People collect stamps for a variety of reasons. Me? I do it for the simple joy of it. The hobby is strongly collected to my childhood and teenage years when I started it as a hobby. For most of my adult years I had set it aside. And I have returned to it now for a couple of years.

There isn't any financial motivation in it for me. I just want to collect the stamps I want and put together a nice set.

So. with the simple joy of collecting stamps that is what I have been doing. For now I am not worried about the quality and price of the stamps that I am acquiring. I am okay with placeholder stamps.

(Note: "Placeholder" is the name given to a stamp that has no, or very little value. Typically it will be damaged in some way like having a hole or tear in it or having a bit of it missing , typically a corner.)

I have however started upgrading my collection very inexpensively.

I collect a few different types of topicals including space/astronomy, castles, and knights. I like those subjects and those stamps.

But the biggest part of my collection is my United States stamps. And for a while I was acquiring used US stamps and attaching them in the album with stamp hinges. But I quickly moved away from that lprocess as I learned more. There are so many US stamps available that are in mint condition and very cheap. So, I started replacing my used stamps with mint stamps. And....

I got rid of the stamp hinges and started using stamp mounts.

So, in effect. Just to have a more beautiful collection I have been upgrading the quality.

And now I am even getting picky about other stamp quality characteristics like "centering".

This progression is typical within any pursuit or hobby. You learn more and you understand more so you end up simply doing better. And in my case, as with most stamp collectors you end up with a "better" collection.

And that learning progress is enjoable. But, I simply love stamps and the hobby. And my goal is to collect as complete a set of US stamps as I can. And to me the placeholder stamps are wonderful because they actually enable me, the collector, on a tight budget, to actually put together an extensive collection.