Cool story Punk

Tales of intrigue, discovery, mystery, and fortunes made and lost. Also, random shit.

Storytime! Weekend at Punkie’s

| The Punk Philatelist

There’s a new post on the way shortly, but let me put the reviews and rants aside for a moment and tell you about my weekend. It was exciting, but in a way that only my people will understand. (Philatelists are much like those who like fishing: we LOVE telling you all about our big catch.)

So I’d I popped into a local club auction to check out a set of commemorative covers. One of those not-strictly-what-I-collect-but-maybe-I-could-have-it-around kinda deals. In the end, I decided I didn’t need them. Game over for me. I began to mosey through the rest of the viewing tables on my way out.

And that’s when I spied them.

Continue reading →

Circuit books: WTF?

| The Punk Philatelist

Circuit book and catalogueHello and welcome to the new occasional segment I just decided to launch! Here’s how it works: you ask ‘WTF?’ and then I explain a thing. Got that? Great.

So a few years back I joined a local philatelic society. A stamp club. I hadn’t been in a stamp club since primary school, and it’s not something I mention to my normal friends, because we all know how it sounds (except for people who join stamp clubs, many of whom do not realize how it sounds). I also joined the club’s circuit book list.

Stop right there! “Circuit books” – WTF? Continue reading →

Stamp blogging: it’s the new Punk!

| The Punk Philatelist

Philippines P5 Marikina Shoe Capital stampSo, um… hi…

Just a follow-up to the previous post, you know, that one where the founder of the website up and left.

I’m Gerard (a name?! This website is going to the dogs already). I’ll be your Punk for the foreseeable future, and as she mentioned in her farewell speech, I’ve been a little bit of Punk in the past. I want to add my voice to those on this website and on Punk’s social media channels who bade Punk #1 a loving farewell. She wanted no serenade on her way out, but she undoubtedly blazed a unique trail in the philatelic world. She’s spending some time wandering off trails now, so I wish her all the very best. My involvement in this blog began as a delighted reader and avid follower, so I’ll aim to be as surprising and entertaining as she was, but hey… let’s not count our chickens. Continue reading →

A new year, a new Punk. Get drinking.

| The Punk Philatelist

France 1938 300th Anniversary of the Birth of Dom Pierre Pérignon - Traditional Costume of Champagne 1.75F stamp

It’s not very often I get meta about blogging this blog, but indulge me for one New Year’s Eve post.

A naughty little secret has been hiding in plain sight for a while now, alluded to in the ‘Punk Philatelist Manifesto’ page. If you haven’t spotted it, prepare to have your MIND BLOWN. Continue reading →

Hello, new friends!

UK 2017 Classic Toys 1st Spacehopper stamp
| The Punk Philatelist

Just a quick note to say thank you to the pals who have shared some of my older posts around the internet this week, and a warm hello to any new eyeballs. I’m a bit quiet right now due to day job commitments, but I’m taking the opportunity to tweak a few things in the back end to make this a bigger and better site.

We’ve re-established in the last few days that I’m not everyone’s cup of tea, but please, poke around, have your say, swear at me, pass things on to collectors who you think might enjoy something a bit different, or non-collectors under whose noses you think you could sneak some philately without them noticing…

PP x

© Philatelic product images remain the copyright of issuing postal administrations and successor authorities.

Exploring Exploring Stamps

Exploring Exploring Stamps tnf
| The Punk Philatelist

A day off work due to illness presents a perfect opportunity to binge-watch a series that you’ve been meaning to see for a long time. So it was that I recently popped a painkiller, snuggled into my bed, and reached for the comforting glow of my laptop.

Which series would see me through the day? A dystopian futuristic drama about women in sexual servitude? One of those quirky Aussie comedies with no jokes in it? A day-trip back to Westeros and Game of Thrones?

Oh no, my friends, I had bigger fish to fry. It was time to explore a YouTube series that had been on my radar for a long time. It was time to explore Exploring Stamps.

Exploring Stamps title board

Exploring Stamps debuted on YouTube at the end of 2016, comprising seasons that are 20 (short) episodes each in length, along with occasional specials. At the start of each regular episode, our host, Graham, plucks a stamp from a trove stashed in a big cardboard box, and uses it as a launching pad for a journey of discovery. Most often this involves the stamp’s history and subject matter, with a bit of philately-for-the-beginner along the way. But his tangents can delight and surprise. Continue reading →

A big, BIG issue

| The Punk Philatelist

Australia 2018 Silo Art $1 Brim Guido van Helten stamp
Brim, Victoria
Artist: Guido van Helten

One of my favourite Aussie issues of recent times was 2017’s Street Art – vibrant, modern, urban and startlingly different from the usual stamp fodder. Not surprisingly, those stunning works were a big hit on my Instagram page. They’re very like-able.

I’m a month late with this update but I still wanted to say how much I loved seeing Australia Post continue the theme with May’s Silo Art issue. Silo art is the rural equivalent of street art, except that it’s painted on grain silos, and it is, as a rule, fucking ENORMOUS. Continue reading →

Cold War propaganda stamp of the day

| The Punk Philatelist

Poland 1973 30th Anniversary of Polish People's Army 1zl T-55 tank stampPolitics and human rights abuses aside, I love propaganda stamps. When I was very young, almost everything I knew of life behind the Iron Curtain came from my kiddie stamp collection. Countries like Poland, Romania and Hungary must have earned some sweet forex coin getting their stamps into the Western collector market. Eastern Europeans, I knew, were mad for Lenin, space, the Winter Olympics and military hardware.

This stamp isn’t the most propaganda-y of my propaganda collection, but it was always a fave (despite the damage at the bottom, marking this as a genuine Punk Philatelist artefact of the era).

I looked into it this week, and found that it was one of a 1973 set marking the thirtieth anniversary of the Polish People’s Army. That’s the kind of thing they called armies when the Soviets ruled the roost.

Look at that stamp again: it’s so action. It says more than “We have tanks.” It says “We have tanks and they are coming for YOU!”

Poland 1973 30th Anniversary of Polish People's Army 1zl MiG-21 D fighter stampThe issue also featured a plane, a ship, and a missile, all of which are also coming for YOU.

What makes them so dynamic? Sure, there are streaks of color representing the dust being kicked up, and the turbulence caused by the various aircraft, and there are the foamy breakers against the battleship’s hull.

The answer lies in one simple design feature: Continue reading →

Australia Day: an awkward first date

| The Punk Philatelist

Australia 1979 Australia Day 20c Union Jack stamp

This Friday, January 26, is Australia Day, and that means it’s argument week down under. Crack open a tinny and celebrate with a very rare Punk Philatelist Longread!

Australia Day is Australia’s national day. It’s called Australia Day because obviously the names of all the other countries were already taken. Australia Day has been celebrated on many different dates in different regions in different eras, but it’s only since 1994 that it’s been uniformly observed on January 26.

We maybe should’ve thought that one through. Continue reading →