Like most of us, Gerard started young with his stamp habit. ‘One time, when I was in primary school, Mum brought home from the post office a wall poster showing vague outlines of the year’s forthcoming stamp designs,’ he describes. ‘My brothers and I kept an eye on the incoming mail, and it was an exciting day when a stamp arrived that matched an outline on the poster. (We didn’t have video games back then.) I subscribed to what was then the Junior Stamp Preview, a kindly local stamp dealer encouraged my curiosity, and I was hooked.’
Like many Stamp Collector readers, Gerard rediscovered his passion for philately after shelving his albums. ‘As per tradition, I went on to ignore my collection for twenty years,’ he says. ‘But I got hooked again.’
Gerard became known as ‘The Punk Philatelist’ by sharing a fresh, idiosyncratic take on stamps.
‘When I returned to collecting in my 20s, people my age were embracing “vintage” interests, but I felt
