Newbie Here With Wartime Stamps Interest

Hello everyone! I found this site while browsing search engines looking for info on some stamps I recently scored in a pair of H.E. Harris mixed bags. I understand this falls under the kiloware section, but for the specifics of wartime stamps I figured it would best be posted here.

The first find is a US stamp on a large piece of envelope with a fully intact cancellation from 1942 and a nearly intact 'buy war bonds' stamp over it as well, and the other was a tiny portrait of Adolf Hitler, also on paper with a nearly intact cancellation stamp.

Now to the meat of the issue: Whats the best way to mount these pieces as they're not standard sized, being on oddly shaped cut pieces of envelope? Ideally I would like a rigid case with some level of UV protection so I can display them on a shelf with my other treasures. If that's not an option, I would settle for something that would provide rigidity that can be tucked into the pages of a book (I was thinking about U.S. currency sleeves, like for dollar bills).

Also, where can I find more stamps of such nature? I'd like a full range of WW1 and WW2 stamps.

Hi, and welcome to the Forum - and a lifelong hobby!

You will find a "ton" of war time stamps out there, which will keep you busy for some time. While you could write/call Mystic Stamp company or other retailers (and pay top dollar), my preferred way is to search ebay. On ebay I would start the search with "war stamp", and gradually add or replace ("war") with other words to get the appropriate result.

Scotts puts out stamp catalogs that give details, dates, and pics of stamps issued, and old versions of these books are available on ebay at a reasonable cost. Assuming you are after WWII and earlier, a catalog from the late 40s or 50s would be just fine.

For mounting, the first question is do you want envelope remnants or not. Most folks prefer to soak the stamps off the envelopes and mount them in albums or stock sheets. However, if you have the entire envelope and it has significance (usually in the eye of the beholder), then you may prefer to leave the stamp alone.

Lots of additional info out there, and frankly I suggest you pick up a book (check ebay) on the hobby before you go further.
ENJOY !!

Right now I'm limiting myself on what I can/can't purchase as I get my feet wet. I'm currently exiting the Army myself and am enjoying the hobby as I try to re-acclimate to the civilian world again.
When it comes to stamps on/off paper, I'm either/or depending on the quality of the piece at the time. Like the Hitler stamp and US stamp, both have cancellations that are in decent, legible condition so I'm keeping both of those on their papers. I did make one error in my post above....the german cancellation is 1/2 intact, I'd confused the quality of the cancellation mark with another, older stamp when I was thinking about it and writing. But either way, I determine if the piece is worth keeping based on the personal historical value of the markings when I look at it.
So if a stamp is on a small piece of paper which doesn't have any additional markings to add to it's interest, I'll likely remove it (unless there's risk to damaging the stamp). If there's legible words or messages then I'll keep it.
One stamp (canadian or british, can't recall offhand) has a mark with a message about adds on envelopes, another from the US bag I opened has a mark from grand central station. Interesting finds to me.
The H.E. Harris bags I understand don't usually come with any particularly fascinating pieces, but for the WW2 stamps I pulled out of one yesterday, that totally made it worthwhile for me.

Celticveil,

You can hinge your items or you can get appropriate size stamp mounts. Other options are not recommended for long term condition maintenance

Bill

Hmm, considering these are irregularly shaped and a bit large, hinging may be the best option. I'm using the black single-sheet page protectors commonly found at hobby lobby. I'm thinking if I hinge the stamps on their respective papers, I can mount them to an archival quality piece of paper and insert that into the sheet stamp protector and viola, protection and ease of access. Anything I need to know to safely hinge these pieces? I've read up on hinging and it seems straight-forward to me.

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Lorddenning, wow, I gotta say that's impressive and I hadn't even considered that aspect at all. I should dig through my old deployment letters and see if I have any salvageable postage as well...it's not vintage now, but in a decade or two...plus the memories attached to them as well.
Thanks for the idea and the link! I'll certainly be adding some select pieces like that to my collection. Now to find a framing shop that can add a protective anti-UV layer to glass so I can frame and display some classic envelopes like that.
The whole wartime postage fascinates me because I remember exactly what was going through my head 4 years ago in afghanistan. So when I look at another soldier's piece of postage, I wonder if they were thinking the same thing, or what their life and deployment was like, where they are now if they managed to survive the war. It's a shame there's no way to be able to look up random postage pieces without a name and trace people from them.

