mixing new & old postage.

• In my humble opinion, mailing letters with unused vintage postage is one of the best trends in the past few months.  A little collection of old stamps in the corner instantly makes a plain letter special.

• While I love the trend, I've run into three difficulties.  (1) Unused vintage postage can be hard to find.  You may luck out on Etsy or Ebay, but it requires lots of looking and lots of patience.  (2) Unused vintage postage isn't cheap.  This is especially true if you're looking for certain popular images or large quantities of the same stamp.  (3) You need a lot of vintage stamps to have enough postage to mail a letter!  Many vintage stamps have a 4-6 cent value, so you need 8-10 stamps to reach the 44 cents needed to mail a letter.  It's easy to run out of room on your envelope for that many stamps, regardless of how pretty the stamps are!

• My solution has been to mix both new and vintage postage.  I was a little worried the new postage might stand out too much due to being brighter and shinier, but it's worked out really well lately.  I rarely mail a little with just one new stamp lately!

• If you're looking for the new and vintage postage to blend together, you'll want to avoid new stamps with colors that are too loud and images that are obviously modern.  Sorry Buzz Lightyear, the Toy Story stamps probably aren't the best choice for this project.

• I mentioned earlier I don't have a good source for unused vintage postage.  Sorry!  My best advice is to keep your eyes open wherever you go.  I found most of my stash at an antique store in South Dakota while on vacation with my family.  Random.
• I do have a good souce for new postage though - www.usps.com!  It might be a little obvious, but purchasing new postage online far outweighs standing in line at your local post office.  You can search through and order any stamps currently available.  For most stamps, you can order a small block of 4 stamps rather than a whole book.  You can easily get 3-5 different designs to play with for under $5.  Plus shipping is only $1 and you'll receive your order very quickly!  I ordered on a Monday and had my stamps by Wednesday.

• Some of my favorite stamps currently available to mix with old postage: black & white portraits (here and here), those with the color orange which is hard to find in vintage stamps (here and here), and these honoring the pioneers of industrial design.

• If you decide to start mixing new and vintage postage on your next letters, be sure to secure your postage before writing the recipient's address or adhering an address label.  You'll need less stamps to reach the necessary postage when mixing old and new, but still don't want to run out of room when trying to get the best positioning.  Have fun!

Comments

[Xenia]

What a sweet story! Thanks so much for the Linns link! I'll definitely check it out.

[MooMama]

My father is a philatelist (aka stamp collector) and I remember fondly him sitting in his recliner reading his Linns Stamp News newspaper. He'd write to other stamp collectors and receive packages of mint postage on a regular basis.

In fact, when I moved away in the late 1980's he sent along a bunch of mint postage for me to use in writing back home.

Well...times have changed and Linns is now available online at http://linns.com/ and they have a marketplace.

Check it out and see if it might be the source you're looking for!

I have no affiliation with Linns and only wrote this comment hoping to help out. :)