A New Love For Philately

First of all, does everyone even know what "philately" is? It is the hobby of "stamp-collecting", and we are new initiates. For CHristmas, Nathan recieved from Uncle Dan, via Grandma, a whole bunch of old loose stamps, letters with stamps on them, etc., as well as 2 stamp collecting albums (is that even the right word?). Nathan has looked thorugh the books, but we never actually got around to putting any more stamps in the books. Yesterday afternoon, he brought down the whole kit and caboodle, and asked if we could work on it. I said we'd start by sorting the loose stamps into groups, figuring that was a safe place to start, since I didn't really ahve a clue as to how to actually go about putting the stamps into the albums. So we all started sorting, and you know, it was fascinating! There were all these countries we couldn't even figure out ("Magyar", "Republik Maluku Selatan", "Helvetia"), as well as ones we could make guesses about but were obviously pretty old ("Ceskoslovensko", "Republik Osterreich"). There were several from the old Soviet Union and East Germany. Overall, we must have sorted over 200 loose stamps--it took several hours, and I actually broke away in the middle of it to go to the library for a stamp book to answer all our questions! The only book they had though was just a stamp atlas, so while it was helpful in determining some of the countries' old names, it didn't answer a lot about the stamps themselves, and there were still some countries we couldn't get. I did some internet research last night, and discovered that "Republik Maluku Selatan" was actually some islands who didn't want to become part of the Republic of Indonesia. They issued 130 different stamps between 1950 and 1954, but since they were never actually a country, the stmaps aren't recognized anywhere. We've got tons of them here though, including the one at the bottom of that link. Interesting! We're just gluing the stamps into the book because all of ours (except the ones from Maluku!) have been canceled, so they're not pure, mint collecting ones. The pictures and designs on old stamps are so interesting, and you just have to wonder about the letters they took around the world. Here's a trivia question for you--what country has no country name on their stamps, and why not? (I'll tell the answer at the end.) I asked my mom last night where we got all these stamps, and she said they were all on letters that came to her and Dad! I said I really didn't think they could be, unless she had tons of pals in East Germany, as well as over in "Jugoslavija", and what were they doing corresponding with a whole bunch of Cubans? Then she said she thought they might be from our old neighbor in Xenia, Miss Evelyn, who gave them to Dan. Does that sound right, Dan? It certainly is an eclectic collection, and it's been alot of fun going through. This afternoon, the boys wanted to do some more. Luke is busy gluing in the stamps from "Magyar" (I'm sure everyone immediately recognized that as "Hungary"), of which there are enough for several pages, and Nathan is starting to go through the more modern ones that actually are from Grandma and Grandma, from their extensive international correspondence. This will really add to our Africa and Asia pages! I'm sure whenever anyone comes to visit, you will be invited to see this collection! And now for out trivia answer: the only country with no name on their stamps is Great Britain. They were the first country to issue postage stamps, in 1840, so they didn't need a country name, and the tradition still continues.