Ryan
Member 
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Posts: 2,720 
What I collect: If I have a catalogue for it, I collect it. And I have many catalogues ....
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Post by Ryan on Sept 13, 2013 16:50:54 GMT
When I was 10 years old, I found a piece of an envelope in the back alley behind our house. Barely attached to the scrap of paper was an Italian stamp - it had been run over a few times and was pretty scuffed up, it has the occasional hole, and somebody had scribbled on the back of it with a yellow crayon. I kept it because I thought it was neat to have this thing with a foreign language on it. Within a week, the bottom of a Corn Flakes box revealed a packet of 5 stamps as a prize. I was on my way and I've collected stamps ever since. I've always kept that first stamp even though it's so beat up. It sits on its own in a tiny glassine envelope, as does my copy of the Penny Black. I thought I'd scan the two of them together - the first stamp and the first stamp, side by side. Does anybody else still have the first stamp they ever got?  Ryan |
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rod222
Member
Posts: 9,905
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on Sept 13, 2013 23:24:05 GMT
I don't recall my first stamp, but I do recall a defining moment, I reckon I must have been 7-9 years old, and I attempted to remove this stamp from a page, and promptly left a hole in the stamp, where it had attached to the page. I have retained a deep seated hatred of gum, ever since. I was heartbroken, I thought I would never get another example of this stamp again. The feel of the stamp, the vignette was eternally fascinating, with the huge boaconstrictor. The wires in ones brain must get firmly attached with these moments, even after 40 years, you can almost revisit that exact second, and taste the emotion. It is a bit hazy on the individual stamp, but I think it may have been the 40c Orange one. I must not have learnt too well, I did it again with a Mauritainian stamp, with a guy holding a rifle in the air.  |
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Post by canadianphilatelist on Oct 7, 2013 21:59:02 GMT
I do not recall my first stamp at all but I remember how I started collecting.
I was seven years old and my grandmother visited from Hong Kong. It was the absolutely first time that I had ever met my maternal grandmother. Her gift for me was a blue stock album. I've been collecting since.
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marius
**Member** 
Inactive
Posts: 38
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Post by marius on Oct 8, 2013 15:00:20 GMT
What a nice story, Ryan! I bet that stamp is one of the most important in your collection! I don't recall my first stamp but as a kid living in communist Romania, I remember stamp collecting was quite popular. We had these sort of red stamp envelopes available to buy at any PO so I think this must have been my first stamp purchase   There were about 40-50 stamps in each of these, mainly CTOs from Romania and other east european countries. |
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hrdoktorx
Member
Posts: 6,604
What I collect: France (and French territories), Africa, Canada, USA, Germany, Guatemala, stamps about science, flags, maps, stamps on stamps...
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Post by hrdoktorx on Sept 12, 2018 8:24:43 GMT
It is a bit hazy on the individual stamp, but I think it may have been the 40c Orange one. I must not have learnt too well, I did it again with a Mauritainian stamp, with a guy holding a rifle in the air. Maybe it was this one:  Unless it was from the "protection of the empire" joint issue of 1939 across the French colonies which I would really like to have to show, but don't  |
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janetc
Member
Posts: 320 
What I collect: US and WW. Lighthouses, Dragons and Christmas
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Post by janetc on Dec 13, 2018 20:45:59 GMT
I don't remember my first stamp as it was a collection I found in the attic. A 1957 Ambassador Album with stamps mounted in it, a pack of stamps and a pack of hinges stuffed between the pages. I felt like I had just found a gold mine. Took it downstairs and showed it to my Mom. She explained what it was doing there and offered it to me. I was 12 years old. I have enjoyed the hobby ever since.
