Canada Christmas stamp....1898

                                                                                                        

   1898.   Think about that.  That is 115 years ago and parts of two centuries ago.  This little piece of art survived all those years in someone's collection, someone's box under the bed and now resides in my random collection.  This particular stamp, and the picture does it no justice because I have not worked hard enough on the photography element of this project, is in great shape....  mint, as they say, original gum (sounds impressive, right?), clean perforations and clear, even margins.  I actually own two of these stamps.  The shading on the photo is from the photographer..the stamp pristine in its color and condition.

What surprises me is the writing below.  "We hold a vaster empire than has ever been."  Really?  Has that been substantiated?  Canada ruled the world in 1898?  Can that be true?   Personally, I think not.  And I am right.  As described further below, Canada was actually part of the British empire in 1998 and the map is that of the British rule around the world.   Why is it forever that man, women and their homelands have this continued need to take over the world?

My memories of Canada relate to hockey.  Who doesn't know that Bobby Orr was raised in Parry Sound?   I twice have traveled to Montreal.  The first time as young teenager, after my father died.  I went with my cousin Bob and Uncle John and Uncle Wes.   For the older guys, drinking in bars then to the Bruins game.  Bob and I would walk the city, me with more stamina and interest than he.  Even then I loved walking city streets in and out of places that I didn't belong.   I remember buying a great winter hat, my favorite for years before leaving it on the top of my decrepit red Datsun before leaving for Maine....never seen again.  White with a red maple leaf...just a classic hat gone forever.  

Most recent trip was a few years ago....cousin Len joined later by Charlie.   We pretended to be my old uncles.....finding ourselves walking the streets, bar hopping, restaurant discovering.   No hockey games, but grand moments of friendship and love on a cold. snow flurrying April weekend of 2007.   

The first Stamp issued by a colony of the British Empire without the cameo of the British family.   In 1898, after substantial lobbying, and increasing pressure in the UK as well as in the colonies, Great Britain introduced a One Penny (two cent) postal rate both at home and abroad, for all letters transmitted through the British Empire. To commemorate this event, Canada's then Postmaster General, Sir William Mulock, introduced the first postage stamp to appear without the cameo of one of the Royal Family. The image chosen for the stamp was the Map of the World, depicting the countries comprising the British Empire in red.  (compliments of mapstamp.org)

This particular stamp is all over ebay....and in mint condition like the above, it could fetch $25-50 at a good auction.

So, who is this dude? (dudette?)

  This face adorns numerous stamps that came through my life.  This one, however, is unique in its color and the fact that it is a trio connected.  They are use and cancelled, and I know enough to know this stamp is from the great country of France.  

Marianne is a national emblem of France and an allegory of Liberty and Reason.

Marianne is displayed in many places in France and holds a place of honor in town halls and law courts. She symbolizes the "Triumph of the Republic", a bronze sculpture overlooking the Place de la Nation in Paris. Her profile stands out on the official seal of the country, is engraved on French euro coins and appears on French postage stamps; it also was featured on the former franc currency. Marianne is one of the most prominent symbols of the French Republic.   (kudos to google, wikipedia and numerous stamp sites for the above information)

There is a lot of history regarding marianne and her symbolic place in the history of France.  I will let you, the loyal readers of dcalsrandomcollection to take it further.

I would like to visit France, enjoy coffee and crepe in a side-street cafe...and a full day walking the streets of the city, before taking off to some seaside villa where I could get lost among the people.  France does not enjoy the best of reputations for a number of reasons, but it always has felt like a romantic place with idyllic countryside and luxurious coastal resorts......sounds like my kind of place.

New Zealand Postage and Revenue

This is another in a series of stamps in my collection that I set aside.  The condition of these stamps is excellent/mint.  The fact that it is a pair increases any inherent or collectible value.  However, what is that inherent value.

Just another stamp, apparently.  Looks to be a 1935 edition 9d value.  There are a number showing online with an overprint that says official.  That seems to be of more value.  This pair here might be worth ten or twenty dollars to a collector, based mostly on the pairing and excellent condition.
Not much else to say here....vibrant color combination of red-orange/black, perfectly centered, clean and defined margins....a worthwhile, collectible stamp.

Who ever heard of the Liberty Pole?

