Well, the answer is you and me, of course. However, there are many yous and many mes. We collect for many reasons, but are we fundamentally different from the non-collectors?
Maybe, or yes because we are savers; we are not use-once-and-replace people. We hang on to remembrances of the past, scrapbookers, so to speak, who value what we find and what might find next. We add to our collections or add collections, appreciating the search as much as the acquisition.
We don’t follow the crowd to get the fashion of the moment, because there are so many fashions available in stamp collecting that we shop in a superstore of collections: many countries, many topicals, many specialties with any country, many non-postage philatelic collectibles, etc. There are many paths to many hours of enjoyment.
Collectors within the council area have specialties which they show-and-tell to the rest of us. For example, from Redding, Bob Grosch’s Boston negative cancels, from San Francisco, Vesma Grinfeld’s Latvia, from Sacramento, Joe Ross’ revenues, from the Redwood Empire, Dennis Hassler’s many presentations, from Reno Stan Cromwell’s German, from Fremont, Henry Marquez’ Peru, or from Southern Oregon, Nancy Swan’s neatly-crafted exhibits – and there are many more of us with many more collections.
I am privileged to be among us collectors. I am privileged to be able to learn philatelic facts and/or historical lessons from many I have met in the Council: David McNamee, Victor Ivashin, Kristin
Introduce a Fellow Collector to your next Club Meeting. The hobby grows richer when we expand our social contacts and friendships.