Give the Postage Its Due
What's the True Value of a Mother's 40-Year-Old Stamp Collection?
Monday, July 17, 2006; Page C14
Ever wish you could discover buried treasure? A good place to look is in the closets and attics of your grandparents' home (with their permission, of course).
One day last year while I was visiting my grandmother in Florida, she took an old book out of her closet and gave it to me. It was my mother's stamp album from when she was a girl in the 1940s. The cover of the dark-green leather book has the words "Postage Stamp Album" embossed on a gold background. Below the title is an impression of a clipper ship under full sail.
The album's pages had yellowed with age; their dry edges had begun to crumble. I turned them carefully and studied the stamps, some from countries and colonies that no longer exist.
I saw the faces of presidents, explorers and famous scientists. Some stamps celebrated historical events: the invention of the light bulb, the coronation of King George V of Great Britain, the opening of the Panama Canal. Others have pictures of animals, plants and places.
One of the prettiest is a 1937 stamp from Costa Rica. It's diamond-shaped and has a blue iris on it. A bright red stamp from Côte d'Ivoire (what we call Ivory Coast) shows a young African woman standing in front of what look like coffee plants. The stamp bears no date but it's clear it was printed before Côte d'Ivoire gained its independence from France in 1960.
Another interesting stamp, from Cuba, has the postmark "Compre Azucar Cubano -- Buy Cuban Sugar." The U.S. government, which doesn't approve of Cuba's government, halted virtually all trade with that country in 1962, so the United States hasn't bought Cuban sugar for more than 40 years.
When I returned from Florida, I stored the album in a cool, dry place and didn't think much about it until recently, when I heard that Washington was about to host the 2006 World Philatelic Exposition. Philately (pronounced fuh-LATT-uh-lee) is a fancy word for stamp-collecting.
The expo attracts collectors and expert appraisers from around the globe. Appraisers are people who can tell you if your stamps are worth anything.
I decided to go and find out if my mother's collection contained any buried treasure.
I carefully photographed each stamp and stored the photos on my laptop to take with me. That way I wouldn't risk losing or damaging the old album. I called my mother to tell her about my treasure-hunting expedition. I said that if I dug up any gems, I'd split the booty with her. She laughed and said she was just happy to hear that I was having fun with the same stamps she had enjoyed collecting.
At the expo I met Jacques C. Schiff Jr., a New Jersey stamp dealer with 59 years of experience. He looked at the images on my laptop while I waited eagerly to find out if there were any rare stamps in the bunch. Unfortunately, the answer was no. My stamps were ones commonly sold in starter kits for young collectors.
So I didn't find buried treasure in my grandmother's closet, but I did have a fun adventure and enjoyed learning some history and geography. I can't wait to visit my grandmother again and see what other artifacts are hidden in her closets.
-- Glenn Paterson
