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)

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!

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! :)

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!