TINY SCRAPS OF PAPER MAKE AN ABSORBING HOBBY
I recently went to a small shop in Maldon Road, here in town. Nothing unusual about that, you may think. There isn't. Apart from the fact that it is the only one of its kind in Colchester, it is quite a normal shop.
Only a certain kind of person would be interested in it. Nothing to do with wealth - anyone can buy from it. It sells small pieces of paper. Some bright and colourful, some drab and morbid looking. But it is these pieces of paper that cause men to spend a lifetime collecting them - sometimes even stealing them. Well, you should have guessed by now. If not, I'll tell you. Stamps. Just plain postage stamps. The shop - the Colchester Stamp Shop - is owned and run by Mr. V. W. Oliver who has, although he does not profess to be an expert, a considerable knowledge of the subject. But, to the surprise of most collectors, I should say that Mr. Oliver has no collection of his own.
He regards the shop as his hobby as well as his work,and he caters for all tastes, specialities and idiosyncrasies of his customers whether young or old. Not being a keen philatelist (though in my younger days I could boast a good collection) I went to the shop prepared to glean as much knowledge as I could. And, if I may say so, I think I now know a little more than I did in my greatest collecting days. Philately is not, as I once though, just collecting stamps. There is a great deal more to it than that. One can acquire a goodly amount of information from stamps : for instance, commemoratives. These are stamps issued by countries at the time of any major event, anniversry, or jubilee.
Great Britain is to issue a set of stamps to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare ; Russia issues stamps to celebrate sending up a cosmonaut. And apart from these special issues stamps are printed with maps, pictures of customs and peoples, heros and inventions.
Sporting events are a very popular subject for issue. So are animals, flowers and insects. Because Mr. Oliver has to deal with people who specialise, if he wishes to help them at all he has to know something about every part of collecting. This, he says, is almost impossible, but he does as best he can and calls himself, inappropriately perhaps for philately, a "Jack of all trades".
GOOD TRADE
Mr. Oliver who used to work in a factory, has always been interested in stamps, but did not set up his shop in Colchester until seven years ago. Since then trade has been good and with philately rising in popularity and becoming to some people "big business" his shop has flourished.
Colchester Stamp Shop is only a small place, but it caters for the whole town. You can be sold a small packet of stamps from the most unlikely and out-of-the-way places ; packets of ships and planes ; packets of 1,000 all different.
When a customer enters the shop he can either announce at once the stamp he has come for, or he can ask for a book of Great Britain, if he wants Great Britain, and could browse for hours, yet not see anything he needs. If he wants a Penny Black Mr. Oliver has a good selection. He can advise his customer on the best and point out the damaged ones.
On the other hand if a child of nine went to the shop, intent on starting his first collection, Mr. Oliver could fit him out with a cheap album, hinges, and a packet of assorted stamps (everyone's got to start somewhere). Of course not every collector goes for stamps with value, though it does help. A collection can be appreciated for its beauty or its oddities. Some stamp dealers buy stamps at auctions. There, a stamp can reach its price. Later that man can sell the stamp for a higher price as values increase according to the rarity of the stamp.
Don't ever start Mr. Oliver talking on the values of stamps. It seems to be a sore point with him. I approached him on the subject and he said that stamps cannot be taken at the catalogue value. Stanley Gibbon's catalogue, usually the bible of philately, is, he said, merely a price list, stating what the company would sell a stamp for if asked. Rarity, demand and condition. All these decide the value of a stamp. But a person has to show a profit, and therefore dealers such as Mr. Oliver are forced to put on the price a penny or two.
When selling an old or recently acquired, supposedly wortless album of stamps, Oliver's, as the shop is known, is the place to go. If you wish you may place your album in the window and state a price or ask for offers. Mr. Oliver may even buy the album himself, if he thinks it worth his while. But he does not valuate stamps - especially a large collection - as this would take far too much time and effort.
People who collect stamps come from all walks of life; the rich and the poor; Conservative, Labour or Liberal. It's all the same when it comes to stamps. The famous and unknown collect ; to use a comparison, the Royal household and members of the local council. Members of the Forces collect stamps. The Police at Colchester have a select group of philatelists.
But Sgt. White, along woth many others, will not be seen looking in the window of Oliver's when the road improvements are made, for the shop is due to come down. Then Mr. Oliver and his stamps will be moved to another place, though luckily for Colchester, the location is still in the twon.
No matter who you meet, they usually have a hobby. With some it is chess, with others football. But with millions throughout the world, it is philately. Mr. Oliver is ample evidence that stamps are not worthless - he makes a living at it.
by Bob Winward - The Colchester Express - Thursday April 23, 1964
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