Over the weekend my wife and I went to see an Indie called “Get Low” starring Robert Duvall. It was a good movie if you like character driven films with most of the action happening in inner space. At one point there was a scene where one of the characters is shown working on his stamp collection. A few seconds of close up shows us the 1/2c 1923 Hale (Scott#551). Now, I am a confirmed stamp snob. Whenever I see a stamp in a movie my first thought is “Is the stamp appropriate for the period and place?” “Get Low” was supposed to take place in the late 1920’s, so the selection of stamp was appropriate. But (and this is where I get to feel “stampier than thou”) the way the “collector” held the stamp tongs was wrong. He held them a bit like barbecue tongs in a way that was awkward and uncomfortable. He held the magnifying glass like it was a microscope and the entire process of examining the stamp felt more like an ordeal than a pleasure. Further, who looks for several moments rhapsodically over a used #551, a stamp that today catalogs 25c, only because that is the minimum catalog value. The whole point of the scene was to try to show the audience that the character/collector was a thoughtful cerebral guy (you know the way all philatelists are!) but its effect on me was to portray him as a rank beginner with a coordination problem. When after several moments of chuckling, which was brought to an end by several elbows from my wife, I thought that the world needs a philatelic dramaturge, someone who could advise directors on how to use philatelic props correctly. The character in question should have been examining 1920’s plate blocks or mint singles and then we would have seen him as the thoughtful, perspicacious character that he was supposed to be. However, my wife thought I was being a snob and that the scene worked and that while a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, sometimes too much knowledge is worse.
Related Posts
Let It Snow
Uncategorized / February 11, 2009
Yesterday, we had nearly 30 inches of snow in my neighborhood of suburban Philadelphia. By three hours into the storm, the Internet, television and phone…
Public Auction 1069 april 28,29,30
Uncategorized / April 27, 2009
With over 3700 new lots I urge you to take a look at our Public Auction that takes place this week. Especially appealing is a…
An Offer
Uncategorized / April 28, 2009
Its amazing how rapid the response to blogs can be. I wrote several days ago about how inexpensively postage is selling for right now and…