New Member Who Returned To An Old Hobby

I started collecting when I was about 10 years old, and collected for about 5 years or so. I loved the hobby, but lacked the money to add much to my collection. Back then my mother had a decent collection and let me have everything she had duplicates of but without the money to add to my collection, I would often tire of it.

Around the age of 15, I buttoned up the collection and put it away as life got busy with jobs, college, marriage, kids, moves, etc over the years. I knew I would always come back to it when the time and funds were there to add it.

I would get the collection out every several years, look it over, and put it back away again. Most of my collection was US stamps, with a small amount of international stamps. I always figured when I got back into the hobby it would be mostly US stamps again.

Then in April 2019, I got it out again and spent a couple of days going over a really neat "mystery bag" that someone had given me some time over the past 20 years. Sadly I can't remember who, or exactly when. But I found the contents to be an nice collection of Russian, German and Latvian stamps with a couple of covers and some fascinating engineering certificates and a letter thanking the subject for his assistance on the Manhattan project. This really kick-started my love for stamp collecting again. And created a new interest in non-US stamps.

It has been quite a journey figuring out where to get stamps to add to my collection as things had changed so significantly over the last 40 years.

I have now bought a number of collections online (almost an embarrassing number) as I continue to grow my own collection, which I now enjoy daily.

I am focused on all the classics, both worldwide and US. I have read a number of topics of this forum and find it to be a wonderful resource and l look forward to asking some questions and hopefully contributing some of my own gained knowledge some day.

The handle name comes from the fact that I believe I took pretty darn close to exactly a 40 year break from stamp collecting before getting back into it back in April of 2019.

Welcome to SCF and welcome back to stamp collecting! It's not every hobby where you can set it aside and pick it up again years later, but a stamp collection is always there waiting for you when the mood strikes. It is a brave new world nowadays, but SCF can help bring you up to speed.

Your back story fits a lot of collectors' experiences, believe it or not. I figure there was some reason why the interest took hold as a kid and it turns out it never goes away.

Welcome!

Dale

40yearBreak,

Better late than never

Collecting for the enjoyment of collecting, whatever that might be, is the name of the game. Don't hesitate to ask questions especially if you need basic information and especially more advanced sources of information for any possible topic. You should be able to find folks on this board a little further along on their collecting journey glad to share experiences.

Wishing you many enjoyable future days in our hobby. Russ

Welcome!

Do not be embarrassed. Welcome and welcome back ! This forum is a wonderful source for the hobby, so enjoy it.

Welcome to the forum

- Lance

Please show us some of your prized stamps :)

I stepped away for an 18 day road trip that included my daughter getting married.

Most of my best stamps are still in the many collections I have bought and not yet gotten around to processing and merging into my own collection yet.

That said, for some reason, I really love the Belgium Epaulettes and I did buy one solid Belgium collection that gave me a good start on them.





For the most part, I don't collect covers, but so far I have been holding onto the one's I have. Here are a couple of interesting German covers I have with both front and back views.

German cover 1, front:




German cover 1, back:




German cover 2, front:




German cover 2, back:

Now those covers really show the inflationary pressures of the time. Nice copies!

Welcome back to this great hobby! I had a similarly long hiatus and am thrilled to be back at it.

Like many of us, I collected worldwide stamps as a kid and stuck them in Harris albums with hinges. Many years later I have returned to stamp collecting concentrating on US and Canada. My 1847-1934 US collection is in a Mystic Hingeless album. The rest of the US and Canadian stamps through 2022 are in Lighthouse deluxe stock books with the years labeled. My US collection is missing about 100 of the approximately 5700 US stamps issued. These are rarities and I may never acquire them. In addition, I have a good share of revenues, postcards, Hawaii, and Canal Zone. My Canada collection is complete except for some rare early issues.
My Houdini avatar reflects my interest in magic. I've written 9 books on magic for professional and amateur magicians.
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Larry

Your story resonated with me 40yearBreak - I also took a long break in collecting and came back during the pandemic. I am enjoying the huge amount of information that is now online!

Hi 40yearBreak. Welcome to the forum.

There are a lot of us here who have taken a break from collecting. Mine isn't as long as yours, only 30 years but I'm back in there too and I am having a blast!