Well, I cannot deny the truth any longer. I’m a stamp collector. Or at least I am a person who is in possession of a stamp collection. So how did this happen?
It started with those “Pluto: Not Yet Explored” and “Pluto: Explored!” stamps. Those particular stamps have an interesting history, which I wrote about in a previous post.
I bought the “Views of Our Planets” stamps at the same time as the “Pluto: Explored!” set. And then just recently, I saw some Star Trek stamps at the post office. Naturally, I had to get them. And the nice man at the register mentioned they had commemorative Sally Ride stamps as well. Naturally, I had to get those too. What kind of space enthusiast would I be if I didn’t?
To be clear, I originally meant to use these stamps as stamps. You know, for postage. Mainly for paying bills. I wasn’t looking to start a new hobby. But I figured what’s the harm in buying an extra sheet of Pluto stamps to keep, just for fun? Or an extra sheet of planets? Or now an extra sheet of Star Trek and Sally Ride? It’s not like I’m sinking that much money into stamp collecting.
Fast forward to me ten years from now when I have huge albums full of space and Sci-Fi stamps.
Planet Pailly 
I bought a book of (Canadian) Star Trek stamps to use when I sent out birth announcement photos of my daughter. Everyone contacted me about the awesome stamps I used to send them while only a handful mentioned the baby! I guess I overshadowed her? Moral of the story: stamps are cooler than we know.
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I guess so. My landlord told me he likes the planet stamps I’ve been using whenever he gets my rent.
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A friend gave me a sheet of the planets and Pluto ones. They’re really gorgeous. Now, I need to get those Sally Ride ones, too. Thanks a lot, man. 🙂
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You’re welcome! They were all just postage stamps for me until I learned the backstory behind those “Pluto: Explored!” stamps. And I learned today, after writing this post, that Sally Ride was an avid stamp collector herself. Apparently that was a small part of why the post office felt she deserved her own stamp.
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There are definitely many stamps with space motives from around the world. Maybe we are going to see Planet Pailly stamps one day as well…
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Hmmm… I hadn’t thought about that.
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Stamp collecting is a sticky habit!
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Nice one!
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I got into stamp collecting because of Lawrence Block and his character Keller (hit man and stamp collector). Now I’ve got the start of a collection and another blog. See what happens.
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Don’t forget to add philately to your tags–I thought you might enjoy a more scientific sounding name.
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Definitely! Thanks for that one!
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I *may* have such a collection of stamps at home! I love the Star Trek stamps. Some of the old USSR and satellite countries have pretty cool space stamps!
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Ooh, it would be cool to get some old Soviet space stamps!
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I found a collection of what seems like an English collection. It’s just a heap of stamps. I’m a novice, but it will be interesting to know the value of my collection,
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Cool stuff. I don’t think I have anything particularly valuable myself, but what I do have is interesting, at least to me.
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I just saw this post. Welcome aboard! Great timing. I suspect the 50th anniversary of the moon landing will see an avalanche of stamps released in mid-2019…
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Almost certainly!
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