COLLECTING AROUND THE WORLD

We were just sent a newspaper article from Warsaw, Poland--part of the amazing way information travels on the Internet. The news had spread across Europe that the president of France collects stamps. The article said bloggers wondered why President Nicolas Sarkozy would be "practicing a pastime that is usually the domain of prepubescent boys." But others posting comments online knew that collecting is a good investment strategy. The article also said that the Polish art market has dropped a little but that "the long term profit--both emotional and financial--which comes from art is the best assurance that the art market will be OK."