Joel Rind

Stamp collector and revenue specialist Joel Rind is featured on the Chattanoogan.com Web site in a article by Suzanne Walker.

Walker quotes Rind as saying, "“The beauty of an interesting hobby is that you can frame yourself wherever you want. You can put yourself in your corner. This is what a hobby should do. It’s an escape.”

Rind said in the article that he finds great enjoyment in collecting because he views his materials as “windows to the world. An object represents many different things and many different paths.”

Many materials he has collected have given him glimpses into history or other parts of the world according to Walker.

For example, Rind said several years ago he purchased a Confederate correspondence from the fourth or fifth generation of a Confederate soldier.

According to Rind, Texan troops would write home to Virginia but had to pay Confederate postage. A man by the last name Edy ran a private express by delivering mail on horseback for these soldiers. To use his express, a strip of paper was adhered to the envelope that read “Edy’s Express.”

Rind said he bought a correspondence that still had the label “Edy’s Express” attached to the front. He later sold it for $10,000.

To read the entire article, click here.