Stamp Collecting

1、Stamp CollectingIntroduction Stamp collecting is fun, relaxing, and popular for many reasons. You can collect stamps at no cost, as they come in your mail every day. And even if you buy new stamps in sets they are quite inexpensive. Another way people get stamps is to swap with friends, or ask frien

2、ds and relatives to save any special ones they get in the mail.In addition to your local Post Shop, many stationery shops sell inexpensive collectors packs of overseas stamps. There are also special shops that specialise in selling old stamps. The people who run these shops are called stamp dealers

3、and several of them publish special catalogues that list all the stamps ever issued in New Zealand, and the cost of the stamps if you wish to buy them.One of the easiest ways to start a collection is to get an old collection. Perhaps a relative or friend have one they no longer want.If you cant find

4、 a spare collection, you can buy a Stamp Collectors Beginners Pack from a large stationery store or New Zealand Post. In this pack you get an economy stamp album, stamp hinges, some stamps, possibly a stamp catalogue, a beginners guide and a stamp identifier.Or you can buy a modern stock sheet stamp

5、 album, a packet of stamps, and join the local stamp club where you will find lots of people willing to show you how to sort out where each stamp comes from and exactly where it should be mounted.Youll have many hours of fun in the hobby of philately, as stamp collecting is called, seeking out stamp

6、s; sorting out where they come from; placing them in your stamp album; and carefully noting underneath the stamp what it is, where it comes from and anything else interesting you know about the stamp.Buying StampsIt is a good idea to decide to spend a small amount each week on stamps so that you can

7、 get stamps regularly. Just a few dollars a week will soon build up a very impressive collection.Recent stamp issues are available from any Post Shop or you can buy stamps issued over the last 12 months by mail order from the New Zealand Post Stamps Centre. Recent and older stamps can also be purcha

8、sed from stamp dealers.Joininga ClubA great way of learning about stamp collecting is to join a stamp club. Most big towns and cities have a stamp club.Stamp clubs usually have regular meetings at which information about stamps is exchanged and stamps themselves are swapped. The clubs also often put

9、 out newsletters and magazines which have a lot of stamp information in them.Stamp clubs hold Stamp Competitions and Exhibitions and club members love to show off their stamp collections at these events. By listening to what the judges say about the collections shown at these competitions, you can o

10、ften get new ideas for improving your own collection.What Sort of StampsWhen they start saving stamps, most people start saving what is called a General Collection - a collection of all sorts of stamps from all sorts of countries. But, since the countries of the world every year issue between five a

11、nd eight thousand new stamps, a general collection can soon become much too large for comfort.That is partly the reason why many collectors become interested in one type of stamps and start a One Country Collection or a Thematic Collection.One Country CollectionOne Country Collections are where the

12、collector collects as many stamps as possible from one country only. Many people who decide to start a One Country Collection dont think about collecting their own countrys stamps.Yet the least expensive One Country Collection for a New Zealander to have would be a collection of New Zealand stamps.E

13、ach year New Zealand Post sells a Collectors Folder which contains all the stamps issued in New Zealand in the past year. This special pack is sold for no more than the cost of the stamps.Many people who collect stamps from just one country also collect such things as Plate Blocks, Perforation and W

14、atermark varieties, flaws, missing colours, paper and printing changes, and other things of interest.Thematic CollectionWhen the stamps that you collect are all on one subject, such as space, paintings, transport, sports or animals, this is called thematic collecting. And you can specialise even mor

15、e than this. For example, sports is such a big subject that some collectors only collect stamps on certain sports subjects such as the Olympic Games, Water Sports, or Ball Games.People who are interested in a particular subject only collect stamps on that subject. Keen gardeners often collect flower

16、 stamps, motorcyclists collect motorcycle stamps, and car fans collect stamps with cars on them.Other people specialize more in things connected with stamps. Some people collect Cinderellas - stamps that are not official stamps issued by a countrys postal administration.Others collect postal station

17、ery, postmarks and postal markings of a country. In order to do this, these collectors must also know quite a bit about the postal system of the country or group they are collecting from and this requires a lot of study.Some real enthusiasts pinpoint their study to a small area of a country - the Wa

18、irarapa in New Zealand for example - and find out as much as they can about the postal services and anything else to do with the mail in that area.These collectors will know the names of all the local Postmasters from the past and the present day Post Shop managers), when the post offices changed th

19、eir date stamps, made certain deliveries, used stamps in error, and hundreds of other little details about the post in that area.The main thing to remember when deciding what to collect and when is that it should be what you want to do.Stamp AlbumsWhile almost anything will do as a stamp album when

20、you first start collecting, if you get serious about stamp collecting you will want to do it the way the professionals do.Most large stationary shops and bookshops have stamp albums for sale. The old type of stamp album was a bound book where the pages are bound together by sewing or staples as in a

