Not long ago, I urged everybody to rush out and buy The Scarlet Ruse, a new mystery novel which draws heavily on stamp speculation for its plot and is authentic down to the tiniest detail.
Afterward, I wrote to its author, John D. MacDonald. and asked him for background on how he put the book together. He was more than gracious and sent me a 700-word reply which I will condense as best I can.
About five years ago, MacDonald spotted a newspaper article on stamp investing, and that was the genesis of the Ruse plot. "My first step (while working on other books, of course) was to read all the reference works I could find, and to subscribe to the periodicals in the field,” he said.
"Next, I reviewed some 10 years of auction catalogs, comparing the prices realized with the catalog values in Scott, Minkus, Gibbons, etc. Then I talked to dealers and collectors."
"My next step was to subscribe to the auction catalogs of Siegel, Harmer, HarmerRooke, Wolffers, Apfelbaum, Schiff, Mozian, Robson Lowe, and Stanley Gibbons, and to write down imaginary bids on items being sold.
"After all the study and experimentation, I began placing bids and acquiring lots and putting them in the safe deposit box, after authentication by the Philatelic Foundation."
MacDonald bought fine to extremely fine copies of classics issued by the United States, New Zealand, Newfoundland, and Barbados.
Now that Ruse has been published, he is beginning to sell off his holdings. “On some items, such as a superb, never hinged block of U.S. Scott 40, I expected to receive, after auction commission, about 175 per cent of the purchase price. I would doubtless do better if I kept the items longer."
A byproduct of MacDonald's meticulous research is that he is again hooked on collecting for fun, a hobby he gave up at the age of 14.
"And I am now toying with the idea of doing a nonfiction account of my specific and detailed adventures in auctionland," MacDonald said.
I very much appreciate this post for a couple of reasons:
ReplyDelete1) As a journalist it reminds of the days when newspapers were so flush with staff that they could have someone on the stamp-collecting beat. Now there's no one for city council meetings...
2) Scarlet always worked for me as a book because its factual under-pinnings seemed so solid. My knowledge of stamps stops with an appreciation of self-adhesive stamps for the three letters I mail a year, but MacDonald's obvious expertise gives the entire novel a solid foundation that the rest builds on. I very much appreciate the details above of his prep and research. Fascinating.
I appreciate the depth of the research - I remember how smoothly that whole stamp-collecting description worked.
ReplyDeleteNow I don't feel excessive with my own research! The main reason is that once you figure something out, writing about it becomes much simpler, more accurate, and part of making something seem very, very real.
Thanks for finding this. I've always wondered about the research for that book specifically. Case closed. Well done!
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