A Depression-Era Stamp Collection

When I tell people that I collect stamps, they very often respond by handing me material to take off their hands. Stuff like this:

Nice. Wish I knew more people like that! :)

I post that I collect stamps on FB and 2 friends have given me a few stamps in the last year. I keep trying.

I have a cooy of that American Album for United States Postage Stamps - 1949 edition, same cover as in your pic. Trying to figure out what to do with it. Belonged to a distant family member. Any ideas? I love that ithas spots for cut squares, documentaries, etc. in the back. Are the pages of that era safe?

That's great they give the stamps to you.

Are you going to take them out of that album and add to you collection? The stamps almost look like they are pasted down and possibly not with stamp hinges. If so you might want to soak them off the pages and add to a collection if that is the area you collect that is.

Anyways have fun!

Nice! Thanks for sharing.

@Moschophoros: Fair question. I suspect there's virtually no market for a stamp album of this vintage. The catalogue numbers change over time. Then consider the physical integrity of the album's pages and binding - it will only deteriorate with time and use. I noted no evidence of acidic pages (i.e. no damage to stamps that sat in it for over 70 years). There's some curiosity value, but how often would the bearer leaf through it? I will probably end up donating it to the local philatelic society, which seems to have an appetite for such things.

@dwwjr56: Already said and done! I harvested about 2% of the old album content for my own collection. Nothing spectacular, just venerable oldies that I needed. This collection contained PLENTY of duplicates: I now have about 150 copies of the 3-cent T. Jefferson definitive of 1938. Same for the 1.5-cent Martha Washington. Many others of negligible value. I anticipate a donation in the near future...

When I tell people I collect stamps, they change the subject.

I collect gold ,diamonds ,and stamps