Stapler Attachment
March 5th, 2010Stapler Attachment
I started collecting staplers in earnest about July 28th 2009. At first it was ohlala look at this cool EM 230 Paris agrafeuse on Ebay and it’s so French! There was an identical one up but in red and they were asking $99 so I went for the one that was $8! Really! (Note the red one is still sitting there a year later.) And that is how it all started. I had bought staplers in the past then resold on Ebay wanting the whole time to keep them but then who needs more than one stapler? So how do I justify collecting them? Who wants to know? There are so many layers to collecting staplers. I love layers. Here are the dozen layers I have discovered: Maker, Type, Country, Year, Style, Inventor, Patent, Size, Material, Rarity, Color, Variation. So of course I have a database because I can. I use Bento for its visual appeal. But when all my best rationalizations for collecting stapling machines fail I pull out the art card. That’s right art doesn’t need a reason. I create Photoshop images and 3D animations and am currently working on stapler coveralls and a “This is Not Stapler” t shirt. Happy tangents to you!
I like the surprises doing a new thing brings. I now have invented ways to clean these little buggers. I have passed on this knowledge to other fledgling collectors when asked. Stapler collectors, I have discovered, tend to be detail and design fanatics which is ropes me in. Another enlightenment to me is their mechanical workings which, unlike newer gadgets like ipods and cellphones that leave me in the dark, the stapler can be understood one spring, one plunger, one anvil at a time. I now have stable of staplers numbering over 50 almost enough for a Stapler a Week (a great non-threatening stapler website BTW). I might just stay at 52. I have sold off ones I didn’t particularly like for various reasons. Not just dupes mind you. I like some staplers more than others like the Jakyneuf Agrafeuse which I just have to say “aucun merci” the next time it comes up for auction. I’ve learned stapler in German (Hefter) and French which is pretty useless but fun nonetheless. And have come to realize that a package shipped from France can take 2 months but it will arrive. I’ve taken my staplers of interest to the Park Tavern for show and tell and on Facebook for the socialization. Because it’s NOT true “If you seen one stapler you’ve seen them all”.









