If I go shopping for fun my favorite stores are usually antique stores. I'd rather buy something old and cool than something new.

This past week the weather has been crazy and I've been stuck indoors sorting through old boxes from my childhood. We went from weather in the 60s early in the week to record rainfalls causing flooding. The flooding was bad enough to close all the local schools for a day. Then, the rain stopped last night and the temps dropped into the 20s. Today the flood waters were gone and snow covered the ground.

Since we've been stuck indoors from the rain and snow I started sifting through some old boxes I recently retrieved from my mom's that have been in storage for around 20 years. I happily found my journal from when I started college that was so detailed I know what I did everyday for my very first semester. I found artwork and assignments I did in elementary school and old toys from the 70s and 80s.

I also found my stamp collection which I had forgotten about. I think I bought it in the 2000s for like $15 from my favorite antique store in town. It consists of stamps from other countries in two picture frames to keep them safe and organized. I remember buying it because it looked really cool and younger me just liked the look of them in the frames.

In the early 2000s I didn't have a computer. I was still using encyclopedias to do research and the internet wasn't something I had access to at home. I really didn't have a way to look up stamps to learn about them. I'm pretty sure my collection of stamps was boxed up and put in storage in 2004 when I moved out to the dorms at my college and I haven' seen them since.

Today was the first time I really "saw" my stamp collection. I'm older now and love looking at little details. All my stamps are online so I could look them up to see what they were for, where they came from, their years, and how much they are worth.

I doubt my collection will make me rich but that's okay. They are really neat to have and hang on the wall. They are all old with most from the 1940s. None are from the United States from what I looked up. Some are in languages I don't know with letter characters my computer doesn't have. I assume the original collector probably lived overseas for a time to collect all of these.

Some in languages I can't read. Anyone know these languages/stamp countries?

Can't read the top left and right gray ones

The top red/blue ones.

The orange one.

I'm really happy to have my collection back. It's interesting how differently I have appreciated it at different ages. When I first got it I was a kid and just liked all the neat stamps from different countries. Not having the internet and computers back then I knew nothing about the stamps and just thought they were cool to decorate my room with.

As an adult I appreciate them differently. Knowing how old they are I love that someone was able to save these stamps and preserve them in frames. I love seeing all the different languages and countries and designs. Some stamps have interesting history behind their use and why they were created. I'd love to know who saved these stamps and how their collection ended up in a small-town antique store. Maybe someone sold off their parents old belongings. One person's trash is another person's treasure so I guess someone clearing out old junk ended up my treasure.

Do you have any neat collections?