Crossing Paths

 


Stefan Pinto and I met last year when we sat next to each other on a flight from Miami to Los Angeles. He was moving to LA while I was on my way home from a Mediterranean cruise and since then we've been supportive buddies on Twitter and in life. Well, he confessed this weekend to being a stamp collector at one time and attended,

 "All of those 'PEXes. I had to attend trade shows. Worked for ASDA, American Stamp Dealers Association. I had a huge collection."

 
I immediately told him about Armand and decided that they had to have crossed paths at some point in time. I remember how excited Armand was to show me a republished version of his Catalog of Himalayan Mountaineering Correspondence when he visited in 2007 and how unprepared I was (still am) to appreciate the depth of his knowledge of Tibetan and Nepalese philately.

While searching for something philatelic to show Stefan, I came across an eBay guide's description of Armand's Tibet, The Armand E. Singer Collection, 1809-1975 which proceeds to accurately describe the author:

...it is much more than a conventional assemblage of a collector's pages, as Professor Singer enjoys placing a great deal of information on his pages...
(Read the entire review here.)

I'm so intrigued by connections and always wonder about paths that cross. If Stefan and Armand had met at one of the many philatelic trade shows they both attended, they could easily have talked about stamp collecting, or acting (Stefan's an actor and Armand loved movies), maybe even Don Juan. Who knows? Maybe there's a connection to be made in the future.



Photo: Armand with a copy of his book. Kona, 1/07.