Beginner to stamp collecting. Any help, please?
February 15th, 2009
Jonathan asked:
Okay. Well, I’ve recently started to collect stamps. Mostly, I’m doing it because it’s fun and it gives me a sense of accomplishment. Anyways, I have a lot of stamps, mostly, I’m trying to start out sticking with U.S stamps, although I intend on soon collecting European stamps once I understand what I’m doing. Anyways, I’m pretty good at removing stamps from paper, which is what I’ve been doing for a few days now. I have about 1500 U.S stamps. But, could anyone tell me what to do after I get them all off of paper? How should I sort them? Also, how do I judge the stamps by value based on the looks of them? Last but not least, since I’m a beginner, could anyone who has been collecting give me some tips on stamp collecting, or just some helpful information. Any info is helpful. Thank you. Hope someone can help.
Okay. Well, I’ve recently started to collect stamps. Mostly, I’m doing it because it’s fun and it gives me a sense of accomplishment. Anyways, I have a lot of stamps, mostly, I’m trying to start out sticking with U.S stamps, although I intend on soon collecting European stamps once I understand what I’m doing. Anyways, I’m pretty good at removing stamps from paper, which is what I’ve been doing for a few days now. I have about 1500 U.S stamps. But, could anyone tell me what to do after I get them all off of paper? How should I sort them? Also, how do I judge the stamps by value based on the looks of them? Last but not least, since I’m a beginner, could anyone who has been collecting give me some tips on stamp collecting, or just some helpful information. Any info is helpful. Thank you. Hope someone can help.
Categories: Hobbies & Crafts | Tags: Accomplishment, Collecting Stamps, Stamp Collecting
Save the old ones. They are worth a lot.
can you say NERD!!!!!!!
though I have four books of gold stamps
I used to be a stamp collector when I was in high school. I had the stamps that were current at the time and I had a collection going back to before WWII. My collection started out being international but I ended up placing my focus on US stamps. By the way that was over 30 years ago.
I would highly recommend purchasing an album. If your focus will be US stamps then you will want to purchase an album that is exclusive for US stamps. The album needs to cover current US stamps back to only about 1900. I can tell you from experience that unless you’ve got some serious money to spend on collecting US stamps you won’t collect much past that.
Type into a search engine stamp collecting and you’ll get a bunch of sites. I’ve linked some sites below that were around when I was collecting.
From glancing at what’s available things have changed and I didn’t find some names that I expected to.
What probably has not changed is if you are going to be a serious collector you will want to collect stamps that are in mint condition. That means they were never used.
Once you have an album which will help you identify what stamps you’ll want to add to your collection (there are black and white photos on the pages of the stamps you need to add) you will need to mount them on the pages.
Again if you are going to be a serious collector stay away from the hinge mounts for the lick and stick stamps we used to use. You will want to use the kind of (sleeve) mounts which you slip the stamp into. The lick and stick stamps you’ll want to not handle much so you will need a pair of tongs for handling your stamps.
How the new stamps (sticker type) are mounted I have no idea but there is a lot of information available on the web and there appears to be a lot of people out there willing to help the new stamp collector.
I collected stamps all through high school and some afterward. One of my big writing projects for an American history class was about how our stamps portray our American history. It was really cool back then because we were gearing up as a nation to celebrate our 200th anniversary as a nation…the Bicentennial celebration. The USPS came out with some really cool stamps that celebrated the Revolutionary War period and our nation’s growth.
One piece of advice I would give is to stay away from companies like the Franklin Company…I think that’s the one I had an arrangement with. Every time a new stamp was issued I would receive a first day cover (I think that’s what it’s called) which is an envelope with the new stamp and the first location it’s postmarked at. I also had albums that had information about the story behind that stamp and that location. It’s really expensive for the collector.
I would recommend doing some research online to learn more about it. The USPS also has special stuff for stamp collectors so I would recommend checking out their website.
Before you purchase an album for your stamps I would recommend seeing what’s available. Check out web sites, if you live in a community large enough to have stores for stamp collectors go to some of them and see what albums they have available. Do some comparison shopping. Fancier is not necessarily better. You don’t need the history behind the stamps displayed on the page. A simple album with the photos of the stamps side by side will suffice.
If you can get to a store that is just for stamp collectors I would recommend doing so. You don’t have to purchase anything but I would recommend looking at and handling the albums to see what they are like. If I were to start collecting again I would want to touch, see, handle that album I plan to purchase. Then go home an compare prices on line for the album(s) you liked.
I hope this has been helpful to you and that you enjoy your new hobby as much as I did back when I was collecting.
First try to sort them by value. Put the 1c together then the 2c then the 3c
After that go to your public library ans ask for the Scott catalogue.
When you get it, you search for your stamps and put them in chronological order (by date) the way Scott organize their catalogue.
Now back to your home place your stamps in your album
Your collection has started.
Now it’s time you start your European collection.
Have a good time
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