My other hobby volume I

All American past time!

As a youngster, my mother took me to the Waikiki Shell Concert venue one year to see and hear the great legend Ella Fitzgerald sing one weekend and the very next weekend we went to see Sarah Vaughn!  WOW!  I'll never forget those concerts!!!!!

In my humble opinion, one of the great mega rock star to ever play the guitar left handed, yet died too early in his career.  

Are any members close enough to the nothern hemisphere to see this?

We used to read the comics in my generation, now a hit with the new generation like Ezra in the theaters!

Cartoons my daughter watched as a child.  Ezra loves Curious George on PBS.

For the FSM Forum Members that ride!

More holiday memories.

Important personas.

Real old school.

Another great rock legend.

Wow, Lena Horn.

An interesting collectible.

Maybe one day I'll own a classic errors like this one day.  This is just a reprint of the original error.

This is of course Ezra's favorite sheet stamp!

To my fellow FSM Forum Members, 

          This is the reason I try to the best of my knowledge and financial needs in teaching the next generation (Ezra, my grandson) the value, lessons, historic information, tradition, and learning of what revolves around us is so important!  Not the; "Me, Me, Me, Attitude that persists these days.  This is just a great feeling to be able to share your hobbies with the next generation, may it be philatelics, numismatics, model building, etc.  True knowledge and understanding humanity is the key to succes.

I was pleased to see that some Finescale members are involved in the other "world's best hobby" — stamp collecting! 

For several years I only collected stamps. Then one day a local stamp dealer offered me a cover (a used envelope) that had travelled in the 1930s by train from Terrace in Northern British Columbia to Hawaii, via Vancouver where it was forwarded by ship. It couldn’t be delivered in Hawaii, so it made the trek all the way back to Terrace. I bought it for $3 as I recall, and several years later sold it for $100. (Note: Trying to collect stamps and covers as an investment is one of the best ways I know of to lose money. At the same time, stamp and postal history collecting does offer the possibility of some return of one’s expenditure, and that’s something most model builders can’t say!)  

That Terrace-Hawaii-Terrace cover hooked me, not because of its commercial value but because of its interesting provenance. I soon realized that many covers are one-of-a-kind historical artifacts. Today I have hundreds of covers dating from the Spanish American War, the Philippine War, the First and Second World Wars, the Korean War, the Algerian War, and the Vietnam War. I satisfy my interest in aviation by collecting stamps and covers representative of the middle period of commercial aviation; three airliner crashes have especially interested me. Along the way I have developed topical collections of stamps and covers related to Southwestern New Mexico, where I grew up; to the Pershing Punitive Expedition, which took my paternal grandfather to Texas to guard the border against hoards of Mexicans, and to military medicine. Here are four of my covers: 

• A WWII cover from Brazil, bearing a propaganda label emphasizing the danger of Nazi U-boat attacks on Brazilian shipping: 

Here’s a detail image of the label: 

• This cover is a rare FDC — a first-day cover — franked with the complete issue of astronomy-themed stamps issued by Mexico during the Second World War. The five stamps picturing astronomical objects were the first stamps to feature astrophotos: 

• This German cover was posted to Kyoto, Japan on December 6, 1941, the day before Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. It was “interned” in New York City in March, 1942, until 1948 when it was sent backstamped in San Francisco and forwarded to Kyoto:

• In 1934, KLM Airlines purchased a new DC-2 airliner in the U.S., named it Uiver (Old Dutch for “Stork”), and entered it in the handicap portion of the MacRobertson International Air Race from London to Melbourne. The Dutch nation was ecstatic when the Uiver placed first in the race’s handicap division despite being grounded by a storm for several hours in Albury, New South Wales. Here is an original photograph in my collection, showing Uiver landing at Melbourne: 

Just weeks later, a few days before Christmas, Uiver took off from Amsterdam on a “fast Christmas flight” to deliver Christmas mail to the Dutch East Indies. That night, after taking off from Cairo for a refuelling stop at Rutbah Wells in Iraq, the Uiver crashed in the Syrian desert during a violent thunderstorm. The four crewmen and three passengers were killed, and the plane was mostly destroyed by fire. The cover shown below, given to me by the son of the man who posted it, shows clear evidence of water, fire, and smoke damage. KLM investigated the crash, but to this day has never revealed its findings and doesn’t publicly acknowledge the crash:  

