The hobby of stamp collecting – answers, notes and lexis
1 written about – done
2 I can’t believe it – what have I been doing?
3 as many – that number
4 newly converted to and very enthusiastic about – born-again
5 and their place had been taken – to be replaced
6 impossible to comprehend – incomprehensible
7 genuine – proper
8 began by – started off
9 inexpensive – cheap
10 worn and in poor condition – tatty; you could have suggested crummy
11 because there were – there being
12 sought-after – desirable
13 chewed – been at
14 don’t bother to collect these – don’t give these houseroom
15 searching for them – on the hunt
16 I had such fun – what fun I had
17 putting in bids – bidding
18 whatever their – regardless of
19 First time this has ever happened to me – Never happened to me before
20 Time to abandon the activity, scenario or job and do something else – Time to move on.
Confessions of a collector
A whole year of doing this column, yet I’ve never done1 stamps – what have I been doing?2 Isn’t it the world’s most popular collecting hobby? In the UK, there are said to be two million active stamp collectors, while twice that number3 have some stamps somewhere, inherited, lying around, at the bottom of a drawer, waiting to be sorted.
I loved them as a child, gazed at my album for hours when I was ill in bed, so it was natural when I became a born-again4 collector in my 40s that I should return to stamps. They had changed, as I had. Hinges, which I used to get all over my sticky fingers, had gone, to be replaced5 by plastic windows. Stamp catalogues had become incomprehensible6 with terminology I didn’t understand. All the experts and proper7 collectors seemed so knowledgeable and clever.
I started off8 trying to get an example of every GB stamp up to modern times (ie the last war), because even I could tell that present-day commemorative stamps are pretty crummy, coming out all the time for no real reason, little more than labels, licences to print money.
I was amazed when looking for an 1840 Penny Black to find how cheap 9 they can be – I’d imagined they must be rare and valuable because I never had one as a boy. You can easily get them for £10 or, in the case of this really tatty10 one here, for £5.
One reason is that 58 million were printed, so lots have survived. The other is that they came in a sheet of 240 – there being11 240 pennies in £1 – and you had to cut out each one with scissors. Desirable12 ones today have four clear white margins. Rubbish ones look as if the dog has been at them13. Real stamp collectors are awfully superior and don’t give these houseroom14, but these were the ones I specialised in.
I decided to reconstruct a whole sheet of 240, according to their letters – too complicated to explain, but each stamp had a different pair of letters as a way of deterring forgers. I spent the next 10 years on the hunt15 and what fun I had16, searching the shops on the Strand, visiting stamp fairs, bidding17 at auctions.
The joy of completion, acquiring all 240 with different letters, regardless of18 condition, was wonderful. It’s something collectors rarely experience. Very often they start on something that can’t possibly be finished, as they haven’t got enough money or the subject is not finite, or they are always searching for better, cleaner, nicer examples of stuff they already have.
When I reached completion, I stopped. Never happened to me before19 with any of my collections. I woke up one day and said, this is stupid, what am I doing? Then I looked at the other stamps I’d been collecting, on different themes, and realised that once I’d got them, captured them, albumed them, I didn’t look at them any more. What was the point? Didn’t even cheer me up when I was ill. Time to move on20. Which I did. And now I’m moving on again: this is my final collecting column. Thanks for reading.
Notes and lexis
Structures
Notice how Hunter Davies shortens various sentences to make his style conversational
- A whole year of doing this column = I’ve spent a whole year writing this column
- too complicated to explain = This is too complicated for me to explain here or now
- Never happened to me before = This has never happened to me before
- Didn’t even cheer me up = It didn’t even cheer me up
- Time to move on = It is time for me to move on
- Which I did = That is what I did.
Lexis
The hobby is stamp collecting or collecting stamps
born-again – adjective – 1) describes someone who has experienced a deep spiritual experience, denoting particularly a personal relationship with Christ Eg Cliff Richard is a born-again Christian. 2) before the noun describes someone who is newly converted to and very enthusiastic about a new idea, cause, interest or hobby – eg He’s a born-again fitness fanatic. In this second use the adjective is often used as a humorous description, suggesting someone is excessive in his / her enthusiasm
hinge – a moveable joint or mechanism connecting linked objects, or by which a door, gate or lid opens and closes. For stamp collectors, these hinges were made of paper, but hinges are usually made of metal, for use on furniture etc
proper – adj – 1) true, genuine – eg She has a proper commitment to politics 2) suitable, appropriate or correct, respectable eg He had to wear a proper suit for the conference
commemorative – adj – which honours sth as a mark of respect
crummy – adj – informal – bad, unpleasant or of poor quality
tatty – adj – informal – worn and in poor condition
240 pennies in the pound – in old coinage, abandoned in the early 1960s, there were 12 pennies to a shilling, and 20 shillings to a pound – a total of 240 pence to the pound. Nowadays there are 100 pennies to the pound. There were 21 shillings to a guinea.
to look as if the dog has been at them – to look as if the dog has chewed them – to be creased, untidy and unpresentable. Sometimes homework is described as looking as if the cat / dog has had it / been at it / chewed it.
not to give sth houseroom – to be unprepared to have something in your house usually because you dislike it eg I wouldn’t give those ornaments houseroom. Sometimes it means to consider – eg I wouldn’t even give that idea houseroom.
deter – verb – discourage sb from doing sth by making it difficult or instilling in someone fear of the consequences
forger – noun – person who produces an imitation / fraudulent copy of sth
completion – uncountable noun – when something that you are doing or making is finished. Eg They were paid on completion of the report. Railway engineering works are nearing completion (= almost finished).
once I’d got them – as soon as I’d got them
albumed – this is invented, meaning ‘put into albums / an album’
Time to move on = It is time to move on – It is time to abandon one approach and adopt another, it is time to do something different
To read others in the series ‘Confessions of a collector’