Are
you a collector? When I still lived in Buffalo,NY, I collected historic
postcards, with special emphasis on cards relating to that city. I belonged to
a postcard club and regularly attended the annual postcard shows in Cheektowaga,
NY. I suppose that officially makes me a nerd. Over the years, I collected
three or four albums full of old postcards. Some of those cards are quite rare.
Eventually, I stopped collecting, but every so often, if I find an unusual
postcard, and if the price is right, I’ll buy it. If I want to send correspondence
that is particularly memorable, especially to a fellow songwriter, I’ll include
one of those old, postmarked cards. While I used to search for pristine cards
with no markings on them, sometimes it’s more interesting to have a card which was
previously postmarked and dated. It’s also entertaining to read what someone else
wrote on those cards, sometimes over 100 years ago. Before the era of texts and
email, postcards were the popular mode of abbreviated correspondence. “Having a
wonderful vacation; yours ‘til Niagara Falls!” Back in the day, I used to be
pretty good at appraising the value of an old postcard, but now that I’ve been
out of the collecting business for 25 years, I have no idea what my cards might
be worth in today’s market. Back then, I discovered that the cards I’d
collected early on had doubled in value within a few years. Some of the rare postcards
might fetch $25 or more today, but most are likely not all that valuable. For a
while, I only looked for old cards from Crystal Beach, On., because those cards
are difficult to find.
In
keeping with my love of correspondence, the other things I’ve collected over
the years are rubber stamps and other hand stamps. If you’ve ever received a
letter or postcard from me, it most likely included a rubber stamp imprint. I
enjoyed collecting these from the different places I’ve travelled, and they are
enduring mementos. Whenever I use one of these stamps, I am reminded of the
place where I purchased it. While I have not actually counted all the stamps I own,
I probably have close to 100.
To
those who responded to last week’s report about the break-in and arson fire at
Hunters Bay Radio’s transmitting station, thanks for reading the report. My
intention was not to fuel controversy, but merely to point out that it was a very
suspicious fire and that, in my opinion, it deserves to be further
investigated. Everyone is certainly entitled to express their own opinion, but some
people insinuated that I or Hunters Bay Radio had an alternative agenda. We simply
want to know who would choose to destroy a communications tower. I hope the
$1000 reward offered will lead to a tip as to who committed that deplorable
crime.
Jamie Oppenheimer,
Songwriter, Author, Blogger, Radio Producer, & Host has been writing THE
OPPENHEIMER REPORT every MONDAY since 1992 and has published the articles on
his blog since 2006. We are including Jamie's weekly reports, as a new feature
of #HuntersBayRadio, The Bay 88.7FM.
#GotLocal? HuntersBayRadio.com #WeAreMuskoka #WeAreAlmaguin
#GotLocal? HuntersBayRadio.com #WeAreMuskoka #WeAreAlmaguin
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