New to The Stamp Forum

I live in the woods, in Northeastern California, age 75. I started collecting stamps as a kid. My older brother and I dove into a box of stamps that Dad, his brothers, and his sister, had collected when they were kids in the 1920's and '30's. What a thrill to learn about US stamps, as well as foreign countries through stamps. I think the folks salted the box because every time I dove into that box I would find something that I hadn't found before. And the folks purchased new issues of stamps, as they came out, for our collections.

Dad was in Europe, driving a supply truck behind Patton's 4th Armored Division, at the end of WW ll he was in Germany and Czechoslovakia, and brought home sheets of Hitler stamps that were so prevalent at the time, alas, they're all gone now. (I traded some of them for US stamps)

When I was eleven I decided to focus on US stamps, sold my foreign collection, with my parents approval, and bought a new 1960 "The Capitol", by Grossman Stamp Co., US album, and more US stamps. There are still a lot of empty spaces in that album, but also quite a few stamps. Surprisingly, there are no inverted Jenny's or Graf Zeppelins! Can you believe it? Not even a 1cent Franklin with a Z grill.

I never lost interest in stamps, but as life intruded, I put my youthful obsession for stamps aside. Over the years, I did find odds and ends of stamps, small stamp collections with some older stamps, and some newer. My dream is to find a few large, old, collections, that are looking for a good home, that will take years to go through. What an adventure that would be!

Now that I'm finally of age, I've decided stamp collecting will be the "retirement" hobby that will keep me off the streets when I finally retire. I am expanding my horizons to include foreign stamps. So, I'm looking for old US and foreign stamps to build up a collection. Price is no object, except I have very little, to no, money.

My main interest is in old - stamps, covers, and postcards. I am not very interested in first day covers, plate blocks, and sheets.

PS - I have found some beautiful, newer, US and foreign stamps, so I will be extending my collecting to newer stamps, but only as a sideline.