Reminiscing about the "olden" days..

I missed this thread back in December.

I also remember my Dad taking me to a few stamp shops in Cleveland, where I grew up, and there was even a Stamp & Coin Dept. in our downtown department stores where I could look around while my Mom shopped for other things.

My favorite thing, though, was sending away my 10c or 25c in the mail to one of those stamp companies that advertised in the back of Boys' Life magazine or on matchbook covers. And of course, they sent along approvals, which I generally could not afford to keep.

I can remember checking the mail every day after I sent in for one of those introductory offers to see what stamp treasures awaited me. Sometimes, I still send away for a mixture from an ad in Linn's just to have that same thrill again....

Hi

In my town there was one dealer.  This dealer took a few kids "under his wing" and taught us the "how to" of stamp collecting. On Saturday we would go to his house for our "schooling".  Afterwards we could pick stamps at relatively nothing. Remember minimum value of 3 or 5 cents?  Most of our purchasing, however, were packets or approvals advertised on the back pages of comic books.  The scouting magazine "Boys Life"also had stamp ads.

The big thrill was trips to New York City. My aunt would first take me to Gimbels to get any supplies or Israeli stamps. Then lunch and afterwards a trip to Nassau Street. You had to be there to appreciate the area.  One stamp shop after another. Best part of the trip was that my aunt paid for everything.

Another memory from New York were some of the "character" dealers. I know one who carried around an accountant's case filled with stamps. Not the cheap stamps but things like zeppelins. He would wander around stamps shows. To purchase an item, one would look at the stock in some out-of-the-way area.  One would then "reserve" the item, no purchasing at the show.  To purchase, one would have to make a trip to a designated Diner in Queens at a designated corner table where the dealer set up shop.  You would then pay for and receive your item.  This dealer was from Brooklyn, or Queens, and dressed as a cowboy right out of a Gabby Hayes movie - Stetson hat, boots, belt buckle, etc..

In the 60's and 70's I was collecting US stamps. For new issues I would purchase them at the Grand Central Station Post Office. The postal worker at the philatelic window would purchase a few sheets, or coils, of stamps with his own money. To purchase any stamp(s) one would leave him a want list. After a few hours you would return to get your stamps and pay for them.  There was one "problem" that no one complained about.  If you asked for 2 stamps, one may get 4 or 5.  Regarding plate blocks or plate number coils, those items were reserved for his "regular customers".

One had to be in New York in the 50's, 60's and 70's to really appreciate the New York stamp market.

Jerry B

It was starting to get phased out in the 1970s, but yes, I remember being able to buy stamp packets at five-and-dime stores, too!

I do not remember who assembled them (maybe H.E. Harris?), but I used to buy similar bags of stamps on paper, only the bags were white and made of cloth. I was always hoping to find treasure, but mostly found common US and Hungarian definitives.  There would always be a few "exotic" stamps from Liberia or Mozambique, but looking back I now realize the bags were "salted" with just enough of the less common stamps to keep the young collectors coming back for the elusive treasure we were sure was in the "next" bag.

My local stamp shop:  No really that local as I had a 30 minute bus ride from my neighborhood to East 6th Street in Austin.  Walking to the stamp shop from the bus stop, I first came upon the main Post Office (very stately building) with its friendly clerks (remember, we are talking about the "olden" days).  Next I passed the "sleazy" movie house where they screened the "adult" movies of the time ("Olga's Girls," "Rent-a-Girl," "Bad Girls Go to Hell,"  et al - and No, I didn't pull those out of my memory, Google has amazing lists of all sorts of stuff). Next was the Alamo Hotel where my grandmother occasionally worked as a waitress (she would always buy me a piece of pie or cake if she was working that day). Then the stamp shop!  I would spend hours there and never was given the "evil eye" or suffered a harsh word from the proprietor, even though I seldom had more then a dollar or two to spend.  I believe the reason I was so popular with the students when I taught middle school was that I remembered how good it felt to be treated with respect by adults, and passed that on to the kids in my care.

I do not mean to imply, however, that things were so much better back in those days.  I still find most dealers (at stamp shows and bourses) to be friendly, respectful, and patient.  And I imagine the "olden" days had its share of grouches and curmudgeons, I just choose not to remember them (hey, they're my memories, I can edit them as I wish).

It's funny how stamps can sometimes trigger memories of "olden days."

This afternoon I was looking through one of the many packets of stamps that rod222 had sent, this one back in late 2015 (yes, I'm that far behind), and I came across this strip of five Australia stamps (Scott 741a-e; May 7, 1980) commemorating A. B. Patterson's (1864-1941) "Waltzing Matilda." 

The stamps triggered memories of an elementary school music class in which the teacher had us singing "Waltzing Matilda." 

I remember the Orange bags; in my town they were on a lower shelf at the local Woolco, along with packets, those plastic magnifiers and lots of hinges. I wish I had bought more hinges back then.

My memory though was dreaming about albums. I had a small black and white H.E Harris catalogue that listed all the albums they offered. (It may have come with the Traveller Album I had as a kid.)

I would dream about all the different options and whether I wanted the album with 60,000 spaces or the one with 80,000 spaces. All of them were way beyond the means of a 12 year old. Funny how with inflation, and changing tastes, they are still out of reach! (I've since progressed to lusting after a full set of Internationals and the like.)

Am I the only one who, when receiving an auction catalogue, or dealer list, dreams of one day winning the lotto and buying the entire sale? Just to go through, slowly. I can never decide which lot to bid on / buy. Must be a similar disease to the dream of the biggest album.

Mark

This triggered a memory of my time at Chapel Hill Junior School in Aden, when I was 10. One of the teachers was a collector and would provide a first day cover service for GB stamps, such as the 1966 World Cup issue and 900th Anniversary of the Battle of Hastings etc. These were postmarked with the Aden British Forces Post Office handstamp. I still have a few somewhere.

This is really what set me off 'scrounging' stamps from anybody I could pester.