Postage stamp collecting is among the world’s most popular hobbies, having taken off almost immediately after the issue of the first stamp, the Penny Black.
It was issued by Britain in 1840, featuring a young Queen Victoria, but had no country of origin, as Britain was the only place in the world using stamps at the time.
The Penny Blacks came out before the convenience of perforation had been realized and each had to be cut individually with scissors from a sheet of stamps.
Now, almost every country in the world issues their own stamps and general collections, which typically include anything that was ever issued, can grow to be very large. It’s not unheard of for these kinds of collections to include a million or more stamps.
Some collectors are more discriminating, choosing to collect stamps by subject, such as a certain animal, birds, world leaders, sports or historical events, for instance.
There are also topical collections, which have a theme and tell a story and are often displayed in a frame for show or even competition.
First day covers, which are stamped with the first day of issue, are also collectible.
While countries issue simple stamps for a practical purpose, they also put out limited runs of more elaborate stamps that are aimed at collectors and add to the country’s revenue. These stamps can come in artfully designed booklets that often give information about the issue and they usually sell for the face value of the stamps.
Collectors often turn to stamp clubs as a means of sharing information and trading or buying stamps that are missing from their collection. Glenna Metchette of Horse Lake and Len Sprague of Lone Butte are local collectors who just recently formed a stamp club in 100 Mile House for exactly those reasons.
Metchette has been collecting since she was a child and was inspired after inheriting a collection owned by her aunt. She has both a large general collection and several topical collections, but her most prized item is a cancellation stamp that was hand stamped by her grandfather, who ran a post office in his home at Whiteman Creek near Fintry.
The office was operational between 1908-1919 and Metchette guesses there may be as few as just 10 similar postmarks throughout the world that have survived over the years.
She got the stamp by coincidence from a retired member of the Vernon stamp club who was selling his collection. Because of the personal connection, he gave Metchette the little piece of history.
Sprague also started his collection at an early age, but he doesn’t remember what started the fascination for him. Over the years, he’s filled 19 binders with Canadian stamps, alone, and 60 other books with worldwide stamps.
While there are stamps in circulation that are worth a lot of money, Sprague says he doesn’t believe he’ll ever get rich from his hobby.
“It costs me more to collect the stamps than what they are worth,” he says, adding he buys stamps regularly from online auctions and sometimes gets dealers to hunt down stamps needed for his collection.
“After you buy the binders, catalogues and put in the cost of your stamps, it can add up. It’s nice to have a club where everyone can share the catalogues and each person doesn’t have to buy one every year.”
Metchette says a collection can be started with very little money if you want to use a simple notebook to keep your stamps in. The alternative is to buy one of the many books and binders on the market that range in capacity and feature a print of each stamp, ready to be covered by the real thing when it comes along.
Stamps can gain value for a variety of reasons such as rarity and irregularities, which can be as small as an accidental spot of ink or something more obvious as a variation in the ink’s colour or the omission of one of the design’s elements.
Metchette bought a sheet of collector millennium stamps in 2000 that had the holograms missing. She says they’re rare and worth a few dollars and representative of the kind of thing that collectors love to find.
“The fun of collecting is in the chase. It’s like being a detective.”
One never knows the treasures they may find in a shoebox filled with old postage stamps and that’s where catalogues and shared knowledge from experienced collectors can come in handy, she adds.
It’s also good to have a few tools like a magnifying glass and UV light for identifying other things that can increase a stamp’s value, such as tagging that helps machines to detect and cancel stamps. Sprague says he has a strip of Olympic issue stamps that are missing the tagging and are worth $100.
The value of a used stamp can also be affected by its cancellation mark, with a well placed one being the most desirable. Metchette says it’s possible to have some post offices hand cancel your stamp, potentially making it more valuable if care is taken with positioning. The Bridge Lake post office hand cancels stamps on all of their mail with an old style rubber stamper.
There are all kinds of other elements of the hobby that Metchette and Sprague would love to share with others through a stamp club. They can help newcomers start up or organize a collection and even have surplus stamps they are willing to give to children who come to a meeting.
They’ve had their first meeting already and were encouraged to have six people attend, including two experts and one beginner, says Metchette.
“Everyone talked about their collections, problems and what they are looking for. Lots talked about how they started collecting and some, how they had inherited collections.”
The club would like to meet every second week and the next meeting is scheduled for Nov. 23 at 1 p.m. at the 100 Mile House Branch Library.
People, who are interested, can purchase packs of used stamps at the South Cariboo Visitor Centre in 100 Mile House for a minimal cost. The stamps come from a collection of more than a million that was given to Sprague by a local collector who has since passed away.
For years, the original owner had sold the packets at the centre and donated the money to the Canadian Cancer Society and his wish was for that practice to continue. Sprague fulfills that wish and says the packets are a great way to accumulate stamps for little cost.
For more information about the stamp club, contact Metchette at 250-395-3661 or Sprague at 250-593-4331.
