When I was about 10 years old, my father gave me a stamp album that had about one hundred Chinese stamps and a few other countries’ stamps in it. The Chinese stamps were mostly from the early 20th century. There were stamps for the time of the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, and there were stamps from the early years of the Republic of China. I cherished them very much and became a stamp collector at the time.
When I was about 15 years old, I had a friend who was a stamp collector too. He had pen pals from Taiwan and Japan and had two big stamp albums from the two countries. The albums had beautiful color stamps featuring the sceneries or the cultural subjects from both countries. When I met him, he had already grown out of his collecting hobby. He gave me his complete collection. During that period, I collected a lot of Thai stamps too. My stamp collecting album grew up to several albums. Unfortunately, after I came to America to further my education, I found out that the house we rented in Bangkok burnt down, and all my collections and books were gone. The collected treasure is only left in my memory now.
After graduating from college in New York, I started work as a clerk in the Hartford Post Office. For about 3 years, I had the opportunity to work as a philatelic clerk, which dealt with stamp collecting work. As a requirement, I had to gain a lot of knowledge in the field. I found out that there were a lot of collectible items in this hobby. These included the definitive stamps which are found in most mail. They feature former presidents, state people, and other prominent persons. There are also commemorative stamps, special stamps, airmail stamps, and coil stamps. Because of this philatelic position and all I learned; I started my stamp collecting hobby again.
As a stamp collector, I also collect the first day issued envelopes. When a new stamp is issued, collectors like me will send the newly issued stamped envelopes with a return address to the post office that issued the stamp to have them stamp the first day postmark and return it to us. There were some other special occasion postmarked envelopes that are worth collecting too. I remember that when the UConn men and women basketball teams won several NCAA championships, the Hartford post office issued special postmark stamped envelopes for collection. I was responsible for putting the special postmark on the envelopes and received hundreds of requests from all over the country. I collected a bunch of envelopes too. After several special postmarking jobs, I even got a plaque to certify my excellent job performance from the postmaster.
During that time, I twice went to Webster Hill Elementary School, where my two sons attended, to talk to the fourth-grade students about stamp collecting. I told the students that stamp collecting was a hobby practiced by millions of people across the world. To start stamp collecting, you did not need to spend a lot of money. The letters with stamps which you receive every day at your house can be the best resource. Cut off the corner of the envelope with the stamp and submerge it in the water for some time. Dry the stamp when it comes off the envelope, and that stamp will become part of your collection. I told them that when I flipped through my stamp collection, I would feel satisfaction and happiness. I can also gain a lot of knowledge from the stamps. I would know the names of previous presidents from history as well as the names of the different state’s birds and flowers.
During the presentation, I told them that the postal services had issued some special color stamps that have hidden images or symbols in the stamp. You must buy a stamp decoder (just $2) to find the secrets. When I showed the children, they rushed to the table to see and found a doghouse by the side of the dog, the goldfish spitting bubbles, a paw, and a mouse on each side of the cat and a wheel on the side of the hamster in the pane of special color stamp “BRIGHT EYES.” In another special pane of stamps named “THE MAR PATHFINDERS USPS” were revealed under the decoder. There were other panes of stamps like the “Classic Movie Monsters” and “Houdini” that all had hidden messages. When I showed it to each of the students, they all found it remarkably interesting. However, the Postal Services no longer issue this hidden message stamp. So, these special stamps become a valuable collection item.
I told the students that like every other collectible item, when it is rare it will be worth more money. In 1994, when USPS issued the “Legends of the West” sheet of stamps, a printing error had occurred. One of the legends was supposed to feature Bill Pickett on the stamp, but instead, they put the picture of his brother on it. When they found the mistake, the Postal Services announced a recall of the stamp.
However, if a few sheets of that stamp had been sold, the rarity would make the leaked stamp sheet’s price rocket sky-high. That would be like the center-inverted “Jenny” airplane stamp which was issued in 1918 and is worth more than a million dollars. To remedy the mistake, the Postal Services used a lottery to let the public have a chance to buy the limited 3000 sheets of the Legend misprinted stamps. I was lucky to obtain about 5 sheets of them. That $5.80 sheet of stamps is worth about $160 on the market now. After the lottery process, one of the collectors who missed the opportunity came to ask another window clerk how he could buy one of the misprinted stamps. They referred that collector to me, saying I was the expert in stamp collecting. I told him that the sheet of that stamp had already increased in price up to about $140 at the time. The collector was still willing to buy at that price, and one of my lady coworkers was fortunate enough to get one of the sheets. She needed the money, so they made a deal for the rare stamp sheet.
I am retired and gave up the stamp-collecting hobby altogether. But every time I flip through the stamp album, I still have a satisfied feeling of what I have. However, I still moan about the stamps I had lost from my childhood.
Wen-Wei Sun is 75 years old and from Thailand. He came back to CCSU to get a degree in English with a Creative Writing minor and is trying to polish his writing.