So, what is the Liberty Pole?   How did I miss this in a series of social studies/history courses from 1st grade to graduate school?  I must have taken a personal day on the day the Liberty Pole was discussed.   Of course, no surprise that violence is depicted in a stamp honoring the good ole' USA.  Admittedly, we were at war with England, and last I checked, violence against humanity is part of the war thing.  The liberty pole itself in this stamp is hard to distinguish, but it is clearly shadowed in the background.

 A Liberty pole is a tall wooden pole, often used as a type of flagstaff, planted in the ground, which may be surmounted by an ensign or a liberty cap 

A liberty pole was often erected in town squares in the years before and during the American Revolution (Newport, RI, Concord MA, Savannah, GA, New York City, NY, Caughnawaga, NY). An often violent struggle over Liberty Poles erected by the Sons of Liberty in New York City (relating to the Battle of Golden Hill) and periodically destroyed by British authorities (only to be replaced by the Sons with new poles) raged for 10 years: from the repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766 until the occupation of the city by British troops after the Battle of Long Island in 1776.[1] The liberty pole in New York City was crowned with a gilt vane bearing the single word, "Liberty".

When an ensign was raised (usually red) on a Liberty Pole, it would be a calling for the Sons of Liberty or townspeople to meet and vent or express their views regarding British rule. The pole was known to be a symbol of dissent against Great Britain. The symbol is also apparent in many seals and coat of arms as a sign of liberty, freedom, and independence.

During the Whiskey Rebellion, locals in western Pennsylvania would erect poles along the roads or in town centers as a protest against the federal government's tax on distilled spirits, and evoking the spirit embodied by the Liberty Poles of decades earlier.

(compliments to google and wikipedia for the info above)

So here we have then is a stamp from Grenada, probably 1976 edition celebrating 200 year anniversary of American Revolution. So be it. I never heard of Grenada until 1983 when on my honeymoon, I was staying in a downtown Washington DC hotel during the US invasion of Grenada. There was a tenseness in the city, helicopters flying about. Gail and I were watching this unfold on television between what I assume were honeymoon moments, not that I specifically remember.

So further research indicates we invaded Grenada in response to a military coup that overthrew the government, that apparently, (ahem), we, the good ole' US of A thought they should have. Just doing the USA thing. The invasion was not well received around the world, but what else is new?  Invasions of any kind often do bring about that level of response.

Wool, longstanding greatness in the material game...

This stamp has long intrigued me, and while I will  do a halfhearted chase, I am very sure I will not be able to identify it.   The wool logo on the bottom left makes it even more suspicious to me.  RSA??  15.  There is a name on bottom left that may be the only real clue.  The cancel is serious, but not identifiable by me.  I am fairly certain I am looking at a lamb here.

Lambs as we know are young sheep which we know produce wool, which for my money is one great fabric or material.  I have always been able to count on it to keep me as warm and dry as possible in the most adverse circumstances that I have found myself, which admittedly, aren't the harshest experiences.  However, in my 'ute, I slept in a snowbank or two, and certainly squeezed into a tent with  a combination of characters with the temperature sliding fast to below zero.  I am sure I was in a down sleeping bag, but I am equally sure I had wool pants, shirts and hat, either on or in my backpack.  Some of my favorite business suits that I have owned have been 100% wool, light enough to wear in summer and serious enough to wear in winter.   Versatility in the fabric game....as valuable there as in life itself.  Wool socks.... a fixture forever, and a count-on-it Christmas present.   One of my great visuals of my father, from long, long ago, that I have been able to hold onto was him in his red and black wool jacket with a blue wool hat and a happy man smile. Great memory visual there.

Now, I am sure there is a whole generation of newer, better, faster, lighter, warmer, sexier and less scratchy hybrid combinations of winter warmth greatness right at the click of a mouse, and I am not against any of that.  However, as I lie on the couch writing, it is my favorite wool shirt that is keeping me warm.    In fact, I wouldn't even need it so much as today is winter warm, except for SOMEBODY (think the e-trade baby's voice) failed to secure the front door when bringing the groceries in from the car.  But I digress, again.

Update:   Much to my surprise, this stamp was easy to identify.  1972 from the Republic of South Africa.  There was a set of two which was identified as wool industry lamb and sheep.  It was an odd pairing as the sheep looked almost like a photograph and this lamb, anything but that.  While a curious stamp, it has negligible monetary value or collector value.

