Designer stamps

When an artist friend sends you some stamps you feel obliged to write it up in an artistic manner! Ryoko, to who congratulations are due, had saved up some stamps for me from letters she'd received from around the world. She joins that select group of friends and family who support me in my hobby.

Apart from the stamps and letter there was also an interesting booklet which looks at the background behind the designs of British stamps for the year 1993. Straight into my little library! And the stamps go straight into the soak.

A nice little bunch, ne?

World Cup soccer (sort of)

Bev is Australian. She lives on a bit of land outside of the city. It's quieter there, which suits her. And having a hobby helps also. Bev has been collecting stamps for most of her life. She found my contact details on All Stamps Paradise, which she is using for the first time.

To get the ball rolling, she sent me a couple of dozen of stamps from a quartet of countries. I'm going to run with that theme and analyze the stamps from a footballer's point of view. We'll imagine that Norway, Germany, Finland and the Netherlands have reached the semi-finals (at the time of writing, Germany and the Netherlands actually have). As a fair and impartial observer I'm going to referee/judge those stamps to decide which team wins the 2010 World Cup.Norway wins the kick-off, but there's a long way to until the final whistle. They're a team with a lot of experience (receding hairlines and baldness) and a fine pedigree with their numeral stamps of which there are four. Their control of the ball is moderate (5 or so stamps have a good circular postmark). They get a yellow card for a repeat-stamp infringement. But they are awarded 3 free kicks for some very fine stamps: the 3.50 and 4.60 in the second bottom row, and the middle stamp in the bottom row of a kayaker.

The Netherlands, as might be expected from a team that invented 'total football' have an unorthodox formation. They are led by Johan Kruijf, the Van Gogh of soccer. Their play is more playful - they seem to be in a merry-making mode (stamps featuring clowns and people in fancy dress). They have fantastic ball control as about 10 of the stamps sport a circular postmark. But no one player really stands out, and the numeral and Queen stamps have a dull day on the field.

Much is expected from the Germans. They have a solid team (stamps that feature buildings). However, they are a little unsure of themselves (it is hard to read their country's name in the typically small font used. Again, like the Norwegians, they have a few older players. The commemorative stamps indicate that they may be feeling overwhelmed by a sense of history. They played well against the US of A and Japan, but today is another day.

An upset! The Finnish team starts their game facing the wrong way and, as a result, score an early own goal. But they regroup and recover quickly. Four stamps have a sports theme, and several stamps have excellent graphics. They go on to win deservedly, the first time ever that Finland wins the World Cup.

The mail gets through . . . but only just

Recently I've had several letters from the United States of America - eBay sales, to tell the truth - arrive with damage to the stamps that were used as postage - but not to the stamps enclosed, thank heavens! 

Why is that? Are the dimension restrictions tougher over there? Are the letters restricted to a stricter thickness, obliged to forcefully squeeze themselves through a narrow and uncompromising slot? Here you can witness some of the evidence.

In the top photo it looks as if some postie has gone to town with his marker pen. I didn't know that felt could do such damage.

'Forever stamp exchanger'

I did not photograph the stamps that Linda sent me from South Africa, only the envelope. My excuse is that I must have been too excited. On the day that I received her Polish, German and Japanese stamps (and one from Dominica) - a grand total of 174 - three or four other items arrived in the mail.

Included in the second envelope that Linda sent me (see also 'Mad on Madagascar') was a sheet of paper titled: Forever Stamp Exchanger. It consists of a list of addresses and comprises a type of Ponzi scheme, I guess. 

If you decide to take part, you send 50 stamps to the first uncrossed person on the list, then you cross that name out and add your own to the bottom. Following that, you send it to up to five other people that you know. 

It's potentially a good way to make new friends, it seems to me. I've sent 50 NZ stamps to Jan Erik Nybo from Norway. Let's see what happens. And if you are interested in taking part, let me know.

 

More of the same (but different)

This is the third time I've exchanged with Vaclav from the Czech Republic. Third time lucky, again. I asked for and received some more Japanese stamps from him. I wonder where he gets them all from.

Here are the stamps displayed in a 64-page Davo stock book - a recent purchase. I bought it on Trade Me from a dealer in Dunedin. It came fully stocked, so I have had to make room for my New Zealand collection. If there's room, I'll also use it to store my Japanese stamps too.
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Philately philosophy

Having just been asked. "What are you collecting?" I think it's timely that I try to knock together a philosophy concerning my hobby. Maybe 'philately' is too grand a term. Perhaps 'stamp collecting' is closer to the mark.

