This is a post in the My Things series on this blog. In it I chronicle items I own. I seek to describe why I own the item, whence it came, and what value it provides . . . and any other tidbits of interest.
Letterboxing is a game I want to love. Actually, I do love it. Unfortunately, it hasn’t caught enough where I am for it to capture my sustained attention.
The stealthiness of the activity, coupled with the clues, and the exploring all fit my liking. Traditionalists value a hand-carved stamp. This is where I struggled mightily.
I did carve some stamps. I never cared for my art. The bowtie was clever and most of the bowties I carved were okay. I knew I wasn’t good at carving because I couldn’t shrink the carve; they were always large stamps, which is not ideal for many logbooks. Furthermore, I wanted the year on my stamp. Lettering and numbering I sucked at.
I got creative for a specialty stamp for an event I attended. Again, not wanting to give away who I was, I crafted a stamp of Steven Tyler since the event was at Tyler State Park. I recall speaking with the organizer. He thought my stamp was of a horse. Oh, well . . .
When I returned to geocaching publicly in 2016, I decided to commission a stamp. I had had the pleasure of finding one of Kirbert’s stamps. He is a master. Love his work! I asked him if he would carve a stamp for me. We discussed it and this is exactly what I wanted. Love this stamp!
I’ve used it plenty over the years, but letterboxes and letterbox hybrids are too few and far between these days. Virtually every stamp I encounter is a store-bought stamp. It seems this art is dying.
