Where am I?

For those of you who have been reading - and enjoying - my blog, thank you. I have been away from the blog for a while now obviously, but I plan on coming back to it.

There have been a lot of changes in my life since the last post, some of which I hope to share with you soon.

Please check back in a little while. I promise to try and update this blog and continue the discussion of collectibles that I had so much fun starting.

Nellie

Collecting goes to the dogs

:) I love that title! :P

Christie's, you know the big art auction house, is having a big sale on dog art... Yep, paintings of dogs... And you can pick up one for as much as $1.2 million. You read that right.

"Neptune" is a portrait of a Newfoundland dog by Sir Edwin Landseer. It's life-size, and could be sold for between $800 000 and $1.2 mill. (Lucky dog! My parents lab would never sell for that much ;) )

Incidentally, Suzy saw a photo of it, and loved it (she's an artist), so that's got to count for something.

Read more about it here.

It's not a dog... but here's a pig origami.

Weekly collectors collection

I've found a lot of great and fun (and interesting) blogs on collecting, and I thought instead of blogging about them individually every time they post something I like, I'd do a weekly update of my... I don't know, say top 5 blog posts of the week. So here they are:

1. Do What Now has a very funny picture of an old magazine ad, where the actors are... well, awful!




2. Ephemera interviews a futuristic advertisement collector, where he notes that research is your best friend when it comes to buying collectibles




3. Kitschy Kitschy Coo offers up 13 ways to know that you are obsessed with collecting




4. AKPhilately mentions that stamps in the late 1800s were given out to postal workers, so they knew what each stamp looked like (and from there work out the fakes from the real ones!)



5. About Postcards has a nice little intro to silhouette postcards; what they are, the history behind them, etc.

New commemorative stamp

Some new collecting news about stamps, which will make my uncle quite happy!

The Stamp Collecting Round-up last week posted about the news that the late President Ford will be presented on a new stamp. The image of President Ford will be on the 41-cent stamp which will be on sale after August 31st. Normally, presidents are given a commemorative stamp on the anniversary of their birthday (once the presidents have died that is), but apparently the family chose to release the stamp in August - Ford's birthday was July 14. ... So now Uncle Bob has yet another stamp to collect (and if he sets me this 'task', I can say I already know - won't he be pleased! :) )

And for origami collectors - and I know you're out there - the Fitful Flog has continued his awe-inspiring designs with the Stellated Curved Tetrahedron Redux. I don't think I'll be doing this one for a while! I barely mastered the butterfly above! (Shut up James :P)

Shopping for the sports fan

I was just trying to find a gift for James, who's a big fan of the 49ers. It's pretty tough because I'm not really into football, and I don't really know what to get him (on a budget too!). There's a few ideas I've had, from buying him something autographed, to buying a jersey... there's just too many options!

I'm kind of thinking of getting him something from this new sports memorabilia shop, called Memothentic. Particularly the: Wendell Tyler Series I 49ers Memothentic "THE FIRST RING". It's all about how Tyler was able to get his first Super Bowl ring, and I know James would love it... I wonder how much these things cost?

Anyway, why I'm so entranced with this as a present is that it not only combines the usual sports memorabilia (autograph, picture of the athlete, and jersey framed), but they also get the athlete to hand write (!!!) something that they remember about the particular photo. It makes it a really great personalized gift!

I couldn't find much info on where these items are sold... oh, now I did. They're sold at NFL Shop... and from the looks of the prices, it's a bit too much out of my price range. But hey, maybe I can save up for Christmas!

Interesting autograph tips

Taki recently lent me her latest copy of Autograph Collector magazine. There's some good articles in this month's issue. 'In the trenches' mentions some good tips to novice autograph hunters that I'd never though about before. Like not taking more than a couple of items for someone to sign, because otherwise the person might think that you are only there to sell the items later on ebay (and we all know how my experience with ebay turned out!).

The article, 'Greetings from Ohio' suggests that having a unique way of contacting a star may provide better results in getting autographs, like sending a camera with your request, or sending an item of clothing (this is such a good idea for stars like Jessica Simpson, who have their own labels).

And lastly, the article 'Off the Wall' gives us good reason to start autograph collecting when we're younger! A teacher in NY has been getting her students to write to stars and ask for autographs - getting them to be more sociable, teaching persistence and patience, and most importantly, getting them in touch with their heros! What an inspiration!



Actually, all of the articles in the mag suggest that autograph hunting is a matter of persistence. In which case, I may have to teach Taki a little of it :)

Illegal quarters

Just when you thought it was safe to find a quarter in your pocket, like I did in a previous post, you may stumble onto a 'fantastic' illegal coin!

The movie 'Fantastic Four' (based on the comic) has a promotion out. 40 000 quarters were printed with some of the characters in the movie on them. Pretty cool promotion, until you find out that the US Mint actually said that the printing was illegal. All of the quarters used were state quarters for California, and about 800 of the promotional coins have been released in every state.

