How Many Coin Collectors also currently or previously collect Stamps as well?

DBSTrader2 · April 28, 2012 1:24PM

How many Coin Forum members also dabble or have dabbled in stamps? Is it dieing out faster than coin collecting?

Maybe 40+ years ago, I put together a small stamp collection. Nothing fancy or fantastic - - mostly older cancelled U.S. & World stamps, supplemented by several dozen FDC's, including all 50 state flags from back in '76. When I would travel (to the Truman Museum, or Franklin's Birthplace), I might also pick up an FDC or cancelled stamp/card. Sprinkle in a few "never hinged" stamps in envelopes (ranging from cat #210 thru #1503), a mint-condition 1972 USPS "Special Stamp Mini-Album", a few misc. space-related stamp blocks, and a bunch of cancelled post-WW1 "overstamped" German inflationary stamps, and that's about all I ever accumulated.

As far as I can tell, there's very little value, if any, in most of the collection, and I might be better off just using the uncancelled stamps for postage.........

The Stamp Forum (and Stamps BST) look pretty dead as well.......

What Happened? When & Why did the bottom fall out? And IS there a market anywhere for uncancelled stamps, sets, or FDC's?

And how many of you have kept up with stamps vs just focused on coins alone?

- - Dave

Mockingjay · April 28, 2012 1:41PM

Yes, I did. Had an advanced primarily foreign collection of run of the mill stuff. Realized there was little intrinsic value and it was subject to a very fickle market.

I just had fun looking for the needles in the haystack, but didn't find anything.

I sold it at a loss some time back.

TexasNationals · April 28, 2012 1:43PM

I still have my nh non cancelled og airmail set, took me a while and unlike alot of stamps these fine examples didn't tank in price to my knowledge, just look at the zeppelins!

AUandAG · April 28, 2012 1:45PM

I have never collected stamps. Coins were enough!

bob

TexasNationals · April 28, 2012 1:51PM

WhiteTornado · April 28, 2012 1:54PM

I only collected them when I was very young. To show you how little I knew of the correct way to store and preserve my stamps, I would use rubber cement to stick them into my stamp album!

I guess that would be akin to using Super Glue to affix coins into a Whitman Folder

I think I tossed out my collection a very long time ago. It wasn't worth anything of significance.

Jinx86 · April 28, 2012 2:21PM

I read the title and I didnt even have to read your answers to know what I would select....What are Stamps? My mother tried in vain to have us kids collect stamps, it didnt take with any of us. So there sits in my moms house three albums of stamps that she doesnt even find interesting anymore.

I do however use stamps more now that Im purchasing coins from more people from all over. Still perfer electronic methods, it doesnt tie cash up nearly as long.

lasvegasteddy · April 28, 2012 2:46PM

what are stamps?

TwoSides2aCoin · April 28, 2012 3:20PM

I don't miss licking them.

bronzemat · April 28, 2012 4:22PM

I used too but have up for comics but the past few months I have been buying a few that spark my interest on eBay. Just $1 values. I don't see myself going into it full time. Coins are more fun.

291fifth · April 28, 2012 6:03PM

I collected stamps actively from 1976 until 1993. In 1995 I auctioned most of my collection. Results were poor.

Stamp collecting has been fading for decades. It was at its height during the 30's & 40's, strongly influenced by the fact that Franklin D. Roosevelt was an active collector.

DBSTrader2 · April 28, 2012 9:02PM

Phil:

I'll go you one better....... I didn't use hinges... I rolled scotch tape into a loop & put them on the back of the stamps. So now a lot of the stamps have a thinning "pane" in the middle after the tape has dried-up & fallen-off!

What can I tell you.... I was YOUNG!!

Thank goodness I never glued any coins to my Whitmans!!!!!

- - Dave

P.S. Who responded to my poll that they'd give me a great price for my collection?

TURBO · April 28, 2012 9:50PM

I have a Elvis stamp...but I only bought it for the 1 ounce bullion medal that came with it.

kaz · April 28, 2012 10:07PM

I started collecting stamps when I was about 12, due to a friend of my Dad's up the street who had an amazing collection. We would go up there on Sundays sometimes and he would pull out his albums. He had every US stamp from the first ones up to around 1930. His Columbians, Trans-Missisippis, and Confederate sets were mind blowing. He had a complete SHEET of one of the Confederate issues. He had several top grade sets of the Zeppelins. He had numerous imperforate rarities, several inverted center issues (but not the famous Airmail inverted center, he told me he had a chance to buy one in the 1930's for $500 and passed). When he sold his collection, it was in a Steve Ivey auction and had its own catalog. Pretty neat stuff. I never built up a collection with any real rarities, but had some older US stamps from relatives and bought every commem at the PO in plate block when they were issued.. now worth face as postage!
So I collected until I went to college and then lost interest.

