Starting a Stamp Collection

This is an open ended question that will mean different things at different time in your collecting career. When most of us began collecting, we collected any stamps that came our way. In my case, I was given a small paperback worldwide album that had about 30 - 40 stamps in it. I loved that little album and still do today; over fifty years later looking at it still brings back wonderful memories of a kid who found solace in "traveling" to France, Brazil, Siam, Borneo, Japan, Turks & Caicos Islands, and to the uttermost parts of the world. It was a good way to start with stamps. Today, there are other ways that may be more pertinent to you. With the advent of the Internet and dozens of marvelous stamp sites and with stamps prices continuing to remain low, a new collector can start right out collecting stamps from the United States or from Russia or from Argentina or Newfoundland (one of my favorites) or any other country in the world.

Another area of collecting that is popular is topical collecting. This is when you collect stamps that have one theme on them--Disney characters or flowers or music or Christmas or sports characters or Hollywood stars or hundreds of other themes.

There are many ways to find stamps. Here are ten of them:

1. Ask everyone you know to save envelopes with stamps for you. If you know someone in a large business, sometimes they will put their envelopes that they generally throw away in a box for you. Be sure to give them a nice-sized box to place the stamped envelopes in and collect your booty often.

2. Go to a stamp auction site, eBay or many others, and bid on a collection, an accumulation or a worldwide lot. Sometimes they will be called a mystery lot or missionary accumulation. You can find these lots for a few dollars to hundreds of dollars.

3. Go to a local stamp store. Years ago, this was the major way that collectors bought stamps. Sadly, there are few stamp stores left. However, if you are fortunate to have one in your area, it is a great place to hang out and learn about stamps.

4. Buy a stamp magazine/newspaper at your bookstore or magazine shop and order a collection, accumulation, or large lot.

5. If you can get a Linns Stamp News newspaper, they have a great classified section. Look at the first section, Posthorn, and find a dealer who wants to trade stamps. You will have to have some stamps before you can trade, but this is a great way to get new stamps. I have also listed in the links section places on the web where you can find a trading partner.

6. Get dealers to send you approvals. This is a system that dealers have set up where they send you stamps, you look them over, and then you decide which ones you want to keep and send the rest back. There are dozens of them who have sites on the Internet.

7. You can go to various Internet sites and buy stamps outright.

8. Join a stamp club. Most large cities have at least one. Make sure you let them know you are a novice and need help. It is not unusual for the club to have stamps available for novices at very nominal prices.

9. Go to a stamp show. You can talk to many dealers there, some of whom will have stamps for novices.

10. We have a great postal service which issues several dozen beautiful stamps every year. You will probably want to add at least some of these to your collection

Almost every stamp collector places his/her stamps in albums. There are stock books and plastic pages with pockets and glassine envelopes that work too, but at some time you will want to have an album. They are available from inexpensive ($5 - $10) to extremely expensive (several hundred dollars). Start with an inexpensive one with pages from the collecting universe you have selected.

You will absolutely need stamp tongs. This is a tweezer-like device that is used to pick up stamps. I like the spade-ended ones, but get the one that feels best for you. I would be careful of the pointed ones as they can damage your stamps; however, some collectors say they are easier to use. Prices for tongs run from a couple of dollars to $10 - $15 for gold plated babies. (The gold plated ones don't work any better!)

In order to put your stamps in the album, you will need stamp hinges. These are little pieces of paper with adhesive on them. One half attaches to the stamp and the other one attaches to the album page. If you place them at the very top of the stamp, it can be lifted to show the picture or design of the space underneath, thus they are called hinges. As a word of warning, modern collectors do not use hinges for mint stamps, only for used stamps. The hinge damages the gum on the back of the stamp and the value of the stamp is greatly reduced. Of course, if you are collecting for fun and the stamp is not valuable, new or used, feel free to use a hinge; it is your collection. If you want to place mint stamps in your collection and not use a hinge, there are plastic mounts that can be used that do not damage the gum, but they are more expensive.

Before you go very far in collecting, you will need some additional accessories--perforation guide, watermark fluid, stock books, and a catalog; however, this is enough for you to start on a most enjoyable journey of your life.