(And if you're a keen collector, you can submit your find of the Fantastic Four coin to win a private screening of the film!)

Read more about it here.

And while we're on the topic of coin collectors, I stumbled onto Coin Collector, which has lots of useful information for the numismatist (new word for the day! I promised Taki I'd stop using it; she thinks it's a naughty word :P ). Plus there's a coin trivia day each week, where you have to really know your coin stuff to get the answers right!

$ - Where did it come from?

No, not from a stork. It wasn't dropped down a chimney only to land in a crib. ... Yes, the currency sign. It didn't think about it before, but really, where the heck did that sign come from?

Apparently, the symbol was used in 1782 for the first time. And apparently the US government back then thought it would be ingenious to use the peso as the American currency. No, really!

The Spanish dollar sign, written as $, came from an ancient Phoenician sign (some ancient type folk who lived in the Mediterranean). The sign means strength.

Well, now you know, you won't be checking for storks in your wallet!

Just as puzzling is my puzzle origami fish!

Some random ephemera

For those of you who like your paper, you've probably heard of the term ephemera. If not, it refers to a range of objects that are made using paper; like postcards, magazines, newspapers, etc. Well, I've been tripping over some great ephemera collectors sites lately, and I thought I should share them!

Suzy, you are bound to love Do What Now, which has a lot of humorous posts about fifties-type advertisements and magazines. There's also a lot of really gross meal ideas (check out the Kidneypalooza... ewwwwww!). Even if ephemera isn't your thing, this blog has some of the best satire on the subject of 50s ads I've ever read!

Next, you can't go past the aptly-titled Ephemera blog. This blog interviews all sorts of collectors, from the collector of old passports, to the guy who collects Tolkien ephemera. And it doesn't just cover paper objects, but collectors of all sorts. A must read for anyone interested in finding out what makes a collector tick!

And lastly we have Kitschy Kitschy Coo, a blog for all sorts of random kitschness and kitchy collectibles (is that a word?). Actually, I came across a really great post about collecting for the family. There's a whole list of fun ways to collect; I personally wouldn't mind collecting the cookie cutters! :)

(Mom, don't get any ideas from the list - I think we all collect enough without making it a family thing!)

Diamonds are a collector's best friend

Here's my origami for today: a star box!

And the news for today....

Who would have thought that taking a walk in a state park would be a collector's dream day? The Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas is apparently the best place to go diamond collecting - for all you mineral geeks out there, mom included - with visitors allowed to pick up AND KEEP any diamonds they find.

James said he'd take me one day ;)

The park comes to attention after a young girl found a 2.93 carat diamond at the end of a long diamond-hunting day with her family. Apparently there have already been 332 diamonds found this year alone (!!), with one appraised between $15 000 and $60 000. Wow! Now James really does have to take me :D

Read all about it here.

DIY baseball memorabilia display

DIY Network has posted a video that shows the average person a creative way of displaying your sports memorabilia. I'm not really into collecting sports stuff, but the video is a neat reminder of rethinking the ways that you can display your collectibles. For instance, they show you how to turn all your trading cards into a nice picture frame. I may have to do this at some point in order to display my growing collection of origami cards and pieces!

Check out the video here.

And my origami piece for today is a bat - in homage to the baseball bats in this video!

Corrugated paper and the real link

In a recent post, I mentioned a great instructional video on creating corrugated paper, that was listed on Origami Tessellations.

Eric Gjerde, who runs Origami Tessellations, left me a comment on the post! Here's what he says:

"I'm glad you liked my little site- thanks for the mention! Although I have to say that Paul Jackson is the one responsible for the nice corrugated paper instructions, I just reposted it :)keep up the good work, and keep creating!"

Thanks Eric! And you are quite right; I didn't link to Paul Jackson, who made the video. So here it is:

Paul Jackson, origami artist. His gallery is definitely worth looking at; he puts my origami to shame. My favorite is the rhino. Although the organic abstracts comes in second! :)

And here's a lily to Eric for pointing it out, and being so encouraging! Thanks Eric!

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!

Harry Potter and the Wonderous Theme Park

If you're anything like me - and the rest of the reading world - you'll love the Harry Potter books. I fell in love with them a few years ago, and since then have been collecting whatever I can on the topic of HP wizardry.

The LA Times recently reported that a 20-acre Florida theme park will be created, with more than $200 million going into it. Hopefully the park will open in 2009. Disney apparently turned down the opportunity to create it, which I guess is kind of stupid on their part, since HP is big business. And even bigger for J K Rowling, the author, who's bound to get all sorts of royalties.

