Ye olde S&P Stamp and Coin was always the stop when I visited “Pindy” with my kids in tow. The owner never failed to mention to us, as we pawed through a well-worn box of canceled stamps, “Those stamps aren’t worth anything.” With that encouragement we continued to visit whenever I arrived in town.
Oh, I think the guy got a kick out of us searching for the only stamp we needed to complete a page. My sister kept a detailed list of what she needed, and since I had my own album now, I just figured I didn’t have what she didn’t have. Eventually he was probably enamored with our cheerful banter and well-mannered children and he invited us to enjoy a cup of the coffee he had brewing by the register. Only years later did I figure out he had probably thrown in some older stamps no one had purchased in the past twenty years and he was just waiting for us to discover them? We had to be entertainment as I do not recall a single customer ever entering in over thirty years. We were like kids in a candy store.
The promise of donuts after this outing kept our children in line and us motivated. Even though the donuts were in a heavily smoke-filled hole-in-the-wall, they were the best I’ve ever had.
Philatelic adventures.
Love it!