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The do’s and dont’s for stamp
collector’s
Those who continue collecting
beyond their school days find it an exciting and reliable escape from
this hum-drum world of ours. There are few other hobbies so wide open,
so full of freedom of development along the lines of your own choice.
This can be done only if you have proper guidance and planning.
Listed below are some do’s and don’t’s:-
- Now-a-days a worldwide collection is an
impossible task. So pick one country or group of countries either
political or geographically related. Or you can pick a theme that
interests you like history, art, literature, birds, animals and
space. Your theme can be anything that you choose.
- When you buy an album, buy a loose leaf
album. With a loose leaf album, blank pages can be inserted for
mounting multiples, covers and related material.
- When you have decided what to collect,
there are two things that you should do as soon as possible. The
first is to join a local stamp club that welcomes junior members and
to meet others interested in the hobby. The senior members will
always be ready to answer your basic questions about philately and
guide you in the art and science of this hobby. The second is to
acquire a catalogue. If this is beyond your means, then make use of
the library of your stamp club. Here you will find vast amount of
philatelic literature, which will be useful in acquiring knowledge
in improving your collection.
- Attending stamp exhibitions is also
very important, because it is here that you might find one or more
exhibits in your field of interest. If you are lucky, the exhibitor
may be present and you will get a chance of exchanging ideas, where
you will learn to know the material better. At most of the stamp
exhibitions you will find dealers selling philatelic material, which
can be bought at reasonable prices. If you are in doubt, always seek
the guidance of a senior collector.
- Once you start collecting, it becomes
necessary to have a check-list. Do list all the material you will
need that you are aware of. You will add items as you talk to
collectors and visit exhibitions. As you buy, tick off the items you
already have as this will save you the problem of buying unnecessary
duplicates.
- Do have a stock-book to store your
stamps until you mount them on your album pages.
- If you think that you would like to
exhibit, most stamp clubs have programmes on how to exhibit, or seek
out a collector whose style of exhibiting you enjoyed. I am sure
they will be only too happy to help you.
- No matter weather you are an
accumulator, a collector, a philatelist or an exhibitor, learn to
use the tools of the trade. These include knowing how to read a
catalogue, how to handle a stamp tweezer, how to read a perforation
gauge and how to use a watermark detector.
Having given
importance to the do’s, we now come to all the don’t’s:-
- Don’t handle stamps with your fingers
more often than you can help: Always use tweezers.
- Don’t cut stamps from envelopes
before you know the cover has no significance.
- Don’t soak stamps cut from coloured
envelopes with others – the paper dye might run and ruin hundreds
of stamps.
- Don’t mount damaged or dirty stamps
in your collection. They spoil the appearance of an album page and
are nearly always valueless.
- Don’t use anything but the best
hinges you can afford for mounting stamps, particularly unused
stamps.
- Don’t mount a stamp until you are
sure of its country of origin. Ask a more experienced collector to
identify it for you if you cannot do it yourself.
- Don’t try to peel hinges before they
are dry. You may damage the stamps or the album page.
- Don’t mount your stamps haphazardly.
Arrange them neatly and according to some definite plan.
- Don’t use a catalogue without reading
carefully any introductory or explanatory notes.
- Don’t class a stamp as a duplicate
until you have checked on every detail of its design, perforation,
watermark and paper. Having read the above do’s and don’t’s
you will find that your collection is a joy forever.
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