crypto79 · April 28, 2012 10:36PM

I know a guy who buys all the obsolete stamps he can find and then uses them as active postage on everything he mails just hoping to spark people's interest in history. I find that to be a noble idea

reddwing · April 28, 2012 11:10PM

My dad used to do the same thing. He would go to stamp auctions and buy us commemorative mint stamps for less than face value and use them for regular postage. I would get letters from him with 10 stamps or so on the envelope for just regular us postage. You can still buy bulk us mint stamps today for less than face value if you really want to save money on us postage. Of course, who writes and mails letters anymore?

ricko · April 28, 2012 11:35PM

When I was very young (8/9) I collected for a short while, but then coins caught my interest. I did put a sheet of Bi-Centennial stamps away... still have them. Cheers, RickO

LanLord · April 28, 2012 11:40PM

I don't know if I can actually consider myself as "still" collecting stamps, but I still have some stamps.
They are mostly early US stamps.

MFH · April 28, 2012 11:40PM

A friend back in the early 1970's got me interested in stamps.
It was fun and very educational but lost interest within a couple
of years.

One thing I did learn was to buy the best centered original gum
stamp that was never hinged. My collection was eventually sold
( with the exception of the Commems ) thru Steve Ivey as well.
Sorry to say, I disposed of the majority of the collection in 1990
soon after the stamp market collapse.

I still have numerous boxes of White Ace Albums with a complete
collection of the Commems from the early 1930's. All plate blocks
OG / NH, stopping in 1976.

PerryHall · April 29, 2012 12:08AM

<< <i>One thing I did learn was to buy the best centered original gum
stamp that was never hinged. >>

Stamps are messed with as much as coin. Hinged stamps have the glue removed and then are reglued, perforations are reperforated, etc.

BillJones · April 29, 2012 12:45AM

I have one stamp in my collection of Americana, and it is there because it was of the type used during the Civil War as a substitute for money. I also have a couple of pieces of Civil War encased postage so perhaps that might count as a couple of stamps as well. I also have eight pieces (a type set) of Postal Currency which was the first type of Civil War fractional currency. These pieces are legally regarded as stamps, and were a quasi legal issue of stamps/currency at the time.

My uncle, who got me started with coins, had a bunch of stamps that he and his son dabbled in for a while. I sat down with them a time or two, but I just could not get interested in them.

Those who might be new to the hobby, here are examples of each item I mentioned above:

Postage stamp

Encased postage - "Take Ayer's Pills." This is one of the most encased postage varieties.

Postal currency 50 cents, perforated edges – these pieces also come with plain edges. This is a tough, hard to find note, although the centering on the back is not the best.

mrearlygold · April 29, 2012 12:46AM

I started "collecting" ( Hoarding ) stamps many years ago and have more than 10,000 . I don't know why

Have a few of these combining both worlds

EagleEye · April 29, 2012 12:55AM

Here's a neat tax reduction idea.

Stamp collections typically trade at 10% of the Scott's catalog on eBay. You can buy a $20,000 collection for $2,000. If you hold the collection for a year, have it independently appraised at full catalog and donate it to an organization that will give you the proper form so you can report it on your taxes, then you can right off the full amount - $20,000, in the example I mentioned.

A friend of mine who is a mineral expert makes a living apprising mineral collections for wealthy clients looking to reduce their taxes in this way.

IRS rules

ianrussell · April 29, 2012 1:03AM

I started in stamps first, before moving to coins (when I was 18, I traveled around Australia on buying trips for Stanley Gibbons). I still enjoy reading auction catalogs of stamp firms around the world, but that is the extent of it. I sold the last of my stamp collection/accumulation prior to launching GreatCollections.

- Ian

topstuf · April 29, 2012 3:47AM

Scotch taping the stamps in the album was worse than Scotch taping the coins to a notebook.

johnny9434 · April 29, 2012 4:16AM

i used to collect stamps till i got tangled up with stamps on aproval

. that didnt last long.

DBSTrader2 · April 29, 2012 9:03AM

OK.... I need people to start NAMING NAMES!!! WHO are the 4 people in the poll who would willingly overpay me for my collection?!

SamByrd · April 29, 2012 9:21AM

i collect stamps with US Presidents on them. I add to the set in spurts but its not a real serious endeavor .

StubbyMcNumbthumbs · April 29, 2012 11:00AM

I started out collecting stamps when I was about 9 or 10. Spent every cent I would get on them. Built quite a large collection of US and world stamps over several years and ended up practically giving them away when I needed some quick cash.

I remember being at the stamp/coin store with my dad when I was a kid and I started showing a little interest in coins. He said "No, you are not going to get into collecting coins. They're too expensive. Stick with stamps, they're cheaper".

Some of the worst advice he's ever given me.