Wow! Imagine all the great things you could have there - train stations with invisible platforms, candy stores galore (with, of course, chocolate frogs!), wand stores, costumes, castles... flying cars! ... Strange creatures! The Times says there will be three areas, the Hogwarts Castle (of course!), Hogsmeade Village, and the Forbidden Forest (brrr... no creepy spiders for me).

Watch the video announcement here.

And in homage to that news, my origami for today is a popcorn box!

Finally, my origami pics!

I've finally gotten to getting all my origami pics online. Here's my paper hat that I posted about a while ago.

You can go back and find the posts have been updated with the relevant pics. There's the sumo wrestlers, a hat, and a butterfly. I'll add more over the next week or so.

Robbers foiled by coins!

This piece of news has been floating around my group of friends for a couple of days now, and I've finally been able to hunt down the article.

The NY Daily News reported a little while ago on some robbers who were pretty stupid. Three guys broke into an elderly man's home, shot the man in the leg, then stole his safe. The safe had $120 000 in coins, baseball cards and stamps - which was so heavy, the robber carrying it dropped it in a backyard. The really stupid move was when that robber came back later to get the safe!

Unbelievable! This made me and Sandy laugh for ages! :)

State of the coin

Today I was standing in Central Park, waiting for Taki. I had my hand in my pocket, and I discovered a coin - ok, not that exciting. But I looked at the coin, and realized how different it was. Did you know that the US Mint has made special quarters, one for each state?

The NY quarter, which was produced in 2001, has the Statue of Liberty on it. I didn't even know they made these types of coins, I just figured one coin was the same everywhere. But apparently, they've been producing state quarters since 1999, and are going to finish making them next year. This year, the mint is releasing coins for: Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming and Utah.

So really, discovering a coin in your pocket can be really interesting. I'm going to keep my NY state quarter, maybe make a nice little origami frame for it. Maybe one day it'll be worth something. (You can find out more about the state coins here.)

Asia cracks down on video pirates

Edit: Here's the butterfly pic...

Who hasn't gone out and bought a cheap DVD or video, only to discover that it's a pirated version?

Recently, James has been complaining, because every time he tries to buy a rare DVD of some obscure movie, it ends up being a fake. You know how pirated movies always have at least one person standing up in front of the screen, or a phone going off, or the screen goes blurry for a second? Well, it occurs to me that collectors of film and TV items have a huge disadvantage. They are working against all sorts of forgers, frauds, and other people. (For example, my recent discovery of fake movie autographs on ebay) How on earth can they possibly buy authentic merchandise, when so little of it is actually authentic?

So what's being done about all those naughty pirates? Most of the pirated movies are coming from Asia, where it seems it is fairly easy to go into a cinema, set up a camera, and press record. But I found out recently that Malaysian ushers are using night-vision goggles (yes, that's right!) to spot pirates in the dark. So far they've caught 17 people, and have even gotten trained dogs to sniff out DVDs - with good results!

Read more about it here.

Oh, and today's origami piece is a simple butterfly.

Wal-mart to close fabric and craft sections

I'm in the middle of a big craft project at school this week, and needed to buy some papers, string, that sort of stuff. I thought I'd be able to get it at my mom's local Wal-mart; visiting my parents makes it ideal, as my mom loves the store and goes there all the time.

But I was really disappointed because my mom's local store has decreased its area devoted to crafts. James almost had to take us home, because we spent an hour trying to figure out if they'd just moved the crafts to a different part of the store. Finally, we gave up.

I've been talking to some friends and family, and apparently they've all had similar problems; Wal-mart seems to be closing down all their craft and fabric departments.

James suggested I look it up on the net, and I found some stuff about it. Here's a petition to stop Wal-mart from closing the departments. There's a blog post on it here.

This makes me really mad, because my mom loves making and collecting miniatures and dolls, and I know that she has spent a lot of time in Wal-marts. I can't believe that they would just make the departments disappear, with no warning, and nothing to replace the hole that is left. Ha! Wal-mart says that 'celebration centers' - with yarn, fabrics, and 'celebratory' items like birthday hats, etc - will be the replacement. But I doubt that there will be a good selection like there was before.

Send a letter, spend a little more

Edit: Here's the sumo wrestlers pic...

Today’s project? Two sumo wrestlers, origami style! Tee hee, they are so cute! (I really need to get myself that scanner, so you can see all the cool pieces I’ve made!)

You know, I was reading Yahoo yesterday, and everybody has probably heard the news by now – stamp prices are increasing. I didn’t think much of it, and this doesn’t sound like interesting news, but James made a good point about it last night: for every time a stamp price increases, a new batch of stamps must be made with the new price on it. And that’s big news in the collecting world, since that means a lot more stamps to collect.

Read about the news here.

Ooh – and before I forget – props go to Origami Tessellations, for all their inspiring links! This is a really neat site, with lots of pics. Today’s post includes a step-by-step instructional video on how to make corrugated paper. See it here. I’ve already started mine!