I had great fun collecting stamps as a kid.  My dad got me started with a big bag of different square bits of paper from all over the world, plus a cool stamp album that had pictures of many of the most common issues. I loved finding the stamp that matched the pre-printed picture, then “mounting” the stamp with a gummed “hinge.” It was just so orderly  to have the stamp fit right inside the allotted album rectangle.

I learned world geography and countries – I have excellent outdated knowledge of all the former British Commonwealth countries that have since gained independence and changed their name.  One of my easiest Boy Scout merit badges was Stamp Collecting.

My interest in philately faded when sports came along in teenage years, but I kept the collection and would look it over from time to time.  My specialty areas were sports stamps, Scandinavia, and Germany.  Unfortunately, the first basement flood wiped out the collection; it turns out that paper not only loses to scissors, but also to water – every time.

Separate from the album collection, I had purchased abundant sheets of 29, 32, 33, 34, 37, and 39-cent stamps, much like my dad had done.  Whenever I went to the Post Office to buy stamps, I would purchase sheets for “collecting.” It seemed like a good investment – who knew the Internet was coming? 

I found out the value of all those sheets of stamps when I called the local coin shop one day and asked if he was buying.  The stamp guy at the store said they just participated in a stamp show over the weekend, and the going rate for the store was to buy at 50% face value and sell at 75%!

No one uses stamps anymore!  Email has ruined the postage stamp futures market.  Even worse, all the latest stamps are self-sticking; you don’t have to do any “gross” licking to apply the new-fangled ones, so who wants my old ones?  The best use of old stamps is to mail them.

I do have a Plan B.  The US Postal Service still sells 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10-cent stamps.  I bought some of each so that every time I mail something (usually a bill!) I have a nice little game of matching up old and new stamps to reach the required first-class postage.

And earlier this year, Jesse and Amber sent out two-ounce wedding invitations! Since the going rate for two ounces was 66 cents, I provided combinations galore!  32+34 = 33+33 = 29+37 = 66!  And sometimes the happy couple would personalize the stamps – Baseball stamps to baseball fans, building stamps to architects, etc.

There are two morals to the story.  First, collecting should be fun – enjoy the stamp bits or baseball cards you amass and don’t expect to make money on the adventure.  And, most importantly, remember that earth treasures rot or lose value or get ruined, so store up your treasures in heaven (Matthew 6.19-21).