In 1874, the Treaty of Berne created the Universal Postal Union, an international, independent overseer of the mail, sort of like a NATO for your vacation postcards.  Most all of the civilized world recognizes the UPU’s authority over getting the mail to its intended destination, and part of the UPU’s operation is to reconcile the funds for delivering international mail.   When you purchase a international postage stamp, you go to your local post office, and your own nation’s postal service receives the payment for the postage.   The country that actually delivers the mail, at the destination, doesn’t get paid for that particular stamp.   Within a country, businesses use postage-guaranteed return envelopes, while private citizens can include a self-addressed stamped envelope, both of which ensures a return response by guaranteeing that postage is already paid to the delivering postal service.   You cannot exactly put a bunch of U.S.A.-originated airmail stamps on an enclosed envelope and cross your fingers in hopes that France’s postal service will get your response back to you.  While the internet reduces the impact of this sort of international postal morass, there has been a distinct efficient solution to this problem since 1906:  the International Reply Coupon.

These slips are powerful little bits of international diplomacy: You purchase an IRC from your local post office, who postmarks the form, then gives it to you.    When you mail your friend in London, you enclose an IRC, which they then present to their post office in exchange for the correct postage.  This allows someone at the other end of the world to mail something to you internationally, without bearing the cost of postage.

As with most postal collectibles, there are two major aspects to desirability of these IRCs:   Age and Country of Origin.  While an IRC from your local post office might be a novel addition to a collection, collecting IRCs from other countries has a far greater scope than your hometown.    Getting an IRC from another country is the difficult part, which accounts for their somewhat rarity:  You need to get a local resident of that country to send one to you.   This happens casually in other hobbies, such as QSL trading among Ham Radio operators (another CQ article in itself), or even philatelic trading groups who exchange local stamps with other international hobbyists.  These IRCs will, of course, only have one single postmark, even though there are two blanks.   The second blank is for your local country’s postmark, validating the return postage, but once the local postmark is added the IRC is traded for stamps and the post office keeps the IRC.   As such, an IRC with two postmarks is probably quite rare - in my brief research, I found no examples with two stamps.

Throughout the life of the International Reply Coupon, the design of the Coupon has had only a single design at any one time, although the design has changed progressively over the years and languages varied in some versions within the same style.    The earliest design had an allegory of international communication, a woman passing an envelope around two stylized globes.    Today’s design, newly revised for the centennial of the IRC, returned to an allegorical design using two hands (a detail of the Creation, from the Sistine Chapel) in front of an outline of a postage stamp.   Other versions existed between the two, with varying degrees of ornament and bureaucracy.    The particular forms were printed in enormous numbers and distributed to the four corners of the globe, and largely serve for identifying the time period they were issued in.    The first day the IRCs were issued was October 1st, 1907, and IRCs with that stamp are quite rare because they were only issued in very few post offices.  As not every post office is able to issue an IRC, you cannot expect to find them from every city or postal code, but every UPU country has the ability to issue them — how often these were purchased and remain unredeemed is nearly impossible to determine, so great diligence is needed to identify examples you need for your collection.   Another variance in IRCs occurred when postal rates occurred within a country.   Just as when you had to add a three-cent stamp to get your local mail delivered, IRCs purchased within certain time periods may have both a postmark and an additional postage stamp attached to cover the difference in postage.   Despite their general rarity, there is not a lot of demand for them as this is an overlooked collectible for the most part.   Good examples dating back even to the 1930s can be had for under $10, while the earliest of them can go for hundreds of dollars.

I don’t know about you, but I’m a bit tired of (and frustrated by) declarations that collecting is bad; that it’s materialistic, and nothing more than bad consumerism. You know that I’ve ranted and raved the opposite, but in my desire to better separate collecting from poor consumer habits (and the related anti-consumerist movements and organizations) I figured you needed more than just my words. Or maybe I just needed to be validated. Anyway, I went looking for an expert.

And I found one: Professor Marina Bianchi.

Professor, please give us a brief biography of yourself.

