My five year old daughter, Julie, has been "collecting" stamps for a few months now. I gave her a few spare cover albums I had collecting dust, and she went through a box of covers I had set aside to one day put on E-bay, pulling all the ones that interested her and placing them in her albums. It was fun to watch her trying to build a collection like daddy's. She has been asking me when I could take her to a stamp show.
This weekend was the time. There was finally a show in Sacramento, the Easter Seals benefit show, that was perfect for her. There were 8-10 dealers selling stamps, but the main attraction were the tables and tables of 2 cent stamps laid out throughout the room. These had thousands and thousands of used stamps. There were pint sized containers that you could use to put the stamps in, and she filled one to the brim! She went for flowers, horses, dogs, and birds. Not just one of each, but as many as she could find!
Originally, I had thought we would be there about an hour. We got there just after the show opened at 10, and I thought we would leave around 11:15 or so, get lunch, and go home. Well, that plan wasn't going to work. She spent over 3 hours at the tables, then wanted to grab a quick lunch at the show, and go right back to looking at stamps. We didn't leave until after 2:30, close to 4 and a half hours after we got there. The last time I went to this show alone (probably 10 years ago) it took me about a half hour, since I ignored the 2 cent tables and merely shopped the dealer tables for Israel stamps, finding almost nothing, and I never bothered to go back. Now, however, it looks like we will go back every year.
Not only did Julie find about 600 stamps for her collection, we also shopped at the table of donated supplies. We bought her a bunch of stockbooks and glassines, as well as another cover album. I even managed to pick up a pair of nice sheet albums for a dollar a piece. I think we spent a total of $35, including the $12 we spent on lunch at the show, but it was worth every penny. Julie called it a perfect day, and now we are spending some time together putting the stamps in her stockbooks. If I could only get her to understand that she doesn't need 50 of the same stamp in her album...
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8 comments:
How wonderful! It sounds like it was a great bonding experience and Julie had a lot of fun. Don't you remember when you first got into stamps with her namesake? We probably didn't take it too seriously wither, but we liked the sticky tabs that you could lick and using the magnifying glass:)
You are a great dad! She will always remember how much fun she had and you were there with her. Now she has extras for giving and trading.
Wouldn't her great poppy be so proud, I know her grandparents are proud. Nice bonding time.
Her great poppy would be so proud. We know her grandparents are!!
i am happy for both of you and the stamp sellers are really happy .
Adam,
I listened to you on WSRadio about Israel stamps on Ebay. You are lucky in that your daugther likes to collect stamps when she is so young. Keep taking her to stamp shows and help her appreciate your collection.
David Snyder
What a wonderful experience. My own attempts to do this with my own children failed miserably 20 to 25 years ago. However, one or two of my grandkids may be interested. Granddaughter #2 is partial to flowers on stamps and grandson #2 just likes red ones. I never thought of taking them to a show and will attempt this when our schedules coincide. I'm in Florida, they're in NY. Also heard you interview on the APS show and was impressed. Will you be at WESTPEX next week. If so I'd love to meet and smooze with you.
Howard Rotterdam
I will be at Westpex on the Saturday of the show.
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