Stamp collecting is a collection and the study of many postage stamp from all over the world

Stamp Collecting

Stamp collecting is a collection and the study of many postage stamp from all over the world. Once you get started on stamp collecting try to realize all the stamps and different groupings you have from different states and countries. Then start thinking about on how you want to put the order of stamps in. Organise your stamps in my opinion in a album or some kind of binder to keep them organised and easy to find. This will all take time, you need at least some experience and do not loose interest in it. If you do that just shows you are not the right person for this hobby. No one is such an expert after all.

The History for stamp collecting has been around since 1860.The first postage stamp began with Great Britian so they can prepay postal rates. It has been getting around through many countries. However thes days it isn't that big of a deal anymore then how much they used to collect in the past. Many collectors today today collect the stamps from a particular country or other groups from all over the world. Stamp collecting is supported by more thean 125,000 dealers and sell millions of dollars worth of stamping uses and supplies annually.Stamp collecting will most likely be happening with a lot of states for atleast another many, many years. It was the biggest bobby back then in the 1800's and it went on untill these days now.Back then stamp collecters would be collecting stamps for many reason like just to find out more on their own state they are collecting stamps in or other states and countries they are collecting for. Today stamp collecters do collect stamp for many reasons but not as much as they did back then. The population of people has decreased by a lot.

There has been a lot of books on stamps. For example one book authored by Anthony S. Wawrukiewics and other collecter experts. They go through by many states. Having a book on stamp collecting is a great way to learn about stamp programming on your own time and place. Many of these books have also been written by people who have collected stamps on their own a while back when they were kids or even now. You will always look back and realize that this hobby of yours was known since the 1800's and is still going on in the new millenium.

However, you can go to the library and check out books or even buy books online about stamp collecting or any topic or subject related to your hobby. Here is a link that will show you some books on stamp collecting:

• Stamp collecting books at Powells.com
• Stamp collecting books at BarnesandNobles.com

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Stamp Collecting - A Money Making Hobby

Millions of people all over the world collect stamps as a hobby, and the number is growing every day.

It is indeed an exciting and rewarding hobby, and it can also be extremely profitable.

The price of stamps vary with supply and demand due to the number of collectors increasing. The price of stamps is steadily rising, as the supply of stamps diminishes and more people want to acquire them.

Most people start a collection for the pleasure and education just like any other hobby, but this hobby offers a financial reward as well, as collections experience a steady increase over the years.

It is possible to start your own business if you are experienced, and already have a good size collection. For information about becoming a dealer, write to them. American Stamp Dealer's Association 147 W 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Some people very early in life collect stamps, it often begins as a gift of a small package of stamps given to a child, and the child becomes a collector for life. As the collection grows, some tools become essential:

They can be obtained from a stationary store or your local stamp dealer.

You can find albums at any price, starting from about $5.00 to the most expensive one at about $200.00.

Stamps Should always be handled carefully, because the condition is a very important factor to determine the price of resale value. The various grades of stamps are: mint, very fine, fine, good and poor. Specimen in outstanding condition often sell at many times their catalog value, which is the reason not to mishandle any stamp, which could drastically reduce their value.

If you want to know if you have valuable stamps in your collection and are really serious about pursuing this hobby, you can buy the Scot's Standard Postage Stamp catalog which lists every stamp in the world. This is a three volume encyclopedia and is the complete reference. You can also consult it at your local library if you don't want to go into the expense for the time being.

To start your collection, ask everybody you know to save you stamps they get from different countries, also go through old letters and small boxes hidden in your attic, chances are that you will be surprised to see how much you can find. Other cheap sources of supply are flea markets and garage sales. Start swapping when you have doubles. There are many philatelic clubs all over the country and it would be very advisable for a serious collector to belong to one. This way you will become educated in this field and learn everything you can before you spend money on your collection. Stamp clubs also provide their members with possibilities to exchange and sell your stamps.

You should also read as much as you can about stamps by subscribing to a philatelic magazine.

Stamps are like any other commodity, you can always go to a dealer who will offer you the current wholesale value of your stamps, but you can do much better by selling to other stamp collectors by advertising in magazines and newspapers specialized in stamp collecting.

Check several current issues of those magazines, it will enable you to compare the ads with what you have to offer. If you want to buy stamps as an investment, try to buy few moderately expensive stamps a year. Always buy quality instead of quantity, and diversify, do not invest heavily in a single area.

It is our opinion that stamp collecting is one of the best ways--and safest--to keep up with inflation.

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Stamp Collecting

Stamps come in all shapes, sizes and colors; can depict historical figures or events; celebrate a person, idea or event or they can be representations of art. Most countries issue their own stamps, but belong to an international postal union. This is why there are similarities among all postage stamps, which makes collecting worldwide stamps extremely fun.