I graduated in Rome, Faculty of Philosophy, with a thesis on the problem that things often have a particular value for their users that is not matched by their value (price) in the market. Very soon I was appointed as a researcher in the Faculty of Economics in Rome, La Sapienza. Now I am professor of Economics in the University of Cassino, where I teach Microeconomics and Industrial organization. I visit often The United States where my husband teaches Economics at Duke University. At the moment we are both teaching a course in Venice entitled The Economics of Creative Goods, where we explore the characteristics of both the production and the consumption of creative goods and activities (from movies to fashion, from videogames to books).

Please describe your work/study.

I was always interested in the problem of the choices individuals make: whether they are efficient (or rational as economists say), how learning and skills affect hem, and how they change through social interaction. At first I studied the role of entrepreneurship and competition in generating change and innovation. Later I discovered how important, though sadly neglected in economics, is the often innovative roles played by consumers. My theoretical tools mixed philosophy, game theory, psychology, and economic history.

I read your papers, but I would like confirmation that I am understanding them correctly… Would you briefly define/describe the following areas of your studies:

*consumer choice theory
*preference formation, the role of novelty in consumption & satisfaction

I soon realized that consumers too have entrepreneurial abilities. They take advantage of unexploited opportunities and create novel solutions to problems in the pursuit of their own wellbeing, just as entrepreneurs do in the pursuit of profits. Think of the re-discovery of past trends, or of quite fresh ways for dressing, that can come from the street; or of the original and unique ways one can combine elements in music, or furniture, or clothes and accessories. Think too of consumer-created products such as YouTube, Flickr, or MySpace. Consumers also adapt things made available by producers in completely unexpected, creative ways: for example, new model creation by fans of Lego; downloading and file-sharing via cell phones.

In studying consumer choice I try to emphasize the active role of consumers. In this process of creation of new alternatives on the part of consumers, I also stress how preferences change and become more refined. Why should change and innovation be the preserve of producers and be assumed to come only within the organizational framework of firms and corporations? Whereas most economists tend to assume preferences are given and explain choices as due to changes in relative prices or income, I posit a much more restless, exploratory role for consumers.

How & when did you find yourself specializing in the areas you do?

Individual choices are at centre stage in economics but, strangely, individual preferences and motivations are never analysed. Motivation and preferences have been left to others – psychologists, sociologists – to explain and document. They are considered too inscrutable and subjective for a precise and exact science as economics wants to be. But I was always curious about individual motivations and thought that there was something important missing here.

By looking at what other disciplines had to say about motivations I discovered why novelty, variety, complexity, surprise and even uncertainty play such an important role in choices. Take novelty, for example. Do we find the repetition of a single note in music pleasurable? No. Not that unbounded change and novelty is pleasant either. But novelty, within recognizable bounds, is associated with positive feelings of pleasure and the same is true with variety and the other properties I just mentioned. When you read a novel or watch a movie, or listen to a story, why do you like it so much? Because while the plot with its characters gives you the reassurance of a frame of reference, the unfolding of the plot with its suspense, surprises, and new twists gives you the thrill and stimulation of novelty. So it is with collecting: we organize our collections and constantly re-order them too. Each order we impose gives the items a sense or meaning; yet each additional item is new and exciting, whether it adds something different within an order or provokes a re-thinking of that order. This is why collecting can become such a passion.

I found you searching for something more positive on collecting and consumerism. Seems there are quite a few blaming consumerism for darn near everything, and other than a few concessions that collecting can be a good thing for its recycling points, most see collecting as a negative hobby or activity. Do you see collecting as a purely consumerist activity? Is all consumerism ‘bad’?

You correctly infer, from my writings but also from what I have just said, that I am very impatient with those who caste consumers in the role of victim – the dupes of advertisers – or active consumers as aberrant: going overboard in acquisition or exhibiting a kind of mania as collectors. Clearly there can be excess in the consumption of things as there can be in the imbibing of food or drink. But it is unreflective to take the pursuit of variety and change, as in fashion, as due only to a search for status, or to jump from observing careless or wasteful consumption to calling for a new era of frugality and restraint. I do not see consumption as an activity that destroys rather than creates and production as something nobler.