21、 normal book. These books had a separate page for the stamps of each important country. The pages could not be removed from these albums and the stamps were stuck into the book with stamp hinges.The next type of album is the loose-leaf album. This is a folder type of album and you can take the pages

22、 out of these albums so that you could work on them easier. The pages are held in these albums in a number of ways but most have two or three rings that go though holes in the pages to hold them in the book. The advantage of these ring binders, as they are called, is that they allow the pages to lie

23、 flat when opened.It is possible to buy pages for these albums that have the names of various countries printed at the top, as with a bound album. It is also possible to buy blank pages headed with titles such as Fish, or Ships, or Space for collectors who are concentrating on collecting one type of

24、 stamps in a Thematic collection.If you decide to collect the stamps of just one country, in a One Country collection, you may even be able to buy some blank pages already printed with that countrys name. These pages have a space for each stamp issued by the country and the space often holds a pictu

25、re of the stamp.Information about the stamp is also printed on the pages. All you have to do is collect a stamp for each space and mount it in the correct place.Today, many collectors are using stock sheet albums. These are loose leaf folders with special plastic pages in them. Each plastic page has

26、 several strips of plastic running across it. These strips make a number of wide pockets into which you slip your stamps.The plastic is a special sort of plastic that doesnt go yellow and sticky in the sunshine and protects your stamps should you accidentally spill anything over your stamp album.The

27、re are two sorts of plastic page. One is single sided, having pockets on one side only while the other is double sided - it has pockets on both sides of the page.Preparing Your StampsSoakingWhenever you touch a stamp, you should always remember that, one day, it may be rare and worth a lot of money.

28、 So you should always handle your stamps carefully.When you first start stamp collecting you will probably get most of your stamps from pieces of envelopes. Firstly, when cutting the piece off the envelope, take care not to cut the stamp.Once a stamp is cut, torn or damaged it is almost worthless. T

29、he easiest part to damage on a stamp (and the most important part not to damage) is the perforations around the edge of the stamp.To get the stamp off the piece of envelope you soak them off. To do this, you place the pieces of envelope with the stamp facing upwards on the surface of a bowl of warm

30、water or on a cloth dampened with warm water.Leave the stamps on the water or the cloth until you can slide the stamp gently off the envelope. Never be in too much of a hurry or try to force the stamp off the envelope. If the stamp wont slide off easily, put it back in the water or on the cloth and

31、try it again later.When you have got the stamp off the envelope, dry the stamp by placing it face up on a clean and dry piece of blotting paper.Remember, never hurry the job. If you damage the stamp it will be worthless and you may never find another like it.When the stamp is dry, it is ready for pl

32、acing in your stamp album. Very old and rare stamps are best left on the envelope they came on as they are likely to be worth more on the envelope, even if the envelope is torn or dirty.Handling the StampA basic rule of stamp collecting is try to avoid holding the stamp in your hand. This is because

33、 holding a stamp in your hand makes the stamp dirty, and the grease and sweat on your hand can damage or mark the stamp after a while.The best way to hold stamps is to use stamp tweezers. These have wide pinchers (thin ones will crease and damage the stamp) and are small enough to be comfortable to

34、use.Try not to fold the stamp as this may make a crease on the paper and this makes the stamp less valuable.Checking the StampOnce you have the stamp you will want to study it more carefully and see the fine detail of the stamp design. To do this you will need a good magnifying glass. There are a wi

35、de range of magnifying glasses available and if you visit a stamp dealer, stationery shop, or book shop you can choose the one that suits you best.Perforation GaugeThe jagged edge of a stamp is called the perforation. Some stamps look the same but they have a different size of perforation. A perfora

36、tion gauge measures the perforation on the stamp. Perforation is measured by the number of holes in every 2 cm of perforation.If there are 14 holes in 2 cm then the perforation is said to measure 14.Because it would be annoying to have to count the number of holes each time you want to know the perf

37、oration of a stamp, you can buy a perforation gauge which you can match up against the perforations on the stamp you are looking at and find the perforation measurement.The gauge has on it rows of black dots. Each row has a different size of black dot. When you place the stamp on the rows you can se

38、e which row of dots fit into the perforation holes on the stamp and the number beside the row of black dots on the gauge tells you what the stamps perforation measurement is.On some stamps the perforations on the side of the stamp and the top of the stamp are different sizes and a perforation gauge

39、will help you check this.Watermark DetectorOn some stamps you can see a design by holding the stamp up to the light and looking through it. This design is called the watermark.Sometimes, although a stamp has a watermark, it is difficult to see even if you hold the stamp up to the light and look thro

40、ugh it. A better way of seeing watermarks is to place the stamp face down on a black tray and add a drop or two of benzine to the back of the stamp. The benzine shows up the watermark of the stamp for a short time until the benzine evaporates away.The liquid to use is benzine. DO NOT use benzene by

