Postage Stamp Collecting

Today, I wanted to share with you another collection of mine. I have always been infatuated with postage stamps ever since I was young. A friend of my mother was an avid stamp collector. He had albums upon albums of postage stamps. He used to collect international postage. He was rabid in his pursuit of collecting and even gave me my first album when I was in high school.

I like the idea of collecting postage stamps but didn't have the required patience or the dedication to keep them in the order required of a proper album. As a matter of fact, he took my album and stamps away from me since he said I couldn't do the stamps "justice."

I like postage stamps as artwork instead. I didn't care if they were important or expensive but instead I cared about the artistic aspect of the stamps. I used to glue stamps into my diaries as I was growing up so I like that way of preserving them rather than putting them in books to be stored away.

I still enjoy collecting them but now I enjoying just collecting from mail. I still buy in bulk but I more enjoy actually receiving mail and taking the stamps from their paper backing. The solution I use preserves the glue on the stamp so I have to place them on wax paper until I need to use them.

What most people don't realize is that postage stamps in the United States can be used again if they have not been cancelled (where the face of the stamp has been defaced). I never figured out why some stamps get cancelled and some do not. But if the stamp is not defaced you can use it again. With the advent of the Forever stamp in the United States the current value is 49 cents. So two Forever stamps is approximately $1. With as much mail I send, these free stamps add up. Most of my swap-bot postage is sent free of charge.

Tomorrow, I will be participating in the 30 Day Coloring Challenge hosted by Kathy. Therefore, the majority of my future posts for September will be dedicated to this challenge but I will be posting additional material on several days.