Stamps

I just about feel I need to be in a confessional to write about this.
I collect stamps.  It seems appropriate for a 12 year old person but a 60 year old man?
Anyway I have been collecting Australian stamps for a long time. People knew this and have been giving me the stamps they have got on letters.  Originally I was not collecting world stamps.  My first job at QUT was as a glorified mail person in the library.  To me, there were real advantages in occupying this position.  I got to know everyone, and as I collected stamps it was like I was the gate keeper.  I got really good at removing stamps from letters using a Stanley knife without affecting the letter or opening it.
 As I say, I collected Australian stamps and gave world stamps to someone I knew collected them in the library.  I found him to be a really interesting person.  His hobby was gambling on the horses.  However he gambled really small amounts and treated it as a scientific experiment.  He had started with $100 and after several years was down to $78.  It was not my cup of tea, but he enjoyed it, and I don’t know of many folk who can say their hobby has only cost them $22 after several years.
He was collecting stamps to pass on to his son.  However tragedy befell the son.  Down the track I said to him that if ever he was getting rid of his stamp collection I was interested.  Before I knew it I had thousands of stamps.
The collection was a mess, though there were many stamps.  I needed to soak, sort, catalogue and display the stamps.  As filing is my superpower, I did it, though it took many many hours.  I really like what I have.
I actually see stamps as miniature art.  I must confess I thought British stamps were all King or Queen heads.  It turns out they have beautiful stamps.  Having a long history for subject matter helps.  It does seem though, that no matter how young a nation may be, there is never a shortage of subject matter for stamps.
I have some of my favourite stamps in picture frames on the wall.  My very favourite stamp is a mint German one from the 1940’s of Hitler.  It depicts him in uniform cradling in one hand the head of a young girl looking up adoringly into his eyes.  I guess it is my favourite because of the irony of it.
It seems some stamps are put out for propaganda.  Others are for tourist revenue.  Hungarian stamps were like that.  Big and beautiful.  Some stamps are just beautiful.
I said all that because as some folk know, Merril and I are on holidays.  Yesterday we visited a friend and his wife.  It had been mentioned months ago, but I had forgotten about it, that they had a stamp collection to give me.  They retrieved it from a shed.  It was a suitcase full of stamps and books and collecting gear.  Oh and evidence of vermin.  Apart from the vermin, it was a real case of “I’ve been here before.”  So now I have much to sort through.
Oh, if you have a collection, or know someone who does, and does not know what to do with it, but wants it to go to a good home – pick me! Pick me!  I also have spares to swap.
Collecting stamps is a hobby.  I am not rich from it. and never will be. but I personally find it really interesting.