Saturday 10 March 2012

A secret passion............................................................ I buy and sell stamps

I am a stamp collector... with a passion for the Victorian era.

I have been interested in postage stamps for most of my life... one of my first memories is of turning the pages of my Dads special red book containing little paper pictures stuck neatly onto the pages.
They were so beautiful to look at and came from all over the world.


The first postage stamp... the Penny Black was issued in 1840 with check letters in the bottom corners.
Cut from a sheet of 240 (20x12) a full sheet would have cost a pound.
The check letters ran from AA to TL... the stamp above is AF... my initials.

This stamp was once owned by Reginald Phillips.
His magnificent collection was donated by him to the nation in 1965 and forms the basis of the National Philatelic Museum.

Plate 36...1856-57 examples of ink colour variations.


Dads stamp album was kept in the cupboard below our television.
It was a bit like viewing the holy grail as a youngster... always a special treat to have a look.

George the VI stamps are so pictorial... I discovered so many places viewing these.
I have also visited Trinidad and the lovely little island of Tobago in person.

The engraved "Seahorse" stamps from 1913-18 are one of my favourite issues...

... but the first stamp I ever wanted to own was issued in 1963 for National Nature Week.
As a seven year old I already had a love of wildlife... badgers and long-tailed tits have featured on my blog.

I still have dads old album... and I now know his collection was from his own childhood.... his handwriting which was so grown up to me as an eight year old is of a boy in his teens... which makes it even more special.

18 comments:

Carole M. said...

your secret is safe with me! I remember my Grandma also had stamps and I filtered some on them in my own collection for a time, way back. Some are the old English stamps. Do you continue to collect the newer stamps these days, or just preserve your older collection?

Bob Bushell said...

A nice collection you have, and the penny black, wow.

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful gift you dad passed down to you. Something to treasure for life!

TexWisGirl said...

that is so cool that you collect these little antiques, just as your father did. really glad you retain his collection. :)

and 1963 was a very good year. ;)

Beckyt said...

Wonderful hobby.

Arija said...

Between us, we too had quite a collection before the '83 fire. Since then it has been more modern stamps without much rhyme or reason but with a lot of beautiful pictures of places and wildlife.

What a wonderful thing it is for you to have yur father's stamp album. I suppose the contents are quite valuable these days as well as wonderful to pour over on a cold winter's evening by the fireside.

Sondra said...

I have a very modest collection, I LOVE stamps!! My sister was a post master so it kinda ran in the family! Are these photos from your collection? Im sure it was great to share with interest with your Dad!

jeanlivingsimple said...

Very cool Andrew!

John @ Beans and I on the Loose said...

That is really neat. I admire those who have a passion for something. My grandmother had a nice collection as well as I can recall. I wonder now what became of it.

Inger-M said...

Those are beautiful little stamps! I tried to collect some in my younger day, but it didn't amount to much. It must be very interesting when you really get into it! And how wonderful for you to have your dad's album!

MadSnapper said...

you make me wish I liked to collect something. as i read about your dad's collection, I thought maybe you like stamps because you grew up looking at his and maybe the reason i don't collect anything is my parents did not collect and neither did any of my grand parents. now i don't feel so bad about not being a collector. but it would be nice. so you have 2 hobbies, stamps and photography, any other hobbies?

cieldequimper said...

I have a Penny Black somewhere. I used to collect British stamps and one day just stopped...

Unknown said...

I used to collect stamps and the theme was fauna and flora. Most were from exotic countries.

P.S. Love the new header.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

What a wonderful collection you have Andrew and I can only imagine how special it must be to have your Dad's old album with his youthful handwriting, something to be passed down through the generations of your family.

Sallie (FullTime-Life.com said...

Wonderful -- that last stamp is absolutely fabulous! No reason to keep this wonderful hobby and collection a secret!

Susan said...

How awesome. The stamps are absolutely wonderful!

Pantherka said...

Beautiful signs, it is a beautiful hobby.

Captain Shagrat said...

I now collect stamps for an an animal charity, strangely fun to see my eyes light up when I get a completely new one that I haven't seen before. My brother used to collect and I recognise the Trinidad and Tobago from looking through his book of stamps. Ah the memories