Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
12:47:42pm
"Somehow I think the homey ambiance of a friendly stamp shop where you could almost smell the stamps in albums and stock books that lined the walls and where spending a hour or two chatting with others interested in the hobby was normal course of events, has gone the way of the dodo bird."
I'd first check the auction board, then make my way back to the albums where stamps were usually 5c each. Also, in the rear of the store, was the penny bin (although, I believe the stamps were actually 2c each). But since I rarely had more than 1 dollar or so to spend, I'd really just hang out and listen to the older collectors talk. The cool thing was that they'd often get me into the conversation, and only rarely did I encounter someone who was annoyed by the younger collectors.
The stamp store disappeared at some time in the late 60s, early 70s (I discovered girls in the mid 60s, and with that and college, stamps were put away for a few years), but I still have the wonderful memories of the happier times of my youth.
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We didn't have a brick and mortar stamp store where I lived. I relied on good old H.E. Harris! But since this thread is about stamp stores, I should mention how amazing it was when our family made out annual trip to St. Louis, two hours away. My father and I always stopped by the stamp counter at Famous Barr. They had just about every U.S. stamp imaginable displayed in glass cases like jewelers use. I can safely say that 100% of my Certified Mail stamps came from Famous Barr! Seems like after Famous Barr we usually went to Trader Vic's.
Here is a link to the old Famous Barr:
http://departmentstoremuseum.blogspot.com/2011/09/famous-barr-co-st-louis-missouri.html
That place was HUGE! Stamps and Coins were on the 12th floor!
Lars
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08:32:12pm
Most of my stamps came from the ww bags you got at the hobby shop - I think the 500 stamp bags were about $2.50 and the 1000 stamp bags were $5 so I didn't get too many. I bought the manila sheets which were cheap back then and still have them all with my kid writing on them as I had identified whatever stamp was in there with the Scott # and CV - LOL. Ironically I did get a nice gem in there. It was a Netherlands stamp - syncopated and listed in Scott with a higher than normal 5cent value. What was neat was the "holes" - I later met a fella from The Hague here on SOR when we first started up and he was able to give me more information about the perfin and I discovered that my "treasure" which it always was in my collection, just because it different from the others was actually quite high in value due to the perfin itself. What the value of it is now 12 or more years later, I haven't a clue but I believe I still have all the notes I wrote down that he told me about it at the time. My other source of stamps was the local flea market.
I do recall going to this really awesome store in the next city when I was a kid (I was probably about 9 or 10). They had a department for EVERYTHING! It was almost sort of like a warehouse set-up with two floors and I remember finding a stamp department. Oy! That was heaven. I didn't have much money. My friend ended up spending her money on a doll (their doll department was half the size of an average drug store nowadays). I don't remember all I got but I do remember how much fun it was and how hard it as for Mum to tear me away from that section of the store.
I also remember every year we would go to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto and in their hobby building they had a lot of bourses. I think they really nickled and dimed you but there were a few nice fellas that gave me little packets and I had about $5 that I could spend on anything I wanted (which basically meant in the hobby building you couldn't afford anything - no doubt that's the reason my folks only gave me $5!) and I always got some stamps. We last went there when I was 13 and I had a few extra bucks from babysitting and made sure I stopped at every stamp table to see what I could find.
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When I was about 10-14 (1960-64), I used to visit an old used book store about 3 blocks from my home in East New York, Brooklyn, NY. It was only open on Sat & Sun. The owner, a guy in his 40's, worked M-F as either an elevator operator or mechanic. On weekends, he would open his little shop which was stocked with used books and magazines that he bought from family estates. He would also pick up coin & stamp collections from these same sources and let customers pick from the albums, charging whatever he thought was a fair price. I did do some picking from these during my time. I also would sometimes be able to buy a picked over album from him for 50c or $1.00, which gave me a lot of common stamps for my small collection. At the same time, there was a weekly stamp club a few blocks away at the local junior high school. There we traded stamps 1 on 1. We also could pick whatever we wanted from cigar boxes and put an equal number of new stamps back into the boxes. I remember those boxes as being loaded with GB penny reds.
For real excitement, we took the subway to downtown Brooklyn and went up to visit the stamp dept. at the old A & S store. Here we mainly just stared at the stamps in the glass displays. I do remember buying my first album from them, I believe it was a blue cover Regents WW one.
Mike in NC / meostamps
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Growing up in a rural area i did not have much access to stamp shops as a child. All of a sudden in the late 1980's my kids were out of the house and our grocery bill declined. A fellow collector told me about Dutch Country Auctions in Wilmington Delaware so we would drive down Friday morning and there was a room full of lox boxes of box lots..i rolled up my sleeves and was in my glory ! In those days you could fill a car with box lots for 400 dollars...so we used to go down about every year..then things began to change...the dealers from Philly and Baltimore would squeeze the collector out...if i bid 250.00 they would bid 375.00..they did not care what an individual box cost because they came with 8-10 thousand to spend..one of them told me he picked what he wanted from the boxes and brought them back for the next auction in 6 or 7 weeks ! Its tough being a little guy and trying to compete with them. So no more Dutch Country...They priced me out !!
