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.

'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.

 

Mad on Madagascar

The very first person to contact me through my Stamp Paradise ad was Linda Salzman from South Africa (actually she lives in Mozambique in a remote area, but her mail reaches her from S.A., taking up to two or three months!).

Linda and I became friends through a long exchange of emails. It took us an enjoyable age, deciding what to send one another. Linda sent me scans of her duplicates, and also of the varieties of earlier South African stamps, which was very educational, but after discovering that I actually had several envelopes full of stamps from that part of the world I chose mainly German stamps plus Mozambique and Madagascar.

Both of us prefer older stamps. Linda sent me her list of pre-1980 New Zealand stamps, and I was able to work through it and add 100 to that total. I look forward to further exchanges between the two of us.

Twenty-one/twelve

Several times I've been surprised in the course of collecting and exchanging stamps online. I don't know why, but I tend to assume that other collectors will be male. More than once I've discovered that not to be the case, and I've had to make hasty revisions to this blog! Along the same lines, I've been pleasantly surprised to learn that two or three of the people that have contacted me are children, which means that there is hope for philately to continue as a hobby. 

            

Armin is  twelve, and his letter was the start of my twenty-first exchange. Armin is helped by his father - also a collector. Armin and I exchanged 60 stamps from Germany and New Zealand.           

German in the Ukraine

Sometimes you've got to be a little trusting. It can't be easy for people to write emails in English if it isn't their first language. They may come across as demanding, impatient, impolite or dominating only because they haven't the right phrases or words. I always write back whenever anyone contacts me asking to exchange stamps. If they respond, that generally means that they are genuine.

My 20th trade is the first time I've ever corresponded with anyone in the Ukraine. I couldn't even tell you where exactly that country lies on the map. It feels 'cool' to receive a letter from there. In her letter - yes, another woman - Maryna Davydova sent a mix of stamps from various countries. I learned that she is a language teacher, the same as me. She teaches German.

Some of them I already have (the French and German) but I really like the North Vietnamese stamps, and also those from Poland. 

Caution advised

Several people warned me not to be too trusting when I started to exchange stamps. 'If the other person contacts you, he should send the stamps first', I was repeatedly advised. That sounded like good advice. It may not have been applied by the next person I was contacted by.

I don't know much about Uwe Jarstof. Not yet. All I know is that he lives in Germany, and he agreed to send me 50 German stamps as an initial trade. He has had some bad experiences with exchanging, so he insisted on this initial limit to the number of stamps. Later, when we know each other, we may exchange more.

This has been my eighth exchange. So far so good, touch wood.

K2: nine-and-a-half out of ten

If Kalkie Kalkeiran's 100 German stamps (from Ireland) had been the 11th bunch to arrive, then I'd have been able to make something of that fact - 'K' is the eleventh letter of the alphabet. But I think its time to give up on that thread . . .

Anyway, it took a little longer for K squared's envelope to arrive than the norm. On its cover was stamped: This item required further processing due to underpayment which consequently caused a delay. I wonder what the nature of that 'processing' was, and whether it was that which caused the rip at the bottom of the envelope.  But it got here in the end, and no stamps fell out. That's all that matters! 

After the wheeling and dealing was over, K2 sent a quick email asking whether I was happy with the trade, and what I would give out of ten. I almost gave full marks. The stamps were nicely postmarked, neat, in partial sets (architecture, lighthouses, animals). That they were on paper was fine by me. But for a couple of doubles - full marks. Recommended.