It is true that in order to be more enjoyable and creative consumption must be skilled consumption: you must know the goods and experiences you are consuming. But, the more consumption will be thought of as inferior or wasteful, the less prepared we will be in acquiring the skills necessary for creative consumption. Fortunately things are changing, and fast. The communities of interacting consumers that form through the internet in a variety of new and ingenious ways are very important for the creation of skilled consumers. And in many ways we see them leading producers and opening up new potential for living lives of satisfaction.

Do you yourself collect anything?

Yes. In the past I collected ‘forties dresses and costume jewellery. More recently I have developed a real passion for bakelite bangles. It started by chance and soon I discovered how infinitely combinable and variable they were. Unfortunately for me many others have discovered the same so that they have become very expensive. But this is the destiny of many collectables and it does not destroy the possibility and the joy of finding a never-before-seen piece at a price that you are willing to pay. Moreover, extraordinary substitutes are being used in creative ways by designers, which introduces new consumers to the pleasure of this pursuit at more affordable prices.

Fundamentally, is there much difference between ‘research’ and ‘collecting’?

I think that between intellectual or scientific research and collecting there are many things in common. In research, as in collecting, we have a frame of reference that provides the organizing guide and that gives shape to problems or challenges and tells us where to look for possible solutions. And also in research the aim is to conquer something new that reshapes one’s organizing framework and opens new paths. But collecting is more playful, light, and pleasurable in every phase. Enjoying your collection is as pleasurable as when you are searching for a new addition to it, and the difficulties you meet only increase the final enjoyment. Buying an already made collection would destroy half the pleasure. Research is more costly in terms of intellectual efforts and discipline, but, yes, the principles are the same!

So there you have it, folks: Collecting isn’t bad. As a collector you can be an educated consumer, be helping the economy, be creative, and, actually be living a satisfying life. Who knew? Well, actually, we collectors already knew that. But now you have some research to back you up.

When did you begin collecting M&M items — and why?

I got my first piece in 1995 became serious collector about 2001. I’m not sure why… I just found them very cute and saw lots of items each holiday Easter, Valentines day, Christmas, Halloween etc.

How many items do you have in your collection?

Way too many to count! There are thousands of them. I have a room dedicated to the collection — wall to wall ceiling to floor; plus M&M stuff in other parts of the house. Also, I have a 10 X 7 foot warehouse in my back yard full of bins and bins of more & more M&Ms and even bins in the garage and laundry room. Everything I use is M&M, even my office supplies at work.

What’s the most extreme you’ve gone for any item?

Hum not really sure…

I live in NY but have been to Vegas for the 1st M&m’s World store and for the M&M collectors convention (not affiliated with M&M Mars). I’ve even been a human M&M in NY Times Square for the grand opening of M&M’s World. I’ve also been on on a few news channels, including the TV show 20/20, and in a few newspapers.

Here’s a photo of me in my 2006 Halloween costume — an M&M vending machine. It had a glass front coin return dollar slot & looked so real that I won the $300 prize at my job.

Oh, and an artist was recently at my house to take photos & make sketches of me and my collection.

Really? Tell me more about that.

I answered an ad looking for a collector. She wants to ad paintings drawings to her portfolio and wanted to paint a collector with their collection, and picked me because she was fairly local to me and loved the idea of M&M’s since they are so colorful.

Do you collect anything else?

Yes, I collect a magnet from everywhere I visit, and I used to collect Hard Rock Cafe’ shirts from everywhere I went that had one. (As a matter of fact, I was in a “who can get the most shirts” competition with my hubby for those.)

With so many items in your collection, it’s hard for me to imagine there’s much left to collect unless it’s hot-off-the production line — but is there still a ‘holy grail’ item you seek?

I would like to get the pieces I am missing that Danbury Mint put out (they are very expensive).

Well, I hope Santa’s listening. *wink*

To see more of her fabulous collection, check out nutzaboutmnmz in the Collectors’ Quest Community.

(Got your own collection to show off? Join for free!)

