Trigger warning, I guess. This one’s sad.
Grosvenor Auctions in the UK recently announced the shocking news of the passing of Constanze Dennis. Despite her relatively young age, Constanze was Grosvenor’s managing director, and condolences have been suitably expressed at the formal end of philately.
But many readers of this blog would have known her as one of the most vibrant and entertaining young voices in the online stamp collecting community, and I’d like to reflect on what she meant to those of us out here in the boondocks.
Unfortunately, I never got to meet Constanze in person. Our interactions took the form of the reactions, comments and DMs that are the ways of the internet. We all have those online friends who we can’t strictly say we know know, but whose updates and thoughts come to mean something to us.
I think I’ve been feeling a bit similar to when a favourite actor or singer dies, and the analogy is perfectly apt, because Constanze was our rock star – more of a punk philatelist than I will ever be. Her Instagram account @constanzethegreat lived up to its billing. Her enthusiasm for her hobby positively leapt off the screen in posts as colourful as her hair, whether she was sharing her professional life, investigating (or mocking) some artefact that had crossed her path, or indulging in fun after hours. Forget the girl with the dragon tattoo; this girl had a 186 barred numeral postmark tattoo (for Chesterfield, her home town). And that wasn’t even her only philatelic tattoo! That is COMMITMENT.
(If you’re reading this post in the email newsletter, you may not be able to see the Instagram pics embedded here, but hopefully you can click through to them.)
But as her followers knew and adored, Constanze’s greatest passion was reserved for postboxes. Her love of Penfolds and Ludlows knew no bounds. She was a member of the Letterbox Study Circle and she may have single-handedly inspired a few members of a younger generation to embrace the postbox aesthetic.
…Actually, her postbox obsession did know one bound, which we discovered the day that her charms failed to gain her entry to a Pakistani army base to see an old British postbox that she just knew was in there. But at least the soldiers were able to confirm its existence. (She posted another box while recounting the story.)
Even if you weren’t into postal infrastructure, her Insta feed was a marvel of colour and learning thanks to her indefatigable travel bug. She wanted to visit every country in the world, and she got to 75, which is amazing. A good number of them had red marks against them on official government websites, so it’s not like she took the easy road. How many thirtysomething Westerners have visited Iraq without having been dispatched there in uniform?
Constanze also organised regular Postcrossing meetups in London. Postcrossers, who enjoy exchanging postcards on a global scale, are mourning her loss, and it is touching to read the words of those who knew her, or who had exchanged postcards with her (like you’re supposed to in Postcrossing, that’s the point). I’m glad to hear that the London meeting she had scheduled for May 3rd will go ahead in her honour.
Constanze had experienced long-term health issues since surviving leukaemia. Having written a blog tracing her leukaemia battle, she contributed her talents to cancer support. Despite their heavy subject matter, the speeches she gave were perhaps even more hilarious than her philatelic postings. She had shared on Instagram some recent bad news on the health front (though in classic style this was accompanied by photos of a happy Constanze posing beside the first post box of the reign of King Charles III, followed by a cream tea and a trip to a pub called the Jolly Postie). While this makes her death somewhat comprehensible, it remains a no less tragic loss that will be sorely felt by many.
Constanze’s partner Tom has set up a fundraiser for some related medical charities in her honour. Perhaps you might consider contributing if you were a fan. In fact, visit the page just to read his tribute to her. (I learned about the fundraiser after I had already started writing this piece. I noticed that he also called her a ‘rock star’. I decided not to change my description above, because a fact is a fact.) It is also worth visiting the page if you want to see perhaps the funniest photo that has ever been selected for a fundraising tribute effort. Click here to head to GiveWheel.
Those who will miss Constanze might also like to read an interview with her that was posted just last month by an old schoolfriend. It reveals much about her attitude to life, and tracks pretty well with the Constanze we saw on Instagram. There are a few quotable quotes too.
I’m really good at only comparing myself to what I think I’m capable of, not what those around me are doing. There’s always going to be some twat that’s better than you but as long as you did your best then who cares?
Constanze Dennis
elliereadsandwrites.com
The shock at Constanze’s passing was palpable among friends online, and here in real life on the other side of the world. In the weeks since, I have reflected on her singular importance to our community. It’s hardly a secret that philately skews old and male, especially among societies and auction houses and the judging panels at every single exhibition. This isn’t a criticism of anyone who fits that demographic, because it’s my own future. But that image does dominate the public face of stamp collecting, and it must surely cause anyone who doesn’t fit that mould to wonder if there’s a place for them at this table.
But there are young collectors, female collectors, and those who don’t match the stereotype in other ways. And Constanze was out there being the proof. It’s not just that she existed within this world, but that she made herself so very visible within it. She broadcast the fun she was having. Not for her a photo of a stamp with a dreary catalogue description; her feed oozed passion, hilarity, emotion, self-deprecation, and wonder. She was a brilliant salesperson for the craft, and clearly was able to speak old-man fluently enough to make herself useful in the industry.
People wonder what will become of stamp collecting; I hope that Constanze the Great’s Instagram feed remains online as a beacon of what ‘modern philately’ is. Her Postcrossing friends recall how welcoming she was at the in-person meet-ups. If anyone who wanders in to a real-world stamp event or an online platform can feel the same sense of welcome, there’ll be no need to despair for the future. In our public sharing of this hobby and in our personal interactions, we can all take a leaf out of Constanze’s stamp album.
Even among those who only knew her as a tiny face on an app, Constanze will be missed. I know I speak for many when I offer my condolences to Tom, to her family, and to her personal and philatelic friends and colleagues.
If I were to try desperately to end on a lighter note, I could say that if you like the idea of an afterlife, or maybe even just ghosts, then we are fortunate to have been given a sneak preview of where Constanze just might be now.
Vale Constanze. The Greatest.
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(DrGee, I approved this comment just to tip you off that you might have gone too early with the Submit button 😉)
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hello, I was one of Constanze’s closest personal friends and someone at her funeral yday mentioned you so I had to Google. Thanks for this lovely tribute. I also wrote her a blog post, but it’s much less stamp related https://rainbowjanebow.substack.com/p/one-of-my-best-friends-died?r=1tfimk&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true&triedRedirect=true
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Jane, I’m so sorry for the loss of your dear friend. I loved this tribute so much. Thank you for sending it. (I’m assuming you meant this for public viewing? Let me know ASAP if you didn’t!)
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