A Legacy of Stamps

I think the late 1940s must have been a time of  real optimism in America-- the GIs were coming home and there was a rampant sense of prosperity.  Just think, we'd survived the Depression and two world wars--most likely nothing else would ever again be as bad.  

For people like Grandpa Anton Janson, the first 40 years of the new century might have truly felt like trial-by-fire (add being German during the 1918 "Safety Commission" era and fluctuations in the fortunes of the family farm)....by 1946, he must have felt he'd earned this new country.


  

I don't know where he got the idea to buy sheets of postage stamps to put away for their future value.  Evidently, he bought a page or two and tossed them in a box on a regular basis in 1947-1949 at least.

That box was in our hall closet for years.  Don't know what happened to it.  But I've had two envelopes around for at least a year, and finally soaked them to separate them.  There are duplicates of these five stamps...the most valuable ones are the bright pink Edison ones at about .55 each, and most are supposed to be worth .40 or so.
And these "Saluting Young America" stamps?  The online source suggested you use them at face value, on letters.  LOL

Still, click the Doctor stamp to enlarge it--what magnificent detail!  There's a whole story there that's tough to see without the internet...

Thanks, Lil Grandpa, you tried...and they're beautiful.