Brain damage?

Many years ago when I decided to collect stamps I started with India
Feudatory States then expanded to India and then again to "anything that
looks like a stamp and accidentally passes my way". My collection today is
38 packed 3-ring binders of varying sizes. I was thinking of this and that
this morning and got the idea of getting rid (sell, give, whatever) of
everything and start all over but collecting and specializing in only one
country : Mesopotamia. Why Mesopotamia I have no idea! Am I the only one
who gets ideas like this or is it common among collectors?
--
Tony Vella in Ottawa, Canada

Does the term "Mesopotamia" as you use it include modern Iraq?

The present unplesantness there will probably produce some interesting
philatelic material, although I haven't heard of any yet.


"Tony Vella" wrote in message
able.rogers.com...
Many years ago when I decided to collect stamps I started with India
Feudatory States then expanded to India and then again to "anything that
looks like a stamp and accidentally passes my way". My collection today
is
38 packed 3-ring binders of varying sizes. I was thinking of this and
that
this morning and got the idea of getting rid (sell, give, whatever) of
everything and start all over but collecting and specializing in only one
country : Mesopotamia. Why Mesopotamia I have no idea! Am I the only one
who gets ideas like this or is it common among collectors?
--
Tony Vella in Ottawa, Canada

Tony Vella wrote in message
able.rogers.com...
Many years ago when I decided to collect stamps I started with India
Feudatory States then expanded to India and then again to "anything that
looks like a stamp and accidentally passes my way". My collection today
is
38 packed 3-ring binders of varying sizes. I was thinking of this and
that
this morning and got the idea of getting rid (sell, give, whatever) of
everything and start all over but collecting and specializing in only one
country : Mesopotamia. Why Mesopotamia I have no idea! Am I the only one
who gets ideas like this or is it common among collectors?

Why not Mesopotamia! Frankly, with the Iraq conflict
in mind it seems quite actual ;-)

"Brain damage" sounds a bit harsh, and Mesopotamia
isn't any worse than collecting and specializing in Byzantine
and Etruscan arts, and Slania-engravings ;-)

Good luck with your new collection :-)

Mette in Copenhagen

"Tony Vella" wrote in message
able.rogers.com...
Many years ago when I decided to collect stamps I started with India
Feudatory States then expanded to India and then again to "anything that
looks like a stamp and accidentally passes my way". My collection today
is
38 packed 3-ring binders of varying sizes. I was thinking of this and
that
this morning and got the idea of getting rid (sell, give, whatever) of
everything and start all over but collecting and specializing in only one
country : Mesopotamia. Why Mesopotamia I have no idea! Am I the only one
who gets ideas like this or is it common among collectors?

Tony as a fellow Ottawa resident I could only encourage you to start over
and generously offer my services in taking that old collection from you so
you won't have to uhhhh worry about it ;-).

I know what you mean by ever expanding collection - I think wanting to do
things differently every now and then is part of the collecting psyche. I
seem to think that if I ever completed a country or area I would quickly
become dissatisfied and likely just shelf it indefinitely while taking on a
new focus area. I rarely take down and peruse my collection for the sake of
looking at it, but I do like showing it to friends and I really like pouring
time into sorting and mounting material into my albums.

Frank

Tony,
Yes, we are few key stamps shy of a full set. I think of doing what you said
all the time. The only thing holding me back is...well... more than one thing.
I can't put a collection together to sell without it growing on me. Probably
my favorite to date is my France and Colonies, second is German States, then
Italian States, and so on. I wish that I could be like that guy in the Orchid
Thief and just specialize in one thing. I've managed to go cold-turkey on
collecting art books (600+), picture frames (about 10,000 lbs), 19th century
cameras, hand-made paper (about 20,000 sheets), watches, hat blocks, and other
miscellaneous junk. I still collect bad art because I produce it. I guess I
don't want to take the time to get rid of anything.
I've put together some scans of about 90% of the stamps I have and the working
area (something that was an earlier discussion but I just recently bought a
digital camera). Over the years I've put on my website whole specialized
collections but stopped that awhile ago as it didn't seem to hold much
interest for the general ng browser. This may be interesting but I will only
have it up for a short while as it is really quite a mess. Each thumbnail is
linked to a much larger scan.
http://tloepp.home.mindspring.com/stamps/chaos.html
Tom

