The Introduction
Stamp collecting is no child’s play. Although, it is just as enjoyable for kids as it is for grown-ups.
Stamps are now a collector’s item, and it may be used by a few to make some serious amount of money.
However, there are a few things that one ought to take into account before venturing into this particular hobby.
What will the collection consist of?
Before anything else, you need to decide the kind of stamp you want to collect. Stamps can be:
- Commemorative – Issued to honor a person, event, or subject, printed in small quantities only once, usually large and colorful.
- Special – Issued on special occasions or mark certain events, for example, Christmas, Love, or even Express mail
- Definitive – Issued regularly, in large quantities, usually smaller-sized.
Also, you may want to decide beforehand the type of collection you want to have that may be:
- Worldwide – Stamps from all across the globe
- By country – Stamps from specific countries that appeal to you, or your own country, or even someplace you may like to visit.
- By topic – Making up a collection relevant to certain topics such as birds, Disney characters, Holiday seasons.
- Mint vs. used – mint stamps are new and of greater value. Used stamps are easily collected and with very little cost.
Another question to keep in mind is how you plan to acquire your stamps?
You can get stamps by:
- Purchase stamps at the local post office.
- Buy stamps online.
- Ask friends, family, and even co-workers to save their stamps for you.
- Join a local stamp club to swap stamps.
- Find a stamp dealer to find rare ones for you.
- Attend a stamp show and meet up with stamp collectors.
It is also important to be knowledgeable about the way you want to store your stamps. After all, what’s the point of going through all the effort if you ruin them.
So, the question to ask is how do we store stamps?
You can store stamp in:
- special stamp albums
- by using stamp hinges
- on a loose-leaf paper in a binder
- stamp mounts
- transparent glassine envelopes
However, many people claim that philatelists stamp for their worth.
So, how can you tell what a stamp is worth?
The easiest way to do that is to get yourself a stamp catalog. These catalogs give a pretty good idea about the value of different stamps. You also discover that the condition (faded, stained, or torn) of the stamp affects the price of a stamp.
In Conclusion
The few tips that we gave were to get you to understand the necessary information you need to have to get into collecting stamps.
There are several comprehensive websites to help you get a clear picture in your mind about the must-know of stamp collecting. Try research on the internet to even find out about buying stamps online, because you can get hold of some really amazing stamps with minimum effort.
