Some Final Pics Of Both New Items And Other Stamps From My Collection

OK, this is my last installment for a while: #16 pos 64L1 (the ONLY position that created the double recut - a RARE totally sound copy), #64a pigeon blood pink 3c w/ PF cert, a Columbian set w/ dollar values in both MINT and USED, experimental coils w/ PF certs, 416a brown-yellow (the only PF-certed NH copy), a lovely 2c block of 12 w/ 2 5c errors in center, O-94 and 95 (which is a new MOG PF-certed copy), Treasury Dept soft paper 10c and 30c are both new,2 - #1 covers (1D and a pair of 1B), C-15 block, C-14 block and a large multiple of C-1. If any of you ever get to Cumberland, MD and would like to see my collection in-person, please PM me and I will try to make the arrangements.

Beautiful stamps. More stuff that I will probably never own but it is fun to look at.

So, no C3a? Oh well.

After viewing your collection I immediately threw all of my stamps and related paraphernalia in the garbage and have resolved to collect Hummels. My wife is overjoyed. We're going out to antique stores today to look at curio cabinets.

All kidding aside, as a kid I was an avid stamp and coin collector. To this day, I don't think there is anything more beautiful than United States coins, especially those at the height of the "art-awareness", late 19th and early 20th century era. But then, I am admittedly biased. Stamps, however, always talked to me. I was fascinated by their history. I would speculate on how the mail had to travel in the early days, and the difficulty and challenges in delivering a letter or parcel. When I turned coins into a career, resurrecting my stamp collection was a no-brainer. Fortunately, as an adult, my circumstances allow me to own stamps that I could only dream of when I was a child. I know that my stamps are probably not going to end up being a prudent investment, and I have been a bit discouraged by the direction of the hobby, especially in the US sector. But, In terms of sheer enjoyment and satisfaction of completion, my stamp collection has over-delivered, and that is worth something. Like I tell coin collectors, we all have to start somewhere. For me, it was soaking stamps off of paper that my aunt and uncle saved for me, and filling my Scott Minuteman album. So don't ever think that your stamps are worthless. They tell stories and provide physical attachments to periods of history, irrespective of value. That is something that your wife's Hummels will never be able to do!

Those are gorgeous. I'm partial to the 1850s 10c issue-- love the #16.

And those experimental coils! Excuse me while I wipe the drool off my screen.

You should be proud of them; they are great items.