If I only knew then what I know now.

rec78 · April 29, 2012 11:56AM

I collected stamps as a kid - heck you could mail order a couple thousand used foreign stamps for a few bucks and have a lot of fun and got a good education figuring out where they all came from and when they were issued. I tried getting to US stamps but there are too many issues-too much to learn even for a specialist.
Coins were new once a year - new stamps came out every month. i wasn't interested in even trying to keep up. Yes book value on stamps is meaningless unless you have a rare issue. Coins are easier to keep also.
Mystic stamp company (is still in business by the way) used to send me stamps on approval and I could pick what I wanted and send back the rest. They only cost a few cents each-but returning most of them got to be a pain, so that did not last long. After I learned that sometimes you could not even sell unused stamps for face value-I quit collecting them-After all, coins you can always get face value for or at very least, Spend.
I think that collecting stamps is a great inexpensive hobby and great for kids-they can teach a lot. Where do you think I learned that Helvetia was Switzerland? I don't remember what I did with my collection of stamps-i think I gave them away.

Bob

ChrisRx · April 29, 2012 1:05PM

<< <i>When I was very young (8/9) I collected for a short while >>

Same here. I was interested for a month or so. Still have them somewhere...

DBSTrader2 · April 29, 2012 1:19PM

I wonder how many folks out there used to collect both stamps & coins, but eventually gave up COINS!

Then again, I couldn't add that option to my poll to find out!

rmpsrpms · April 29, 2012 1:50PM

I collect topical stamps that fit with my numismatic goals...numismatic topics, banking, money, Lincolniana, etc...plus first day covers for these topics as well, which can get very interesting...Ray

pennyannie · April 29, 2012 3:56PM

I have quite a few books of stamps that i have picked up from time to time for the cost of a cheap lunch. I have not even tried to figure out if any have any value but someone spent 100's of dollars on these books that i paid 5 bucks a piece for.

atarian · April 29, 2012 4:24PM

I think my dad tried to get me into stamps. Once the guy at the coin/ stamp shop said that 90% of stamps after 1950 were worth face value, and buying stamps they wouldn't even pay that cause they needed to make a profit ( at face value), I said Ill get a coin instead and that's where I've been since. Coins and Paper currency.

I do wonder how many coin collections currently or previously collected paper currency. I bet the number is much higher than with stamps.

DBSTrader2 · May 1, 2012 2:05PM

When I started my "one-per-country" coin set, I ended up taking some of the nicest saved stamps from each country & putting them into a plastic flip, which I then put at the start of each new country in each plastic flip sheet that went into my binders.

The rest of the stamps I had collected as a kid went into a box which I then gave to the old gentleman running the YN table at the local monthly coin show, so someone new could appreciate them.

So all I have left now are a few stragglers & mostly FDC's.

- - Dave

Baley · May 1, 2012 4:07PM

as a kid I tried collecting stamps, as well as rocks, seashells, fossils, bottle caps, sports cards, comic books, and later, as an adult, accumulated some beer bottles, shot glasses, casino chips, and foreign coins and paper money, as well as certain US modern coins, but the only thing I could ever really get (and stay) really interested in has been old US coins

COALPORTER · May 2, 2012 9:11AM

<< <i>Here's a neat tax reduction idea.

..... You can buy a $20,000 collection for $2,000. .....

IRS rules >>

How long until the IRS figures out a $2000 collection is worth $2000 ?

coinpictures · May 2, 2012 11:27AM

Actually, for the last 5 years or so, my focus has been on stamps almost exclusively, only buying the occasional coin.

I specialize in Civil War-era U.S. revenue stamps, with an emphasis on fancy cancels:

www.revenue-collector.com

JaLP · May 2, 2012 3:31PM

I was given quite a few FDC from my Grandfather that sparked my interest in a set of Olympic and National Park stamps. I still have them, but have not kept up with new issues.

morbidsteve · May 2, 2012 4:23PM

I did when I was young, but not anymore. I think I still have the collection back home.

CoinMiner1 · May 3, 2012 3:10PM

My experience is different than most posted here. I started collecting just a few years ago, well into adulthood.

Nobody in my family collected stamps, so as a kid neither did I.

When I was a young man I worked for the US Postal Service for a while. Must have handled a million pieces of mail, most of them with stamps.

I got so sick of mail I said there is no way I could collect stamps, don’t even want to touch another piece of mail.

20 years later I now collect antique and collectible paper, scripophily, postcards, etc. Many of them-have stamps….so…I guess I started to collect stamps.

Regarding stamps as a hobby, I don’t suppose it will ever catch on again. Kids have too many other (better?) options.

However, I do believe that collectible paper will increase in popularity over the years…and thus keep at least a small glimmer of folks newly learning about stamps.

TwoSides2aCoin · May 3, 2012 3:49PM

If I knew how to "group" them like coins and assess their values like coins...
The truth is, they're much more beautiful than coins, and so is currency. Color adds flavor.

paladin · May 4, 2012 1:39AM

Yes, but does color add flavor to coins? I did not think so until I saw this recent release from Perth.
As a collector snob I've always dismissed colorized coins. This, however, may be the exception:

How Many Coin Collectors also currently or previously collect Stamps as well?

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