Thread by @justaboutstamps

Novice ??s: gifted box of stamps a friend’s non-collector mom clipped from the late 50s-1970. Mostly Germany & Austria, w/12 covers. Don’t collectors now prefer covers to loose stamps? Likely no real value in any of it. Keep covers? Soak off stamps? Do what I want who cares? Thnx

Feeling bummed that I couldn’t make it to the Great American Stamp Show! Maybe next year. Enjoy if ur there. Here’s the nicest stamp found in that box so far (still a lot to go through). Japan 1969 “hinoki zu by kano eitoku ( 1543-1590 ) folding screen” national treasures series.

Finds from that box. I collect Judaica so will check “Jewish sounding” last names of folks I don’t know. Albert Ballin (1957 West German stamp), Jewish shipping magnate basically invented the cruise industry but sadly killed himself when business faltered. wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Ba…

More from that box. First cinderella so far, a fascinating aspect of immediate post-WWII history, when so much of the world was on the move: “Heimatvertrieben,” basically ethnic German or German nationals fleeing/kicked out of countries Germany invaded: wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Ex…

Most common #stamps I found were from the 1948-58 Austrian “Provincial Costumes” definitive series, more info here: stamp-collecting-world.com/austriastamps_…
Got many repeats but far from a complete set. My favorite is probably the “I use a stick to carry things” stamp. #MoreFromThatBox #Philately

BTW this was soaking and sorting the #stamps I want to put into albums. It was a fun almost meditative endeavor—in that I can genuinely forget other stresses for a while—but also somewhat overwhelming, in number of topics of interest. #MoreFromThatBox #philately

Rabbi on a German stamp. Considering the collection was gifted to me by a rabbi, this is wonderful serendipity (though I wouldn’t call it divine intervention!). #MoreFromThatBox #philately

“If you love Japan #stamps so much why don’t you marry them?!” Things @peeweeherman would say to me.
This is “Mount Fuji & Lake Motosu - Yamanashi Prefecture,” 1959.
#MoreFromThatBox

I may look back in scorn at how many different topics I find interesting, and how broad some are. "Architecture" is like half the #stamps ever! Still, fascinating. I❤️the watercolor paintings, maybe more than the engravings. #MoreFromThatBox From W.&E.Germany, Austria #philately

A non-stamp item found #MoreFromThatBox: envelope FULL OF CASH! Unfortunately, they are all 110-year-old German banknotes of apparently no value. Still kinda cool looking. No idea if the owner had them as obsolete souvenirs from the get-go or if they once held/lost value for her.

I'm in no way a completest. I'll only add if I find #stamps interesting, visually and/or historically. Sports and history are two of my too-many-topics. I like how these West German stamps address the historic origins of the games. #MoreFromThatBox #philately

I like the motion in this horseracing #stamp from East Germany, and I just learned that surprisingly, betting on races was legal there -- didn't the Communist Party see it as capitalist decadence?! #MoreFromThatBox #philately

A couple more sports #MoreFromThatBox. Could anyone in England have imagined when these 1966 #stamps came out that this World Cup would be their last int'l championship for 55 years and counting?! Oy. I prefer the more colorful, less realistic aesthetic on the left. #philately

Continuing to work through #MoreFromThatBox. Transportation #stamps. A few of my faves. #philately

This seems to be the second label/cinderella found as I process #MoreFromThatBox (and as I continue using a hashtag unique to this thread!😜) Am I correct in my Google-translate sleuthing that this is a label unique to mail sent from Frankfurt Airport? #philately

Seems to be two different German series of fairytale stamps. Interesting art. #MoreFromThatBox

A number of cool history stamps #MoreFromThatBox. Again, being a relative newcomer to collecting, I should probably be more ruthless about which I put into a general “history” album…. Gonna be tough, it’s the area I find most fascinating.

Periodic return to #MoreFromThatBox - some nice musical stamps! I presume you’ve got all of these, @MusicalStamps. 🤩

Several nature-themed stamps as I continue processing #MoreFromThatBox. This is one of my favorite designs among them. #philately

I also really like this style. So mod! #MoreFromThatBox #philately #stamps

As a form of government, communism did (does) more harm than good. I think that’s a fairly quantifiable statement. That said, I *love* the aesthetics! #MoreFromThatBox #Commies #Philately

Some more beautiful DDR communist propaganda #stamps. What a wonderful workers’ utopia! 😳

I think #stamps-on-stamps is one of the coolest topicals. It was meta before people started saying “meta.” (And before Facebook ruined the word!) Some #MoreFromThatBox but nearing the end. #philately

Is there a name for a topical collection that covers #stamps that are “just really frickin cool looking”? I’m starting a section in my album for that and need a better name (or not). #MoreFromThatBox #philately

1/3 Final thoughts as I share the last few finds and there will be no #MoreFromThatBox. I didn't know the person who collected these #stamps or why she did it, but I'd like to think I fulfilled a wish of sorts, to review/organize/cherish them. #philately

2/3 Almost all the #stamps are older than me and, if careful/lucky, they'll be around after me. Jay Bigalke of @LinnsStampNews said in March’s American Philatelist (p243), "We are the caretakers for the next person that is going to own our stamps." That really stuck with me.

3/3 When I'm gone, my kids may not want my stamps—they’ll know there’s no monetary value!—but I hope they’ll get it to someone who does, the way this woman's kin did. Cue "Circle of Life" from the Lion King except I'm holding up a stamp album instead of a cub!😂🦁#MoreFromThatBox