2006.12.17: December 17, 2006: Headlines: COS - India: Stamps: Portland Press Herald: India RPCV George Neavoll is holding an essay contest, for ages 10 to 15, as a way to give away his personal stamp collection to someone who will appreciate it
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2006.12.17: December 17, 2006: Headlines: COS - India: Stamps: Portland Press Herald: India RPCV George Neavoll is holding an essay contest, for ages 10 to 15, as a way to give away his personal stamp collection to someone who will appreciate it
India RPCV George Neavoll is holding an essay contest, for ages 10 to 15, as a way to give away his personal stamp collection to someone who will appreciate it
To find a 10-year-old version of himself, or a reasonable facsimile there of, Neavoll took out an ad in this newspaper recently announcing his own personal essay contest. Neavoll knows a little bit about newspapers - he spent 30-plus years working for them. He was editorial page editor of the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram for eight years, retiring in 1999. In his ad, Neavoll asked for young collectors, ages 10 to 15, to explain in 300 words or less why they would like to own his collection, which he began around 1948. The winner gets the collection. He calls it a "general collection" with postage stamps from letters, from stamp companies, and from various secondhand stores and shops in foreign countries. He has no idea how many stamps he has, but says that when he piles up his two main albums and several boxes full, the pile measures about 3 feet high and 21/2 half feet wide.
India RPCV George Neavoll is holding an essay contest, for ages 10 to 15, as a way to give away his personal stamp collection to someone who will appreciate it
Stamp act may just inspire new collector
Dec 17, 2006
Portland Press Herald
Sixty-eight-year-old George Neavoll told me he's looking for a 10- year-old George Neavoll.
Not because he's trying to recapture his youth.
But because he wants to give away his stamp collection.
"I don't know if kids are even collecting stamps any more, they're so into iPods and DVD players," said Neavoll. "But I'm hoping I can find someone between 10 and 15, because that's when I became impassioned with stamp collecting."
Impassioned about stamp collecting?
Yes, impassioned. Neavoll still sounded excited when he described a beautiful Peruvian stamp in his collection depicting a murre, a bird important to Peru's guano-as-fertilizer industry. Or when he explained that he has the complete first set of stamps ever issued by the country of Nepal, in the late 1800s.
To find a 10-year-old version of himself, or a reasonable facsimile there of, Neavoll took out an ad in this newspaper recently announcing his own personal essay contest. Neavoll knows a little bit about newspapers - he spent 30-plus years working for them. He was editorial page editor of the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram for eight years, retiring in 1999.
In his ad, Neavoll asked for young collectors, ages 10 to 15, to explain in 300 words or less why they would like to own his collection, which he began around 1948. The winner gets the collection.
He calls it a "general collection" with postage stamps from letters, from stamp companies, and from various secondhand stores and shops in foreign countries. He has no idea how many stamps he has, but says that when he piles up his two main albums and several boxes full, the pile measures about 3 feet high and 21/2 half feet wide.
Neavoll says that over the years he concentrated on collecting stamps issued prior to the year of his birth - 1938. He also says that older stamps are more interesting than a lot of stamps today.
"Stamps used to be little works of art, little engravings," said Neavoll. "The ones today are gaudy. They're just mailing labels, I think."
The 10-year-old George Neavoll found postage stamps from around the globe and from different eras in history to be inexhaustible fuel for an inexhaustible curiosity about the world.
Growing up in Lebanon, Ore., Neavoll got many of his stamps from the mail that came to his home, and from his older sister, who worked for the Oregon highway department. Over the years, he collected stamps all over the place, including while he was in the Peace Corps in India in the 1960s.
"It was such a learning hobby. I learned the presidents from the 1938 Presidential Series - George Washington was on the one penny stamp, a green one, and John Adams was on the 2-cent, in carmine rose, a pinkish color," said Neavoll. "When I would mount stamps in my album, it would make me curious about where they came from, what those countries were like, what products they made."
Neavoll's appreciation for postage stamps runs so deep that to this day, if he is mailing something and wants the receiver of the mail to "enjoy" the stamp, he'll take it to the Portland post office and ask for a hand cancellation, so as not to "obliterate" the view of the stamp.
So why does Neavoll want to unload his collection now?
"I'm 68 and eventually something is going to happen to this collection, and I'd really like to see it go to someone who appreciates it," said Neavoll.
Neavoll did something similar recently with what he calls his "small library" of 3,000 books. To find a good home for them, he put out a query to library groups across the state and eventually gave them to a group starting a new library in the tiny Aroostook County town of St. Agatha.
As for the stamps, Neavoll said he's in no rush. His goal is really to find them a good home, so he'll wait if he has to. He had originally said in his ad that the essays had to be in by Dec. 15. But since he didn't get any by Dec. 8, he said he'd hold open that deadline for a while to see what sort of response he gets.
Of course, kids today can learn about Peru, or presidents, with a couple clicks of a computer keyboard. On the other hand, stamps are one of the few ways in this electronic age where you can easily get your hands on something that's been around the world, or has been part of history.
Collecting e-mails from around the world, some as old as several minutes, wouldn't have quite the same feel, now would it?
So here's hoping Neavoll gets lots of thoughtful essays and that there are budding stamp collectors out there who are not content to simply "mail it in."
Staff Writer Ray Routhier can be reached at 791-6454 or
rrouthier@pressherald.com
STAMPS IN NEED OF GOOD HOME
George Neavoll of Portland is holding an essay contest, for ages 10 to 15, as a way to give away his personal stamp collection to someone who will appreciate it. Of the essays, Neavoll says "Young collectors should tell why they would like this general collection, give some background of their own interest in philately, and say why stamp collecting appeals to them.
Word limit: 300 words or less."
Essays should be sent as soon as possible to : George Neavoll;
151 North St., No. 204;
Portland, ME, 04101-2794
E-mail: gneavoll@maine.rr.com.
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Headlines: December, 2006; Peace Corps India; Directory of India RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for India RPCVs; Maine
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Story Source: Portland Press Herald
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