41、mistake!Special black trays and benzine droppers can be bought from any good stamp dealer.Color GuideColor guides help you match the description of a stamp given in a stamp catalogue. These guides are particularly important if a stamp has been printed in more than one shade of a particular color.Col

42、or guides contain hundreds of different colors and shades and their names to help identify a stamp and its color. They can be bought from any good stamp dealer.Condition of the StampAny stamp that is clean, not torn, badly creased, or made thin by having a stamp hinge or piece of paper badly torn of

43、f the back of the stamp, is said to be a stamp in good condition.A collector also judges how good a stamps condition is by how good the postmark is (it should not cover up most of the stamps design), and how good the perforations are. A stamp in good condition is more valuable than a stamp in poor c

44、ondition.Sometimes you will get a stamp that you have been looking for but it is not in as good a condition as you would like. What you should do is put the less perfect stamp in your collection until you can find a better example.Sometimes a stamp has brown spots on it and many new collectors think

45、 that, because of this, the stamp is in too bad a condition to be used. These spots are caused because the stamp has been moist for too long or there has not been enough light in the place the stamp has been stored.In stamp collecting these spots are called rust. Sometimes it is known as foxing. If

46、you look through your stamp album every month or so, your stamps should not get rust marks on them as turning the pages will air the stamps.However, if you have any stamps with rust on them, you can use some special chemicals to clean them up. Many collectors think that they have rust on their stamp

47、s but the marks on the stamps are either just dirty or the stamps have a water stain on them. Dirty stamps should be cleaned with a very soft rubber, while stamps with an old water stain can be cleaned with plain water.Stamp CataloguesStamp catalogues are very useful for a stamp collector. A world s

48、tamp catalogue lists all the stamps that have been issued throughout the world, while a one-country catalogue lists all the stamps that have been issued for a particular country.Using a CatalogueWhen looking in a catalogue for a particular stamp, you look up the listings for the country which issued

49、 the stamp. Next, you look through that countrys listings until you find a picture of a stamp similar to the one you are trying to identify.Most catalogues will not have a picture of every single stamp issued as this would be an impossible task, but one stamp in each set is usually shown. You should

50、 find it easy enough to identify any stamp from the basic illustration in the catalogue.Once youve found the particular stamp listing, you will find more information listed about the stamp.Most stamps are issued in sets and the catalogue will list all the stamps which were issued in the set your sta

51、mp comes from. It will also tell you why the stamps were issued (to honour a famous person or to commemorate an event, for example), the year the stamps were issued, the denomination of the stamps in the set, and the colour of each stamp in the set.Some catalogues will give you even more information

52、, including the name of the person who designed the stamps, the name of the printer, and how the stamp was printed. Also listed may be information about watermarks and perforations on the stamps.Sometimes catalogues will not list any reason for the issue of the stamps. This is usually because the st

53、amps are Definitive stamps. These stamps are on sale for many years, unlike special issues such as commemorative or scenic issues which are sold for a limited time.PricesAn important piece of information a catalogue gives is the price. A catalogue usually gives two prices for each stamp.The first pr

54、ice is the cost of the stamp in an Unused condition, in other words, one without a postmark. The next price is for a used stamp. A used stamp is one that has been through the mail and is usually postmarked.Sometimes there is another price in a catalogue for a stamp in Mint condition. A Mint stamp ha

55、s all its original gum intact as when it was first sold.Sometimes a catalogue has different listings - UHM, M, and U.UHM stands for Unhinged Mint. The stamp is in the condition it was in when first purchased.M stands for Hinged Mint. The stamp has previously been mounted in a collection.U stands for

56、 Used. The stamp is postmarked but not heavily.The prices in the book tell you what the stamp will cost to buy. They are not what you would receive for the stamp if you sold it. However, they give you a general idea of what your collection is worth and, when you are looking to buy a stamp, the price

57、 in the catalogue is what you would have to pay to get the stamp.Getting a CatalogueThere are lots of catalogues available but many of the hard-backed ones are very expensive. However, most public libraries have copies of the bigger stamp catalogues or you may be able to buy an out-of-date catalogue

58、 at a very low cost.There are also smaller catalogues available from some New Zealand stamp dealers that are very reasonably priced.Used sensibly, the stamp catalogue is the most useful book a stamp collector can have.Mounting Your StampsWhen you put the stamps in your album, this is called mounting

59、 the stamps. If you do have a stamp album with plain paper pages, you will have to use Hawid Mounts or stamp hinges to mount your stamps.Hawid Mounts are small plastic pockets in which stamps are placed for mounting in the stamp album. This protects the stamps and is ideal for mint stamps. You can, however, simply use a good quality stamp hinge.Stamp hinges