Just a few days ago I talked about the value of a stamp or coin going beyond monetary terms. I stand by that. But having stamps in your collection that have a high dollar value is exciting. In fact, seeing just one or two stamps having a higher catalog value than what you paid for the packet is exciting. So, how do you find this value figure?
Anyone half interested in collecting stamps has heard the talk of today's kids not being interested in stamps. Perhaps there's a shred of truth to that. But that same truth can be applied to most items that kids collect. Are rocks exciting? They can be, I suppose. But the point is that rocks don't have to have images of the latest cartoon characters or the latest boy band for a child to pick it up and put it in his pocket. Nor do they have to be rare and valuable. The fact that they are common and easily found makes looking for a different one all that much more meaningful. These same factors still apply to stamps. So, why aren't more kids collecting stamps these days?
So, you've saved a few hundred envelopes with stamps or purchased a stamp mixture. Now how do you get them off that paper? It may sound odd to first timers but you simply let them soak in cool to room temperature water for 5-10 minutes. But first, be certain that the envelope itself isn't a First Day Cover or have some other historical or personal significance. If it does, it's better to archive the whole envelope. While so much is made of safe handling, it seems plain wrong to dump your stamps in water. While very few stamps have ink that runs after being doused, current US stamps do not.
My friends tell me I'm stuck in the 80's. Who decided parachute pants were "out" anyway? I can't force myself to like something just because it's popular. I also can't stop liking what I like (or digging what I dig, if you will). As much as I have a hard time understanding it, it's the same for the current generation.
In his 1957 book, "Standard Handbook of Stamp Collecting", Richard Cabeen describes the purchasing of stamps on approval as " one of the most important methods used in buying and selling stamps". In fact, Cabeen discusses stamps on approval first over all other methods of acquiring stamps. So, what is the "on approval" thing and why is it so important?
When my eight year-old daughter began to show an interest in collecting stamps, I considered getting her a beginner type world-wide stamp album. There was a moment when I considered opting for stock cards instead just as I was passing over the money. But I thought she may as well start out right. While she was on fire for the hobby on day one, by day 5 that fire was just a few sorry embers. Some time later she asked for one of the stock cards I had laying around to put in a few newly acquired stamps. Later still, on a day when I was ill, I had found that she had spent a goodly portion of the day arranging and rearranging her stamps in a few stock cards.
