|
his occupation are not usually great. And, on the otherhand, every collector at heart is a dealer. He, too, has tobe a dealer for his hobby is constantly involving him intrading treasures with other collectors and selling stampsfor which he no longer has use. While it is beyond doubtthat the dealer is the greatest source of supply for thecollector, it is equally true that the collector is the great-est source of supply for the dealer. But, besides the economics involved, the reason forsuch a close bond lies deeper and on firmer ground. Be-cause the dealer is a professional and stamp collecting ishis vocation he spends most of his waking hours handlingand studying stamps. He has opportunity to see a greatmany collections which the ordinary collector cannotsee. And he not only has the time to study stamps but,in fact, is required to know them. Hence, in a large way,the dealer is the source of knowledge. But here, again, thesituation is not all one-sided by a long shot. The collectorspecialist usually knows a great deal more about his petgroup of stamps than anyone else. The dealer often de-pends on such specialists for knowledge which he passesalong to other collectors. The outstanding feature of thewhole relation is that knowledge is exchanged freelyeither by word of mouth or in articles both professionalsand amateurs write in the various philatelic magazines. |
|||
|
