Clean-Shaven Classic "Horror" Fan

While cleaning out a closet to make some space for new toys, I ran across my puny stamp collection. The last time I touched it was Halloween 1995 when I dressed up as a stamp collection, hinging about 600 stamps to my clothing. People picked at me all night peeling off pretty or historical stamps. The 1947 100th Anniversary SS was a particular favorite. The poor hostess was vacuuming stamps in odd corners for months.

I don't exactly need yet another acquisition disorder, but I'm running out of space for my current obsession--microscopes. Rather than dive in headlong, I'm thinking of collecting topics that I have an interest in. I'm active on a shaving forum, so I thought it would be interesting to put together a shaving themed stamp collection. It would be thrilling to share a small collection on that forum. Such an odd theme also ought to keep the number of purchases to a minimum, and maximize the fun & learning from researching.

Another big interest is classic "horror" films and short stories. That should be a little easier to collect, and quite a bit of fun as well, though with so many countries printing pretty little bits of paper just to sell to suckers like me, it's not clear how far I'll be willing to pursue it. I'll probably make up a few albums to look like DVD cases and hide the albums amidst my collection of 1800 horror & sci-fi movies. For now. I have the Scott Minuteman US & Master Canada through 1993, so I might delve a bit into those two countries as well.

If anyone can offer any hints on pursuing a shaving-themed collection, I'm all ears. Meanwhile, my attempts to order the defective 2011 Scott catalogs failed with a website error. My 199x copy was long ago recycled into napkins. I'm not sure going through that catalog is the best approach, since so many of the regular stamps aren't pictured.

--Steve

How about an anti-shaving theme? Some of those old stamps show rather long beards.
What's with microscopes? That was my obsession also. I always wanted to get one, managed to get a telescope and a Tasco microscope as a kid, and upgraded through life to the bigger models. Lately I was pining for one of the Intel (toy?) microscopes but never saw one available. I have managed to earn a living using them and still use them in my dotage.
The literary theme is also intriguing. I know of no stamps celebrating horror films or short stories, but I'll bet shortly some will astound me with their knowledge said stamp themes.
Again, Welcome to the club

A collection of bearded old men (and maybe a bearded lady) and intriguing moustaches might be a nice complement.

I've been repairing stereo equipment as a hobby since I was a kid. Lately the parts are getting so small I decided to get a dissection microscope. One thing led to another and I now have about 10. Don't ask me why--it's just the collecting disease. My main effort lately is to photograph razor blades _really_ close up.

This might be the most unusual post I have ever read. I'm not sure if you're serious or not. At the risk of feeding the trolls, I will respond.

1) To the best of my knowledge, there are no stamps featuring anything to do with shaving. This would be a wasted effort.

2) Films of any genre are limited on postage stamps, but do exist ... but only in the modern era. As a rule, postage stamps were taken seriously by their respective issuing country and at least up until the 1950s, contain only serious themes.

3) If you are truly a sci-fi/schlock/horror fan, he who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three ... ere the other side he see.

- what is the name of the caretaker in the movie "Manos, the hands of fate"?

- tell me what Caleb the gardener told the young woman while clutching his right hand and placing it on her kitchen counter in the movie "The Love Butcher"?

- William Shatner starred in a creepy horror flick named "Impulse" in 1974. What did he tell the little girl he picked up along-side the road after he accidentally ran over the dog?

Rileysan

Thank you! ;) I won't claim to be serious, not in the sense of being a "serious collector", but it should be possible to put a few shaving themed pages together in a few months, just enough to make an interesting post on the shaving forum. Trying to put some keywords together: shaving, barber, razor, badger, boar. Kosovo may have a sheet from 2000 featuring Pope John Paul II that has a guy shaving. Found a 9p stamp (should be GB) with a badger in some stock pages here, and an Icelandic with a girl brushing her teeth and the word fluor, which is a nice side-theme that fits with the morning grooming ritual. Meanwhile, it'll be fun to search through what's out there. Who knows where it will lead.

You sure know how to pick them. Just watched Torgo & The Master while typing this. Ugh! Mercifully, I don't own the others. It makes me feel dirty just thinking about them.

Love Butcher is a must see. Caleb the gardener is on par with Torgo as it pertains to cheezy vilains. As for Shatner, I believe he is quoted as saying that his career had sunk to the lowest possible point when he starred in Impulse.

As for the answers ...

Caleb said "I'm a gimp, maam!". It's a must-see!

Shatner ran over a dog (an accident). The little girl was freaking out so he tried to console her by stating that "Dogs lick themselves. It will be alright". Odd movie to say the least.

Welcome Steve,



Aren't closets just great.....mine are stuffed full of Philatelic junk, and I wouldn't exchange it for the world !

Good luck with shaving. If it's horror you like, how about this...









The Ultimate HORROR item !

Londonbus1...also a horror item !

Welcome Steve

Very interesting topics you have chosen Good luck in your treck and can't wait to see what you come up with.

Dianne

You can't wait to see? Neither can I.

Well, the scratch & dent Scott catalog came today... The one that failed on the website 3 times. I assumed they wouldn't be coming and ordered the 2009 catalog piecemeal elsewhere. I'm just hoping there aren't 4 sets here by the weekend.

Nice stamps Londonbus1. I'll use those as a test run through the catalog.

Hi SiBurning Steve, welcome!

Just did a search on ebay for razor under stamps and the results were razor cancels from Switzerland. Hmmm . . .

Grooming is another word to search for.

Love that Dracula remake movie.

And I haven't remembered that old Monty Python skit for years. Whhhhat is your favorite colour?

Thanks. That rotating date canceler does look kind of like a double edge razor. At least if you don't look too close. Up close it looks like a rotating date stamp.

Starting going through the Scott catalog and have a list of about 100 horror stamps. Some highlights are US 1940 #859 Washington Irving, Romania 1952 #879-80 Nikolai Gogol, GB 1951 #288 St George slaying the dragon, and some Japanese Kabuki that might work.

Not so good in the shaving department. The most promising is a 1986 German Federal Republic (Michel 1274-1277, Scott B643/46) Youth Professions set which seems to show a barber and hair stylist. I can't tell from the little scan if the barber is shaving or cutting hair. There's also a 1955 Canada Scott #352 Musk Ox--a popular after shave scent--and some badger and boar stamps. The best thing I found in my own collection is a little girl from Iceland brushing her teeth with fluoride toothpaste in 1987.