Yes, the word "amateur" seems to have taken on a rather negative connotation in recent years. Many people take it as meaning someone who doesn't know much yet or isn't very good at something yet - essentially a synonym for novice, and antonym for expert. Originally the word meant "one who is not paid", as opposed to a professional (one who is paid) for otherwise similar services. It was understood that an amateur could be just as knowledgable and proficient in a field as a professional. An amateur simply did it as an avocation rather than a profession. Perhaps the most obvious application of the term in days gone by was the Olympics - the greatest athletes in the world - all amateurs! Of course the appearance of the "Dream Team" pretty well trashed that application. Anyway, collectors certainly cannot be categorized like specimens, but I didn't take the current thread as a serious attempt to do that. So much of it was tongue-in-cheek if not downrght silly. Paul M.