to a young lady in Philadelphia. Each letter has 3-5 stories and his writing showed he was very educated. I've done a lot of research on the stories which reconnected me to old Houston and Texas. I literally was able to travel with the stamp and read, see, and feel what he was writing about. It will make a great book.

I've bought a 30 year old stamp off of ebay, and even new ones from the post office where I'd like to keep one; I worry that I'll be *that* person who gets a stain on it or creases it. Not sure if I should be handling anything older.

"Not sure if I should be handling anything older"

Naaaaaa get a cheap Penny Black and you will never look back!
Cound be 173 years and counting...
:)
Regards
Gavin

Any stamp that has survived my "care" should be worth 10x amount. Not that I lost any but that's all been good luck not good planning. Working on that good planning side.

Yes I always have thought of the story behind my stamps. Since I as well collect banknotes, I have some dating early as early 1900's. I've always wondered how miraculous it is surviving 2 World Wars and other wars/revolutions (depending which countries), not thrown in a thrash can, not been burnt in a random fire, not lost in the mail... it makes you think wow....!

"Since I as well collect banknotes, I have some dating early as early 1900's. I've always wondered how miraculous it is surviving 2 World Wars and other wars/revolutions (depending which countries), not thrown in a thrash can, not been burnt in a random fire, not lost in the mail... it makes you think wow....!"

I agree. I also have a few bank notes I collected years ago... all older Italian ones... and I ACTIVLY seeked out the most worn well used notes I could as they have had a life... unlike a crisp mint note that is a blank canvas.
As a bonus they were cheaper in that condition I could get some nice notes but well used....
Regards
Gavin

In the USA a lot of soldiers mail in the later part part of the 20th Century was addressed to and from soldiers with the soldier's Social Security number on the first line of the address. I am quite sure that almost all of these covers have been shredded to protect identities.

As others have said, I always wonder about the storied history of the stamp or cover, where it went, how it survived, what where the people like and such.

Hi,
I look at my newly acquired "MNH" US stamps from the 1920s - 1950s and wonder where they have been all that time. Being unused, they likely sat in cabinets or boxes and maybe were shuffled from dealer to dealer or the like. But someone, somewhere - at the time of issue - bought those stamps and squirreled them away - until ultimately they ended up in my possession.

And "used" stamps have a different but equally interesting history. What information did they facilitate from who to who, where to where? Was it a family update, a love letter, a bill, money, advertisement, or ???

Amazing!

I look at some stamps that have obviously been in touch with a lot of dirt from fingers, left in sunlight for what must have been long periods of time, and I wonder what whoever was thinking!

-IBFS

Every single time! I look at singles and wonder what the cover must have looked like and where it was by researching the cancel...so that led me to covers which, obviously have a lot more information but like was stated previously how in the world did these survive 2 sometimes 3 wars and 100+ years and not get completely ripped up or destroyed or simply tossed out after opening? It is amazing to me really!

I, too, have spent a great deal of time imagining where my stamps have been. I imagine my 19th century stamps being purchased in a post office with creaky wooden floors, with sunlight shining through the panes of those old, distorted glass windows. Then transported to somebody's home by a horse-drawn vehicle, over dirt roads. Once there, they were affixed to a letter which was penned by lantern light. Then they were sent off, surely in the back of another horse-powered vehicle, and then maybe by train, through miles of untrammeled wilderness, past herds of buffalo, to eventually be delivered- maybe to the dusty hands of a prospector who travelled West seeking fortune. These thoughts make me long for a simpler time (though I do enjoy many aspects of modern life, like hot showers, vaccines, and drive-thru dunkin donuts coffee!).