Not really sad but melancholy for sure

[Wom 27]

If you have a few minutes
So I grew up on the’50’s to early’60’s . The ones that made it came back from the war to end all wars and started a family (8 kids in mine) and bought a house.
know what kids did back then? We collected! Comics (my one friend had a great collection till he joined the navy and his mother threw them out) Baseball cards
( I didn’t collect them but I did flip them, top one, knock down the leaner, closeies )
I did have a stamp collection. Stamps are way better than coins as far as collecting. They change every other year, lots of colors, denominations,history. And a stamp book has it all over a coin book.
So, here’s the fun part of the story. Maybe 40 years ago I was in the attic of a partly burned out house to put together an estimate for demolition and I tripped over a box . I bent over to look and it’s full of envelopes. I separate two and look to see and I see the date 1832 !!! I grab the box, take it home and I had myself hundreds and hundreds of letters from before stamps ( 1847) to about 1900. This guy was a pastor. He had decades of births, deaths, war, sickness, LIFE
I didn’t know what to do with them. I took the oldest to a stamp show (the one that’s cancelled Steam Boat Troy New York and a guy chased me around offering $1400. I thought they could only gain value so we put them away.
My daughter ended up with them and out of the blue she calls me and after all this time wants to know about insuring them
The melancholy part.
I got on the internet and find a stamp club meeting near me in a wee or two so I had her send some pictures and off I went !
It was sad in a way. There was about 15 guys there, 1 woman and I was by far, and I mean BY FAR, the youngest person there and I’m 76 !
Yes it was neat they’re still at it. Still enjoying their hobby but when they go, so goes the hobby.
I miss the old folks I knew. So many questions I can’t ask. My father, father-in-law, uncles. They all fought Africa,Germany, Italy, England.
I placed so pictures. What’s a story without them
Also, my daughter ( with three kids) is coming up from North Carolina for the holidays. Sure to brighten me up !
Also, I divided up most of my coins for my 5 grandchildren. They won’t know what they’re getting, hours of searching and digging. But I’ll know and I’ll be smiling the whole time.
any questions about the stamps, I’ll try to answer. The little stamps are inter city (Inter- intra?) before 1847!! Really old

 

[MasonDixonMding]

Pretty cool. Collecting as we know it is dying. Younger people collect Pokémon and other things I’ve never even heard of. Or they have no interest at all.

 

[kweis]

Yep, I think the lack of interest in collecting stems from a general lack of interest in history it seems to me.

 

[bottlecap4u]

I feel your dismay Wom, as I too get older, seems many younger collectors, for those who show interest in collecting, seem to gather what's fashionable at the time, star wars, cabbage patch, beanie babies, and so forth. Good news, the hobby of collecting for interest, and perhaps investment too hasn't gone out of style, and probably never will as man keeps making stuff and folks keep collecting it. In mitigating my angst, as you have, I'd like to think that I'm only a steward of what I possess, never really the owner, as certainly many before me, too, possessed the items I have, and many too, after I'm gone, will have them as well. I guess the best we can hope for is just being a good steward until we pass it along to the next generation. I do believe, someone somewhere will derive much joy to the items you now have, and thanks to you, they'll be in good shape to enjoy them. Keep the faith.

 

[KOB]

Nice story but I prefer coins over stamps. In the mid 60s my grandfather got me into stamps and I collected into the 70s then coins took over. I still have many of them , but when I took them in for an appraisal I found they weren't really worth much. I had blocks and sheets that the dealer told me to use them as postage ! I couldn't even get face value for them as he then showed me boxes for sale. I have a few rarities but with little , big value. I do have a letter like yours from 1831 with a wax seal. Talks about real estate and $ from NY. I do remember having 2 paper grocery bags of BB cards that I used in my bike spokes that in my teens I threw them out cause they were so bad.....lol

 

[hoser]

I agree with all that's been said. But I do believe that even the younger people will at some point in their life turn to some extent to collecting SOMETHING. I had a friend that collected match books. Can you even get matchbooks any more. I got caught up in collecting Hot Wheels for several years and it was fun. I now look back and realize it wasn't so much the diecast cars as much as it boiled down to the hunt. It was at that time I lost interest in them and sat on over a thousand cars before I finally sold the collection. I guess that's why I love detecting so much. I can always enjoy the thrill of the hunt without breaking the bank buying collectables. I keep the old coins I find and one day my grandson will get a small collection that he could build on if he wanted to.

 

[hoser]

I do remember having 2 paper grocery bags of BB cards that I used in my bike spokes that in my teens I threw them out cause they were so bad.....lol

LOL so did I. I know for a fact I wiped the face off many Mickey Mantle rookie cards more than once in my spokes. Had I only known.

 

[KOB]

I agree with all that's been said. But I do believe that even the younger people will at some point in their life turn to some extent to collecting SOMETHING. I had a friend that collected match books. Can you even get matchbooks any more. I got caught up in collecting Hot Wheels for several years and it was fun. I now look back and realize it wasn't so much the diecast cars as much as it boiled down to the hunt. It was at that time I lost interest in them and sat on over a thousand cars before I finally sold the collection. I guess that's why I love detecting so much. I can always enjoy the thrill of the hunt without breaking the bank buying collectables. I keep the old coins I find and one day my grandson will get a small collection that he could build on if he wanted to.

When Hot Wheels came out in the late 60s I had many. I remember the orange tracks , loops , you put together. No idea what I had or what they were worth. I do remember I had 2 big plastic wheel cases that were full. No idea what happened to them.

