Philately Is Not What It Used To Be

My dad collected stamps. He even had some of the Republic of China’s first issue stamps with the portrait of Dr. Sun Yat-sen.

The scene from Stanley Donen’s Charade (1963), seems to epitomize philately as my father enjoyed it.

In the film, Mr. Felix, the stamp dealer, acquires a valuable stamp from a young boy in a marketplace. When Audrey Hepburn’s character, Reggie Lampert, goes with the boy to recover the valuable stamp, the dealer knew that he would have to return it, but says just having the stamp in his possession for a few minutes gave him much satisfaction.

Now, I’m down with Star Wars but USPS marketing seems to have gone postal.