Wife Not Happy About My Stamps

I must be very lucky. My dear wife not only encourages my return to collecting - after all, she's the one who insisted I needed a hobby after I retired - she bought me a MNH set of singles of C13-15 for Christmas two years ago. This year, she conspired with our financial advisor to convince me that those MNH plate blocks of C13-15 I had been vacillating about for two years were really worth buying.

Thanks for Benny Hill. "Philately won't get you anywhere" indeed.

The tide turned when my wife accompanied me to an auction of some of my material and she saw money being bid on said material. Yes indeed.

How much is that going to cost to certify?? But I love her to death--

My stamp area is neater than my wife's craft room.

My wife bought this for me on Etsy...she's amazing and supportive of my stamp collecting.

My wife doesn't especially care about stamps, but she respects that I do.

One thing that helps maintain domestic tranquility is that I've always taken the time to explain why I like (and spent money on) something in particular, especially something that looks kind of homely and unattractive. Since I collect eastern and southeastern Europe fairly intensely, this topic can come up regularly. To use an inexpensive example, I once showed her a series of the national coat of arms overprinted on a bust of King Alexander of Serbia (Sc. 68 - 78), explaining that they had just printed the stamps when the King was assassinated, and rather than waste all those nice new stamps, they overprinted the coat of arms since he wasn't king any more. Combined with the fact that these were sloppy overprints, the set could surely appeal to anybody with a cruel sense of humor (check).

More generally, I'm an armchair historian and can usually come up with some anecdote that puts the stamps in some kind of context.

Also, if I plan to go to a stamp show or ponder a significant auction bid, I always make it a point to go over any bills that might be coming up we set an allowance, for lack of a better word, and I keep my splurges under that amount. Besides keeping me from being a total idiot, it makes her feel included and/or respected, and it keeps unpleasant surprises from showing up on our bank statements.

I've taken over a part of the basement that she never especially liked anyway, so mission creep isn't a big issue with us. I agree with one of the earlier posters - Drew? - about cardboard boxes and piles o' crap; keeping things at least kind of neat and organized-looking sends kind of a respectful message. New or newish bankers' boxes, maybe even with some contact paper on them, keeps the basement from looking like the alley in back of a gin mill.

Sad news for the wife ,I decided to put all my STEINER PAGES which are in notebook binders on separate bookshelf's. So today I am going back to that used furniture store to purchase a real nice shelf unit I seen yesterday .

This is going to be a on going project here as I add volumes to my collection . Lets see how many years this is going to take to fill this bookshelf.

I collect stamps, play a LOT of golf and shoot. I'm a little OCD, so stamps are organized, even my dupes, which are contained in two (count 'em two) chronologically organized stock books. She also likes to shoot, so we're good there. As for stamps and golf, she believes both activities are less harmful than other things she can imagine me doing. If only!

As far as my wife and stamp collecting go, I've been pretty lucky. I had to retire early due to various health issues, not the least of which is dibilitating back problems. Because I was no longer going to work and could no longer participate to a great extent in many of the hobbies that I had previously enjoyed (fishing, backpacking, scuba diving), I fell into a pretty deep depression. My therapist said that I needed a hobby that wouldn't be affected by my health and I immediately thought of my childhood stamp collection.

My wife was all for me reviving my collection and never said a word when I went over-the-top spending wise acquiring many of the stamps that I had only dreamed of as a youngster. I came out of my depression and got my spending down to more manageable levels and my wife was happy on both accounts. She has stated that, as long as my collection keeps me from going back into a depression, she's all for it.

Although she has no real interest in stamps, she feigns interest whenever I get something new. When the mail runs each day, she always asks if I got anything interesting and is always attentive when I show her my new treasures. I knew that I married her for some reason!

Walkman,

Where did you get that shirt?

Jack Kelley

Walkman: Love the shirt!

I'm fortunate to have a husband who thinks my stamp collecting is charming. He's taken to calling me "Stampy" and is always very sweet when new purchases arrive weekly in the mail. But then, I'm fairly tolerant of his obsessive book collecting... so long as he sticks to an agreed upon monthly budget! I think our mailman must think we are hoarders... our house is actually very clean and tidy!

My wife amiably tolerates my stamp collecting, and my second expensive hobby, flying, (I have a small airplane and fly it regularly). She likes to travel, and does, however, complain that I only want to go places if there is a stamp show or an airplane to look at. She is somewhat correct about that, but I go on the trips without complaining and it all balances out.

Don