I've just begun bidding with Delcampe, and I will begin listing more items for sale soon.

I am a 46-year-old collector from Staunton, Virginia, USA. I'd like to say I've been collecting for almost 30 years, but that's a bit of a stretch. When I was about 12, I started collecting U.S. in a Harris starter album and sending away for FDC's. My brother and I would bicycle into downtown Media, Pennsylvania, every other weekend to the hobby shop on State Street (alas, no longer there) and try to decide which stamp in the showcase to spend our allowance on next. But then came high school, college, family, LIFE, and so all the stamps went into a large box along with the coins and comic books. And then a few years ago, I bought a book at a yard sale (my wife is a yard sale addict), and inside was an old German MNH single. It all came back in a flash, and now I am an avid collector once again. (I've read that this is the usual pattern for collectors!)

I collect MNH singles. Actively I pursue Germany (from Weimar to Reunification, including DDR & Berlin), Austria (love those engravings -- I'm a fan of Pilch & Toth), the Saar, and Liechtenstein. I guess I focus on this area because of my memories of touring this area with a youth band--I play the saxophone. (In Vaduz I was literally on the doorstep of the famous National Postal Museum, but I never went in. How that might've opened my eyes to collecting outside the U.S.!) I also casually collect Pitcairn, Ryukyu, Russia, Canada, New Zealand, Italy, Uruguay, Nicaragua, Spain, Monaco, Dahomey/Benin, and anything else that catches my eye. Don't ask me why. And, of course, I've gone back to upgrade and expand my U.S. collection.

I'm a member of the Shenandoah National Philatelic Society. And I've been given an application to join APS--like I've got any money left after buying stamps!