Tony Vella wrote:

Many years ago when I decided to collect stamps I started with India
Feudatory States then expanded to India and then again to "anything that
looks like a stamp and accidentally passes my way". My collection today is
38 packed 3-ring binders of varying sizes. I was thinking of this and that
this morning and got the idea of getting rid (sell, give, whatever) of
everything and start all over but collecting and specializing in only one
country : Mesopotamia. Why Mesopotamia I have no idea! Am I the only one
who gets ideas like this or is it common among collectors?
--
Tony Vella in Ottawa, Canada

John O'Brien wrote:
Does the term "Mesopotamia" as you use it include modern Iraq?

My idea included only Mesopotamia, the pre-Iraq period 1917-1922 starting
with Scott and then specializing and detailing.
--
Tony Vella in Ottawa, Canada

A.M.Heindorff wrote:
Good luck with your new collection :-)

You know, Mette, you recently gave me an idea for a web page and it somehow
drifted out of my mind (lots of things do lately). It's indirectly inspired
by your Bluenose.

Between 1982 and 1987 Malta issued 20 stamps called Maltese Ships -
Bastimenti Maltin. I was thinking of getting my hands on all 20 and writing
up a historic web page about them. It would require quite a bit of research
but I have all the time in the world; I'm retired. I might even ask for
communal input - if that's the word I want - and eventually end up with a
web page that belongs to one and all in the group. My ISP gives me more
space than I could ever use. What do you think?
--
Tony Vella in Ottawa, Canada

Tony Vella wrote in message
able.rogers.com...
A.M.Heindorff wrote:
Good luck with your new collection :-)

You know, Mette, you recently gave me an idea for a web page and it
somehow
drifted out of my mind (lots of things do lately). It's indirectly
inspired
by your Bluenose.

Great to know that I can still inspire others, even
with some delay ;-)


Between 1982 and 1987 Malta issued 20 stamps called Maltese Ships -
Bastimenti Maltin. I was thinking of getting my hands on all 20 and
writing
up a historic web page about them. It would require quite a bit of
research
but I have all the time in the world; I'm retired. I might even ask for
communal input - if that's the word I want - and eventually end up with a
web page that belongs to one and all in the group. My ISP gives me more
space than I could ever use. What do you think?

Tony, it's a great idea. I just had a look in Scott for
having a first impression; ancient ships on modern
stamps is a delicate combination in itself, and would
require a good write-up. Ships are a thematical
collection in much demand among young collectors,
and the more detailed write-ups available, the better.
Go for it :-)

"Bastimenti Maltin" makes me think of "bâtiment",
but in a quite different sense than (sailing) ships!
This is something that sometimes makes foreign
languages difficult to understand in spite of their
similarity with the "well-known" languages ...

And why not also go for a good web page on
Mesopotamia? Hardly anybody knows anything
about the pre-Iraq period; I am sure it might be
much appreciated by collectors of the Middle East :-)

Mette

The trick is to make a decision early in your collecting career to
collect one country (preferably not your own). Then go for it
in detail (i.e. at a specialised level).

That way you NEVER approach completion (as I am finding with Italy)!

--
Tony Clayton or
Coins of the UK : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/coins.html
Values of Coins of the UK : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/values/coins.html
Metals used in Coins : http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/metal.html
Sent using RISC OS on an Acorn Strong Arm RiscPC
.... An ulcer is what you get mountain climbing over molehills

"Tony Clayton" wrote in message
...
The trick is to make a decision early in your collecting career to
collect one country (preferably not your own). Then go for it
in detail (i.e. at a specialised level).

That way you NEVER approach completion (as I am finding with Italy)!


The big problem is that because I have a propensity for collecting, it is
hard to pass up any collectable stamps that come along. Case in point is I
have a complete set somewheres on my desk of one small Vatican series. I
don't really collect Vatican, I have a smattering in my old WW albums, but I
can't seem to part with that set, I keep romanticising about making a
Vatican album even. Doh!

Frank