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As a child there was a small stamp shop in the town. Its door, along with the door to the shop next door, was in a kind of alcove set back a few feet from the pavement. At first all was well and it seemed to do good business. Suddenly in the Swinging Sixties I became almost the only customer. Shortly afterwards it closed. The reason? The adjacent shop had been taken over by a man selling sex toys and dirty books. I was the only male stamp collector in the town too young to not have to worry about being seen going into or out of the doorway by people who would assume it was not the stamp shop that was being visited.
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Early in my return to stamp collecting/philately there was an older gentleman who used to sell items perfect for my collecting level at prices like $0.10 and covers for $0.05. It was much fun but sadly he passed away all too soon.
I have dreamed about being in the "perfect" stamp store. It has a little bit or alot of everything from contemporary postal markings, supplies, stamps and a friendly helpful store clerk/manager. Yes, I dream about stamps.
I did know one of the best stamp people in our area who also managed the shop for one of our brick and mortar stores here. He was the best. Literally. I still miss him.
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I only have one real "brick and mortar" store, and he mostly uses it to house his collection for e-bay sales, so there's not a lot of room in his shop to browse, but he tends to have lots of stuff:
I keep hoping I'll have the money he wants for these:
Zeps!
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Roughly 45% catalog for mint no gum stamps? Too rich for my blood.
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Smauggie said,
"Roughly 45% catalog for mint no gum stamps? Too rich for my blood. "
Amen.
I once bought a fairly expensive MNG stamp. Every night when I say my prayers, I pray for a MNH copy to come into my hands. So far, God hasn't responded. Guess I should try eBay. But, seriously, I just don't like looking at that MNG stamp, despite my belief, insofar as I believe in anything, that the front of a stamp should be more important than the back.
Bob
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Antonio,
I miss Tom too!
As far as Bobby's post goes. I remember those days. We still have times like that at several of the stamp clubs around here. We also have a free bourse the second Saturday of every month that can remind me of those good ole days at the philatelic library in St. Paul. The socializing is much the same. The pennies have been converted to dollars.
Back in the 60's my Dad would drop me off at a stamp shop on the occasions that he had to work on a Saturday. I could spend hours and spend only a couple bucks when it was all done.
Pat
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin
28 Jan 2015
12:47:42pm
I just read a post under another thread by Charlie (cdj1122) where he said:
"Somehow I think the homey ambiance of a friendly stamp shop where you could almost smell the stamps in albums and stock books that lined the walls and where spending a hour or two chatting with others interested in the hobby was normal course of events, has gone the way of the dodo bird."
I'd first check the auction board, then make my way back to the albums where stamps were usually 5c each. Also, in the rear of the store, was the penny bin (although, I believe the stamps were actually 2c each). But since I rarely had more than 1 dollar or so to spend, I'd really just hang out and listen to the older collectors talk. The cool thing was that they'd often get me into the conversation, and only rarely did I encounter someone who was annoyed by the younger collectors.
The stamp store disappeared at some time in the late 60s, early 70s (I discovered girls in the mid 60s, and with that and college, stamps were put away for a few years), but I still have the wonderful memories of the happier times of my youth.
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re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
We didn't have a brick and mortar stamp store where I lived. I relied on good old H.E. Harris! But since this thread is about stamp stores, I should mention how amazing it was when our family made out annual trip to St. Louis, two hours away. My father and I always stopped by the stamp counter at Famous Barr. They had just about every U.S. stamp imaginable displayed in glass cases like jewelers use. I can safely say that 100% of my Certified Mail stamps came from Famous Barr! Seems like after Famous Barr we usually went to Trader Vic's.
Here is a link to the old Famous Barr:
http://departmentstoremuseum.blogspot.com/2011/09/famous-barr-co-st-louis-missouri.html
That place was HUGE! Stamps and Coins were on the 12th floor!
Lars
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A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent).
28 Jan 2015
08:32:12pm
re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
Most of my stamps came from the ww bags you got at the hobby shop - I think the 500 stamp bags were about $2.50 and the 1000 stamp bags were $5 so I didn't get too many. I bought the manila sheets which were cheap back then and still have them all with my kid writing on them as I had identified whatever stamp was in there with the Scott # and CV - LOL. Ironically I did get a nice gem in there. It was a Netherlands stamp - syncopated and listed in Scott with a higher than normal 5cent value. What was neat was the "holes" - I later met a fella from The Hague here on SOR when we first started up and he was able to give me more information about the perfin and I discovered that my "treasure" which it always was in my collection, just because it different from the others was actually quite high in value due to the perfin itself. What the value of it is now 12 or more years later, I haven't a clue but I believe I still have all the notes I wrote down that he told me about it at the time. My other source of stamps was the local flea market.
