Collecting Stamps and Stamp Collections

Welcome to the wonderful world of Stamp Collecting, often called the King of Hobbies and the Hobby of Kings. There are many ways to enjoy collecting stamps. Many serious collectors and dealers began their careers as casual stamp collectors, maybe like you. Stamps come in all shapes and sizes, depicting famous people, commemorating special events, some proudly display the geography or history of their country, others show various animals, nature scenes, astronomical images, ships, or any number of interesting pictures.

Some stamps are very rare because of a limited edition or special postmark. Often, old stamps are more valuable when they are still on the envelope, card, or package. These items are usually sold by weight and are thus called Kiloware. However, just because a stamp is old doesn't necessarily mean that it is valuable. The first stamp ever printed, called Penny Blacks, are only worth about seven dollars.

Collecting stamps can also be a fun way to learn about history, geography, or any number of topics. With a little research you can discover who is on your stamps, where they are from, and what their significance is. You may find yourself as an expert on some small country, or a specific type of frog, all from collecting stamps and sating your own curiosity.

So how do you begin collecting stamps? Well, you only need three things, really.

1) Some stamps. You can get these from charity, a stamp shop or local stamp fair, or, more often than not by mail order. Save all the stamps you receive and ask your friends to save stamps for you, too!

2) Catalogues to identify and sort your new stamps. You can find these at the library, if you don't want to buy your own. Scott or Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogues are the most popular with beginners.

3) Time. It waits for no man (or woman), so get out there and start sooner than Philatel-er (Sorry, bad joke. Philately is collecting stamps.)

Here are some tips to make your stamp-collecting experience more enjoyable.

Try collecting only stamps of a certain theme. These could be from a certain country, or only pictures of aeronautical crafts, or only birds, or only famous singers. You could even collect only Bulgarian stamps from the 1950s if you wanted.

Never tear old stamps from envelopes or postcards. They may be more valuable left on the letters, and the letters are often the most interesting part.

Never keep damaged or creased stamps unless they are very valuable.

There are now special inexpensive plastic mounts to place your stamps in. Use these to display your mint (unused) stamps. Some albums come with these mounts already attached to the pages.

Do not buy pretty, modern, unofficial stamps that come from an obscure country. There is a thriving counterfeit stamp operation going on out there just waiting for a sucker to rip off. Don't be that sucker.

But most of all, enjoy stamp collecting. Don't think of it as an investment.

How to remove a stamp from an envelope:

Most kiloware is very easy to remove from its envelope. You can get these from charities who sell bags of stamps still on paper. You just take the letter with the stamp still on and soak in a bowl of warm water until it falls off and floats to the top. Dry it off on some newspaper, and then let rest underneath a heavy book for 24 hours to remove the curl. This can be a great way to start out your collection.

One thing, some old stamps are printed in water color, and the ink will run right off the stamp when you soak it. A special liquid is required to remove stamps of this kind. Modern stamps should all be ok with this method however.