So, who is this dude, chapter 3

This is obviously a Bulgarian stamp of a gentleman who lived among us for 58 years.  The stamp has a vivid piece of cancellation on the lower left corner and is worth 8.  However, the question remains, who is this dude?    I can find nothing on  he name, which in and of itself is confusing, Bakus Anpuao6.  Is that even a name?

I guess this is the day to post stamps that are unidentifiable to me.  Her is another dude.  Notice the dates of 1835 to 1985.   Call me naive, but I don't think this guy lived to be 150 years old.  So, in my morning collection of mystery dudes and stamps, this mustache guy is my second.

And a third.....this gent seemed to live here in the 20th centrury from 1935-1967.  Do you suppose he died of a heart attack when Petrocelli caught the pop up to end the '67 season catapulting the "Cardiac kids" to the 1967 World Series with St.Louis?   The same '67 World Series when my mother took care of Red Sox pitcher Dave Morehead's new baby when he and his wife had to travel to St. Louis?   Probably not.

While foreign stamps can be very, very interesting, they can be also be very, very frustrating to learn the etiology...and of all the things said about me in 60 years, I am quite sure nobody referred to me as a great researcher or foreign language stamps.   I am guessing that these stamps will remain a mystery to me forever.  However, a belated kudo to each of these dudes for earning their place in history.

Communication--not enough? too much?

So going in, I am quite confident in saying this stamp is not a classic and has absolutely zero value.  

(15 minutes later)   Of course I would find some education and did.  1976 stamp from Sweden depicting a 1929 Ericsson DBH 1001  a phone designed by a Norwegion designer named Jean Heiberg.  (thanks here to wellcentred.wordpress.com---interesting bilingual site, English and what looks like a SE Asian country.)  Why Sweden was issuing a line of stamps depicting a retro telephone will remain a mystery to me for now, and likely forever.  I haven't the time for that one.  An earlier telephone receiver is depicted on top, and the frame of the stamp is an electric circuit.  It is worth 130 of the postal currency of Sweden.  I would let it go for $1,400 american currency.....kidding, not a dime less than $2000.

"Failure to communicate" has been  everyone's favorite bitch statement for a long time.  We could delve into communication issues as they apply to marriage or similar partnerships, but why would we do that?

What does it mean to be a great communicator?  What does that even look like?  Ronald Reagon was purported to be a great communicator.  He was a B-grade actor who, come to find out, presided over this country while his last years in office coincided with the early years of Alzheimer's disease....not that there is anything wrong with that.  The way I see it, we are all in early stages of dementia....to one degree or another.  Remind me to research the details of the arms for hostages communications...see what techniques of listening, cajoling and strong arming were used for their communication benefits...nevermind that it has to be a very compelling historical read.

Communication can't be just about volume of words.  Who among us has not wanted to stuff a sock into the mouth of someone who was just annoyingly chattering you to death?   How about the obnoxious, drunk screamer, sitting behind you on a warm, sultry night in the center field bleachers at Fenway Park?  Ever try to communicate with one of those folks?  Not happening without a confrontation.

You have to be an assertive communicator said one.  (actually, I like that one.)  You have to be a good listener, said another.  You have to reflect back on what you are hearing to be sure you are hearing exactly what they meant to say, said yet, a third.   Sounds exhausting to me.   When I was studying (and I use that word rather loosely) in college, I defaulted often to "reality therapy" as a way of communicating.   I said something to the tune of "STFU, stop complaining and do something about it" to someone in a counseling class. Carl Rogers I was not.  Because it was a class, it was privileged communication.  If I said the same thing to her at Friday night party, I would probably get my ass kicked.   4 months later, this same woman stopped me on campus and told me I changed her life with what I said to her. "Nobody has ever been that honest with me," she said.   I learned  then the power of words and communication and hard honesty.  Scary stuff, actually.

What I can't figure out is why the same technique does not work around my house?  Probably because i am a lousy communicator.  Really probably because I won't often or willingly go there....too scary even for me.

That being said, the telephone must have felt like a top ten invention when that hit the streets. People could talk to each other without saddling the horse or something.  How many years before someone said, " I am going to kill the next telemarketer who calls this phone."  Do you  remember answering telephones because it was ringing?  before caller ID?  Before just being able to shut your phone off or plain, just feel empowered enough to ignore the call?  Someone should invent a handheld phone......now whoever accomplishes that will make a few bucks.



