I thought I would buy it as proof that Colin did produce lots of Discworld cinderellas in case of any attempts in the future to revise him out of history!

 

I expected it to go for a fair bit but after a hard-fought battle it was mine for 99p.  Only me wanted it in the whole wide world.  I can remember when two or three people had heard of Colin.  Come on - get more stamps on the go.  Folk are forgetting you - whoever you are!

 

Keith

 

Well as many of you know my dad had a stroke earlier in the year and as I live nearest to him out of my 3 brothers it has been quite time-consuming to make sure he - and more often my Mum, particularly in the early months - have everything they need to get through this. Stamps have had to take a back seat.

 

On a more positive note, one of the reasons I missed Wadfest was that it was my Dad's 79th birthday at the weekend and he is now slowly getting round in his wheelchair and he even made me a cup of tea all by himself while I got his PC back online for the first time since March - so his recovery is proceeding, slowly but surely, and things are returning to 'normal' for him and all of us.

 

I still have (LOTS of) plans for cinderella stamps and I have been able to do a little work on these every now and then but I just keep missing deadlines while more important things happen. 

 

We still have not had our central heating boiler reinstated since the fire in  December and the repair work to the house also gets in the way of stamps as I work from home and much of my archive was either ruined in the damping down after the fire, or has been put away in storage, so when I do get the time to do some designing for my own entertainment often the source material is 30 miles away.

 

I wanted the LBEs to give to my two sons, and one of everything as a reference copy which I will send to a Discworld archivist along with copies of all the correspondence about the stamps that Alan and I had with each other and the shop management and staff, including letters, emails, invoices, draft copies, faxes etc so that in years to come there will be good documentary evidence of how many sheets of everything were printed, how much they cost to design, illustrate and print and who did what.  So hopefully there will be an extremely interesting record of our involvement in the design and illustration of the first four years of the Discworld stamps which collectors will be able to access and learn all sorts of enlightening things from.

 

I am still buying sample DW stamps to fill the gaps in my archives, like Keith I am enjoying cherry-picking interesting items from ebay (and trading via collectors on the DW forum) while there seem to be more people selling than buying (at the moment).  Many of my original samples were ruined in the fire - gummed paper and enthusiastic firemen do not mix.

 

So I haven't stopped designing cinderellas.  I did feel guilty about taking three weeks off a couple of months back to travel a bit and recharge my batteries, but boy, did we need that. I know I could have been doing stamps instead but it did give me a lot of inspiration for some new stamps. Soon, hopefully. 

 

I can completely relate to getting hijacked by life, no matter what I'd rather be doing.  I know that I am not quite patientlly waiting to see what incredible creations they have come up with this time. 

 

As for the DW stamp market, it's only reflecting the economy, like anything else out there.  I have considered parting with another collection I have to help fund xmas costs, but things just aren't selling for anything close to what I'd like to get for them.  On the upside, I might get a pair of designer sunglasses I've fallen in love with for just a fraction of their retail price.

 

But I suppose we shouldn't mock - not everyone can be as photogenic as you and I Steve.

 

You leave those prices alone Susanne - they are just fine and I've been able to fill a few longstanding gaps in my collection recently

 

Keith

 

I bought a 'Malicious Sporting' LBE for £1.99, which arrived today.  There are so many bargains to be had and the trick for me is to combine as many purchases from one seller with single postage.  I have also been buying corners and stamps with selvedge.

 

If anyone wants their malicious Sporting LBE signed pm me here.  There aren't many DW items which feature people and it would make a fun collection to have all of these items signed - even by one of the outcasts such as me  :-)

 

 

 

Any others you can think of?

Waddy - The Amazing Wadfest LBE

Pat - The Jolly Postman Pat

Fiona was one of the Agony Aunts on the very rare "City Watch : Wanted Dotsie and Sadie"

And I believe that Steve Briggs' image appeared on a few in his guise of Vetinari

There's a few to be going on with...