15 june 2015, stamp of approval

There's a beautiful stamp to commemorate today, 800 years since magna carta. I saw it at the post office as I sent several sets of stamps, the first wave, perhaps, of a mass sell-off. I collected stamps avidly as a boy, both me and my sister (she was given a coin collection) were pleasantly encouraged by my father, under whose guidance I built up a decent contemporary collection, bolstered by a family gift of older stock. It was in and out of albums until my early teens, since when it has ossified, albeit added to occasionally by me and, I now recall, my mother. I have tried to get my two sons into the habit, to no effect. I am not upset though, as they have their pastimes and pleasures; philately is just not one of them. Nor any longer is it mine, much as I enjoy the aesthetic beauty as I flick through what is now quite a fine collection. However, I have a growing feeling that my time to horde has gone, my time to unclutter arrived. Stuffocation. Clutter therapist says get rid, purge, clear, toss, abandon, and with relish, too. So I am going through the process of selling my stamps. My first punt was to put two dozen presentation packs on the ebay. Though I found the trial and error element quite therapeutic, I sold just 3 (which I was posting). I am deeply uncertain about the sale: it is odd for a historian to write about selling stamps on the 800th anniversary of magna carta, rather than debunking myths about a document that first made everyone equal before the law. I will have that much less family silver to pass on to my kids. Somehow though the glove needs to fit the hand and there are no tears when it doesn't, when my own hand has turned to other things and when we are all content, as were the barons.