   

Not my favorite Lincolns.....

These stamps are on target for further research.  They are both mint condition.  That is the thing about stamps...variations.   There are many, many variations of Lincolns and Washingtons and Frankins.....some very valuable and some a little valuable and some not at all.  I can rarely tell the difference for sure.  I am just not that smart.  These stamps have nice borders and are very well centered, and the color is very good if not so evident with this photograph.  1923 issue?   Makes them about a 90 year old stamps.  Maybe worth a few bucks to someone.

My favorite Lincoln is my black Lincoln, but I will show that at a later time.

Between stamps, currency, movies, books.....ol' Abe is not going to ever be forgotten....nor should he be.  All he did was free the slaves and change the course of this country for the better forever.....that's all.  FTW.

Cars, it all started with a Toyota Corona

So, there are only a bazillion or so stamps out there with a picture of a car.   Why did I choose this one?  I love taxis....I love riding in taxis.  I love yellow NYC taxis... and this stamp has some nice taxi yellow color going on plus the contrast orange to yellow.... I like the stamp.    And it is a car.   And it is an Indonesian stamp and I do like to illustrate diversity in my stamps.  The stamp itself is certainly no relic.  My initial attempts at research found nothing of note.




So many directions my mind and fingers want to take me...but those stories and updates are for later.  However, I will say this.  Having to stay home and rest and recuperate.....not such a bad thing.  Books, computers, videos, stamps....I am not feeling so well.   I think I need more time to rest and recuperate.

Lets see....got my license in a classic white Dodge Dart with red interior.....circa early 60s.  Went to the high school prom in a green Ford Torino.  My first car that my brother bought me for $600 (quite possibly making this up) was a Toyota Corona....an early version of the Corolla.   Great car.  I survived a middle of the night 360 spin on a snowy, stormy night on 495 on a  middle of the night drive back to Westfield after playing hockey in Tingsboro.  Goldie riding shotgun.   I had no business surviving that night, but angels are always a best friend....in this case road angels as opposed to airplane or other angels.  Angels just plain do good things and are worthy of a long conversation...but I digress.  Ah...the stupid, dangerous things we do when we are young and braindead.  Then and now, a warm roadside hotel had far more upside and possibility than dying cold on the highway.....

The red Nissan with the flying hood on New Years Day, and the same car delivering no heat rides to Maine....yikes, I remember how cold that ride was.  Blue Dodge Dart with the smashed fender and leaking oil.  The yellow pick up...very cool and the blue, shift on the column, Buick?

My first new car...the green Fiat.  I actually have an Italian stamp that looks like that Fiat 128 only mine was light piss green.  That car would amputate your foot if not careful getting into the back seat when front seat went down.  Great car till it caught on fire.   Hey, fire happens, right?

Let see Gail's F128 Nissan----horrible car and I helped her buy it.  I suck.  The orange Toyota Tercel o that I tried to change the oil and nearly totaled a brand new car all by my own stupidity   Yikes, frightening really.   The Subaru station wagon, and the 66 Volvo Wagon...best car of all.  Served as the limo for my wedding with cousin Len in the driver's seat.  Hand delivered by David Wambaugh of Fryeburg, Maine.  Classic great car replaced in the winter with shitboxes of historic proportions.  On and on it goes, the Blue Isuzzu SUV that took a big hit with Gail and kids sending it on its side.  That went 100k.  The voyager of course, another 100k.  The black Camry that is now 12 and belongs to Amy and the late, great Ford Explorer, 132K miles that died this week of transmission disease after 11 long, honorable years of service.  It deserves a pic of its own.  There were others within too.....the silver Volvo wagon that wouldn't start, and the Volvo sedan which I liked.  How could I forget my first company car....all the rage back in the 80's. That was a classic blue Camry sedan.   Company paid car, insurance, and gas...what a benny and I was just a site ED.  Those were heady days.  Of course, the red Jetta living on with 108K miles, Brad's Hyndai and the Ford 500....best car ever with 140K and looks, drives and feels like a brand new car.

Len's van.    Roadtrips with the boys before wives and kids.....those were the days when we were young.  That van took me to nights sleeping in the snow in Rocky Mountain Park to the beaches of Long Key State Park, to Mt. Katahdin on the day Yaz popped out to Nettles to end the game.

