Many "Clecter" prejudices remained, even after the Enlightenment, and indeed
flourish among philatelists millenia later, . Some of these include the "mint," "postally used," and "CTO" collecting
caste system.
A direct descendant of the original rock collecting era, when such controversy brewed among the "Clecters" that
some splinter groups only considered new or "mint" rocks ones that spewed forth from Mt. Hiccumup and were unsullied
by human contamination. Some of these "mintists" would seal their rocks in underground caves and only view them in the
dim light cast by captured lightning bugs, lest they become dreaded "changelings." Today many philatelists follow
the same traditions utilizing the technologies of electric lighting, protective slipcases, and vaults. In fact
with the emergence of organizations such as PSE, a philatelist can permanently entomb his collection in an acrylic sarcophagus
for eternity.
Unlike their ancestors, some modern "mintists' have developed an unusual fascination with the condition of the
back of their stamps. It is unknown when this obsession began, but there is no tradition of it prior to the Philatelists.
We postulate that the early "Clecters" could not really determine the front or the back of a rock, and hence only graded the
whole. "Mintists" seeking pristine backs to their stamps will pay huge premiums to secure them for their collections.
Ironically, for all their cost, there is not one recorded incident of a philatelist showing a collection of stamp "backs."
Perhaps not enough time has elapsed for the hobby to fully develop in this area. One must wonder if the "back faction"
spreads to other forms of collecting will art dealers one day be valuing a Matisse by the quality of the stretcher boards
and canvas, or perhaps a Remington bronze by the patina below the base.
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Diametrically opposed to the "mintists" are the "postally used" collectors or the P-U's as they are known.
P-U's follow the strict rock collecting tenets of their ancestors, "a rock must be used, to be a real rock." It is not
even enough that a rock or stamp be used - it must appear to be used! Such is the view of the "postally pure" who
must see a distinctive and acceptable cancellation on their stamps, or scratches on their rocks.
Much as their "mintist pure back" brethren will pay for rear view perfection; the P-U's will pay a handsome
premium for cancellations that obliterate the design and no gum at all. P-U's consider themselves socially superior
to "mintists," whom they see as generally uninformed miniature art collectors. That being said, some P-U's do look
for some "mintists" qualities in their search for P-U perfection. They demand no fault, flat, uncreased stamps,
lightly cancelled. In other words, it must come as close to being a mint stamp as possible without really being
one, because "if it really was one it wouldn't be one!" (Yogi Berra).
Some P-U splinter groups have completely negated the issue of stamps. They come from a small but powerful
sub-tribe of ancient "Clecters" whose esoteric musings led them to the collection of rock scratchings. For them
it was the scratches on rocks that counted, the rock merely served as a vehicle to carry the scratches. So emerged
the philatelic cancel collectors. Virtual bio-philatelic computer simulations in our state of the art "Abacus
Computing Center" have predicted that by 2120 the mere "thought" of sending a letter will be collected.
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