I began collecting stamps in late 1952, and collected until about 1958. To get me started, my brother gave me an old stamp collection for my birthday. The collection consisted of many loose stamps and "The International Postage Stamp Album, Junior Edition, Fully Illustrated" Scott Stamp & Coin Co., copyright 1935, with ads in the back for 1937 edition stamp catalogues. The oldest U.S. stamp in the catalog is Scott's #156, 1873 (or maybe it's Scott's #134, 1870-71? or maybe #145?, or maybe #182?, 1879?) and, obviously, none are newer than 1935. This catalog is also offered for sale with the stamps in it--see link on Stamps' Main Page. With the exception of the following stamp, I have never removed any stamps from the catalog. Although not full by any means, I would estimate that there are seveal hundred stamps in the catalog including the U.S. and most other countries in existence up to that time. I just looked up the possible value range of the stamp, above. It could be worth anywhere from $0.50 to $595.00--I honestly do not know!

To the best of my knowledge, this is the oldest stamp I have and the oldest one that was in the album. It is potentially the most valuable, as well, although I have only a rough idea what it might be worth today. It was originally hinged in the book, but has been removed and is now in a glassine envelope. It is the only stamp that has been removed from the album, and will be made available to purchase by offer. As near as I can tell, it is an 1854-57, Type of 1841, Red Brown 1d, British. There is a "B" in the lower right corner, a design in the upper right, and the two on the other side cannot be determined due to not being printed properly within the perfs.

Although I considered myself a serious collector back in the 50's, I did not keep up with it over the years. I have a general idea of the value of these stamps, using a current stamp catalog, and think a couple, such as the British one above, may be quite valuable.

However, I did collect some stamps that fascinated me, usually used, but sometimes new, and these are included in the collections as well as the older ones. Many of the initial stamps were foreign, and at some point, after growing up, I gave most of the foreign stamps to my brother's son.

My original intention was to collect US mint block commemoratives, and I have one and a half Mint Block Booklets full of these. They have been stored in these booklets in individual glassine pockets since purchase, but some seem to have gotten folded at the perforations at some point. I also purchased singles of some commemoratives, and some regular issues when the fancy grabbed me. These, and a number of used commemoratives have been stored in a "Stamp Collector's Stock Book", unhinged, in slots.

At some point, I started to sort older regular and commemorative used issues and some are hinged in a loose-leaf notebook, some are in pockets in the same book, and others have been sorted by denomination in envelopes. Our description on the sales pages will indicate if used, whether hinged or not, and quantity available. As best I can determine them, I also include their Scott's Catalog Numbers. Never having been particularly good at determining perfs and watermarks, I am not attempting to define them here.

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