I may or may
not have mentioned that my husband was a hoarder. The only reason our house
didn’t look like one of those on television is that I lived here too and didn’t
allow him to spread his crap throughout. Although, over the years he’d managed to creep into the laundry room he
built for me years ago, with three file cabinets, a huge trunk and five boxes,
plus all the important stuff he “stored” on top of the refrigerator and freezer. He’d
move something into the laundry room when I wasn’t home and it would become a fait accompli.
Well, I was oh so happy to spend time
last fall cleaning out the laundry room of all the various materials he’d crammed in there. I would say
that about 95.5% of the stuff was worthless and ended up going to
recycle. Just as an example, John had his own business for more than 20 years.
Not once did he eliminate a single client file (even though most of them had
died), or even any of the outdated product catalogs. Unfortunately, I couldn't just toss willy-nilly. Instead, it was necessary to go through all the files and piles slowly to check for anything that might have value. For instance, interspersed among
everything were parts of one of his collections--stamps.
John had polio when he was eight or
nine and his grandfather gave him his stamp collection so he’d have something
to do while recovering in bed. John continued stamp collecting throughout his
life, but he never once tried to organize anything, even though I offered at
various times to give him a hand.
When I began to go through the file
cabinets, boxes and trunks, I found envelope after envelope stuffed with
cancelled stamps. I knew his sister saved for him, and I wasn’t allowed to just
toss a used stamp away. I now gather he had way more people saving
cancelled stamps for him. By the time I finished emptying all those envelopes,
I had filled a ten-ream paper box to overflowing. I also found many other
things which I put into other boxes until such time I could sit down and try to
organize it.
At one point in the fall I contacted
the president of a local stamp club. What a small world it is…this man actually
knew John when they were in elementary school and graduated from the same high
school. Between grade school and high school, they had lost touch. This
gentleman and his girlfriend came to visit one afternoon and he perused various stacks of stamp related materials I put out on the dining room table. It was no surprise to me
that the majority (99.5%) of the stuff actually had no value beyond the actual
postage. He told me I should just use the uncancelled stamps as regular
postage. As a reward for his time and attention, I sent home the box full of cancelled
stamps with him. If he happens to find a real treasure, he deserves it for
looking at stamp after stamp after stamp after stamp after….
During this week of Snowpocalypse
I’ve not been willing (or able?) to leave home, so I began to go through
the boxes of stamp books, folders, envelopes, loose stamps, etc. The majority of it is now organized from several cardboard boxes to one plastic
box. There's still additional work that will need to be done to complete the reorganization. I’ll get to it at
some point.
Why bother, I’m sure you’re asking
yourself. Well, first of all, it’s kinda interesting; and while it currently
has no huge monetary value (with a very few exceptions), it may become valuable
in the future. I like to think of my grandchildren (or even children when
they’re really really old) looking at the beautifully organized stamp
collection and appreciating the beauty and the history that spans all of the 20th
and part of the 21st centuries.
And, just maybe, since things seem to
come around again and again, the value of this collection will become huge;
and while they enjoy the comforts brought, they can think of John with
appreciation for his collecting ability and me for my curating abilities…a nice
dream anyway.