These are some stunning, and inspiring, pages. It is my hope that one day, our collection might reach the level some have set the bar at.
My overwhelmed newbie mind, is crushed under the weight of the mountain of staggering detail, I need to know, just to identify the stamps I
inherited. I am following the best advice all of you have posted in this community, repeatedly. Learn, research, but most importantly,
enjoy.
I decided early on to print my own pages, because many stood out, and, had I put them in chronological, or catalog, order, I would not remember which ones caught my eye. The classics are ordered according to cancel and postmarks, because that is why they were collected. On the advice of another community member, I am also posting them all, and grouping them together, rather than 'the best of' and having the rest in a stockbook.
The ones that do stand out, I am making separate pages for, so that I don't lose them forever in the collection. I may not remember where they are, come this time tomorrow morning, or half an hour from now.
These postmarks on the stamps are the year they were issued. So far, I've found just the 1890's. I've not had a chance to examine, at great length, every single stamp, just yet, but these stood out, particularly the 219D that is postmarked eleven days after first date of issue.
As I learned of 'varieties, I found some, most recently, the 219, with 'Ben burning the candles at both ends'. (which I am sure the man did, in the literal sense.) It was a moment of
, since I'd been through these stamps quite a few times, since last June, and not seen them til now. Now, they are on a page, where I can easily find them.
I am keeping it simple, even though redoing the entire collection, at a later date, seems to be a task I may never get to, or would be a foolhardy thing, 'if only I just took the time now', to 'get it right the first time'. However, if I took the time, to put all the information, and investigate every stamp, along the way, I think I would feel I would get bogged down, in the detail, and possibly give up in frustration that I'd never get the main goal accomplished and that is, to 'rescue' the collection from the baggies, envelopes, boxes, and photo albums not meant for stamp preservation, and present them in a way that all looking at it can enjoy, and see what it is they are looking at.
If I don't have the time, later, to go back and redo the pages, to the inspirational level many of you have posted, our son, who is an artist, and has asked to be the fifth generation to care for, and contribute, to the collection, perhaps can put his own handiwork, on the pages, now that some of the information is there, and he won't be so overwhelmed, with the information gathering, as I have, before he starts adding his own personal touch.
Posted 01/29/2015 4:22 pm
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