Stamp Collecting for All Ages

"Twice happy is the man who has a hobby, for he has two worlds to live in." Stamp collecting is a very enjoyable and educational hobby that is appropriate for all ages from children through adulthood. It can be worked on individually, or as a family or other group.

You don't need much to get started - just some stamps and an album to put them in! One of my most cherished possessions from my mother is a little binder that my mother used to put some very interesting stamps in. Each page had one or two stamps under which Mom had handwritten everything she could find out about about the stamp - who it depicted, why they were important, what was important about a place that was pictured.

Stamp collecting can educate in the areas of geography, science, nature, literature, history and every subject you can think of.

Stamps are not just used for postage. They have also been used as a form of taxation, otherwise known as a revenue stamp. Cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, cotton are just three examples of taxes that were collected by requiring them to have stamps.

The seeds of the American Revolution were planted when Great Britain imposed the Stamp Act of 1765 on the colonists. This required them to pay a tax via a stamp on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed.

The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains. The Stamp Act, however, was viewed as a direct attempt by England to raise money in the colonies without the approval of the colonial legislatures - taxation without representation.

You can find stamps and examples of postal history in my Addoway store at http://www.addoway.com/DonnasStuffMore/storefront.

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