The Collector’s blog

I have not had much spare time in the past two weeks.

The silly season is upon us once again and I have been going to dinners and lunches.  Only one more this Thursday and my socialising is over for this season.

Monday the 4th my China Study Stamp group had it's usual Chinese Dinner Banquet in Dixon Street.  Quite a nice dinne in the Nine Dragons Restaurant.  I explained to them that Nine Dragons in Cantonese is Kowloon and was quite suprised that quite afew members were not aware of that.

Wednesday the 6th Manly Meals on Wheels had it's Volunteer Christmas Lunch at Dee Why RSL club.  A very nice meal with the traditional foods.  There were about 130 volunteers who attended.  This is an annual event on the 1st Wednesday of December.

Thursday 7th my Manly Warringah Leagues Club Stamp Club had it's Christmas Dinner in the main club restaurant.  Again this is an annual event and as President I organised it.  23 members and partners attended and everyone had a good time.  At least from the amount of noise we made we all had a good time.  Our Christmas dinner is always held on the 1st Thurday of December.   The stamp club makes a nice surplus during the year and we subsidise the Christmas Dinner.  Members and partners pay $10 towards the dinner and the club pick up the full tab.  Most of us have the buffet where one can go back as many times as you like.  It cost $21 and most of us got our moneys worth.  We also have an open bar tab.  Members can order what ever they like.  These days with the drink driving laws most are very moderate. 

Dec21m

I usually go to the Manly Council Christmas Dinner.  This year it was on the same Thursday night so I missed it.

Monday 11th was The Australian Numismatic Society Christmas Social.  We also have a display contest at the December meeting.  We had over 30 members and visitors at the meeting and there were 8 displays to vote on.  This year the dislays were of a very high standard and we had a tie with 12 votes each.  Since we had a "Best Display Dec 2006" medal for the winner we had to pull the winner from the hat.  Each members is given a voting slip and write the number of the dispaly they like the best.  Very democratic and we had all the votes back, so we could not get a missing voter to cast the deciding vote.

I took along my English tin coins of 1684 to 1691 over the reigns of Charles II, James II, William and Mary.  The tin farthings and halfpennies are really hard to get and high condition coins are super rare.  Tin tends to oxidise and flake off.  The tin coins were also withdrawn in 1694 when copper coins were again issued.  Noble Numismatics had some nice tin coins in their July Auction.  CNG have some in their January New York Auction listed at about US$2,500 each.  Needless to say I will not be bidding on any of them.

Above are my tin farthings of Charles II and Jame II as well as my tin halfpenny of William and Mary.

Tin is soft metal and easy to forge, so the copper plug was added to stop forgeries.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?
Submitted by sami711.

My tradition used to be to wake everyone up early on Christmas Day.  So I could open my presents.

Now I tend more to celebrate New Year than Christmas.  Survived another year, perhaps.

I do like the home made shortbread. 

Turkey is nice, but I don't mind Chicken instead.  Food is food and I always eat too much of what ever is cooked.

What are your superstitions? 
Submitted by lazywong.

I don't have any real superstitions.  Black cats, Friday the 13th etc. are all so illogical as to be funny.  Walking under ladders etc are more common sense.

I do however believe that all my actions will be weighed and have an accounting.  So I do try not to cause any grief or hurt.

Have you ever Googled your own name? How did you feel about the results?
Submitted by elen.

There are two of us who feature quite evenly.  The other person must be a film producer.

What's your favorite music for a Sunday morning?
Submitted by Nick.

I don't have any favourites.  It really depends on my mood on the day.  Usually I don't play any music but get on playing with my hobbies, sometimes with the TV on in the background.

When I do listen to music (seldom these days) it is usually light classics or show tunes.

Windows, Mac, Linux - What's your preference and why?
Submitted by ramblingsbymark.

I only know windows so can't comment.  The family seem to think the mac is better especially for graphics.

What's your dream career? 
Submitted by Something.

I really did not have a dream career.

When at school I thought I would like to be a civil engineer.  Accounting and Architecture were also possibilities, however being lazy and never getting to Uni they were only passing thoughts.  I was good at Poker so perhaps I should have become a Poker Professional. 

Show us a fan.
Submitted by little miao.

06nov26

These fans show Chinese artwork on them. 

The ladies fan is made of sandalwood and has intricate carving.

The mans fan is made of bamboo and is more sturdy and simple.

These fans were part of the dispaly at a recent stamp meeting.

What's your favorite radio station, past or present?

I hardly listen to the Radio.  Maybe 15 minutes in the morning when I have my shower.  I listen to the ABC Newsradio to catch up on what has happened whilst I have been asleep.

Yesterday was my 63rd Birthday.

I had a great day, however like most days, 24 hours is not sufficient time to do everything I would like.

The day started fairly early for me as I had to be at the Leagues Club at 8am to help set up the Stamp Fair.  Got there on time and we had the hall set up by 9am when the dealer arrived with their goodies for sale.  I stayed around until almost 11am and managed to pick up a couple of dozen stamps for my collections.  I collect a few themes, Coins on Stamps, Maps on Stamps and Bridges on Stamps, as well as lots of other things..

I got home about 11am, had a cuppa and started doing the Sodoku puzzels in the Papers.  The family then appeared and gave me my Birthday cards and a wonderful combined present that I wanted.  A new printer and scanner combination, a Canon MP800 Printer which does everything except roast the dinner..

Son in law installed it for me and the rest of the day was spent playing with my new toy.  I reprinted one of my Bridge Stamp pages for the Mungsten Bridge in Germany and the difference was unbelievable.  We then reprinted it again with higher definition on a heavier paper and again the difference was very perceptable.  I can now see that I will probaly have to reprint many hundred pages of my collection, so I can get the perfect images. 

Mungstenbridge

3 comments

Last night we played Poker.  We started with No Limit Texas Holdem and then 5 card stud.  It was good fun, however since we were only playing for chips, the thrill of playing for money was missing.  I never did like losing my money and I was usually a winner, but perhaps that was all I wanted to remember.  I don't gamble anymore, except on the share market and that is more an educated investment than a gamble.

My dad died when he was 52 of a massive coronory and I always wondered if it was hereditary and if I would live to 52.  My sister always had the same thought.  Well I am now 63 and she will be 72 in January, so we definitely take after Mother's side of the family who all lived to a good old age, usually in their 80s.