There are two basic kinds of stamps, Definitives and Commemoratives. Definitives are small stamps of regular issue which are kept in circulation for an extended time (typically until the postal rate changes). Here in the United States, the common Flag-Over-Porch 32c stamp is an example of a definitive stamp as is the 20c Blue-Jay post-card stamp.

Commemoratives are issued to celebrate an event or person and are only available for a short time. They are bigger, more colorful but no more expensive. Here in the US, the Elvis stamp issued a few years ago was a popular commemorative stamp. The "Movie Monster" stamps, which were released last Halloween, are another example. Commemoratives are the most fun to collect, in my opinion, since they are a bit harder to get.

Some people collect only new (unused) stamps. Some only collect sheets of stamps (as sold by the Post Office). These are all expensive collecting methods and I don't think they add much to the enjoyment of the hobby. I collect used stamps (that is, stamps that have already been canceled by the post office). Used stamps are cheap (mostly free!!) since you can simply get them off your mail. In fact, ask friends and family members to save their stamps received on mail and this will help you build up a collection. If you work for a company that receives international mail (or have friends/relatives that do) you can get a fair number of foreign stamps just for the price of asking. This is a great way to get your collection going and costs next to nothing. In fact, you can go out and get some nice commemorative stamps from your post office (remember, they don't' cost any more than regular issue definitives) and use them on your own mailings to friends and then your friends can enjoy the letter you send and save the stamp for your collection. Sometimes you need to include a self-addressed stamped envelope - well this is a perfect time to use a commemorative stamp. You get the benefit of using the stamp at face value and you get to collect it when it's done with it's job. The important thing to remember with used stamps is to cut them off the envelope leaving a bit of paper around the stamp. Do NOT peel the stamp from the envelope as this will damage the stamp. Used stamps should be soaked off as described below.

Some people place their stamps in a fancy albums. Stamp albums come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Beginners albums hold about 5000 stamps and most of the common stamps have pictures to help identify where the stamp is from and where to place it in the album. There are lots of empty spaces to put newer issue stamps (ones not available when the stamp album was printed) and there is even some history about each stamp. Larger albums can contain up to 50,000 stamps and are massive multi-volume books. Most stamp collectors enjoy their albums but I am going out on a limb and recommending to new collectors that they do not use a pre-printed stamp album. First off, they can be expensive and when you fill one you have a tedious chore of moving the stamps to another. Some don't give you enough room for all the stamps you collect from a given country. Page updates for new issue stamps costs additional money each year. For all these reasons I recommend you make your own stamp album for collecting.

To make your own stamp album you simply need a good quality three-ring binder found at most office supply stores. Get just one to start but you can add on additional "volumes" as needed. Then get some acid-free heavy stock paper (typical writing paper is way too thin - typically 20LB or less here in the US. Get the thicker stock which here in the US means about 40-75LB paper). Be sure the paper is acid free (it will be a bit more expensive but it will not yellow and it will preserve the stamps). I think I got 250 sheets of acid-free heavy white paper for about $6 here in the US at a local office supply superstore. Punch holes in the paper with a 3-hole-punch to matchup and insert into your three-ring-binder. If you like, get some index dividers from A to Z so you can break up your album alphabetically. Then, simply place stamps from any one country on a page (or more than one page when you get enough stamps) and keep them arranged by country in your album. You can place the stamps on the page in whatever way you feel most artistically inclined. There is no wrong way and you collection can expand as you need it to (by adding more pages - the three ring binder makes this easy). Don't worry that the stamps are not aligned perfectly with respect to one-another. The beauty of the stamps will capture the observer's attention and the fact that there are no other "blank" pictures in your album will not make an observer ask why you don't have all the stamps of a particular issue. This makeshift album will server you forever!

Now, how do you put stamps in an album. First off, never glue or tape the stamps to an album page. Besides damaging the stamp, you can never move or replace the stamp in the album. You might have a stamp with a dark postal mark on it that you later recieve a duplicate that is in much better shape and you will want to replace the old stamp for the better copy. The best way to place stamps in your album is with stamp hinges. These hinges are cheap (about 1000 hinges for $2 or less) and can be had from any stamp store (check your local yellow pages). Stamp hinges are made from acid free materiel and are gummed on one side. You lick one end lightly and adhere it to the back of the stamp. You then bend it and lick the other end lightly and affix it to your stamp album. Press down lightly and the stamp is fixed in place. After drying for a few hours, you could easily remove the stamp by peeling the hinge gently from the page and then from the stamp (or re-soak the stamp). I very rarely have the hinge not hold a stamp properly (in fact, I can't remember the last time a stamp came loose on its own). Stamp hinges will prove most useful and are much cheaper than more expensive mounts which hold the stamp behind some transparent material which you must cut to size (and are generally not reusable).

