New Member, Long Time Lurker

Hi everyone!

I've been lurking on your forum for a few years now as I've gotten back into stamp collecting. You all have been so helpful (and refreshingly nice!) I've decided to stop lurking and join the community! (I may also still have a few questions )

About me: I have been collecting stamps since I was a kid, falling in and out of the hobby over the years. Now I am finally taking a serious crack at inventorying and organizing the hoard I've managed to accumulate - and, TBH, am still accumulating! I'm currently utilizing Steiner pages and Stamp Manage software for this (based on the excellent advice I've gleaned here!)

I'm a worldwide collector and love the thrill of hunting through mystery lots and kiloware! Filling in that last space in a series by chance or happening upon a stamp more than a century old is just so exciting! While the big, colorful, modern commemoratives caught my eye as a child, it's the old, 'plain', definitives that I love now as an adult. I've also developed a fondness for dead countries and occupation issues - so much history there!

Sorry no pics in my first post but I'll try to follow up with some of my favorite 'finds' in the coming days.

Welcome to the group!… few things are as fun in stamps as going through a box lot… I find soaking stamps from kiloware therapeutic…

Welcome.

Welcome to the forum! your journey sounds a lot like mine.

Lance

Welcome!

vagonbrei33,

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.

My personal bias is a used stamp loses the story of its journey in the postal service when it is removed from the cover it transported to its destination. Collecting postal history adds a whole new aspect to your journey in our hobby. Sounds like you are a perfect candidate to become a postal history collector?

Wishing you many enjoyable future days in our hobby. Russ

Hey Russ,

I recently bought a previous collection off ebay for the worldwide stamps and received a bunch of covers with them. I'm quickly learning that the FDCs created solely for collectors do nothing for me - they just feel too manufactured. I'll probably trade them in the future.

But hidden in some albums were genuine covers between 2 stamp collectors in New Zealand and the UK with handwritten letters and pictures still in the envelopes! They may only be a few decades old at this point, but those I'm definitely keeping and going to start an album for them. Don't know if it will turn be into a full blown cover collector but I definitely appreciate them! Kate

Welcome!