When I was young one of the things that I collected was stamps.

I even entered my stamp collection into the school hobby show a couple of times and received some ribbons. See: Stamp CollectingI also have some great memories of going to Woolworth’s in Ottumwa and buying bags of stamps to sort through. I remember the bags being blue, but his was one I bought about 25 years ago. This bag brings back so many memories of sorting through stamps and steaming or soaking them off of the envelopes. So much fun. Trying to find out what the stamps were about and where they fit in the album. Forceps, hinges, sleeves, etc.. So many memories.

One of the things that I really liked was that I would often dig out an encyclopedia to find out more about what a stamp depicted. Especially if it was a stamp from another country. This helped build a nice base of knowledge that comes in handy when watching Jeopardy!

I would say that if you are looking for a hobby for you grade school age kids that this would be a good one just because of how much you learn.

When I was in Junior High I had a period of time where I got really serious about stamp collecting and was buying un-circulated stamps from a stamp collector in the small town we lived in.

The picture above is an example of a page from the stamp album pictured above. The stamps on this page are from 1952-1954 and cover a wide array of subjects. Even looking at them now my mind is wandering all over the place. I can’t even begin to write about all my thoughts. For example, my Dad was an Iowa Farmer in the Future Farmers of America.

I wrote a post earlier this week titled Stamps or Coins? using this wonderful postmark from Coin, Iowa.

I am going to work on a limited coin collection, but also slowly get back into stamp collecting. My initial focus is going to be the mid-1900’s which I was focusing on when I was in Jr. High.

Tonight I ordered a new stamp album for this time period. I will probably at some point start a topical collection. Ideas are Space, Literature, People in History, Technology, Health Care, etc..  So many ideas since stamps are so diverse.

Another reason whey stamp collecting is interesting to me is that my 4th Great Grandfather Orsamus Braman was a postmaster in the 1850’s shortly after the first postage stamps were introduced. I also have a 2nd great grandfather who was a postmaster. See: Ancestral Postmasters

I will probably write another post about stamp collecting once I get my new stamp album and start to fill it. I know that I will be able to completely fill some of the pages, and will then decide what gaps to fill 🙂 I already see in the picture of the stamp album page above that I need to find an unused Torch of Liberty stamp.

Did you have a stamp or coin collection when you were young?

Steven