On Jun 2, 3:35*am, wrote:
Hi Jim,

Welcome to the group,

An accepted definition of philatelist is *'a collector and student of
postage stamps '. *According to the definition we are all
philatelists. *As once described to me a philatelist is one who
studies, or specializes, in one particular area such as a single
issue, postal history of an area, etc. *A stamp collector is one who
collects stamps to place in an album without studying the details of
the stamp, production, paper, watermarks, etc..

Personally, I don't lose sleep over the issue. I collect because it is
enjoyable. *If I learn something then I consider it an added plus.
Bottomline: Collect to enjoy the hobby.

Jerry B



Hello Jerry:

I am glad to know I am not loosing sleep over the subject, but I met a
'STAMP ACCUMULATER" that had a lot of nice stamps, but he cut off
some perfs, marked the back of them, and a few were mear pieces of
paper. I have been studying Soviet Space Stamps for ages and love the
sport of finding something new. But this topical we all lived through
and knew the subject of the space race. So I am fine with that, and I
am always interested in the chase of finding that last one to fill the
page.
Thanks for your reply,
JIM