Used to be that if someone called asking for Mr. Philately and used the wrong nickname for his first name, assuming they were salespeople was safe. That time was before he became involved in multiple stamp clubs. Now, if an older person, usually a man, calls and asks for him by the wrong nickname, the best assumption is that he is a fellow stamp club member, particularly if he is calling on the day before a meeting or within a month of a stamp show.

Most stamp club members, although occasionally a bit eccentric are very personable and know there is a world beyond stamps. This trait, the ability to believe in a wider world, distinguishes them from people who collect coins. A few stamp club people collect more stamp clubs than stamps. They use the stamp clubs as a social outlet. Coin club people who collect coin clubs seem to be non-existence. Stamp club people often have other hobbies such as collecting shot glasses. Coin club people need all their money for coins and wouldn�t dream of spending it on trash such as shot glasses.

How do I know all of this? For a while, until he decided a limited budget bought more interesting stamps than it did coins, Mr. Philately was one of the rare coin collectors who did other things. No, he didn�t collect rare coins. He believed in paying the rent instead. (How boring!) Through him, I met many of the members of the local coin collectors� club. I�ve never turned and whispered to Mr. Philately, �This is too weird for me� at a stamp club dinner. I did it at the one coin club dinner I attended.

I had forgotten all of this. I haven�t had to remember. Mr. Philately has been so busy with stamps and stamp clubs that he hasn�t been to a coin club in more than ten years. I haven�t had to tell him that I was too busy polishing my silver to come to a coin collector�s dinner. Self-preservation has not required memory.

But tonight the memories came flooding back and it was a stamp collector who did it. After speaking on the phone with him, I�m quite sure that he really is a coin collector at heart. He began, of course, by using the wrong nickname. I ignored it. We are coming close enough to a stamp show where Mr. Philately is exhibits chair that I�ve been ignoring it a lot. He then became all upset that Mr. Philately was not immediately available. He claimed he�d been trying and trying to reach him. I indicated that I was not aware of any messages on the answering machine and I had not taken any but that I was sorry if things were not working out. I offered to take a message.

He initially did not want me to take a message. He wanted me to know details of the stamp show. I told him that I make a practice of knowing as few details of stamp shows as possible but I would be happy to take a message. He became all flustered. He just couldn�t believe that I would not devote my life to knowing about the stamp shows in which Mr. Philately involves himself. He seemed unable to grasp the concept that a stamp collector�s wife might not care about stamps (or stamp shows.) After a bit of muttering, he decided that he knew of a mother like me and he settled a little bit.

I did take a message and I gave it to Mr. Philately. I wrote the message, which was about sending out things for an exhibit in a stamp show, straight. But I shouldn�t have. I could have been more terse. I could have written, �Some coin collector, claiming to be a stamp collector, called.�

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