There was a time over a century ago when my dear maternal grandmother lived the typical life of a young teenager here in our little town. Her parents were recent immigrants and her list of friends limited because she was not born and raised here like other children. She warmed to new friendships and her new friends warmed to her in time. Though she spoke English well, her first five years in Europe provided a distinct accent that she worked tirelessly to erase, without the desired results. As grandmother adapted to her new community in America, she remained close to her family, venturing towards those young friendships that only blossom with time. Her nature was to be studious. Influenced by elders to engage in a hobby to occupy her spare moments, she pursued philately. Her name was Anna and her hobby was stamp collecting.
To this very day, I possess her vast collection of stamps dating back to the 1800s, bound in a thick collectable album. I hold this volume with solemn regard. This album holds many values, most importantly to me is the sentimental value handed from one generation to the next and eventually to me. It was a young teenager so eager to please her parents that invested in a very empty book to place the stamps she acquired. Delicately placing each and every stamp she collected in her collection book became a passion that she enjoyed. Collecting stamps allowed my grandmother, young Anna, to engage her very active imagination and travel the world with each and every stamp she purchased. Her older sister Barbara would travel aboard a steamship back and forth to the old country annually, always bringing a small package of stamps to her beloved little sister.
In 1845, the United States started to issue stamps; the first stamps being just local stamps. These original stamps were commonly known as postmasters’ issue stamps. The localities, cities and towns held jurisdiction over these stamps and they eventually became quite valuable and desirable by collectors such as my young grandmother Anna. It was said that there were known postmasters’ issue stamps produced in towns in Virginia, Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont and the little town of Boscawen, N.H. Every stamp produced as a postmaster’s issue is very rare and very valuable.
There was a gentleman named Arthur Hind that was a stamp collector during my grandmothers’ childhood. Mr. Hind was a very wealthy man and he collected stamps from around the world, just like my grandmother did a century ago. It was said that Mr. Hind owned a collection of stamps valued at a million dollars or more a century ago, and he had his mind on Boscawen. Arthur Hinds located the only known copy of the coveted postmasters’ issue stamp from Boscawen, N.H. He paid $12,000 for this local stamp, which was located on the entire envelope and did not bear any cancellation mark. It did not have a perforation and was printed in a dull blue ink on a very thin paper. In the upper left corner of the envelope the manuscript notation “Boscawen, NH, Dec 13” was written by the postmaster at the time of the original mailing. This rare Boscawen stamp was mailed from Boscawen to Concord. This fine stamp that Mr. Hind added to his vast collection was formerly in the collection of Hiram Deats of Flemington, N.J. and then passed to the collection of Baron P. Von Ferrary. When this stamp was purchased by Arthur Hinds there was publicity, lots of publicity. The newspapers carried the story and the people living in New Hampshire began to search. They searched the entire state looking for another Boscawen stamp. At that time no other example of this highly collectable stamp was found.
In 1847, the United States Congress abolished the local postal service and centralized the entire U.S. postal service. At that time the first regular U.S. postage stamp was printed in two values; a 5-cent stamp bearing the profile of Benjamin Franklin and a 10-cent stamp bearing the picture of George Washington.
The days continued for young Anna, she built her stamp collection day by day. This loving little girl that was to become my grandmother made many friends here in our little town. She grew into a fine woman and met a young man from Ireland, someone that embraced her fine European accent as they became husband and wife. As the days passed, she packed away her collection of stamps along with her fond memories of her childhood growing up in America a century ago.
Yes, I have grandmother’s stamp collection to this very day. As I turn the pages of her album, I feel her presence still with me. That young girl with the European accent so eager to make friends and collect stamps, my grandmother Anna.