I've thought about the subject before, of course. I've taken note of certain people. There is a trader on Trade Me, Papa2toes, whose attitude to stamp dealing I admire; he lists his auctions at a minimum price and doesn't fuss if they sell cheaply. His aim is to keep the stamps turning over. I've also written about Dean Brown's altruistic approach - of how he aims to exchange to gain stamps that his children are interested in. My late uncle, Wim Ottema, would boast about his stamps collection that he had built it up laboriously through exchanging only without spending a single cent - or penny, rather in those days. There's a purity and nobility in that.

 

So, what will my guiding philosophy be?

Because you see, it is high time that I formulate one. 

In the past few months I have accumulated a huge pile of material, more than I can ever hope to catalogue, categorize, mount and study. I'm going to have to get selective. What am I really interested in? What can I persuade myself to release?

I guess that for me my main pleasure is an aesthetic one. There are certain sorts of stamps that I enjoy looking at, showing off, and possessing. And it doesn't depend on their value . . . well, not much. It depends on colour, composition, line and subject matter. That being a good starting point from which to leap, let me draw up a list:

1. New Zealand predecimals. I'll collect these and mount them in a Tasman book similar to the one I had when I was a boy. I won't actively buy these, but I'll remain on the lookout.
2. New Zealand decimals. As above, I'll collect these passively. The main role NZ stamps will take for me are as duplicates that I'l exchange with overseas collectors.
3. I love Japanese stamps. I bought an old pre-printed album that will do nicely to contain stamps before 1970.
4. I am interested in British Commonwealth stamps especially those before Queen Elizabeth II.
5. I like out of the way countries whose stamps for one reason or another have caught me eye: Domincan Republic, Labuan, Newfoundland, the Line Islands.
6. The definitives of certain countries have put me off collecting USA, Canada, Holland, Denmark, India. And yet when I look in the catalogue I can find plenty of attractive stamps in their pages. 

Colonial powers

This is the second time I've received mail - and stamps - from Joao in Portugal. This time he included stamps from previous Portuguese colonies: Angola and Mozambique. To me the stamps all were very thematic. They featured uniforms worn by the colonizing soldiers, raw materials that were extracted from those places, native women, maps of the conquered lands and portraits of the distinguished explorers etc involved.

It's amazing how many countries have been involved in the colonizing process. I'm not going to single any one out. Holland, my parents' country has dabbled. New Zealand, where I was born, was itself a colony. I recommend that you listen to a podcast by Dan Carlin on the topic.

Hup, Holland, hup!

Kees, a Dutchman, asked to exchange some stamps with me. I believe he's about the third so far. I always enjoy using a bit of Dutch, as it's my mother tongue. I spoke nothing else before the age of 5. I used my Dutch middle name to prove that point - otherwise you can't tell - and so Kees's envelope is the first to bear the name of my maternal grandfather, for whom I am named.
I was a little apprehensive . . . in my opinion Dutch stamps include some of the most boring definitives in the world!

I was pleasantly surprised to see this artistic and colorful array of postal art from my parents' homeland. Even though, in the football sweepstake, I got given Brazil as my team, I hope that Holland wins the world cup in 2010 (as I thought they would in '74 and '78).  Yes Kees, they are "naar mijn zin".

Bedankt. 

eBay newbie

Wouldn't it be too expensive to use eBay based in New Zealand? And wouldn't it be cheating to post an online sale on a blog that is supposed to be about exchanging stamps with overseas collectors? Well, I make my own rules.

I've used Trade Me, a New Zealand original, but I knew about eBay too. Just had never used it. Well, there's always a first time, so I went on over, found a trader that had stamps that I wanted and bid. 

It turns out that you can combine postage, so it's a good idea to bid on a bunch of stuff all from the same person. I like it. It worked for me. On trade Me at any one time there are about 10,000 stamps auctions on offer. On eBay at any one time, there are that many Japanese stamps auctions running.

Here's my first auction win: my first 3 eBay stamps (of many). The American Football cards are gratis - anyone want them? Each stamps is separately packaged in a stiff plastic pocket. Very professional.