I do recall going to this really awesome store in the next city when I was a kid (I was probably about 9 or 10). They had a department for EVERYTHING! It was almost sort of like a warehouse set-up with two floors and I remember finding a stamp department. Oy! That was heaven. I didn't have much money. My friend ended up spending her money on a doll (their doll department was half the size of an average drug store nowadays). I don't remember all I got but I do remember how much fun it was and how hard it as for Mum to tear me away from that section of the store.
I also remember every year we would go to the CNE (Canadian National Exhibition) in Toronto and in their hobby building they had a lot of bourses. I think they really nickled and dimed you but there were a few nice fellas that gave me little packets and I had about $5 that I could spend on anything I wanted (which basically meant in the hobby building you couldn't afford anything - no doubt that's the reason my folks only gave me $5!) and I always got some stamps. We last went there when I was 13 and I had a few extra bucks from babysitting and made sure I stopped at every stamp table to see what I could find.
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re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
When I was about 10-14 (1960-64), I used to visit an old used book store about 3 blocks from my home in East New York, Brooklyn, NY. It was only open on Sat & Sun. The owner, a guy in his 40's, worked M-F as either an elevator operator or mechanic. On weekends, he would open his little shop which was stocked with used books and magazines that he bought from family estates. He would also pick up coin & stamp collections from these same sources and let customers pick from the albums, charging whatever he thought was a fair price. I did do some picking from these during my time. I also would sometimes be able to buy a picked over album from him for 50c or $1.00, which gave me a lot of common stamps for my small collection. At the same time, there was a weekly stamp club a few blocks away at the local junior high school. There we traded stamps 1 on 1. We also could pick whatever we wanted from cigar boxes and put an equal number of new stamps back into the boxes. I remember those boxes as being loaded with GB penny reds.
For real excitement, we took the subway to downtown Brooklyn and went up to visit the stamp dept. at the old A & S store. Here we mainly just stared at the stamps in the glass displays. I do remember buying my first album from them, I believe it was a blue cover Regents WW one.
Mike in NC / meostamps
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re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
Growing up in a rural area i did not have much access to stamp shops as a child. All of a sudden in the late 1980's my kids were out of the house and our grocery bill declined. A fellow collector told me about Dutch Country Auctions in Wilmington Delaware so we would drive down Friday morning and there was a room full of lox boxes of box lots..i rolled up my sleeves and was in my glory ! In those days you could fill a car with box lots for 400 dollars...so we used to go down about every year..then things began to change...the dealers from Philly and Baltimore would squeeze the collector out...if i bid 250.00 they would bid 375.00..they did not care what an individual box cost because they came with 8-10 thousand to spend..one of them told me he picked what he wanted from the boxes and brought them back for the next auction in 6 or 7 weeks ! Its tough being a little guy and trying to compete with them. So no more Dutch Country...They priced me out !!
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05:02:36pm
re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
As a child there was a small stamp shop in the town. Its door, along with the door to the shop next door, was in a kind of alcove set back a few feet from the pavement. At first all was well and it seemed to do good business. Suddenly in the Swinging Sixties I became almost the only customer. Shortly afterwards it closed. The reason? The adjacent shop had been taken over by a man selling sex toys and dirty books. I was the only male stamp collector in the town too young to not have to worry about being seen going into or out of the doorway by people who would assume it was not the stamp shop that was being visited.
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re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
Early in my return to stamp collecting/philately there was an older gentleman who used to sell items perfect for my collecting level at prices like $0.10 and covers for $0.05. It was much fun but sadly he passed away all too soon.
I have dreamed about being in the "perfect" stamp store. It has a little bit or alot of everything from contemporary postal markings, supplies, stamps and a friendly helpful store clerk/manager. Yes, I dream about stamps.
I did know one of the best stamp people in our area who also managed the shop for one of our brick and mortar stores here. He was the best. Literally. I still miss him.
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re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
I only have one real "brick and mortar" store, and he mostly uses it to house his collection for e-bay sales, so there's not a lot of room in his shop to browse, but he tends to have lots of stuff:
I keep hoping I'll have the money he wants for these:
Zeps!
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this post
re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
Roughly 45% catalog for mint no gum stamps? Too rich for my blood.
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re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
Smauggie said,
"Roughly 45% catalog for mint no gum stamps? Too rich for my blood. "
Amen.
I once bought a fairly expensive MNG stamp. Every night when I say my prayers, I pray for a MNH copy to come into my hands. So far, God hasn't responded. Guess I should try eBay. But, seriously, I just don't like looking at that MNG stamp, despite my belief, insofar as I believe in anything, that the front of a stamp should be more important than the back.
Bob
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re: Mainly for us Curmudgeons: Remember the days we spent at the old stamp store talking stamps and sorting through old albums and the penny bin?
Antonio,
I miss Tom too!
As far as Bobby's post goes. I remember those days. We still have times like that at several of the stamp clubs around here. We also have a free bourse the second Saturday of every month that can remind me of those good ole days at the philatelic library in St. Paul. The socializing is much the same. The pennies have been converted to dollars.
Back in the 60's my Dad would drop me off at a stamp shop on the occasions that he had to work on a Saturday. I could spend hours and spend only a couple bucks when it was all done.
Pat
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