I can still remember when I first discovered Antonius Ra's worldwide collection on the web. It was a revelation that not only did worldwide collections like this exist, but that someone would take the time to make scans of their album pages for the benefit of collectors all over the world.
As some of you know, there was a fire at Antonius Ra's (Mitchell's) house several days ago. While no one was injured and the collection was saved, the home suffered significant damage. There is a thread on Stamporama about the fire and a link there for anyone able to make a donation to help Mitchell and his wife.
The famous stamp collector Josiah Lilly said that there were 100,000 postage stamps he wanted for his collection and he succeeded in acquiring 77,000. My considerably easier target is 35,000 of the more common stamps from 1840-1940 contained in the Scott Blue International Album Volume 1. This blog will record my progress, provide general information about Classic era philately and hopefully encourage other "Blue" collectors.
3 comments:
Hear hear... I would have posted a similar note on SCB few days back when I heard the news, but the *stupid* Finnish legislation does not allow me to promote fundraisers without a 'Finnish fundraising permit'. Double-sigh for all those things that a common sense cannot comprehend.
I just hope Mitch and his family will somehow manage to overcome the hardships. It's really a shame when bad things like this happen to good people.
-k-
Keijo, I think I remember that when you were starting the subscriptions for your blog, the same legislation caused you headaches. Good intentions do not automatically make good law, apparently.
Bob,
I just wanted to pass along some more news on Mitch I just read on the Stamporama newsletter:
"Sadly, approximately 3 weeks after the fire, Mitchell suffered a terrible injury as a result of a fall while trying to clean up the second floor of his home. Another SOR member, Mike Owsian, has been in contact with the family and received news regarding Mitch’s condition. Mitch’s son Raymond stated that his father “suffered 2 broken feet and a severely broken pelvis. He went through 2 surgeries but is in recovery now. He has a very long road ahead of him though.”
Thought folks would like to know,
-Chris
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