Although I’m now spending more time building models than working on my stamps and covers, I have realized that many of the skills involved are similar: A moment of carelessness can damage a model, a stamp, or a cover, and a lack of knowledge about a model, a stamp, or a cover can cost a lot of money. For example, you probably know that different types of model paint shouldn't be mixed, and that crazy glue can fog transparent plastic. Did you know that some early stamps can't be soaked because their ink is water soluble. I didn't know that when I once tried to soak such a stamp off paper. Did you know that the gum of some German stamps includes sulphuric acid which will eventually destroy the stamps? Fortunately, I learned about that in time to prevent that damage on two of my stamps by soaking the gum off. 

I hope you enjoy looking at the covers I've brought to your attention. If you’d like to see more covers, please let me know. 

Bob 

To Bobstamp and members of FSM Digital Forums,

           Thank you Bobstamp for sharing your collection here on General Discussions.  I'm not only honored but feel special that you would share your massive philatelic knowledge with us here on FSM Forums.  These covers; (And yes, they are of historical significance just like the styrene kits we all put together) are just a joy to behold.  The story it tells is just amazing, isn't it so Bobstamp.  

That's why I build kits and collect stamps, they speak for themselves as you dig further to seek its significance they tend to shine knowledge upon those that build/collect in these hobby genres.  But most importantly, please share more photos of your covers, stamps, FDC, and so on as they shed light into themselves!  Once again sir, thank you!!!!

Your friend's, Toshi & Ezra

seastallion53

Very nice knives and I bet not cheap either.

 

And that was the inexpensive material side I purchased as a entry level Edo Mae Zushi Chef.  My teacher's sushi knife cost him over $10,000.00.  As it was custome made for his use with a solid rose wood handle (Where the tang meets the end) as oppose to my handle made out of a horn from a deer, if I recall.  I'll assume now that the cost in obtaining these type of culinary equipment has tripled on cost.  

None of my children are allowed to touch or handle this set of knives as they are very incredibly difficult to hone and clean after each use.  If not maintained properly, it would decay to the point of unusability.  So for now, these knives rest with me.  When my son or daughter shows interest in caring for these culinary instruments, I'll then will have to teach them the maintenance means in caring for these knives before they can even use them.  I also have 4 grades of sharpening or honing wet (Water only) stones for the knives which were difficult in cost to obtain.  Oh well, maybe Ezra my grandson will show interest in the culinary field or just out of tradition he'll upkeep these knives.  I can only be patient and await to be ask.  Thank you sir for your read and reply!

Your friend's, Toshi and Ezra

I just checked the mail today to see if my 3 ebay items I purchased arrived.  It was just 2 so I'll be sharing with you these items from my;"My Other Hobby" thread!

The first one is a actual USPS reprint of the "Missionary Stamps"!  The actual cover is worth in the millions as it's the only one known to survive.  As they say;"Supply and Demand", is what drives the cost skywards.

If my memory serves me correct, the Hawaiian Misionary Stamps with the numbers was to send the cover to the ships captain back then.  Then the other two 3 cent Washington stamps was the fee for the ships captain to take that envelope to the mainland USA and then to its destination.

In total the attached stamp amounts comes to 13 cents which was a pricey sum in those days.  The second stamp shown is the Mars rover.  It's a milestone in USPS history as the biggest US stamp to be ever created plus it's a high value stamp at $3.00.

Your friend's, Toshi & Ezra

This complete set "F" series stamp that I purchased has a significant meaning and nostalgia for me.  I just returned to Honolulu, Hawaii in 1990 via Amsterdam, Netherlands.  I actually walked from the McCully district to the main post office which is directly in front of the Iolani Palace just to get a FDC (First Day Cover) hand stamp.  It was right after this that I met the love of my life, Mrs. Toshi.  So the significance of this stamp has a huge importance.  

Your friend's, Toshi & Ezra

OK. My boat is not really another hobby, it's more of a passion. So here are some photos of my militaria collection, which is a passionate hobby.

To Dodgy,

Thank you so very much for sharing your absolutely amazing military paraphenilia collection.  It's very intense and a amazing amount oh history.  I just love it, Ezra saw the sword photos I enjoyed that the most.  Once again, thank you sir and good luck with the continued growth of your memorabilia.

Your friend's, Toshi & Ezra