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Tizer
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 Posted -
21/08/2008
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10:17
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Do any OGFB members collect old postage stamps as a hobby, or have family members who do so? I discovered my childhood stamp album from the 1950s earlier this year and decided to start collecting again - nothing expensive, just filling in gaps. Main interest is Commonwealth stamps of George V and VI and to a lesser extent early QEII. My interest is for fun, not investment or obsessive collecting. You learn more geography and history and it's good fun going to a local stamp fair and meeting other people with similar interests and stories to tell! Judging from their comments, there aren't many children taking up the hobby these days - too much competition from computers and TV.
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moh
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Posted - 21/08/2008 : 11:36
I have mine from the 50's also - including a penny black. It is just stuck in a cupboard - maybe I should sell it.
Say only a little but say it well  |
RogerB
New Member
8 Posts
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Posted - 21/08/2008 : 12:18
Hi
I have every British first day cover from 1973 to 1983 in my box room ,looking at them as i do occasionally gives you quite a good historical record of things and occasions that were going on at the time i find them very interesting.
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Tizer
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Posted - 21/08/2008 : 17:18
Moh, have a look at them first - you might get hooked again! The average person's old stamp collection is worth far more in personal interest, nostalgia etc than in money terms. The dealers are only interested in particularly valuable stamps and they don't usually turn up in these collections. But don't let me put you off if you have a stamp shop somewhere near enough to visit and get a value.
Roger, I agree. My wife collects postcards and we also have some first day covers, such as first flights from one airport to another. Very interesting history. And not too expensive to collect either!
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moh
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Posted - 22/08/2008 : 14:20
I have no time for that now with my family history and OGFB!!!
Say only a little but say it well |
Tizer
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Posted - 22/08/2008 : 16:47
Another alternative Moh is to give the collection to a charity shop - some of them have a friendly stamp expert who breaks up the collection, prices the individual stamps and then they are put on sale in the shop with the money going to the charity. I buy stamps from the St Margaret's Hospice shop in Street, Somerset, because they have a man who does this. And I also give stamps I don't want to the shop for him to sell on.
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moh
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Posted - 23/08/2008 : 13:23
Good idea - unless any of my great grandchildren become interested.
Say only a little but say it well |
Duckworth
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Posted - 23/08/2008 : 17:04
I collect stamps for DogsTrust-- GB pictorial & Christmas stamps; stamps with a face value of 30p or more; predecimal issues; all foreign; Channel Islands; 1st day covers, collections and albums. (No small square 1st & 2nd class Queen's head stamps.) Ideally the stamps should have a quarter inch of paper all round. They go to Jenny Thomas (a volunteer) at DogsTrust, 17 Wakley Street, London EC1V 7RQ.
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 25/08/2008 : 09:24
How do charities make money out of old stamps? I never could understand it.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Tizer
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Posted - 25/08/2008 : 10:34
I imagine someone soaks them off the envelope paper and then they get sold. The British stamps probably going to other countries - but that's just my guess. Perhaps Duckworth can explain?
In the case of the local charity I described above there is a knowledgeable stamp enthusiast who comes to the shop weekly and collects any stamps left there. I guess he sends the ordinary modern UK stamps to wherever the other charities send them. But all the older or more interesting pictorial ones get priced and put up for sale in the local charity shop. It is well-known locally and there are usually some enthusiasts there every Saturday morning.
There is now another reason why the modern stamps can bring in money. Besides the traditional style of stamp collecting there are many people now collecting "thematics" - e.g. all stamps with pictures of trains, or flowers or famous people etc. And there are vast numbers of these stamps published around the world.
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Sue
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Posted - 26/08/2008 : 09:46
I don't know where my huge collection went. I was an avid collecter in the late 50s and early 60s. However when I went to university , my Mum and dad moved to Burnley at the same time. Most of my childhood collections and games got left for the family who bought their house
Sue
If you keep searching you'll find it |
moh
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Posted - 26/08/2008 : 11:11
I think my mum must have given all my childhood games, dolls etc away.
Say only a little but say it well |
Tizer
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Posted - 26/08/2008 : 11:25
I was lucky - my parents kept some of my things but probably it was because they didn'tr move house. Then later they asked me if I wanted them and - always being loathe to throw things away - I kept them. I have my childhood coin collection and some metal Tri-ang ships. What's sad is that my Mum got rid of practically everything of her own except photos.
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Sue
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Posted - 26/08/2008 : 18:36
Bob sold his dinky toy collection some 25 years ago for over £100. The collector wanted just one piece, a London bus with one particular advert on its side
Sue
If you keep searching you'll find it |
Duckworth
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Posted - 26/08/2008 : 19:03
The vast majority of stamps I send to Dogs Trust are American issues. A dealer/dog lover specialising in US stamps has first dibs and pays handsomely. I am really not sure what happens to the rest.
During a big tidy-up I came across some presentation packs of stamps I purchased on the QE2 in 1969. There was one stamp depicting the QE2 and others famous British sailing ships. I gave those to the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Virginia. They were thrilled to have them.
I have some British architecture stamps which I have offered to the Building Museum here in Washington, DC.
Some stamps I have framed: Greta Garbo, Albert Einstein, and a few US presidents whose autographs I happen to have.
'Mustn't ramble...
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Tizer
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Posted - 26/08/2008 : 19:45
Good ideas there, Duckworth!
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Stamp collecting