Once you collection is underway, you may want to get a lot more stamps. Stamp stores and mail-order firms sell stamps in two basic ways. One is in packets which means the stamps are already off envelope paper and typically sorted for you. These are usually sold by country (for example, a packet might contain 50 Russian stamps or 100 US definitives, etc). Packets tend to be expensive so you should probably look elsewhere. The other way they are sold is by volume on paper. This is known more commonly as a "mixture" or "kiloware". This means that you are getting a big chunk of stamps still attached to small fragments of an envelope for you to soak off. These are much, much cheaper and you can sometimes get thousands of stamps (although there will be a high number of duplicates) for something like $10 or $15. The best mixtures are "unpicked" which means that they have not been looked through by someone else who removes the better quality stamps. Places like missions and banks typically get tons of stamps from around the world and these are the places stamp stores and mail-order firms get their mixtures and sell them to you and I for a fraction of what it would cost to get them in packet form. Be aware that there is a lot of work in soaking off stamps but if you have more time than money this is a good route to help build up you stamp collection (especially with worldwide stamps that you might not otherwise get in your country). You can find places on the web (search for "Stamp Mixture" or "Kiloware" and I should have a link or two on my Links page soon) or you can go to a stamp store (or library?) and get a copy of Linns stamp weekly newspaper which lists places you can obtain mixtures (or packets). Also be aware that some mail-order firms that sell you stamps do so on "approval" which means that you agree to sample new stamps in your home and buy what you want and return the rest. I find these expensive and time consuming so I recommend not signing up for one of these approval services (read the find print carefully). As always, be cautions with any dealings with a mail order company until you know they are trustworthy.

Unfortunately, stamp collecting in recent years does not seem to be as popular as it once was. I think with computers as a "hobby" - and I do think many people use Computers as a "hobby" which is great! - stamp collecting and other hobbies have suffered a bit. It doesn't help things much that more and more mail is being metered. Metered mail is weighed by a machine and given a postal mark with the exact postal rate instead of a standard postage stamp. Metered mail marks are not fun to collect and have no history nor do the commemorate an event. Those letters not using metered mail typically use a common stamp such as the flag-over-porch here in the United States. This is most unfortunate for the collector since the majority of his or her mail will contain no stamps or non-collectable stamps (once you have a stamp its not much fun having a duplicate). If you live in the US, check your mail for a few days and you will discover the large amount of metered mail and everyday-common stamps. This is extremely unfortunate given the fact that the post office issues over 100 new stamps each year and some are so beautiful it's hard to imagine why people wouldn't use them. They cost no more than regular stamps and it only requires an occasional trip to the post office to buy some of these commemorative stamps (or even some interesting definitive stamps). So start using some interesting stamps on your mail. Even bills! You may just inspire someone who receives that mail to start up a collection of their own.

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Stamp Collecting For Dummies

Postage stamps have evolved quite a bit since Great Britain’s 1840 Penny Black, the world’s first adhesive postage stamp. From simple designs featuring the monarch to works of art literally condensed to postage stamp size, hundreds of thousands of different stamps have been issued in the past 164 years - and the great majority of them remain reasonably priced for collectors. With so many stamps to collect from so many countries, a philatelist’s choices are virtually unlimited--which can be both a blessing and a curse, especially if you’re a newcomer to the art of stamp collecting.

Interested in starting a stamp collection, but not sure where to begin? This is the guide for you. Expert Richard Sine fills you in on everything you need to know about selecting, finding, buying, presenting and caring for stamps. An internationally recognized collector and author on stamp collecting (he used to write the New York Times stamp column) he also has much wisdom to impart to collectors who’ve been at it for a while. A gold mine of expert advice and guidance, Stamp Collecting For Dummies is on how to:

• Start or diversify your collection
• Decide what to collect
• Catalog and organize your collection
• Handle, protect, store, and display stamps
• Identify rare and valuable stamps
• Buy stamps online and through auction houses

Unlike most authors on the subject who tend to be pretty stuffy—to put it politely—expert Richard Sine focuses on the side of stamp collecting that’s enjoyable, educational, and fun. With humor, tons of interesting anecdotes about stamps and the men and women who love them, and loads of insider tips, he covers all the bases, including:

• Getting the biggest bang for you stamp-collecting buck
• Researching, locating and buying stamps through traditional sources and online
• Showing off your collection at exhibits
• Customizing your collection
• Housing your stamps and protecting them against the elements
• The ten keys to identifying and authenticating stamps

Stamp Collecting For Dummies is your total guide to starting and building on a really cool stamp collection.