 

[KingTotsalot]

When KT was a very young Kinglet He was often sick from allergy reactions to many common things. To take my mind off being sick, my dear father would bring home $100 bags of pennies he would get from the city revenue department (parking meterstook Pennie’s at that time), for Me to look through. And for awhile he also brought home nickels too! So I started collecting these coins. Then a family member gave me a somewhat large collection of stamps, early 1930s through mid 1950s and I was fascinated by them, all organized in books, etc…even was a member of the local stamp club that met in the local YMCA. But when I was 12, I went with my Uncle Sam and cousin Stanley Norman to collect some Quartz crystals north of Hot Springs. I was hooked! My cousin gave me a book called the Rock Book, I studied it from cover to cover, joined a local rock club as a pebble pup member, and went on rock and mineral collecting field trips. Wanted to know how minerals and rocks formed, had a good friend in high school who was interested in collecting fossils, his dad collected artifacts, and we had a mutual friend who was a retired but active botanist….believe me when we walked across an outcrop, we picked it clean! Ha ha. Lead me to study Geology and then mineralogy in college, and work as a field mineralogist, economic geologist for 40 years for the State of Arkansas! Collecting minerals for all of that time! Sold that collection, but got interested in fluorescent minerals later so now KT collects them!

and yes, the need to collect is somewhat inbred to the human race, but some of us carry it to greater extremes than others!

 

[diggin4clad]

I started collecting coins in 1957 and have been at it ever since. Collecting coins led me to metal detecting. I also collect stamps but not to the same extent as I do coins. When I was a kid, like all the other kids, I had every type of gum card known to man. I bought comic books by the ton and still have a couple of them around. I also have a few toys that I had when I was a kid. A couple of years ago I started collecting vintage gum cards.... the ones I had back then. Once a collector, always a collector.
I do agree that coin and stamp collecting is a dying hobby especially among the young. Stamp clubs and shows are non-existent around here and coin clubs are hanging on but not to the extent they used to. Here's the electric football game I had. I got it for Christmas in 1956. It still works and occasionally my brother and I play a game

 

[John Madill]

I had the same game. No control over the players, "ball" was a little piece of cotton you would tuck between their legs.

 

[Cherry Picker]

When I think about it I do feel sad. I look at my 50 years of metal detecting collection and I see so many special bits of history. My kids talk mostly about splitting up my stuff. I have one daughter who asks me to teach her and take her metal detecting, but she lives in another state. I feel that when I pass my collection will simply be sold or thrown away. Sometimes I feel I should sell it now, since I know its value, and buy the kids gold or silver as an investment, but I just can't bring myself to sell some of this one of a kind bits of history.

I also collect guitars, well I used to when I was working, but my collection has dwindled down to not much. My oldest son plays guitar in the church band and is pretty good so I do plan on leaving him my prize 1975 Electra 2264 White Zehpur I bought brand new in 1975 and gigged with for many years. I know he will appreciate it. I'm afraid the rest will just be in an estate sale.

 

[diggin4clad]

I had the same game. No control over the players, "ball" was a little piece of cotton you would tuck between their legs.

Actually, the cotton "ball" would fit in the running back's arm.

 

[diggin4clad]

When I think about it I do feel sad. I look at my 50 years of metal detecting collection and I see so many special bits of history. My kids talk mostly about splitting up my stuff. I have one daughter who asks me to teach her and take her metal detecting, but she lives in another state. I feel that when I pass my collection will simply be sold or thrown away. Sometimes I feel I should sell it now, since I know its value, and buy the kids gold or silver as an investment, but I just can't bring myself to sell some of this one of a kind bits of history.

I also collect guitars, well I used to when I was working, but my collection has dwindled down to not much. My oldest son plays guitar in the church band and is pretty good so I do plan on leaving him my prize 1975 Electra 2264 White Zehpur I bought brand new in 1975 and gigged with for many years. I know he will appreciate it. I'm afraid the rest will just be in an estate sale.

None of my very few living relatives collect anything so if I leave my collections to any of them , they'll be sold as fast as possible rather than being enjoyed. I'm going to try to cash everything in before I "check out" but as of yet I can't bring myself to part with any of it.

 

[diggin4clad]

A few of my Christmas themed items from my collection of stamps. The vintage greeting cards have early 1900 postmarks...1908-1910. The first day cover is from 1986 and has a nice picture of a snowy Christmas.

 

[too_pointer]

Very impressive, thanks for sharing with us !
too_

 

[diggin4clad]

Very impressive, thanks for sharing with us !
too_

Thanks, Mike.....

 

[bottlecap4u]

Here's the electric football game I had.

Wow, just had a flashback to the 70s! Remember playing that and screaming at the little men.

 

[hoser]

None of my very few living relatives collect anything so if I leave my collections to any of them , they'll be sold as fast as possible rather than being enjoyed.

Unfortunately, you may be right my friend. Things I have collected will probably go to my grandson who came to live with us every summer since he was six. Now he is 21 and in the Coast Guard, but he still wants to come here to spend time with us. He has been there during the "collection days" and knows what they meant to us. I have a feeling once we are gone those things will be passed down to his children for that very reason. I guess you can only hope the things you loved to spend the time collecting, researching, and caring for go to someone who knows the value will, whether it be monetary, or just special to you, continues to be cherished long after you have faded from peoples minds.

 

[diggin4clad]

Unfortunately, you may be right my friend. Things I have collected will probably go to my grandson who came to live with us every summer since he was six. Now he is 21 and in the Coast Guard, but he still wants to come here to spend time with us. He has been there during the "collection days" and knows what they meant to us. I have a feeling once we are gone those things will be passed down to his children for that very reason. I guess you can only hope the things you loved to spend the time collecting, researching, and caring for go to someone who knows the value will, whether it be monetary, or just special to you, continues to be cherished long after you have faded from peoples minds.

I have a few of my grandfather's things and will never part with them. He was the one who got me started in coin collecting which eventually led me to metal detecting.