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Smith Rock Collection (1964-1970)

Is It Relevant?

You wonder how relevant "stamp collecting" would be in today's society - a world that communicates via eMail and Texting. Chances are that our young people have never sent a letter or card through the postal system.
Recently, several large schools announced that they are not including "cursive" as part of their school curriculums anymore. In one study, it found that a large number of young adults don't know how to write - so they just "print, even their names"... they even print their names on checks. Letter writing will most likely become a lost art.
While the postal system still offers many varieties of stamps for collectors and enthusiasts... the most common stamp that a young person might see (at home) is the one pressed on the envelopes by corporate America.

Collecting in the '30s

During the 20s and 30s, there would have been many first generation immigrants living in the Dakotas. As such, getting foreign stamps would not have been all that difficult. And there may have been stories associated with each stamp obtained. For a youngster to collect stamps today, he or she would have to buy or trade.
Some of the stamps are truly works of art, and there are some stamps in this collection that are rare
What I forgot was how many stamp books were actually in this collection. For some reason...I only remember one book.

Groups of "Fours"

In the '60s we were told that stamps had value if they were in groups of four. So the newer stamps were collected as shown on the right. Today, this may have changed to groups of six or eight. .

Dad's Stamp Collection

At some point Dad gave up his stamp collection to the boys. While we all enjoyed looking through the scrapbook, it was Tim who really got hooked on stamp collecting. These pages are samples of the three books in dad's old stamp collection. Anything look familiar? Do you want a larger view, Click on photo to enlarge.