Old Stamp Envelopes From The 50s

For some reason I am having a hard time throwing these away.

I assume there is no reason to save them and there are plenty around.
These weren't mine, but I think the history of how some folks collected is interesting.
Mostly mail-order and a few local dealer stock.

Hopefully the picture (not a scan) does them justice.

That's a nice selection of envelopes. While I don't remember packets like that, I do fondly remember the little pre-printed glassine that would arrive in my mailbox from H.E. Harris, Jamestown Stamp, and the like when I was first starting out.

I'm partial to old approval books, which I have picked up in auction lots from time to time.

Dale

Some folks on here may have seen them, I have not, and I think they are great. They are the way folks used to collect and as such a bit of history. Can you find an out of the way place for 'em?

Has anyone ever found a stamp in one of those packets that was anything but common? I imagine the stamps used to fill those packets were mostly the penny per pound variety.

Most of these had stamps in them and to your point, most have around a 25 cent value today.
As other threads have mentioned many of these were marking gimmicks and maybe not of monetary value.
But the history and process of collecting via these packets is interesting to understand.

Turtle2900

I agree. Understanding how collections have been built in the past has to include these packets. They don't seem to be part of the landscape today. I have a number of these packets still unopened. They came with a lot purchased years ago. The prices on the packages are less than a dollar and contain up to 500 stamps. Based on the prices on them I'm guessing they were an affordable option for collectors.

'
Put that GLOBE-TROTTER SERIES envelope on Etsy as a superb example of the commercial use of Art Deco fonts.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Great! then don't,
These are lovely pieces of ephemera, I collect them and have a bundle.
Be a winner, not a binner........

You are the best Rod!

Great stuff!

Honor-Bilt was the brand distributed and (I think) owned by H.E. Harris. A lot of packets like this were sold through five and dime and variety stores, as were cheaper albums and supplies.

I was told by dealers that the packets were once put together by kids mostly in the families that owned Harris, Minkus, etc. They did a far better job of handling stamps than was done by the manglers that often assembled the glassine packets sold more recently.

I remember these packets very well. The various five and dime chain stores like Woolworth, Newberry's, Kresge, etc. usually had a hobby section that had a range of these packets, usually 10, 25 and 50 cents. In the more expensive packets there would usually be more colorful, large format stamps in the window, and the cheaper grades of definitives would make up the bulk of stamps behind,not visible from the outside. I certainly bought my share of these, and the majority of my stuff from the 1950s in my world wide collection (I no longer collect any WW from after 1950)came from these cheap packets. Some of the department stores had a stamp counter that sold these also. In my case in 1950s and 60s Los Angeles it was the May Company (eventually taken over by Macys). And on a trip to Vancouver BC in about 1990 I was delighted to see that the Bay (descended from the Hudsons Bay Company) still had a stamp counter

Thank you for sharing Waddsbadds. I remember those stores well too.
Great to hear how useful the packets were too!

I remember packets very similar to those shown, being sold in Britain in the 1960s. The places that sold them were also similar, Woolworths and WH Smiths amongst others. When I looked in WH Smiths circa 2011 they had one or two big packets for sale,along with a stockbook, hinges and tweezers. I think I might have bought one or two but my Dad warned me off them as poor value, and would give me his unwanted British and worldwide stamps. He did literally stand by me and help if I bought something from a real stamp shop helping me find the best value and most visually interesting set. I still have my two short sets of East German stamps I bought in about 1968 for 9d (about 25 cents at the exchange rate of the sixties)

Does anyone else remember the cloth drawstring bags of stamps. I don't remember what company sold them, but I believe they were orange in color. I have been collecting on and off since elementary school and I was always excited to save up enough allowance money to buy one. It would keep me busy for quite a while - sorting and trying to identify all the countries.

Yes! Those were put together by Honor-Bilt also. The cynic here notes that each bag was salted with a faulty high value stamp and was mostly composed of very common stamps (as to be expected). But the sorting and soaking led to familiarity with perf gauges and watermarks (plus minor varieties, shades and cancels), quite the lost art today for beginners.


(not my image or bag)

There were also pale green ones. Another brand or time frame or maybe US only(?).

Thanks for the photo. Wow, that brings back lots of memories.
I don't remember ever seeing a green bag, just the orange.