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renden
Member
Posts: 8,711
What I collect: World W collector with ++ interests in BNA (Canada etc) and USA
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Post by renden on Dec 13, 2018 20:47:46 GMT
I don't remember my first stamp as it was a collection I found in the attic. A 1957 Ambassador Album with stamps mounted in it, a pack of stamps and a pack of hinges stuffed between the pages. I felt like I had just found a gold mine. Took it downstairs and showed it to my Mom. She explained what it was doing there and offered it to me. I was 12 years old. I have enjoyed the hobby ever since. Same as me but the first real stamp was the Penny Black !! René |
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Post by tallanent on Dec 13, 2018 21:52:15 GMT
Ryan Just for information (plus it gets the details out to anyone interested) the Penny Black is plate 8
O flaw at base (between the O and N of ONE Vertical guide line in the top right corner square Slight weakness to the right side frame line
Put to press 3 July 1840 Registered 31 July 1840 Earliest known use 5 September 1840 30,000 sheets printed in black
Also printed in red 22,000 sheets printed Withdrawn from press 23 March 1841 Defaced / destroyed 8 September 1841 Earliest known use in red 20 February 1841
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coastwatcher
Departed
Rest in peace
Kentucky, USA
Posts: 506
What I collect: Currently focusing on US and possessions
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Post by coastwatcher on Jan 7, 2019 11:20:34 GMT
My first stamp was the Scott US #1548 The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. It came on a letter from my grandmother in 1974, when I was 9, and I was fascinated by it. It started a lifelong love affair with stamps. I doubt that I still have that exact stamp anymore as 99 percent of my 20th century US are mint now. It could be mixed in with my duplicates but there’s no way I will ever know.  |
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firstfrog2013
Member
Posts: 3,276
What I collect: BNA Liberia St Pierre U.S. Bolivia Turkey
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Post by firstfrog2013 on Jan 7, 2019 16:02:27 GMT
coastwatcher My residence now is about 29 minutes from Sleepy Hollow.there is now a private gated community there.
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coastwatcher
Departed
Rest in peace
Kentucky, USA
Posts: 506
What I collect: Currently focusing on US and possessions
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Post by coastwatcher on Jan 7, 2019 21:38:11 GMT
coastwatcher My residence now is about 29 minutes from Sleepy Hollow.there is now a private gated community there. It’s a thousand wonders that some developer didn’t open up an amusement park there! |
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blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
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Post by blaamand on Jan 8, 2019 18:56:52 GMT
My first stamps were a pile of leftover machins I got at age 8 from my 4 year older brother, along with a beaten-up stock book. I will always cherish the memory of lying in my bed and sticking those 7p brown and 9p blue machins into that stockbook. The next day my brother gave me a lot more of the machins, including the 1/2p light blue, which I found particularly nice because of the unusual color. Since then I have always loved the design of the machins, simplistic and beautiful at the same time.
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janetc
Member
Posts: 320
What I collect: US and WW. Lighthouses, Dragons and Christmas
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Post by janetc on Jan 8, 2019 19:39:40 GMT
My first stamps were a pile of leftover machins I got at age 8 from my 4 year older brother, along with a beaten-up stock book. I will always cherish the memory of lying in my bed and sticking those 7p brown and 9p blue machins into that stockbook. The next day my brother gave me a lot more of the machins, including the 1/2p light blue, which I found particularly nice because of the unusual color. Since then I have always loved the design of the machins, simplistic and beautiful at the same time. I love collecting the machins. The only problem I run into occasionally is the color match. I have a ton of them yet to be sorted and put in my album. I use this website adminware.ca/machin.htm to help me with them. They are absolutely beautiful stamps. |
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 693
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Jan 9, 2019 2:34:25 GMT
My first stamps were a packet of 1000 stamps from a neighbour across the back alley when I was 10 years old. I remember they were in a brown manila envelope. I spent hours sorting into envelopes by country and then mounting them into a red Harris Traveller album I bought with my allowance at Woolco. I still have the stamps. Every time I see one of the common Czech president Svoboda stamps from the '70s I think of that first envelope. In hindsight, I wish I had spent my allowance on 25c packs of Dennison hinges for a year or two. I'd be retired now! |
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