Problem
As a child, I loved collecting stamps. I loved stamps showing the exotic Far East. I never dreamed that one day I would go and live there. Nor that one day I would see Angkor Wat in Cambodia which would exceed my wildest expectations. (For those who have not yet been there, Ankor Wat is the largest, a walled are the size of a small city, but the entire area is full of a dozen or more temples, one of the most dramatic sights being the bridge lined on both sides by huge stone heads leading to a gateway.
Somewhere, amid a library size collection of books, I hope I still have my old childhood stamp album, and could check which stamps inspired my dreams and made me want to travel.
When I was a teenager I discovered that I had ruined my stamps by tearing them of envelopes, or floating them off. I visit a rich cultured family whose son showed me his stamp collection, consisting entirely of first-day covers. I discovered that you were supposed to leave stamps on envelopes, and buy special stamps, issued only briefly, with special postmarks.
For little countries, stamps are big business. Some countries it is said, make their living mainly from selling stamps of themselves. I must have read this about some tiny, photographic place, probably San Marino.
Small hilltop countries and hilltop hotels, nowadays, just like when I was a child, have long queues to drive up the hill, no parking place, so just time to jump out and by a postcard and set of pricey stamps to prove you were there, in a place where nobody needs stamps because all the neighbours are in walking distance, so long as your ankles can still manage the slopes and cobbles. Then before you know it you are directed around the one-way system and find yourself driving downhill and away.
Preserving Stamps
How can you rescue stamps? New stamps are sold at post offices worldwide and online from post offices and stamp shops which are re-selling and other collectors. You could also do swaps with a penfriend. Or just write to a friend in another country which produces good stamps, instead of merely franking letters.
Stamps For Teaching And Entertainment
If you are staying with friends or family, even staying in hotel or visiting an office, or even a shop where you are a good customer, you might ask them for envelopes or discarded stamps. Children over the age of three (who can be trusted not to eat or swallow papers) would love to look at stamps, even the ones with slightly torn or crumpled corners which have no value to a collector.
As a teacher you can show them the stamps, or photos of the stamps which you took when you were on holiday. For a slide show for the family or grandparents who cannot travel, the stamp of the country makes a good opening slide, or repeated as a border frame.
If you are a keen stamp collector and visit foreign countries, spare a thought for saving stamps. You are preserving history. You are also recycling. With luck, and care and research, they could also be an investment. At very least, a souvenir.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
As a child, I loved collecting stamps. I loved stamps showing the exotic Far East. I never dreamed that one day I would go and live there. Nor that one day I would see Angkor Wat in Cambodia which would exceed my wildest expectations. (For those who have not yet been there, Ankor Wat is the largest, a walled are the size of a small city, but the entire area is full of a dozen or more temples, one of the most dramatic sights being the bridge lined on both sides by huge stone heads leading to a gateway.
Somewhere, amid a library size collection of books, I hope I still have my old childhood stamp album, and could check which stamps inspired my dreams and made me want to travel.
When I was a teenager I discovered that I had ruined my stamps by tearing them of envelopes, or floating them off. I visit a rich cultured family whose son showed me his stamp collection, consisting entirely of first-day covers. I discovered that you were supposed to leave stamps on envelopes, and buy special stamps, issued only briefly, with special postmarks.
For little countries, stamps are big business. Some countries it is said, make their living mainly from selling stamps of themselves. I must have read this about some tiny, photographic place, probably San Marino.
Small hilltop countries and hilltop hotels, nowadays, just like when I was a child, have long queues to drive up the hill, no parking place, so just time to jump out and by a postcard and set of pricey stamps to prove you were there, in a place where nobody needs stamps because all the neighbours are in walking distance, so long as your ankles can still manage the slopes and cobbles. Then before you know it you are directed around the one-way system and find yourself driving downhill and away.
Preserving Stamps
How can you rescue stamps? New stamps are sold at post offices worldwide and online from post offices and stamp shops which are re-selling and other collectors. You could also do swaps with a penfriend. Or just write to a friend in another country which produces good stamps, instead of merely franking letters.
Stamps For Teaching And Entertainment
If you are staying with friends or family, even staying in hotel or visiting an office, or even a shop where you are a good customer, you might ask them for envelopes or discarded stamps. Children over the age of three (who can be trusted not to eat or swallow papers) would love to look at stamps, even the ones with slightly torn or crumpled corners which have no value to a collector.
As a teacher you can show them the stamps, or photos of the stamps which you took when you were on holiday. For a slide show for the family or grandparents who cannot travel, the stamp of the country makes a good opening slide, or repeated as a border frame.
If you are a keen stamp collector and visit foreign countries, spare a thought for saving stamps. You are preserving history. You are also recycling. With luck, and care and research, they could also be an investment. At very least, a souvenir.
Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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