Stamps
collectors come from all walks of life and from
all countries and localities. Some have
collections of scores of stamps, some have
hundreds, some have thousands and some have tens
of thousands of stamps.
The
latter are usually serious collectors who do not
give up stamp collecting for some time, then
resume collecting, and then become dormant
again. They regularly devote some of their time
to this hobby and constantly look after and take
interest in their collections.
There
are many fields of stamp collecting. Most of us
are general collectors i.e. we collect stamps of
all the countries of the world. Some like to
limit themselves to one or two countries. These
collectors usually collect errors and varieties
as well as usual stamps. Errors and varieties
are stamps differing from the normal stamp in
colour, perforation watermark or
design.
Then
there is a third group of collectors who collect
stamps on specific topics. These are called
thematic collectors. The themes on which they
collect stamps can range from aeroplanes and
cars to sports and Olympic.
BEST
METHOD:-
Many
ways can be employed in the actual collection of
stamps. Most collectors get their stamps from
letters, or postcards, which they receive from
friends or relatives. They then remove the
stamps from the envelope or card and place it in
their collection. There is a correct way of
removing stamps from envelopes, which I will
discuss later.
Another
method is the exchanging stamps; although you
have to have some duplicates stamps to do this.
I think this is the most common and best method
of building up a collection.
Exchanging can be on
a local basis in which collectors that are
friends exchange stamps with each other or on a
foreign basis in which they exchange stamps with
pen pals living abroad.
In this
case, the collectors usually obtain the names
and addresses of such foreign stamp collector
from some pen friendship magazine or a
newspaper. When their friendship is established,
they can send a certain number of stamps to each
other regularly.
This system has many
advantages. First of all, if the pen friend
lives in a far-flung country, both the
collectors will gain by getting stamps from each
other countries and those neighboring it. And if
a person has many pen friends around the world,
he can from a network of stamp exchange. The
duplicates he obtains from one pen pal can be
sent to another and those from him to yet
another. Exchange of stamps, therefore, is an
excellent and cheap way of acquiring stamps for
a collection.
A
third way of collecting stamps is buying stamps
packets. This is a comparatively more expensive
way and has disadvantages, especially in
Pakistan. Most stamp packets on sale over here
having, say a hundred stamps, reveal some of the
good, picturesque and large ones on the top,
while the others are hidden from sight in the
packet.
The stamps on top
and buy the whole lot for obviously a high price
usually impress people. When they open the
packet they find that the hidden stamps are
either the very common ones or absolute fakes.
Many collectors do collect these fakes
considering them genuine. More on fakes
later.
Some stamp dealers
who market stamp packets are honest and sell all
genuine stamps. Even then it is wise to buy
packets of the least possible stamps so that all
the stamps are visible and the collector can
make sure he wants them before he buys the
packets.
There are some
dealers who sell their stamps by post and
usually print a monthly list of all the stamps
on offer. Buying from such dealers has the
advantage that one can choose the number of
stamps he wants and from which country, although
there is the risk that you may get damaged or
unwanted stamps for your
money.
USELESS:- This brings us to
the term “damaged stamps.” Many who think that a
stamp is damaged only when it is torn into two
pieces misunderstand this concept or has a large
cut. This is why a large number of collectors
keep stamps which they consider all right but
which are actually damaged and not worth
collecting.
A
stamp, even if it has one of its perforation
missing or has a slight cut near the edge, is
classed as damaged. In addition, those stamps
which are worn out or whose paper is thinned
(usually the case when stamps are pulled off the
envelopes) are also damaged.
This
does not include those stamps, which have a
little thinness in paper due to watermarks.
Damaged stamps are absolutely useless for
collection. The value of a rare Pounds 400 was
reduced to 30 just because a small portion of
two of its perforations was
missing.
Stamps in
good condition are sometimes
damaged due to mishandling. This usually results
when one tries to remove stamps off the
paper.
