Uncle Bob and his stamps

My uncle is a stamp nut. He collects all sorts of stamps (I guess it is in the family), but he is a big fan of airmail and anything stamps that include planes. Whenever my uncle sees me, he finds a way of "setting a task" for me to do - and that's what he did a couple of weeks ago.

I know, I know. He's a bit weird; but harmless, and actually quite sweet! (You know I mean well Uncle Bob :) )

Anyway, the task this time was to go find out something about the history of the Scott Catalogue. For those who don't know, stamp collectors use the publication as the industry-standard price guide and catalogue of all the latest stamps. Uncle Bob always goes on about some stamp or other from it, and has a huge stack of them at his house.

So in trying to complete my "task" (he never uses a different word, it's always a task), I went hunting on the net to find the info. And it took me all of five seconds.

Don Schilling, who writes the Stamp Collecting Round-up blog, posted on the very topic just a few days ago. The blog looks like it's an excellent resource for stamp collectors, and I bet Uncle Bob visits it every day (I bet he's going to ask me where I found the information, and he's going to say 'Oh, that good ol' place!'). Anyway, according to the blog, the Scott Catalogue developed in 1867, after John Walter Scott began circulating a price list of his dealership's catalogue. Read the full post here.

So next time I see Uncle Bob, I can tell him all about the history of the catalogue - and hope that he gives up on giving me these little tasks! :)

By the way - today's origami is a box. For Uncle Bob's stamps!