Hinged approval
Without phoning members of my family, go ahead and classify me as a collector. Looking at the stockpiles of stuff around here, I am not a procure and discard personality. It’s mine. I’ll keep it. Thank you.
Again, without checking with my family, let’s pick an early moment when a proper collecting hobby derailed. It was back when I was young enough to collect merit badges, as a Cub Scout. My first badge required sewing a button on a shirt, but I wanted something better. Colourful. And so, without actually understanding the what and the how, I became (briefly) involved with stamp collecting.
Not the fancy “phila” level. Something easier. I purchased an inexpensive album, and a package of hinges, because a book from the local library stipulated that real collectors NEVER glued their finds directly to a page in their album. And we were off.
This is all a bit murky after decades, but I must have purchased a starter pack with that album. Practice. And I did figure out that stamp hinges could be used in a wrong manner. Carrying on. Once the simple stuff was between the covers, I needed new content.
Possibly the member magazine provided to Cubs had a part to play, but I requested some “approvals” from a company. No idea what that meant (then, or now. Within a couple of weeks a large package with lots of multicoloured content from around the globe arrived. I was enthralled, even if there were few corresponding pages in my album. A course in world history and geography! At no cost!
AND AFTER A COUPLE MORE WEEKS, MORE LETTERS. From the company. Wanting payment. For what? You ent me those stamps. And I fully approved.
Those letters continued for some time. I had no money, and they did no request that I return anything. Wekre far enough now that they must have realized my financial state. Yes, this all happened, back in the Sixties. They have probably forgiven me, but I’m keeping my head down, just in case.
