I got a package in the mail this morning from Brother Mark. It contained two plastic bags of U.S. postage stamps and a letter that read, in part:
“Dad had put away several boxes of stamps years ago in the basement. He put them in old checking account check boxes and sealed them with tape. That was good and it was bad. Good, because it kept anyone from using them, but even though he separated most of the with a piece of waxed paper, the humidity i the basement got into some of them and caused the glue to become sticky.
Bought them in sheets
“Dad used to buy stamps when he went to the post office to pick up mail for Steinhoff & Kirkwood Construction. He would buy them a sheet at a time and he wanted ones that had a block number on them, probably because he thought it might be worth more like that.
“I took them to some folks in St. Louis who appraised them to be worth about $65 [he didn’t say how much more than face value, if any, they were worth]. I didn’t think it was worth selling them for such a small amount to be split three ways [Mark, David and me]. I’ve done my best to equally separate the stamps so that everyone gets a fair sample of what was there.”
Lila and I collected stamps
When I was a kid, I collected stamps, but never had anything that was worth a whole lot, then Wife Lila collected commemoratives for awhile. She checked with Sons Matt and Adam, but neither of them were interested in them, so she was going to offer them up for sale. None of mine were rare, and most had been cancelled, so I don’t think they’ll move us into a better brand of cat food.
I told her the ones Mark sent had no real sentimental value for me, so why doesn’t she just use them on mail. She pointed out that we send very few snail mail letters these days, and, even if we did, most of the stamps are of such small denominations that you’d have to cover the whole front of the envelope with them.
Got any stamp collectors out there? Or snail mailers? (You can click on the photos to make them larger.)
My Mother was a stamp collector also. One summer we were in Yellville Arkansas when she stumbled onto the mother lode for collectors. The postmaster there always tore off the plate blocks (the 4 stamps next to the number) figuring somebody might want them. That somebody was Mother and she was tickled pink as they say in SEMO. I have her collection now.
Got any with trains?
I haven’t looked through them that carefully, but I will.
I have boxes and boxes of them from my own collection and my uncle’s collection. I have a lot of first day covers, also. I have sold just a few envelopes on eBay. I wish there was a way to get some money out of them. There are just too many to put on eBay to just get pennies on.
You might try framing them for memory sake, (like colors together and such). Just scattering them about under a glass top table or curio shadowbox table – maybe with a magnifying glass and pair of glasses that belonged to your dad. Just a thought……