Have You Seen Me?

Thanks for the explanation!
On a side note, I found a number of the ww albums I won at auction had a remarkable number of the same stamps in them. During the late '40s and '50s, "everyone" picked up the same envelopes of ww stamps offered by "dime stores" and the like. Yup, at that time I was one of those customers..................

I love the idea about converting them into artwork - the balloon picture is beautiful and is giving me lots of ideas! I also have lots of duplicates and just cannot bring myself to throw them away as I am sure they have a purpose - I just need to figure out what it is.

When I posted the original post, I almost put the "Nerdy Belguim Guy" up instead of Franco aka Baldie...atleast in my neck of the woods. I was in a reception area of a potential client and saw a world map made entirely with stamps. Each continent was a different stamp. I will try to go back and get a pic. It was a real interesting peice of art. If I remember correctly North America was represented by a 6cent FDR stamp. That stamp was also part of the Baldie, Nerdy Belguim guy grab bag.

Sorry guys. I trash my cheap duplicates---actually, the pages go into my junk mail, cardboard & newspaper area in the garage and eventually end up in a local recycle bin.

I finally have some time now to resume processing of a number of old world-wide albums bought at auction over the past 20 years, but I just don't have the time to do stuff with the really cheap stamps. If I find some duplicates that have a little value; but not enough to try and sell through the APS Stamp Store; they'll get donated for the annual grab-bag auction at the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library.

51studebaker, I have heard of people doing this, but your work is truly a piece of art. I could never do what you have shown. Well done!

Brian

I love the repurposed use of stamps for artwork.
The charter school project is a very dramatic use of "unwanted" stamps. To create these striking pictures must be so rewarding for the students and must give them a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

The balloon is such a colorful creation. It lifts my spirit and makes me smile.

I think that most of us find "something" worthwhile to do with our "unwanteds" because we desire to see them being used by someone.
Some of us may choose to toss unwanted stamps because our focus is on other things.

The bottom line is that your collection is what you want it to be and the rest should go where you see fit.
Remove my soapbox now please.

Here's a thought, if you want to have fun with those silly duplicates. This site listia operates on a credit system. You get a bunch of credits just for signing up. Anyway, I almost threw out a bunch of christmas seals. But decided to list them on listia. Wouldn't ya know it. Somone wanted those things. I only spent .46 to ship, cuz its only credits right. My total risk was .46 and the buyers (I guess thats what I'll call them) were pleased as punch.
If you use this link I do get a couple bonus credits.

https://www.listia.com/signup/3963902

I have also won some pretty cool stamps here as well. I'll be list some stuff to see if anyone wants it.

And the History Award goes to Cursus for his fantastic résumé of dirty Franco dictatorship career. History has a significant importance for me as a stamps collector. Daniel

I can't believe that any collector would deliberately trash sound stamps simply because they are cheap. Or because they show a dictator either; so many stamps from so many countries historically do.
There are so many groups who could use them: Stamps For The Wounded, youth collector clubs, newbies just getting started, the APS takes donations, the list is endless.

Near the end of Franco's life, Franco's crony and prime minister Luis Carrero Blanco came to power as prime minister in 1973. However, the ETA was tired of Francoism by that point and tried put an end to it by blowing up Blanco's car which flew over a five story building.

Just a little trivia.

I had to dig to find my childhood Ambassador Album pages. Now I remember I liked the Franco stamps because of the different colors.

Most people on this forum have, I hope, spend all their lives under a Democratic regime and do not know what's living under a dictatorship. I did, for almost 17 years, and I remember the advises of "not getting mixed on political issues", the fear on the eyes on my elders and the fearful silence of the crowd when Franco's mounted political police ("the Grey ones" we called them!) passed nearby us, the stories told (quietly!) about what happed in the police station jails...
So, I can't help but hating Franco even on stamps...

I agree with Cursus. And if we are concerned with postal history then we cannot disassociate ourselves from a country's political history. So I would much prefer this stamp in my collection than that of a posturing dictator. It says more about the history of Spain under Franco than the one posted.

Terry

Then you must have a very small stamp collection, since most of Europe, Asia, and Latin America were under oppressive governments of one form or another throughout most or all of the 19th and 20th centuries. And many of those that were not were often serious colonial imperialist aggressors.
For someone who lived it I can understand not finding pleasure in having them, but for the rest of us collecting the stamps does not mean approval of the administrations that issued them.

Well said Revcollector!
The late '30s and 40s have interested me since I can remember. And recently I've been consolidating several Scotts Volume 2 (1940s) albums, and the stamps tell such a story! As they say, "those were the best of times, and the worst of times".................