Tuesday, March 10, 2009

vintage stamps

I've managed a hook-up via the kind gentlemen at my local Post Office for a handful of vintage stamps at face value. If you've ever gone vintage stamp hunting on ebay, you would know what a steal this is. While on the inside I'm screaming with bargain glee, the whole process seems like a secret op, black market, undercover mission to me.

I go to the Post Office. I tell him it's for my wedding. I bat my eyelashes and smile. The man behind the counter shows me a page containing the photocopied images of various stamps. I point out which ones I like. I come back the next day, the man behind the counter slips me a sheet of paper with a man's name and phone number. I call the number and leave a voice message. The man on the sheet of paper leaves my stamps with the man behind the counter. I leave a check.

I feel like James Bond. James Bond with some cool-ass vintage stamps.

Image from here

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

um... wanna slip me that piece of paper?!

What he ate, what I ate. said...

Oh wow. Thanks to Kristina of a lovely morning, I'm hooked on those bad boys. I haven't even started my hunt, but I'm already feeling daunted. I doubt I'll fare as well as you did with NYC postal workers. They're terribly disgruntled. Lucky.

Anonymous said...

I love this story. The journey toward a wedding is oh so many things... and you can add 'covert' to your list!

P said...

Excellent score, my friend. The covert element makes them all the more wonderful.

Melissa said...

That's such a great story :)

Laura said...

I was feeling lucky that I saw this post right before heading off to buy my save-the-date stamps. But Teresa, you're right. My NYC postal worker wasn't having any of it.

Anonymous said...

Ha! That's fantastic! Just caught up on some of your posts and it sounds like your wedding is really coming together. I love the suit + the guest book!

Anonymous said...

These are so sweet! I love them!! I am planning my Nov. 7th wedding right now and I think I might need to scope out my local post office and make some friends..

Keg Design said...

seriously, what a great story. it made me smile. especially since i went to the chicago post office a few weeks ago for regular 42 cent stamps and you would have thought i asked the lady to do my taxes. it was horrible. i wish i had a nice "black market" post office friend like you!