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Think Globally, Act Philatelically

If you have or know young children, whether as a parent, relative, or friend, and would like to encourage them to know something about the world, a good catalyst and vehicle for gaining global knowledge and perspective is stamp collecting, otherwise known as philately.

Many a young child in ancient times before video games learned their geography and history from stamps. When I was a tot, I could name every country in the world, along with all the colonies and territories, and I did not learn this in school, but from stamp collecting. When I got an exotic stamp from Mozambique or Angola, I would look up the country or colony in an atlas and learn something about its history, especially as it related to the subject in the stamp. If the stamp portrayed a person, I would look him or her up in a biographical dictionary. If the stamp showed an animal, I wanted to know what its name was and what it ate and where it lived. I even learned some words in foreign languages, such as Deutschland and Osterreich, and what the foreign currencies were.

Stamp collecting need not be a solitary activity, but can also foster friendships and social skills. Stamping kids like to swap duplicates with their collecting friends and look at each other's collections. Some schools sponsor stamp clubs, and adult clubs welcome children and often offer them free stamps. The clubs offer shows and exhibits and offer more swapping opportunities. Clubs often also have booklets where collectors offer stamps for sale, many of them inexpensive.

Where to get stamps? At first, just take them from the daily mail. It's free, and it's fun. You cut around the stamp with scissors and then soak the stamps in warm water in a sink or bathtub. Most of the stamps will detach from the envelopes; if not, then just cut closely around the stamp. Dry them on towels. If they start to curl, place another towel on top of them. For stamps on postal cards or postal stationary, just cut out the stamp. Advanced collectors often keep the whole card or envelope if they have interesting postmarks or pictures.

Stamps are usually collected in loose-leaf albums. Stamp stores and dealers sell printed albums, with pictures of the most common stamps where one would place the stamps. There are also albums with blank pages. I recommend the blank pages so that the child can create his or her own layout and organization. The child can also make his own album with punched sheets of paper and an album cover; use good quality, heavy, non-acid paper in that case.

The stamps are best attached to the pages with special stamp hinges which are sold in stamp stores and stationary stores. Do not glue them to the pages! There is only one rule in stamp collecting, and that is to avoid glue or sticky tape. This ruins the stamps, and prevents reorganization. The hinge is moistened with the tongue or a sponge, one end is attached to the stamp, and the other to the album. Let it dry before removing the hinge if the collector wishes to place the stamp in another area of the album. Once dry, the hinge is easily removed from the stamp or page without damage.

The collector can then ask friends and relatives to save stamps from their mail. Some businesses will save stamps for collectors, and when I was a child, I obtained a few stamps from trash containers in post offices. Why not? People were just throwing away perfectly good stamps.

One can also buy inexpensive packages of 1000 stamps or so from stamp stores, departments stores, or by mail from stamp dealers. Stamp newspapers such as Stamp Collector and Linn's have ads with dealers. Besides local clubs, collectors also can join national organizations, the largest ones being the American Philatelic Society, PO Box 8000, State College, PA 16803, and the American Topical Association, PO Box 50820, Albuquerque, NM 87181. These societies have programs for children, including the opportunity to have foreign pen pals.

The two main ways of organizing collections are by country and by topic. In collecting by topic, the country is ignored and all stamps of a certain topic such as animals or art or space are placed on a page. As the collection grows, the topics can be separated into subtopics. Country collecting is usually done chronologically by date of issue, or also by type of stamp such as airmail. Stamp catalogues can help by providing the issue date as well as telling the price and some information about the stamps. The two main catalogues are Scott's and Minkus.

Stamp collecting can also be an enjoyable hobby for adults, including retired folk. For young children, stamp collecting is not just sociable and fun, but can be an intellectual alternative to cacophonous video games. Done in a lighthearted way, stamps can be a catalyst to teaching a child a global perspective and topics such as wildlife conservation, history, government, and economics.

The pages of the album can represent land. The stamps can be like people located in the land. Some pages will be empty, some pages will have a few stamps, and other pages will fill up. As a page fills up, space becomes ever more scarce and has a premium. New stamps then have to settle elsewhere. Maybe the most valuable stamps can stay in the better pages, while the cheap stamps have to move to less desirable sites. The pages might stir up images of nations and animal kingdoms or stamp wars. Stamps can srike up the imagination and create a whole mental universe. Stamps can be deep and creative, a welcome alternative to the flashy thrills of some modern entertainment.

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