Now that I posted a picture of myself with my sock dog, I might as well admit to another thing. I am... a Stamp Collector. I know, I know, we all are some sort of stamp collectors at some point in out lives. I do not remember not having a stamp album. I collected mainly Polish and Russian stamps, then exchanged large portions of my collection for these three nice large stamps from Panama. But that was then, that was in Poland I was 9. Now I am 33 and so things should be different. Shouldn’t they? I collect stamps. I collect mainly British stamps. I subscribe to British Stamps. I collect three of each of British Stamps. I get all of the First day stamps as they are published. The hand stamp on them is the one based on the significance of this particular stamp, I get the presentation packs, which are mint issues of the same post mark with a brief description of the story behind the whole event. And then at the end of the year I order the entire collection for the year, in a special bound book, it is a limited edition item, and it contains the story behind the design of every stamp issued by the Royal Mail in this particular year. It is also at the end of the year when I seek out all the issues which were never really available to the public and get them as well. Oh and on top of that, I also collect the PNCs, the Phillatellic-Numismatic-Covers, which are releases of British Stamps combined with the releases of either special edition Coins or Bills. I missed a special edition gold coin last year, because some Japanese collector got the last one before I could order it, (5 minutes before me!) and I was actually upset to not have spent some silly amount on a tiny coin with the picture of Queen Victoria on it... You get the idea. It might look like some sort of condition I have.
I also buy the entire collection of commemorative American Stamps and the Canadian Stamps. These I do not collect as compulsively though, I do not seek out all special editions.
Is my British Stamp Collection worth something? It definitely is to me. And it is really not about the monetary value here. I collect the stamps because of the amazing creativity and the love that is put into every single one of them. Especially the British Stamps are just a pure joy when it comes to that. I am not going to write about some highs of my collection, but the reason why I am writing this post because I am excited (stamps+upcoming+excited=odd?) about three upcoming Stamp releases. I am not sure if I can find pictures of them anywhere (actually they are not available anywhere yet), but they will be just so cute and funny that I just had to write about them. The first release will be called "The secret of Life" and it will be a series of 5 stamps to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery of the double helix by Francis Crick and James Watson in 1953. The stamps contain five illustrations by Peter Brookes, political cartoonist for The Times. The stamps are hilarious. I really laughed. The first one is called "The End of the Beginning" and it shows two incredibly joyful scientists putting the last puzzle piece into a large puzzle that is shaped like a gigantic... puzzle piece. (Brilliant!)
The "Comparative Genetics" stamp shows a funny scientist behind the bars of a cage. In the foreground is an ape that looks pretty much exactly like the scientist. Another stamp "Genome Genetic Engineering" shows a whole party of scientists, all engaged in very serious conversations... one has a sheep head, another one is a toad, a third one a crocodile. Wonderful stuff.
The second release I am looking forward to are truly interactive stamps. The series is called "Fun Fruit and Veg." Ten self adhesive stamps with photographs of fruit and vegetables breaking out of the constrains of the stamp square would be pretty cute in itself. The series comes with a sheet of 76 little stickers however, which allow to personalize each one of the stamps... A mailable game of Mr. Potato head. (the presentation pack contains a story by the illustrator Jason Ford: "Albert Aubergine and his intrepid gang." It is about the vegetables disguising to escape from supermarket shelves. Yeah!)
The third release I am looking forward to is so simple and yet so brilliant! The series of six stamps is called "occasions" and these stamps are the very first Multiple Choice stamps ever. Yes, that’s right. The stamps contain each three options that can be checked to bring a message across before the recipient even opens the envelope.

[ ] Goldstar, [ ] See me, [ ] Playtime
[ ] I (heart) you, [ ] XXXX, [ ] S.W.A.L.K. (what does that mean?)
[ ] Angel, [ ] Poppet, [ ] Little Terror (Poppet!)
[ ] Yes, [ ] No, [ ] Maybe
[ ] Oops!, [ ] Sorry, [ ] Will try harder
[ ] I did it!, [ ] You did it!, [ ] We did it!

How fantastic is that. The presentation pack was written and illustrated by the incredibly funny Steven Appleby, who also designed the First Day handstamps. (One says : "um... er..." and the other one : "I can’t decide") Steven Appleby apparently has a Sunday comic strip in The Guardian, Who knew. Awesome.
Ladies and Gentlemen, thank you for your attention. (To find out more about past and future issues of British Stamps, visit RoyalMail.com, yeah, it is a .com.