Cars just being cars.   I am always amazed they work as well as they do.  Cold mornings....not a problem.  I am never surprised when they breakdown....I am more surprised they keep working as well as they do.  Just bought one today.

My favorite rides however are taxi rides....from the airport to some luxury resort like the Delano, or the Bellagio, and rides around Manhatten from Central Park to the Gramercy Park Hotel.   Those are the very best rides of all.  I will gladly take a taxi any ole day......you got the meter?

NURSES--I could write for hours

As Ned Martin was inclined to say, "Mercy!"  Raise your hand if you know that Ned Martin was a radio announcer for Red Sox games, certainly on radio and with Curt Gowdy, in the earliest days of baseball on television....ah, but I digress.   I could write chapters, many chapters about the nurses I know and have known.

Nurses....Similarly to my blog about Pittsburg and the seemingly interwoven and random connections to that city....and of course yes, I know a Nurse who was born and raised in Pittsburg......nurses are just all over my life.  My sister is a nurse.....Mass General School of Nursing from back in the day.  Her friends that came to Pittsburg---and one who comes to our annual family Christmas party .. .all nurses.

Before going further,  a bit about the stamp.  One thing about stamps, there is a stamp honoring just about anything and everybody.  Many are deserving.  Nurses certainly are.   This stamp is from 1961 depicting what I have learned. (I love google and computers.) is the candle lighting, an integral part of the ceremony of nurses being pinned.  The nurses I know always spoke more reverently of their licenses than their pins..lots of stories in that line....but I digress.  This particular stamp is a plate block, mint condition....with no inherent value above the four cents worth of postage.  It is advertised for $4.50 on ebay...which means it might sell for either 16 cents or $4.50.  Nice hat eh?  No nurses that took care of me or that I managed ever wore that....but the stamp is 52 years old and stamps are all about history.

Spent a night with a team of nurses this week in Needham...but this is not about that...except that i enjoyed the professional talent of nurses on the job in various places, shifts and responsibilities throughout the day, pre and post op.  This of course being the routine for nurses and patients everywhere, everyday, 24/7 delivering the hands on to get you through what it is you need getting through.

I have managed nurses..hired nurses, fired nurses, been frustrated by nurses, been enthralled by nurses and generally, challenged to my core of management experience by nurses.  I have worked with nurses who delivered heroic, unbelievably competent work performances daily. I dealt with a few evil, incompetent nurses.  My career in management of assisted living residences was dependent daily on nurses just doin' their damn thing. The excellence of nurses supported my career and hence, my family in a huge way, and for that, I will always be indebted.  However, in addition to delivering comfort to the elderly and their families, my nurses all had to be managers of people, and staffing for 24/7 and on-call.  Oh, how many conversations were had on those subjects.  Sessions or psychotherapy as we senior execs referred to those hours of chatter.

Of course, you will never hear me generalize but nurses by and large are outspoken...a kind way of saying whiny and bitchy, not that that is necessarily a bad thing.  I am sure I have been called much worse.  One of my bosses from years ago who was not a nurse, actually she was social worker and an incredibly talented business leader. In my presence, she never said anything that wasn't intelligent and never said anything controversial, but was heard by me to say, "Nurses eat their young."  That quote sits proudly among a few of mine on a memorial t-shirt gift from the staff of the greatest assisted living residence anywhere.

Nurses take care of my mother now in that aforementioned greatest assisted living residence.  My sister received loving nursing care at the time in her life when it was most needed.  My friend Charlie back about 40 years ago when men like me were young, said about nurses, "I like dating nurses. They are good with their hands and not afraid of the body."  Charlie being Charlie.  The nurse I dated...well not such a fond memory.  

For all the bitchin', nursing is a great, honorable and I think pretty damn lucrative and respected profession.  I had a few nurses negotiate me to salary numbers my then bosses were aghast at.  But they were getting the same thing on their nursing home and hospital side of the business.  Jobs used to be more plentiful, and there was a time a good nurse could go anywhere she/he wanted and work any shift and earn a damn good living.   No foul there.  Hospitals, nursing homes, assisted livings, doctors offices, schools......nurses are everywhere.  Bitchin' everywhere.........sorta just kidding to you nurse readers whoever you are.

So serious kudos to the nurse profession and those in it.  You make the world a better, more tolerable, more honorable place........You deserve all you get and more...thank you for everything....now just zip it.  (kidding on the zip it part.....actually, no I'm not.)