American Philatelist Magazine.

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.

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.



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.