All in the family

The mother-in-law is now in on the act. I couldn't wish for a better one. She has saved the New Zealand stamps on the envelopes that Mami, my wife, sent the family in Japan (disks with photos of our 8-month-old daughter, Sachi), cut them out, and returned them together with a few colorful Japanese stamps too. Isn't that nice?

Even nicer, look! She has enclosed a couple of recent mini-sheets as well. How thoughtful is that? As always, by comparison I feel like quite a boer. No one does social nicety better than the Japanese.

I'm proud to include my Japanese family in the greater family of stamp collectors. A great bunch, every single one.

Biosecurity alert!

I could see that my mail had been tampered with - the tape indicated that the third lot of stamps send my way by Dean Brown had been opened by MAF, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.

But they did a neat job, and even stuck on an official sticker, adding to the envelope's interest value. I wonder, was the package randomly selected? Or might a dog have sniffed it out - been intrigued by the musty aroma of old stamps. Maybe Bruno would place Dean in the 'truffley' category of stamps collectors?

Another explanation might be that if Dean is a keen gardener, perhaps the scent of various herbs and spices might have leapt from his hands into the envelope. I was half expecting to see a sprig or two of parsley or coriander lurking inside.


But no, I admit that I was the one to garnish the above photo. The contents of Dean's letter consisted of a pile of old USA and a cluster of glassine bags with yet more stamps I'll need a year off from work to nose through (sniffing each stamp). Luckily I'm doing just that - taking a year of 'sabbatical' - in 2011. I mean, if the universe stops in 2012, when else am I ever going to get the chance?

Collected on behalf

A plastic bag marked 'Stamps' & 'William'. Collected by a friend of the family for me. How exciting!
The contents turn out to be Japanese. Modern and mostly blue. Still on paper, clipped from envelopes . . .

A little too closely in one or two cases.

Non-collectors don't usually realize that the tiniest imperfection such as a crease or a single tooth missing ruins a stamp to all intents and purposes.

But let's not dwell on the negatives; let's get these into luke-warm water . . .

And after soaking, let the stamps dry. Sometimes underneath the stamps the postal value might be written on the envelope. I tend to save these as well as the stamps.

Zeitgeist

After a successful first exchange, Carlos sent me a second letter. The first time, he sent me Brazilian stamps for New Zealand. This time, knowing my preference for older stamps, he enclosed a selection of older Italian, Danish and Canadian.

The deal that Carlos proposed was 200 for 100. Writing this post reminds me that I have yet to fulfill my end of the bargain. A stamp blog is indeed a boon to those of of us who are not entirely organized. 

30 Stamp Collecting Blogs from Around the World

From out of the blue, someone named Sheryl Owen sent me an email, inviting me to take a look at an article on their blog called '30 Stamp Collecting Blogs from Around the World. I did take the time to take a look. You may care to too. It's going to take me some time to peruse all of the sites mentioned, however . . .

Out of order by request

I have long since given up on recording what number exchange I am up to. This is my 45th post, but not all 45 refer to exchanges. On the other hand, I've omitted several lots that I've won on online auctions (Trade Me and recently eBay) which you could regard as 'exchanges' of a sort. But anyway, when a fellow collector told me she was impatient to see me do a post about her latest letter I had no hesitation about writing about it out of order.

(See 'A' is from Austria) for the first letter filled with stamps that I ever received from a fellow collector. I believe that Edna is originally from Singapore, but she lives in Austria, a fairly dangerous place to live at least in a postal sense, as mail sometimes goes missing - gets diverted to Australia - unless 'Europe' is included on the address. 

That, we suspect, was what happened to my return mail. However, my friend and I persisted in our exchanging, and have now got a regular pattern of letters criss-crossing the skies (when they aren't filled with volcanic ash!). In return for my sending a cover with the set of NZ ancient reptiles Edna promised to send something special . . .

In the mail there wasn't one envelope, but two! Edna collects covers (FDC's too if they are addressed to her) and she kindly sent me a very nice couple. The stamps used for postage remind me of the ones on Behram's letter. They too have a marine theme, a topic that is much on my mind after listening to two TED Talks about the state of the world's oceans.

And what was enclosed? Two packets: 300 European stamps and 50 transport. I think that I owe at least a cover and some used stamps for that. I'll send a cover from Japan when I'm there later this year.