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THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER

THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER

I enjoy talking to customers about their collection - and often, it turns out to be collections in the plural.

A main collection and a couple of sidelines makes life richer, and gives a chance to acquire a snippet for the fun collection if the main collection is proving difficult to advance without a new mortgage. Sometimes new collections are inspired by a foreign holiday, meeting a friend from abroad, a fascinating book or TV series...and a related collection can become a new adventure.

Several collections can often relate together in unexpected ways. Collecting French, German, Spanish or Portuguese colonies at the same time as British Commonwealth neighbouring countries helps put the European race for colonies into perspective. For instance, we swapped Heligoland for Zanzibar in 1890. (For more, see Neal Ascherson "A swap for Zanzibar", a brief but fascinating page on the internet). Imagine how two parallel collections of Heligoland and Zanzibar could show what the Brits and the Germans made of their new acquisitions.

Teachers and well-meaning parents used to believe stamp collecting could painlessly impress a wealth of history and geography into the minds of young schoolboys. As a youth I collected France, and at university spent a year in Lyon, staying at the Résidence Benjamin Dellesert on Avenue Jean Jaurès. I met the Director of the Résidence on arrival, and he was keen to mention that the building and the street were both named after famous people. Yes, I said, Dellesert set up a savings bank, and Jean Jaurès was a heroic socialist politican, murdered in 1914. He was impressed by my (extensive? maybe not!) knowledge of French history and remained avuncularly helpful during the entire year of my stay. I secretly thought, thanks to SG528 and to SG 551/52 in mt little stamp collection!

But it's true, snippets of knowledge derived from stamps can break the ice or open doors around the world. Never underestimate the power of a collection, whether main or just a sideline.

Published
23/08/21 10:23:00 AM