Collecting Used U.S. Postage Stamps

     Used U.S. postage stamps are really fun to collect. You can collect the kinds of stamps you want and arrange them however you choose.  You can collect them when you want and for as long as you want in the comfort of your own home.  It is possible to collect only in one designated area or across the whole board. It is your choice.  Your used postage stamps can be collected and displayed any way you see fit.  Place them next to the unused version to add extra value and to compare them with each other.  Postage stamp values of the unused or mint stamps would, of course, be higher than the used one.  Your stamps can be collected and placed in an album using hinges or mounts depending on the value of each stamp.  This is the method most people choose since it makes them easy to see and keeps them in a certain order.  Another method would be to place each stamp into it's own semi-transparent envelope known as a glassine.  These could then be numbered using the Scott number to keep them in the proper order.

      Used stamps have a history all their own.  They travel the world on letters which may have been sent by very prominent people.   Doctors, Lawyers, and even Presidents send and receive letters.  Each used stamp has the possibility of being at an historical event.  There is a little history in every used stamp that you collect.  It represents our heroes and our famous people who are no longer living.  Stamps are a part of our past history that you can hold in your hand.  They remind us of events that have happened during and preceeding our lifetime.  They show us about traveling to the far parts of the globe.  Stamps depict us traveling into space at a very high speed or just floating slowly along in a hot air balloon.  Some stamps show the time that man first landed on the moon and walked on it's surface.  They take us back to the Old Wild West and to the various wars in our history.  Stamps remind us of special people who have helped to make the United States the best country in the world. Just about anything you can imagine can usually be found on a U.S. postage stamp. 

     Owning a stamp collection is just like having your own tiny art collection.  Each tiny piece of paper represent artwork, but on a much smaller scale.  Many stamps display the works of well known artists such as Peter Max, the painter, who helped restore our Statue of Liberty with sales of his artwork. Without his aid, Lady Liberty would probably be in very bad condition today.  So if you love art, you should also love stamp collecting. 

     Not only are U.S. postage stamps fun to collect, but some are extremely valuable because of printing errors such as color shifts or inverts.   Some also have great value because only a small number of them have survived all these years. The less that remain of a certain kind, the more they are worth.  Those who collect postage stamps always have the hope that one of the stamps they own will one day strike the "motherload ".  Collecting used U.S. postage stamps gives us a great  hobby to enjoy along with 20 million or more other Americans who are collecting today. Unlike so many other hobbies, stamp collecting does not rely on the weather.