The Greater Lansing Woman (a magazine, not a genus or species) has pulled together a list of ten things worth collecting. While any collector will scoff at such a list and provide their own Top Ten, these are online and inviting commentary — which I shall do hereforth. Their list doesn’t appear to be taken from any other source, and I think they put a bit of thought into it, providing anyone in need of a collection with something they can run with. Here we go:

1. Quilts. While I’m not a Guy’s Guy, collecting quilts sounds a bit lame to me — compare it to collecting carpet samples or throw pillows; a quilt is utilitarian, and is often hand-crafted from whatever the maker had on-hand at the time, removing any sort of basis for price comparison. However, as the Wifey and I discovered at a recent local auction, people get all stitched-in-the-ditch when handmade quilts are up for sale. Things I found unassuming (and might sniff once and leave at the foot of the bed if presented with one) were going for well over a hundred bucks each. They fall into the gray area between art and utility, and if there’s anything that demands a premium it’s items with more than one interested audience. Toss in the modern interest in decorating with real antiques, there’s also people looking for a hundred-year-old quilt for a stylish guestroom. Aside from inherent value and wide reach, if you’re a fan of soft and snuggly collectibles and teddy-bears are a little too creepy for you, quilts are right up your alley.

2. Cast Iron. The casual collector might be interested in collecting just what they like to see on their shelves, which works well — but a high-end cast-iron collector has to be a bit more careful. Replicas abound, and are quite difficult to detect due to the traditional manufacturing methods. You might even have the trouble of telling whether something’s original 19th century, was made in the early 20th century from the same molds, or a 21st century version made for the decorating market. Once you’ve got your appraisal skills fine-tuned, make sure to build some stronger shelves.

3. Dog and Cat Figurines. Like the cast iron, there’s such a wide range of items encompassed here. High-end collectors need to know their thing; casual collectors just need to limit their focus, lest they become known as the crazy lady with a den full of tiny, dead-eyed creatures.

4. Nancy Drew mystery books. I’m surprised this market isn’t already dominated by focus on the earliest of editions, but eBay sellers don’t seem to be obsessive over the edition number. Farah’s Guide is considered the premiere price-guide for keeping track of the 2,745(!?!) printings of Nancy Drew books since 1930. Between the books, a TV series and a recent movie, Nancy Drew has had more impact than just the books. Also remember collecting books makes you an intellectual, even if you never predicted how Nancy would solve the mystery.

5. Little Golden Books. Now, here’s a series of books that demand a premium based on their edition. Little Golden Books, between being beat-up by loving children, and now three or four generations of those loving children wanting to reclaim something of their childhood, makes these a desirable and increasingly rare commodity. There’s also the plus of those long-discontinued books with socially unacceptable topics, like Little Black Sambo, that mostly can only be found in private collections. If you like digging through boxes of colored-in kid’s books with loose boards, hit the rummage sales and you’re sure to find some charmers every weekend.

6. Christmas. The List here focuses on antique Christmas ornaments, completely missing the Hallmarkified modern Christmas collectibles market. This is a good collection for people without the interest or stamina to remember publishing dates or maker’s marks: collecting modern ornament series shouldn’t be overlooked. When it comes to the antique Christmas collectibles, though, you might want to note the care and safety required if you’re going to use it during the Season: the glass is very fragile, paper and celluloid decorations are very flammable, and the electrical items were (or have become, due to age) fire hazards.

7. Star Trek, Star Wars. They go from Christmas, which these days amounts to anything related to the last 1/4 of the calendar, to a rather specialized pair of collectibles. As far as pop culture icons go, these are two of the biggies in the past thirty years, especially to the rapidly-aging Generation X. This is also, strangely, a guy-oriented collectible (probably all the guns and busty characters), one of the few where a guy can devote a whole room to non-sports collectibles and not have his buddies nudge-nudge about it. “Hey guys, wanna come over for the game? Oh, and I got some great new carnival-glass candy dishes I gotta show you!” The ‘grown-up playing with toys’ stigma has faded in the past decades — especially now that those toys are worth a pretty penny.

