Bruce,

Wow, you used some words that brought back fond memories. Philatelist.

I was one when I was a teenager. While my dad was suffering from cancer I became totally absorbed in collecting US stamps. I think some of the earlier stamps were absolutely gorgeous! I seem to recall that the engraver that did some of the work on US Treasury bills also did some stamps. Is that true?

I had some of the earlier G. Washington head stamps plus a complete mint set of the 50 flags (until my stepmother tore them up - but that's a different story *s*).

I've often thought fondly about those days and of restarting that collection again. I'm really only interested in US stamps though others from around the world are very pretty. I still think the early US ones are almost works of art.

Best,

DD

>>I'm sorry, folks, but this type of discussion doesn't belong here. I have frozen the thread. We all have very different viewpoints on crime, morality, and other serious issues that -- while important to be sure -- don't belong here on the UT.
>
>John, I'm generally quite neutral in these chatter matters, and usually do not even read them, but this thread and related ones are umm, rather noticeable. One thing we have learned the hard way about this topic in my primary philatelic forum (which will certainly kill any idea of philatelists all being mild-mannered, ho-hum people :) - freezing or deleting "off-topic" threads invariably causes way more new chatter than the original probably would've...it happens every time. Only outright flaming is now banned.