When Did You Begin Collecting Stamps, As An Adult, Or As A Child?

I started at age 9, went at it for maybe four years, then put it away.

Picked it up again 10 years later in my mid 20s.

That's one thing I've always enjoyed about stamps - (if you don't sell your collection ) - then the stamps are always there when you want to come back to them.

I also started at about age 8 or 9. One of my friends had a small collection, and so I caught the "bug" from him. This continued until junior high, when I learned about sports and girls.

In graduate school, one part time job was at a used bookstore where the owner had a small stamp and coin corner in the back of the store. I caught the bug again, and NEVER took home a paycheck from that store after that, just signed it back over to them for my purchases. One of the last items he bought from a customer before I graduated was an Israel Tab collection, which fascinated me to no end. I started collecting Israel stamps and postal history until I reached the point where I could not afford to go further. I still have those collections.

Eventually I switched to Texas postal history, and in the past decade, changed again to US registered mails, and then merged the two with an interest in Mexico registered mails.

I've never had a dull moment, and have projects to complete that will last me a lifetime or two.

I feel sorry for my retired friends who have "nothing to do".

Mike

Started at age 7, with this Christmas being 51 years.

Started as a stamp collector when I was 7 or 8 years old....didn't become a philatelist until I was 35 after studying the 2c red Wash/Franks, then plating at about 55 or so.

Bought a Big Blue on ebay 2 years ago, and haven't collected the world since I was 14 or so, so now I'm a collector and a philatelist...at 61...

I started collecting when I was 11 or 12 (by 1970 or 1971) as an uncle of mine was a philatelist and let me go with him to our city (Barcelona, Catalonia, Europe) open stamp markets, by then very active, and introduced me to some brick and mortar stamp shops. My late mother, also, encouraged me to collect stamps as she thought it was a convenient hobby for me.
Our parents took my brothers and me to Barcelona's stamps markets. But, just myself kept on collecting.
And, I've never stopped, just switching from MNH to used stamps, postmarks, postal history and (lately) cinderellas.
The "intensity" of the hobby, depending mainly on the money availabilty, but I've been collecting stamps for nearly 50 years!

I started in 1973, when I was 7, inspired by the U.S. "Stamp Collecting" stamp (Scott #1474). My uncle, who was a serious collector, bought me my first album, gave me a lot of his duplicates, and taught me how to do things right.

I started at about 8 years old, stopped at about 13 due to having no money
started again at about 20 and I am now 45

I dont see me ever stopping the hobby.

I started in earnest at 11, when I was in Boy Scouts. My collecting slowed during my college years, but picked up later. Now I work with children and have the privilege of introducing stamp collecting to a new generation.

to the Family, Scribe3!

I started at a young age, somewhere in the early 90's, guessing around 13 years old. My father used to take me to the stamp show every year at Javits Center. Over the years I don't collect too much anymore, but I do pick up a few things here and there. I may get back into collecting, but mostly sorting and organizing things out.

I started when I was 11 or 12. Bought my first album and stamps with babysitting money. Back then you could get bags of stamps on and off paper for a dollar at Woolworth. I Actively collected until I joined the Canadian Armed Forces at 19 and eventually gave that collection away to a young boy with a serious medical condition and way pretty well house bound. My interest peaked again when helping a young neighbour of mine with her collection in 2001. The rest is history and now I have a room and a half full of stamp stuff.


Dianne

Started when I was 12 in 1966 and haven't stopped, though the quality of stamps I collect have changed considerably.

I started when I was 7 after harassing my older sister who briefly collected stamps after my dad found an old album in an abandoned house. She gave me my own kid's album for Christmas that year.

I started as a child. I remember discovering my father's stamp collection in a Scott National album for regular postage to offices in china plus a specialty series album for the envelopes revenues, etc.

My first album was a Harris Liberty album that I got for my birthday at 6 or 7. I hated that album because the vinyl would split inside at the binding and the front cover. My dad tried to put electrical tape over the split, but it never stayed.

I started at about 12 years old, in 1974. Just in time for all of the Bicentennial stamps. Continued through young adulthood and becoming married and a parent. Put it aside for a while at that time, then picked it up again in my early 30's to help get over a divorce. I've stuck with it since.