Friday 21 October 2011

Me and Stanley Gibbons! ;-)


I came across my old stamp album, a few days ago!

When I was quite young, stamp collecting was one of my hobbies!

Stanley Gibbons was a permanent feature in my bedroom!! ;-)

I would frequently go to the library and stagger home with him!

(i.e. that famous stamp collecting catalogue) then thumb through in the hope

that I'd found a rare stamp!





I had all the 'gear'...the stamp hinges, tweezers etc etc!

And I rather enjoyed this hobby for a few years of my young life.



Oddly, enough,what should I read in the Daily Telegraph , recently?





I think it's quite sad that stamp collecting is on the decline

as I know that through my own stamp collecting,

I certainly became more knowledgable

in geography....



...and, of course, the history of my own country.











I notice that this one is in mint condition!... (it's not worth much though!)



And I loved all those triangular stamps!




I particularly like these...





And then, quite suddenly, my stamp collecting came to a halt!

I think I got to that age where boyfriends got in the way!!

And that was the end of my lickin' and stickin'!! ;-)

I wonder...did any of you ever collect stamps ?

;-)


17 comments:

  1. I am filled with nostalgia now! I loved collecting stamps and the weekend afternoons of folding hinges and sticking new stamps into my album. Whenever we went to my great grandmother's we'd rush to her kitchen to the tea caddy on the mantelpiece to see what she'd collected for us! As she had children in three different continents and friends all over the world, it was always an unusual selection. It's such a shame that it's becoming a rare pastime (and also so sad not to send and receive proper letters in the post).
    x

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  2. I did too when I was young. I went for the ones with pretty flowers and butterflies! but you're right, it did make me curious about the countries and is a great way to learn about geography and history.

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  3. Wow me too! I loved collecting stamps. My grandad would send me a big envelope of stamps from his place of work too, stamps from all over the world! Funny how all of a sudden the things come to a halt! I used to get mums old book "The Story of the World" out and look up the countries.
    Julie xxxxxx

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  4. You are absolutely right, stamp collecting is on the decline for some reason. When I first began work, customers would regularly ask for and borrow our Stanley Gibbons catalogues and request the new editions due to come into stock. We still buy these for people to loan....but these days sppend much more time on library shelves. Such a shame really.

    Tracey

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  5. Sad that that's the end of your lickin and sticken

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  6. I also collected stamps and still have my album ... and I have many of those stamps that you have shown! What wonderful times they conjure up - I used to buy from a stamp company using my pocket money with which to buy postal orders for the stamps. I think I had more post than my parents in those days, what with stamp collecting and several penfriends, too!
    Margaret P

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  7. That brings me back to my childhood also. I see a few that I had too. Mine is somewhere around. Just love the photos of your Granddaughter and garden photos are amazing.
    Have a lovely weekend.

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  8. Yes, I did Sal. And I do agree with you that it was a good way to learn Geography and History. If I hear of a place anywhere in the world and I don't know where it is I get the Atlas out immediately and I think that habit started when I collected stamps. They don't teach that kind of geography in schools anymore - more's the pity.

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  9. Sal my dad has always collected stamps and still does today. He's always getting me to run off to post office for the next collection! He's got bags and bags of them, but enjoys sorting them all into albums of an afternoon. He only collects english stamps. If I had the time I'd love to! X

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  10. Funny that you should be mentioning stamp collecting just now. We save the stamps that come to work for one of the local church groups. One of the girls was wondering what becomes of them. I then remembered the excitement of rifling through a "Mission Mixture" of stamps and being rather excited about all the different stamps that came from countries I'd never previously heard of. I can usually answer trivia quiz questions on the Olympic Games and all our prime ministers from when I collected stamps. They are now tucked away together with my Mum's collection dating back to the 30s. It was a lovely thing to do on a wet weekend. I suppose sticker type stamps have put a bit of a dampener on saving stamps as well.

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  11. Thank you for all of your comments so far! Seems like stamp collecting was quite a hobby..and still is with some!;-)

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  12. What brilliant post Sal, aren't there some wonderful designs in amongst them? It was my big brother that was the collector in our house and my mum was always moaning about finding the stamp hinges everywhere!

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  13. I was never a collector, but your pictures really brought back memories of a stamp collection that my mum had made when she was small. Her uncle was a long distance lorry driver and used to go all over Europe so she had quite the collection as he would pick up some from whereever he was. Like you they really encouraged my interest in history and geography - I must ask her whether she still has hers as I'm sure my children would be fascinated with it. Funnily enough I was just reading on another blog of an international post card exchange where you can send and recieve postcards from all over the world - I think I might join - for the postcards and the stamps!

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  14. I loved collecting stamps & do still have my album. I remember soaking them off of envelopes & leaving them to dry before putting them in my album. I do have some quite old ones but doubt they are worth much! Haven't consulted with Stanley for years.....

    I have to admit that I still tear pretty stamps off of envelopes but they just pile up in a tin.

    Jayne

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  15. Our house was exactly the same xx

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  16. Can't keep up with the number of new issues these days! But they are still as beguiling as thy were 40 years ago!

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  17. I loved collecting money from other Countries. If you want I can send you stamps from my Country: Italy!
    Miriam

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Thank you for taking the time to comment! ;-)