I’m sure that if Marco Polo could have collected stamps, he would have. Of course, the first postage stamps were in developed in the 1830s, 500 years after Mr. Polo’s time. But let us consider the man, and his kind; how might we describe the explorer ethic, or the archetypal Explorer? He is eager for the unknown, appreciative of the unusual, and willing to go out on various limbs. An explorer must remain hopeful, despite hours spent without the desired result. He is given to thrill at the hunt, and joy at discovering the unexpected.

As I am well aware, an old wooden desktop in a dark basement is far, far removed from the wave-strewn surface of any one of the seven seas…yet, as ridiculous as it may seem, these same sorts of feelings arise whilst combing through bundles of passed-on stamps, which have been diligently accumulated through months and years of correspondence. The stamp traveler and the explorer, I am convinced, are kindred spirits.

You see, stamps are steeped in geography, history, and politics… just the sorts of things which would have been an explorer’s bread and butter. You’ll learn all sorts of things just by considering the postage of a country – call it a movable dictionary, or a potlatch encyclopedia. Stamps can be puzzles, providing the collector with a challenge to figure out the significance of the image shown. Stamps can inspire you to research countries and their ways. And while the stamp collector is not likely to come across any Aztec gold, he may discover a rare philatelic treasure (“philatreasure?”), such as the famed “Penny Black” – which, coincidentally, would make a great name for a pirate!

Of course, the Stamp Collector — like the Explorer — is a dying breed. Once, at a stamp show, I entered a draw intended for the younger folks in attendance, being a kid myself at the time. As fate would have it, I won – although perhaps it was more a matter of odds; I was pretty much the only kid there (now, the prize was a year’s worth of McPizza, but I won’t go into that).

Anyhow, seeing as there are no more gigantic land masses to be discovered, I’ll content myself for the time being with these perforated bits of paper.