Page 562 - Demo

Fools%u2019 Journey556Cult of Trump turned out to be one of those meaningful coincidences that helped change our lives.%u2022%u2022%u2022%u2022%u2022In September of 2024, just a few months before the presidential election, I was perusing eBay and spotted some fake stamps featuring Donald Trump. Such items are often referred to by %u201cserious%u201d philatelists as Cinderella stamps, because they are a poor stepchild to real stamps. Cinderella stamps include many types of stickers and labels that may look like postage stamps but aren%u2019t. The Trump stamps I saw were all produced by a single individual who had an antique perforating machine. They were quite well designed, and were all derogatory, casting Trump in a bad light. For example, they highlighted his indictments, how often he told lies, and his love of foreign dictators, etc. In all, there were over three dozen designs, many available in miniature sheets, and I was fascinated by them. After contacting the seller, I was able to negotiate a special price for an example of each of his designs.I also purchased some Inauguration Day covers (envelopes cancelled on the day of Trump%u2019s first swearing in) that also cast the man in a bad light. Then, in order to balance all these disparaging items, I decided to add to my growing collection the various stamps (mostly in the form of miniature postal sheets) that countries around the world had produced during the run-up to the 2020 election, as well as during Trump%u2019s first term in office. These were all adulatory, and many celebrated the various official trips he took to meet with foreign dignitaries. At one point, I read an article about a Florida man who had created a catalog of Trump philately. He said there weren%u2019t many people interested in such material which, to me, was the best reason to start the collection, because it would be something few other people hadI found the Trump materials not only on eBay, but also HIPstamp.com, and other sites catering to philatelists, with sellers from both the U.S. and a number of European countries. Two items were advertised as coming from Lithuania, but were actually mailed from Russia. As my orders began to arrive, I started having