When it comes to stamps, the VeVe fam seems to be of three minds:
There’s the group that thinks stamps are cool.
There’s the group that thinks stamps are lame.
Then there are the majority of people on the app who seem to go between “Cool!” and “Lame!” depending on when the mood hits.
Well, right now stamps are cool again, so I’m going to talk about stamps!
I have the original set now… the USPS Day of the Dead set. It took me forever to get it, because for a very long time it was way over my little fish budget. But the bear made it possible to get to a lot of things that used to be out of reach, so I was finally able to complete it a few months ago. I have some stamps from every collection, with only a handful of panels and secret rares that are still out of reach.
While there are outliers, you have to admit that most individual stamps are affordable, and not only that, a lot of the full sets are affordable too! It’s a great way to introduce new people into the app who are interested but are wary of putting a lot of money into the app. Many stamps in the market right now are a gem or two, and typically drops are less than a comic book.
Not to mention that it also can stand in as a proof of concept. I don’t know how many times someone has commented, “But aren’t NFTs illegal in the US?” And the first thing I always do is say, “Hey, do you want to see my postage stamp collection?” If that isn’t a good reason to buy a George Washington stamp, I don’t know what is.
Back when I was a kid, stamp collecting was about receiving these little wax envelopes filled with stamps every month. It was very much like a book club where you had to return the ones you don’t want and pay for the ones you keep. Of course, that method always ended up with the parent getting fed up and encouraging you to find a different hobby.
To be perfectly honest, I don’t know what happened to any of my old stamps. My sister still has hers… but like most of my collections when I was a kid, the stamps all disappeared… probably on envelopes any time my friends went on vacation.
I didn’t really miss my stamps as much as I did my old comic book collection, but the experience of collecting them as a kid was enough to spark my interest when stamps came to VeVe. Now I don’t have to worry about accidentally using them, losing them, or getting them wet. Of course, I am hopeless when it comes to straightening digital stamps on my vault wall, but that’s another story.
This weekend, we are getting a new stamp drop, the Penny Black, and that’s a really big deal. It’s like getting the Marvel Comics #1 of the stamp universe! Sure, it’s no Inverted Jenny, but it’s still a really important stamp. (That’s the famous “upside down plane stamp,” by the way. If you’ve never heard it called the Inverted Jenny before, congratulations! I actually taught you something for a change.)
Speaking of learning stuff, new digital stamps on VeVe have a way of teaching a lot of people in the fam about things they never would have in normal circumstances. The next time you go to a fancy party or a school reunion, you’ll look extra smart when you tell them, “Oh, I collect Prexies now, especially the 1938 collection.” And after today, you can say, “I just picked up a new stamp from Stanley Gibbons.” If that don’t sound posh, I don’t know what does.
So display your stamps proudly! They are not lame… even if you get a common. It’s okay if you can’t pronounce philatelist if your life depended on it! In this day and age, just saying you’re a stamp collector will impress people. Just because we collect on VeVe doesn’t mean we can’t find culture; some of us need to find it more than others.
So stick with me and get some stamps before they’re put in the books! You can get them off the floor (as if they were in front of your door) or seal them away after getting them from the store.
Good luck on this red-letter day! If you get something good… don’t forget to post.