Hello , I'm 47 and for some reason the hobby of stamp collecting has peaked my interest. I stumbled across it while looking for something to do with my grandkids. Unfortunately they live 400 miles away and I write them several letters a month. So I was thinking of introducing them to the hobby and send them stamps in their letters to place in a album. While looking in some catalogs , I found an interest in the world album from a kenmore catalog. This would go hand in hand with my other hobby Ham Radio and the various contacts I make around the world. I would appreciate any suggestions on an album suitable for me or any other suggestions to help me begin my journey into this hobby.
Since you're just beginning, get a stock book. That way you are not bound by anything on a printed page. Collect whatever interests you for now. Eventually you will most likely gravitate to certain types of stamps or even a country or two (or more). Just take it easy for now and learn the hobby and take a look at the stamps that are out there. By the way, there are over 700,000 different stamps to collect issues from 1840 to 2017, and the number keeps going up!
Here is a link to the American Philatelic Society. They have a few pages about starting into the hobby. You do not have to be a member to access the pages.
I agree with Michael. A stamp stock book is a great way to start.
A web search will bring up various purveyors of stock books for stamps.
From what I have heard 16 or 32 pages are the right size. They do sell 64-page stock books but these have the tendency to be unwieldy and for their bindings to come apart more easily.
The hobbies of stamps and radio are linked for me as well. I grew up collecting and listening to foreign broadcasts on an old five tube Halicrafters SW radio. I've never been licensed but enjoy listening to Hams, mostly on 20 and 40 meters. Sadly it seems there are fewer all the time. Welcome!
Andy, i like the response so far. I also like that it might involve others. What fun. Think about saving the letters and envelopes your friends send. That might supplement albums and stock books and allow fr additional foci.
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
I didn't see the ages of your grandkids but I believe that the American Philatelic Society (APS) offers free pages for anyone to print out - go to www.stamps.org
On the left side is a tab "Stamp Collecting"
Click on whatever tabs interest you but specifically there are tabs for Young Collectors and Features and Freebies. Under the Freebies one, you will find album pages that can be printed out. Not sure if they will be of any interest but it might be a good, inexpensive way to start the kids out.
Thanks for the tip, grandkids are 4&8 and I think it'll be a great opportunity to introduce history and other interesting fun facts about this great country of ours.
Just to echo what David (amsd) said, contemporary covers with commemorative postage stamps on them are quite collectible. That you you save the postmark and other information that tells the story about how that letter got from one person to another. Here is an example (with some of the personal details blanked out).
Don't forget the mailing of QSL Cards. They are bulky and require "better" stamps. Robert "Kappy" Kaplan coordinated the mailing of QSL Cards for the ARL and had a wonderful collection of higher value stamps from around the world - many very remote places.
I have a bunch of QSL cards. I love reading about their travels. My folks were into the ham radio for several years. Glad to hear the hobby hasn't completely died out.
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"Appreciate the beauty of nature. You never know when life will deal you an unplanned twist of fate. Enjoy things while you can, because you just never know."
You guys are right about the QSO cards however contacts are mostly confirmed through email now, Eqsl and Lotw. Once again thank you for all the ideas, it's helping me hone in on what type of collecting I want to do.
Great idea: Writing letters to your grandchildren several times a month!
One good or great idea is to hand decorate the envelope you send your letter. No big deal:
if you do not have "artistic" talent, you can trace a picture or drawing you like and that goes with the stamp or stamps you use to frank your envelope. Make sure the children respond to your design and the postage stamps affixed to the envelope.
There is a good book called a Good Mail Day that helps make "eye popping" postal art (mail).
Here's the source: amazon.com
Good Mail Day: A Primer for Making Eye-Popping Postal Art Paperback – September 1, 2009
by Jennie Hinchcliff
Although decorating your own envelope seems to be more personal and fun.
Keep those letters and postcards going!!! And if you go on trips, make sure to use postage stamps that add to the postcard. You can purchase vintage postage stamps from many stamporama.com members.
I'll add one other possibility for you to consider: topical collecting.
you could collect RADIO, HAM RADIO, HAM, PORK, PIGS, MERCONI, QS Cards, QS cards from one specific location, etc.
In addition to my own cover collection (mostly about rates and auxilliary markings), I collect seals (especially tied on cover), US, Germany (I don't think hardly anyone can resist the allure of the Third Reich), Czechoslovaki (because I was there once, and their PO was so accommodating I was able to acquire years of mint stamps), and Hungary (land of my grandparents birth). My topicals are military (so broadly defined as to include Negan with Lucille) and bats (those things, that along with my grandparents, are rumored to have fled Transylvania) and vampires (see bats and Transylvania).
I also save horses for my daughter, who has, on occasion spent time with me cataloguing and expressing some interest (doesn't take much for me to hope) and elephants for my niece (who has no use for stamps, but adores anything with a pack of derms on them).
Just babbling so you get a sense of the width of this philatelic brook.
Davi d
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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"
Keep Postal systems alive, buy stamps and mail often 11 Oct 2017 07:17:47pm
re: Newbie wanting to get in the hobby
I'm one of the old timers, been collecting since 1947 with a gap for time in the military and I will add make it a hobby NOT a passion as I did, I've invested tens of thousands of dollars because I normally go too far in my hobbies and at the time I could afford it. Been out for awhile due to other projects but I seems to always return as I get great pleasure in viewing my collection and seeing what I might wish to upgrade. Welcome, enjoy and don't stop asking questions. Knowledge is rewarded with good investment. Stamporama ha some really great folks who really care about you.
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