What's on my desk!

Ahoy and welcome aboard for the highly anticipated, sophomore edition of "What's on my desk!"- a fascinating, drama charged voyage through the stacks of sometimes interesting, wildly nerdy, and frequently disorganized possessions which litter my worktable. Today's entry is so scintillating, so sensational, so OMG (for you texters out there) that I feel the subject announcement should be accompanied by the crack of a whip or the roar of a wild beast. I present to you...... POSTAGE STAMPS!


Alright, alright I *may* have implied a bit more excitement than philately usually arouses in folks but I, for one, have always loved stamps. I have decided to quantify the things I love about stamps into an informative, concise list designed to persuade you, my occasional reader, into loving them too. The aforementioned list is as follows:


1. Stamps are an excellent way to attract finer specimens of the opposite sex. Who doesn't want to hang out with someone who rummages around old, dusty, faintly cheese smelling books in search of something someone may have licked years and years ago? This is the number one reason, although frequently unspoken, that people get into stamps- sex appeal. Ask any stamp collector. They'll tell you

2. They're amazing pieces of period graphic design and illustration shrunk into a highly portable, easily stored format. Most countries try to be current and cutting edge with their stamps (much more so than currency) and as a result they act as a really great retrospective of the current aesthetic at the time of their manufacture.

3. *Most* stamps are cheap. You can get a handful of art deco stamps- many MNH (which means Mint Never Hinged) for a few dollars. A book featuring full color plates of art deco design would cost considerably more, take up lots of space on that overcrowded book shelf, and likely not have designs as interesting or well executed as the postage stamps.

4. You get to act like you know what you're doing. You get to move everything with tweezers, look through a magnifying glass, and catalog everything in those awesome little plastic holders. It's like being an anthropologist without that pesky degree or all that damn dirt. Plus no airplane food! Additionally, unlike your closet, you can organize and maintain your stamp collection.


Today, my occasional reader, I'd like to share a few photos of my unsorted stamps in my stockbook. These are a collection of stamps from all countries, in all conditions that I've collected because I like them on an individual basis as opposed to the usual desire to obtain a complete set of a certain kind of stamp in a specific condition(for instance non cancelled Swedish special delivery stamps or all US stamps with geese on them). I do have a large collection of US airmail stamps but that will have to wait for another entry! I hope you can restrain your anticipation.

"Enough talk! Let's see those photos already!" you say. I agree.