Why does anyone want to collect anything, especially used fragile and easily damaged things such as cheese labels, matchbox labels and postage stamps? Well I have no idea why anyone would want to collect anything other than used postage stamps. The variety is simply amazing and they come from all countries in the world, even the Vatican State issues its own postage stamps. The designs of stamp available are enormous covering a huge range of subjects in a colourful and fascinating way. Stamps also come in different shapes and sizes so in theory it would be possible to collect only triangular stamps though I cannot think of any examples of round stamps.
When starting to collect postage stamps it is easy to buy a purpose made stamp album with all the worlds countries featuring in alphabetical order on different pages. When you look closely at these mass produced albums you will see that some countries have more page space than others, this normaly reflects the numbers of stamps issued by each country and the general interest in collecting them. This is not ideal if you choose to collect stamps fron one of the countries with fewer pages and less space available in the album. So if this is the case the loose leaf album comes into its own. A ring binder style is useful and if the leaves are made up of fairly stiff heavy gauge cartridge paper so much the better. Some leaves are available with pre mounted plastic pockets running at intervals accross the width of the page. These are very useful and kind to your stamp collection as the stamps are not stuck in any way to the paper. Even proper stamp hinges can leave their mark over time.
With most collectable items it is condition that is most important and leads to a difference in value of many dollars over a dog eared or marked example. If you have paid top dollar for a particular stamp you will want to keep it in the pristine mint condition that you purchased it in so that it holds its value in the short term and hopefully rises in value over the long term. On the subject of keeping your stamp collection in the condition that you bought it in, stamps need to be handled individualy with great care. There are available special stamp handling tweesers that hold the stamp gently and avoid contaminating the stamp with body oils which over time will cause discolouration or worse.
So now you have the basic an quite inexpensive equipment needed to handle and safely house your stamps and you need to start collecting and sourcing stamps. It is at this point where it is a very good idea to put in some research. Buy a good stamp price guide to give you an idea of both values and how to grade a stamp. Grades run from perfect or mint to poor and a good illustrated postage stamp price guide is indispensible in helping you to value your purchases.
For more information go to www.mostvaluablestamps.com
Stamp Collecting 