Currency
Ever since I was a kid growing up watching the timeless game show "Let's Make a Deal," I've always wanted the large denominations of currency that Monty Hall used to pull out of his pockets and gift to ecstatic contestants. TV was my first introduction to United States $500 and $1000 bills. "Monty" seemed to have an endless supply of these rare and valuable slices of American history, and I always wondered if any person could wander into a bank at that time and request one. Anyway, large denominations such as $500 bills and $1000 bills have been out of circulation for a long time and are certainly no longer available at banks. Despite the fact I don't really consider myself a serious currency collector, I decided I would buy myself a $500 bill and a $1000 bill several years back just to fulfill a childhood fantasy. These are serious bills and I love the federal look of them; a stern looking William McKinley on the $500, and a side-profiled Grover Cleveland on the $1000 bill. These are bothfrom the 1934 series. If you don't 'need' one in mint condition, these can be purchased on eBay for roughly double their face value. The specimens I have are in decent condition and cost about $3,000 combined (for the $500 and $1000). I don't pretend to think they'll rise much in value because the supply of these is fixed (or increasing if others are found in places like old safes or safe-deposit boxes). Once I bought these, I also started buying as many bills as I could from the 1934 series because I think they are so elegant in appearance and fun to collect. Most of those you see below hail from the 1934 series, but a few are from more modern times.
Stamps
I am a huge American history buff. I've taught history and read all of the history novel I can get my hands on. I've recently read biographies on Hamilton and Grant (from my favorite author Ron Chernow) and have read about nearly every president. One of the best way I have found to pursue my love of U.S. History is through stamps and currency. Ever since I was a kid, I have collected stamps. There was nothing more exciting to me than wehn my dad agreed to take me into the Kaufmann's Building in downtown Pittsburgh. At the top floor of this colossal department store was a stamp store and gallery. I could spend hours sifting through plate blocks in glass envelopes from the 60's and 70's that were priced around a dollar a piece. I amassed a huge collection of plate blocks, albeit not particularly valuable.
I think I started pulling away from stamps when I saw my hobbies more as financial investments. Unlike packs of sports cards, the supply of stamps in constant; there is presumably a fixed number of each stamp in existance and there is no reason for that quantity really to rise or fall. With a fix supply of a an item or group of items, there is no impetus for demand to rise. Presumably, there is an ever decreasing supply of unopened packs because of the temptation to open them and score high-grade singles. Furthermore, collecting vintage stamps often means understanding a bewlidering array of minute differences between what appear to be identical stamps. I never really learned the ins and outs of these subtle differences.
Anyway, although I don't consider myself an active stamp collector at this point, the pictures below represent my favorites from my boyhood collection. The picture quality here isn't great. There seems to have been a shadow when I was taking pictures. I apologize for that.
These are plate blocks from the 1938 Presidential series. For a while, the values on the stamps actually corresponded with the presidential order. That changed as Theodore Roosevelt is on the 30 cent, and William Howard Taft is on the 50 cent.
I always enjoyed collecting full sheets of airmail stamps. I found these to be extremely colorful, and I especially loved the ones that were largely red, white, and blue. This sheet features Mt. Rushmore. These can be purchased on eBay for about $30.00 or so. Below are some similar airmail sheets.
Here are some other USA themed sheets
