Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
"At a party 20 years ago. a woman was trying to pretend to be interested in the fact that I collect stamps and asked me how many I had. It's not a question that anybody who collects stamps would ask anybody else. I realized what she was asking about was an accumulation. And I thought, 'What's the difference between an accumulation and a collection?' I suddenly realized that a collection is defined by what it leaves out. That was incredibly enabling."
Interesting and clever, but is this an insightful distinction? I think it's true, but the opposite is also true, a collection is defined by what you choose to keep (by being discerning). I wonder how this was "enabling" for West. A good, but missing, followup question.
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I suppose if you were at the beginning of your stamp collecting adventure, knowing that a collection is about what you choose to exclude could be liberating by giving you the option of having a narrower focus on what you decide to collect.
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I have sometimes wished that I had been more selective when I was a beginner but then I learned so very much as a worldwide collector that I’m glad that I didn’t exclude anything.
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Most of us are familiar with questions like "how many stamps do you have?" Or "what is your most expensive stamp?"
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Just listened to a very interesting interview with Samuel West about stamp collecting. A couple of years ago, one episode of Graham Beck's YouTube channel Exploring Stamps featured West. He tells the same anecdote but explains why he found it enabling (Smauggie alluded to it). When West concluded a collection is defined by what's left out, he realized: "Well, then I can do what I like. I can just pick my most favorite stamp and just collect that. So I did. I became Samuel West collector of stamp." That stamp is the 1867 2 shilling blue.
The anecdote begins at minute 3:59 of the interview and the elaboration at minute 4:32.
Jim
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"a collection is defined by what's left out"
This is very true for many.
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I guess it's the point where you decide to go down or not a particular collecting road. I'm just about getting there on whether to add more Thai revenues to my collection. If I decide not to I may decide to sell off what I have already accumulated.
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Samuel West, who currently plays Siegfried Farnon in "All Creatures Great and Small" (PBS) and Home Secretary Peter Judd in "Slow Horses" (Apple TV), drew a distinction in an interview when discussing his stamp collecting (New York Times, 1/29/23):
"At a party 20 years ago. a woman was trying to pretend to be interested in the fact that I collect stamps and asked me how many I had. It's not a question that anybody who collects stamps would ask anybody else. I realized what she was asking about was an accumulation. And I thought, 'What's the difference between an accumulation and a collection?' I suddenly realized that a collection is defined by what it leaves out. That was incredibly enabling."
Interesting and clever, but is this an insightful distinction? I think it's true, but the opposite is also true, a collection is defined by what you choose to keep (by being discerning). I wonder how this was "enabling" for West. A good, but missing, followup question.
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re: Actor Samuel West on Stamp Collecting
I suppose if you were at the beginning of your stamp collecting adventure, knowing that a collection is about what you choose to exclude could be liberating by giving you the option of having a narrower focus on what you decide to collect.
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re: Actor Samuel West on Stamp Collecting
I have sometimes wished that I had been more selective when I was a beginner but then I learned so very much as a worldwide collector that I’m glad that I didn’t exclude anything.
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re: Actor Samuel West on Stamp Collecting
Most of us are familiar with questions like "how many stamps do you have?" Or "what is your most expensive stamp?"
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re: Actor Samuel West on Stamp Collecting
Just listened to a very interesting interview with Samuel West about stamp collecting. A couple of years ago, one episode of Graham Beck's YouTube channel Exploring Stamps featured West. He tells the same anecdote but explains why he found it enabling (Smauggie alluded to it). When West concluded a collection is defined by what's left out, he realized: "Well, then I can do what I like. I can just pick my most favorite stamp and just collect that. So I did. I became Samuel West collector of stamp." That stamp is the 1867 2 shilling blue.
The anecdote begins at minute 3:59 of the interview and the elaboration at minute 4:32.
Jim
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re: Actor Samuel West on Stamp Collecting
"a collection is defined by what's left out"
This is very true for many.
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re: Actor Samuel West on Stamp Collecting
I guess it's the point where you decide to go down or not a particular collecting road. I'm just about getting there on whether to add more Thai revenues to my collection. If I decide not to I may decide to sell off what I have already accumulated.
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