8. Kewpie Dolls. This one surprised me, because it’s not a common collectible, but it’s got all the hallmarks of a good collection: common but not everywhere; a cultural connection that most people can identify; quality and age makes for a nice range of price; and a variety of styles to keep it interesting. With such a long production timeline and their share of knockoffs, research is always a good idea; a Kewpie price guide, is always a help.

9. Western & Cowboy Decor. Cowboy stuff has always been a popular decorating motif, as the article points out, but there’s a bunch more to western & cowboy collecting than just the decor: Marx’s Johnny West action-figure series, silent cowboy movies, comic books, Louis Lamour novels — and, depending on how they’re used, can count as decor if you’re that interested in defining your collection that way. As with the Star-Something collectibles, this is largely a guy-focused like of collecting, although moms (like my Wifey) are often attracted to it when setting up a newborn boy’s bedroom. The romanticism and fantasy-world of the cowboy, train-robberies and indian-oppression aside, appeals to a very deep American vein in many people.

10. My Little Pony. If all the modern-pop-culture collectibles seem to be boy-focused, here’s a shining example of where girls — sorry — women can relive their happy fantasies of childhood through their collections. My Little Pony is a long-running example (we bought a new one for my niece last month), but there were loads of these toys in the 1980s when marketers began to really catch on to the focusing of fantasy-toys, combined with colorful cartoons, marketed directly to young girls. Remember, pre-seventies the toys for girls tended to be fantasies of their own impending adulthood (Barbie, tea sets, baby dolls), so a chubby rubber pony with rainbow hair and a birthday cake branded on its butt is quite a left turn from a peeing baby doll. Rainbow Brite, the Smurfs, Popples, Care Bears, Jem — there’s so many to pick from, it shouldn’t be hard to pick a favorite and run with it. While girl play-time involved far less smashing with bricks and firecrackers than boy toys, they weren’t as careful as one might have ideally expected…not as many toys survived as you might think.

Did you ever notice how your collection is normal, but another person’s collection can be, well, strange?

It’s not just you. Everybody does it. It’s apparently as much a part of human nature to collect as it is to question the sanity of another for what they collect.

I’ve had someone with me at a flea market be appalled with my $10 vintage linen purchase. “Old used dish towels? Eeeiiwww!” they said. Yet they happily — greedily — paid twice that sum for a poster of their favorite baseball team. Who got the better deal? We’d likely argue to the death over that one. *wink*

When folks stop by our house and see an assortment of items on the dining room table waiting to be shipped, they’ll pick them up one by one and inevitably ask questions about ‘who would want that junk.’

I have to explain, even if only to guess. I have to because I know that even if I don’t know why, even if I don’t squeal with delight over it, I sure do understand the glee behind collecting. No matter what it is.

“Who would want an old photo of a nurse they don’t know?”

“Maybe they are a nurse and they are proud of the history and tradition?” I reply.

“OK, why would someone want an old coloring book — one that’s already been colored in?” they say laughing.

“Being colored in isn’t really an issue for such old children’s books because just being ‘alive’ is rare,” I explain. “I know lots of sewers use the old images for embroidery designs including making modernized iron-on transfer patterns.”

I’m just guessing, of course. Not everyone tells us why they buy what they buy. But when they do, I just love it because the stories, the reasons, are fascinating.

Here are a few collections which, while I wouldn’t call strange, I’ve never thought of before. And each collector mentions why they started their collection too.

Steve Dichter, who worked at station KTLA in Los Angeles for 16 years, takes his vintage color TV’s pretty seriously. (There’s even more here.)

Anthony Pietrak is “Qrazy for Q*Bert” and it shows.

Cliff Muskiet has wanted to become a flight attendant ever since he was a small boy. Before he could achieve that dream, he began collecting stewardess uniforms — he now has more than 640 different stewardess uniforms from 292 airlines and he’s not stopping.

Erik S. Klein has a vintage computer collection of over 50 machines; most of which work well and have original documentation, software and, in some cases, original packaging.

What do you collect? Strange or not, it’s easy to show it off, share your passion for it, and meet other collectors in the Collectors’ Quest Community.

That’s why we say, Gotta Collect? Then You Gotta Connect! - Join our Collectors’ Community.