rod222
Member 
Posts: 11,043 
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps, Ephemera and Catalogues
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Post by rod222 on May 21, 2014 3:48:11 GMT
Fabulous edition Steve, thanks for posting,
couldn't reply to post, it is locked.
Interesting points on WD40 for removing stamps (not)
and Oxidation v Sulphurisation.
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tomiseksj
Moderator 
Woodbridge, Virginia, USA
Posts: 6,385
What I collect: Worldwide stamps/covers, Cinderellas, Ohio Prepaid Sales Tax Receipts, U.S. WWII Ration ephemera
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Post by tomiseksj on May 21, 2014 13:46:35 GMT
I locked that board because I didn't want the information presented on it to get lost among myriad posts -- it is essentially a "bulletin board" upon which I post APS related news and information. The Chapter Discussion board or others such as this are appropriate for initiating related discussion. As to the Letter to the Editor regrding WD40, here is an article from the October 2010 AP on removing self-adhesives. |
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kasvik
Member
Posts: 606
What I collect: Cancels mostly, especially Sweden Gävle and Lidingö, Switzerland Geneva, Germany Pforzheim
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Post by kasvik on Mar 14, 2021 1:48:47 GMT
A symposium in the March American Philatelist that caught my attention. ‘Moving from intermediate to advanced collecting’, pp. 226-31 (pp. 36-41 in the on-line version) stamps.org/the-american-philatelist If you’re not a member, I can share the pdf. The contributors note the distinctions are mushy, maybe meaningless. And the piece quickly drifts.
But there is something to it. For me it was when I began replacing stamps I already had with better stuff. That made me feel intermediate.
Maybe joining a stamp club means the beginning has passed, merely by exposing possibilities. That’s part of the reason I click like here; you just rubbed my nose in something new.
As for advanced collecting, the piece charges in. Does money make you an advanced collector? It obviously helps. But my egalitarian side is suspicious. So long as we’re stumbling, surprised, learning... Well, the judges at international stamp shows are advanced, and the auctioneers who compile amazing catalogues, that I’ll agree.
What makes you a beginner, intermediate or advanced? When did you feel it?
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madbaker
Member
Posts: 800
What I collect: (Mark) General worldwide collector (to 1975 or so) with a soft spot for Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia.
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Post by madbaker on Mar 14, 2021 4:34:01 GMT
kasvik, I was able to read that article via this forum's copy of the AP. I got a kick out of the entire issue. You're right about the article drifting; I liked the woman from Stanley Gibbons who was adamant that amount of money spent didn't make you an advanced collector. The distinction I noticed was this idea that advanced collectors were forming a specific collection. Like they had a goal in mind and were working to achieve the goal. So the conversation shifted to having a want list, and working with one or two dealers who "know what I want." So, when coming across new material, dealers would reach out to me directly with something they thought I would want. That counts me out, for sure. Unless my favourite dealer comes across a box of mixed whatever and thinks "I bet that Mark fellow would fall for this lot!"  I have no such goals for my collection, other than to have a representative collection of stamps from the countries / topics I collect. Maybe to have more completed pages than pages with spaces in my albums. But there's no defined scope or story that I'm trying to tell that would get me to 'completing' anything. So that leaves me as a beginner or intermediate collector. In that case I am definitely intermediate. I have a good knowledge of a wide variety of stamps and countries, have read and retained much from the beginning of the catalogue, can appreciate the knowledge of other collectors who know far more than I do about an area. And I'll listen to anyone talk stamps so long as they are excited about what they are sharing. I know a ton of stamp trivia. I was always surprised when I would always finish #1 or #2 on quiz night at my local club. I can tell a Brazilian bullseye from a Canadian beaver. I know what 'canal zone' means when it's overprinted on a US stamp and what a Mulready envelope is. I know there is a difference between comb perforations and line perforations but am not always 100% sure which is which. May 1, 1840 means something to me. But I'd still rather go through a box of miscellaneous mix than search for an elusive perforation variety or a rare usage. So I am a happy intermediate generalist, who is just as happy to see nice stamps that belong to another collector than own them himself. 
PS - you ask when I first felt my intermediateness? I think it was when I read Nassau Street by Herman Herst for the 4th time, or Fun and Profit in Stamp Collecting by the same author. I realized that I'm really into this hobby - the old stories were incredibly exciting to me.
PS - I'm sure Beryllium Guy will want to move this conversation to another thread, but where ever it ends up, I sure hope others will add their thoughts. I love learning about what gets folks excited with this hobby.
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angore
Member
Posts: 5,696
What I collect: WW, focus on British Empire
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Post by angore on Mar 14, 2021 10:38:30 GMT
I am not interested in labels. Is the process like becoming an Eagle Scout where you satisfy certain aspects?
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