Greetings From Australia

Well, it's been a while. As a boy I used to be an avid worldwide collector, but then life intervened and I became a worldwide traveller instead. Travel necessitates some sacrifices, and travelling light is one. For many a long year my boyhood albums lay in the bottom of a big ol' box in my folks' garage.

Things have changed now. I'm home again after 10 years in Japan and I have kids of my own. So, 1) I've introduced them to the hobby (via my old albums); and 2) I've decided to do justice to my recent inheritance - my grandfather's 20 bulging albums of bird stamps from around the world (arranged by order, family, etc...).

Cataloging this collection has been a major (and still ongoing) undertaking, but has really opened my eyes to just how many stamps are still needed to make this a truly comprehensive collection. However, I have to draw a line somewhere or I'll go bankrupt! Therefore, I'll focus on fleshing it out up to 1990 (about the time it currently ends).

Other than that, I have two other main areas of interest - stamps of the French Southern Antarctic Territories (stunning examples of design), and engravers (e.g. Martin Mörck and Albert Decaris). I hope to develop my collections in both areas while working on the bird albums.

Looking forward to learning more here and hopefully contributing where I can :)

Regards

Welcome Bird, As they told me when I joinned up...the folks here like to see "pictures" ! Both the bird collectiona and F.S.& A.T. area sound interesting...One of my favorite items that I lusted after for a long while is the French Polynesia C47a sheetlet...Love it ! phil

What fun you must be having remembering your grandfather through his albums! Welcome, Bird!

Thanks for the welcomes.

Philb - just been checking out C47a... Can see why you like it.

kehess - as a kid I often used to watch my grandfather work on these albums. They are full of his hand written and typed ornithological notes about the birds on the stamps, and meticuously organized; although the taxonomy is slightly dated. As a birder myself, I can appreciate the amount of time and effort that has gone into this aspect of it.

As much as he could, he's collected his stamps with gutters or pane corners intact, and more often MUH than otherwise.