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Again, I'm wow'd by this. the first envelope (101st ABN DIV) intrigues me as that was the division I deployed with. Secondly, the stamps on it are similar to some I already have in my collection. Maybe I need to verify the production years and move them over to the wartime binder I'm putting together.

I'll check on your blog shortly. I don't have many contacts left in the military, sadly, as most of my friends have exited as well. The remainder are mostly digital era folks (e-mails and such) so I can see why there is neglect on that side. I'll write to a few of my friends and see if they have anything laying around. Won't hurt to ask.

::EDIT::

After thinking about it for awhile I recall saving some letters I received while deployed form my wife and parents, along with a stack of letters and christmas cards sent to me by various organizations affiliated with my folks, and a particularly lovely stack of letters from young school kids. A friend of mine's mother asked about me, and had her classroom write to me. I don't think they still have their envelope they all came in, but I know I've still got the leters together. I just have to find where I stored them. Thats going to be awhile as currently they're in boxes and I'm unable to go through them.

Also I shot an e-mail to my friends who are still in the army (in S. Korea currently) asking for them to send me post cards from their APO addresses for my collection, and if any of them had old deployment envelopes or stamps I could have. We shall see what this brings. I also asked those out of the army for leftovers from deployment, if possible. Already got one confirmed no, he threw everything away. But I've got two more to wait on, so here's to hoping!

I'm posting this as an update.

The H.E. Harris bags continue to not disappoint! In the 150 off-paper mixed USA stamps, I'm getting several WW2 stamps (one with a V with 'win the war' and another with a drawing of soldiers marching with bombers flying above, with US Army on one side, to showcase a couple) and 1930's stamps in the mix.

The 300 count on-paper USA was more modern...TONS of the liberty bell self-adhesive stamps.

The 300 count on-paper foreign stamps were a decent mix of old, new and countries I didn't have yet. Once I get access to my camera I will post pics, but that's not happening till sometime in Feb.

I love the excitement of new collectors - It really is a great hobby.

Welcome to the hobby and the site and more importantly, thanks for serving

Mike, thanks for the support. I was only in for five years but it felt like a life time. Thankfully I was able to serve and be discharged honorably (after term of service contract was up) and just enrolled in college courses today.

These wartime stamps are allowing me to use my terminal leave (leave you take while exiting the army) to remain connected to my military heritage while also reintegrating to civilian society in a productive, educational manner. I know a lot of people exit the army and tend to float without a rudder, not able to focus their energy on things outside of the service. I've discovered my energy does just fine with a cold coke and a sack of stamps to sort through.

The original question was about mounting on odd sized paper remnants. You are the collector, and you can do just about anything that pleases you. Also, you can find most anything (like stamps mounted on odd scraps of paper) if you want to search for it...but...

For me, if I don't have the whole cover (or most of it) I prefer to remove the stamp from any paper at all. Soaking is easy, doesn't damage the stamps in any way, and for my money, leaves you with a much nicer looking collection.

I would normally be all for removing the stamps from the paper, but when I can discern a location and date by the cancellation markings, that makes it more interesting to me as I can get a rough picture of what was going on at that time period. I do plan on trimming the paper a bit to make the edges better. But I'll keep the stamps on the paper as it's a decent visual for historical purposes.

Mainly I just need to find a way to mount these on-paper stamps to an archival-grade paper and then slide them into the sleeves I've already purchased. Looks like I'll be using hinges and those seem to do the least amount of damage to the artifacts.

You could always get some Vario pages - they make them in all kinds of sizes:

Actually those are exactly what I'm using. The single sheet pieces will be holding archival paper with the stamps attached via hinges. I need more of the 7 pocket holders so I can start to separate my stamps by country, and the American stamps by year or war period specifically.

I'm also considering taking all war-period stamps from all countries and turning it into a single collection, indexed by individual country. So I'd have a folder of WW2, another of WW1, etc. with partitions for the countries involved. At this rate thought I may end general stamp collecting and simply focus solely on wartime stamps. We'll see how this plays out as I acquire more of a collection and decide what to do with my additional pieces.

It also turns out I may have some civil war era stamps in the mix of the 2 sets of 150 off-paper harris bags I bought. I was looking through civil war letters online and the stamps affixed to the envelopes was very similar to some I've seen as I sifted through my sets. I won't know for certain though as the stamps I have in question are not at my present location and I'll need to pick them up this weekend.