What I Think About Stamp Collectors

About two months ago I was given a big box of thousands of loose stamps (basically confetti). I never really even thought about stamps before that, except that I do still write letters and cards and send them in the mail which, of course requires a stamp. I'm old fashioned that way and believe a happy Birthday by e-mail is nice but a happy Birthday through the mail is excellent! Maybe it's because you can't shove a $20 in an e-mail!
So, to be short about it, I got the box of stamps, heavy sigh, what am I suppose to do with this mess...started sorting by country...sorted then by stamp...then cataloged them all (that part was not fun and not easy at all)...and now I'm finished...end of story...I don't think so. First of all I want to thank all the collectors out there who helped me do these stamps. I'm sure my questions were first grade but they were answered so nicely by PHD collectors. I always thought stamp collectors were total nerds and now I'm sure they are.......about stamps. If you know nothing about stamps and you find yourself cataloging stamps , there are soooooo many hard question that come up that you need a discussion to understand and that can change the value of the stamp. For instance, the first time a green horn like me reads "chalky paper"....say what? Paper is paper, not any more. It would have been so nice to have someone tell me I was using the perforation ruler thing correctly especially when the value of the stamp is riding on it. I had so many question during cataloging because this was all new to me and I didn't want to be inaccurate.
In conclusion, I could never have completed the task if it weren't for this great community of people called stamp collectors. They were so nice to me and very willing to help without making me feel small. I found myself laughing and enjoying reading their comments...yes, stamp collectors are funny too, this was surprising to me. Most of all these people are total studs when it comes to stamps, just a fountain of knowledge that they were willing to share with me for free. It kept me going instead of quitting which I wanted to do so many times. Besides the obvious beauty , detail and history of each stamp I had so much more to learn. One thing I knew for sure, after all the work ....I fell in love with these stamp and now I was a stamp collector too.
Thank you for all your experience and wisdom that got me to this point and I'm sure you'll hear from me again....like it or not! chery

The lion's share of us are a pretty helpful bunch!

Keep asking questions though. I've been at this for decades and I'm still asking.

Dear B.D.L.A.
I have a life time of questions!!! I have to admit I was feeling a bit brain dead before I got that box of stamps, but,oh boy, she is a tickin' now. I not only want to read about stamps, I want to talk about them, in fact, I crave it sometimes....it's so crazy! chery

What a nice, warm letter. Thanks for your thanks! My Dad (and I) have made many friends through stamp collecting, and I think your letter is on the mark. Keep at it, you will learn things every time you open your album, or sort a new batch of stamps.

what a beautiful letter! I would also thank everyone who help others here (including helped me).

Couple of suggestions: Consider joining the American Philatelic Society (nominal fee to join) and through their data base, search for a stamp collectors club near where you live that you could join and attend their meetings to further you journey through learning, a lifetime journey by the way, which we are all traveling and still learning as we go.

Nice story.

What did you use for a catalogue?

The APS now has a new membership sale on right now! Get extra months for free.

I used the Scott 2017 catalog. The stamps were originally given to my husband and he did some research and he chose the Scotts catalog. That was the only thing I used as far as price. There were so many stamps that didn't have their country on them in which I used Google lens to figure out where they were from.

btw....google lens was 100% on recognition....so easy!

Cherrytwist,

Having a complete set of the Scott catalogs (6 volumes in 2017) available is a good start since they can be an investment by themselves. I use the same year and the valuations for most have not changed since then.

You can find a stamp identifier on the ISWSC web site at http://www.iswsc.org/iswsc_identifier.html. The back of the Scott catalogs have identifiers as well.

Many stamps may be low value so an affordable hobby but the catalogs, stock books, printed albums, etc. can add up if purchased new.

It is nice to hear about someone that found their own pleasure in working with stamps. We love hearing these stories.

... and first seeing the title to this thread, it could have gone a number of different ways!

My husband was able to barrow the catalogs which is why it was so easy to get lost in my stamp world. I had all the tools and when I was stuck, I had all of you guys.