A New Hunting Ground

Like many collectors I have prowled around all sorts of places looking for things to add to my collection. Garage sales, auctions, estate sales, flea markets and antique stores are all great places to discover new and unique stamps, covers and other treasures. However a new hunting ground was opened to me when I went to a local “Friends of the Library” book sale. Consisting of donations and books removed from circulation there were titles under every subject heading. While I was not fortunate enough to find recent catalogs, I did pick up a couple of gems. The first was The Dictionary of Stamps in Color by James McKay, published in 1973. While an older edition, it is full of great color images of a number of stamps with useful information for each issue. It’s definitely a welcome addition to my reference library. The second was the full set of the Celebrate the Century books, companions to the series of stamps issued by the U.S. Post Office from 1998 to 2000. Over half of them were still in shrink wrap and all were in beautiful condition as was the slip cover. The price was quite low and I consider myself lucky to have acquired them. Additionally there was a variety of general reference material such as maps and atlases that can assist in your collecting.

I am sure that many of you have already figured this out a long time ago, but do not overlook book sales or the book portion of other sales. They can be an easy and cheap way to add to your philatelic library.