The collecting of stamps has at all times in the history of Philately been enjoyed by young and old, by men and women of all ranks and stations. Kings have shared this pastime with the humblest of their subjects, and do so to this day. His Majesty King George V. once wrote of stamp-collecting to a friend that "it is one of the greatest pleasures of my life." A letter "enthusing" on the delights of stamp-hunting reached me the other day from a correspondent who claimed to be "only a working-man." There are few old stagers amongst collectors who have not encountered, and perhaps even been stimulated by, the boastful eagerness with which a youngster in his 'teens tells you of bargains got from Gibbons's books, or of a rare "snap," an unnoticed variety priced as the normal from Peckitt. For the Strand is full of bargains to-day, to the personal hunter who has the right knowledge. Having alluded to the wide differences in ages and in stations of collectors throughout the philatelic period 1862-1911, it will be interesting to follow the more notable collections in their vicissitudes. M. Alfred Potiquet, one of the very earliest collectors, whose catalogue is of extreme rarity in its first edition, was probably an almost solitary example of the collector of unused stamps only, in the first days of the hobby. It is strange that in these later days the collectors on the Continent, almost to a man, prefer used stamps. But to return to Potiquet: he was probably the first collector of importance to sell his collection outright, which he did about the time the second edition of his catalogue was issued by Lacroix. The collection was a small one, about five hundred stamps, all unused, and he sold the lot to Edard de Laplante in 1862 for five hundred francs, of which sum the purchaser had to borrow one half to complete the deal. But, if the reader considers that five hundred francs represents approximately £20, he will appreciate the purchaser's bargain when told that the collection included the New Brunswick 1s. (representing to-day £70); the Nova Scotia 1s. (£55-£65 to-day); the Natal 3d. and 6d. embossed in plain relief, which now are almost unattainable, except as reprints; Tuscany's 60 crazie (now worth £35) and the 1 soldo (£7 to £8); and the 4 and 5 centimes "Poste Locale" stamps of the transitional period of Switzerland, which catalogue at £100 and £10 respectively; and add to these many of the early issues of the Americas, the prices of which are now leaping up in the catalogues, and of which we know Potiquet to have had a good number, including the very rare error, the half-peso of Peru, printed in rose-red instead of yellow, through a transfer of that denomination getting mixed up in the making up of the lithographic stone for the 1 peseta. The above error is priced £13 used, but an unused copy would be worth very considerably more. He had also the 1 real and 2 reales of the Pacific Steam Navigation Company stamps, on _blued_ paper.