These Stamps Remind Me Of...

While shopping for stamps on ebay recently, I came across a set of stamps that evoked very strong memories for me. Better said, and more accurately, seeing the stamps allowed me to relive the emotions associated with a specific event in my life.

The stamps in the image below transported me back to the very beginning of my philatelic adventure. I started collecting at age 8 or 9 (1968-1969) and found one of these stamps in a packet that came bundled with my birthday present that year- a red Traveler's stamp album.

Aside from the intensely enjoyable feeling of discovery as I began to learn which stamps I liked or didn't like, I was in my "Dinosaur" phase at the very same time. Any book on Dinosaurs or Prehistoric Animals that I could tackle at my reading level made their way home from my local library. Within a few months of becoming infatuated with Dinosaurs I had borrowed and read (several times) every Dinosaur book available.

So, when I went to mount the packet stamp in my new Traveler's album I was astonished to find there were more stamps in the set! And I only had one! Where could I find the others? Even more amusing, I think the Traveler's album had illustrated spaces for perhaps 3 of the stamps from the set. It was not until I discovered Scott catalogs in the library (reference copies only!) that I realized there were many more stamps in the set.

In a way, I wish I hadn't discovered Scott's as it quickly lead to the realization that there were A LOT of stamps that a broke kid growing up in Flushing could never have. Alas, my parents were too dilligent to leave me in the dark about Scott's but in the long run young philatelists must transition from a "packet" mindset to a "Scott's Catalog" mindset to continue a journey of learning.

The stamps in the image below still, almost 50 years later, remind me of being a new stamp collector, listening to Motown, learning about Dinosaurs, and the magical summer of 1969 when the Mets became champions.

I'm certain all of you, upon seeing certain stamps, are likewise transported to memorable times in your lives. So post stamps that affect you in this way, and tell the story of where in your memories and emotions those stamps take you.

Shermae, you have evoked the same "packet memories" in me. I never realised that there were so many stamps in this set until you showed the full set. I haven't seen these stamps since about the same time as you, like, 50 years.

These, and the rest of the set, are somehow the most evocative stamps from my childhood collection. There's something about them that just transports me back to Saturday mornings when I was about 10 - don't ask me why!



I have a plan which I've been hatching for some time... since many of the memorable stamps from my childhood were cheap CTOs and pictorials which I have long since disposed of, I hope one day to start re-acquiring specific ones I remember, to recreate the old album. Shouldn't take long, or cost much, and will be a fun addition to my adult collection.

Related read: https://goscf.com/t/38986 ... Was a single stamp your gateway drug?

"packet memories"? Those large Polish dinosaurs, cats & dog stamps of the 60's were constantly used by our relatives in Poland on mail to us in England. I must have soaked dozens of them - that's my memories of them.

Sweet memories from a time when things were slightly more simple

I have memories from age 8, sitting in bed with an old stock album left over from my elder brother - and a pile of UK machines (QEII). I was so lucky to line up the '7p brown', 4 stamps on each row. Could not get more simple than that, still the feeling of fulfillment was the same as when filling those expensive empty spaces today.
At Christmas that 1st year, after being infected by this stampomania-disease, I and my twin brother got a packet each of 100 diff French colonial stamps. We were thrilled. Most of the countries we had never even heard about, and I can recall our father helped us to look up in the Atlas. Specifically for these two stamps, from two seemingly out-of-this-world 'countries'




SPM sounded like a fairtytale-place and we could not believe we had a stamp from Antartica, so we were sure we were sitting on treasure. And sure we did, the memory linked to these stamps remains a valuable treasure

Great post Ringo, and a great idea! I loved the 100 free British Colonies packets offered by Kenmore Stamp Company back in the 60's and 70's. You were only supposed to order one but I would request them at least twice a year in my own name plus several times a year with other family member's names (there were 5 of us!).

When you ordered the packet, they sent approvals that were mostly beyond my means however there was always another packet of 100 British Colonies stamps for $1. This ebay lot has some of the original packets exactly as I remember them, though the specific offers are a bit different:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/12-Kenmore-...151238320620

Kenmore would also enclose a catalog with the approvals. This lot has one of the old Kenmore catalogs from 1971. I had this exact catalog as I remember the arrangement of the stamps on the cover. Very smart of them to put a dinosaur stamp dead center on the cover ;-)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-197...em1c51f8869b

I generally could con my Mom into giving me the dollar to buy the extra packet of British Colonies, but one time she caught on that I was asking her like every month. Not to be dissuaded, I gathered up what I had (which was almost nothing) plus over the next few weeks I saved the leftovers from a few allowances. I started getting really nervous about the 30 day time limit on the approvals. not realizing the reality that a big corporation was doing business with a 10 yr old kid. But persistence won out, and I ended up sending Kenmore an envelope full of loose change lololol.

Tying this back to Ringo's post, I remember very clearly most if not all the stamps that Kenmore included in their BC packets. So I'm going to put together either a photo montage of all these stamps, or build a collection of them. Thanks for a great idea!

There is evidence that man lived at the same time as the dinosaurs.


-IBFS

There are no stamps that invoke memories for me. I started at age 27 and grew up in a poor Eastern Europe country but that just means memories to be made!