A write up of stuff heard at Stampex (see previous post), I once had a customer, he's dead now, but we went to auctions together. Henry was a millionaire, and I would spend three grand on the business and he would spend thirty on his personal collection, & I asked him what was the best bit for him? Was it finding the right stamp at the right price, or just the right stamp, or putting it in the album or looking at it. He said the best bit was crossing it of his list.
Animals? Birds? Eagles? Bald Eagles? Do you have any?
Collecting is an opiate, it charms and gets in your blood & you're finished.
The stranger things are more interesting, when compared to the rarer stamps. All you can say about them is, well they're rare. At least the stranger ones are interesting.
Many wise people collect the envelopes- single stamps are intrinsically worthless bits of paper, but the envelope gives the use and history of the stamp.
It's in your hand one moment and then you don't know where then into the person you sent it to.
It's all National Trust bags, F1 T-shirts, Insignias, Beards & Boxes (me).
I conducted an interview with an avid transport collector at the weekend. His main interest was in taking slides of steam trains. For this hobby he travelled all over the world with friends and alone to acquire images. After 40 years of collecting he speculated that there were approximately 15-20 thousand images in his collection. He spoke about how slides were his preferred medium as they allowed for simultaneously display within the social group of the trainspotter. He meets up with 4 friends every year and each displays the slides taken 30 years ago and also those taken last year. He spoke about how in the desired image for the collection was one of combined quality between locomotion and location. In pursuit of new acquisitions he was arrested twice in communist East Germany (when the Berlin Wall was still up). On trying to rationalise the Why? of the collection he spoke about wanting to capture the memory of an experience and then to be able to share this. This memory of an experience led to comfort and satisfaction and he talked about the pleasure derived from a tangible record.
My Conclusions:
This is what Stoopdice was made for- best thread ever 'Hot Strangers'.