GETTING STARTED WITH YOUR COLLECTION
HOW TO ACQUIRE STAMPS: A beginner can
start his collection with stamps from his
family mail. Some collectors continue to
collect used stamps and covers with
interesting cancellation marks (dates or
places). A collection with never hinged
mint condition stamps
that are well centered is preferred by
some. The following are some of the best
sources to obtain Postal Stamps for your
collection.

POST OFFICE: The best place to begin a
stamp collection for recent issues is the
Post Office. Some of the major Post
Offices have a Philately window devoted to
selling stamps at their face value.

RETAIL STORES AND DEALERS: For older
stamps a good place to start is the stamp
dealers. They are listed under Philately
or Stamps in the telephone yellow pages.
The dealers who are members of American
Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA) are bound
by the guidelines of ASDA for ethical
business practices.

STAMP SHOWS: A stamp show has a large
number of dealers in one location,
providing an excellent opportunity to
purchase and enhance your collection at
very competitive prices. The prices at
these stamp shows usually tend to be lower
than at retail stamp stores.

AUCTIONS: Stamp auctions are for more
experienced collectors and for dealers.
An experienced collector can find
excellent collections and rare stamps at
good prices. The dealer is the best
choice for a collector who is willing to
purchase a few stamps at a time.

ORGANIZE THE COLLECTION: Never glue
stamps in an exercise notebook, it is a
sure way to reduce the value and
desirability of a stamp. Beginner's kits
with basic stamp albums, hinges, and
other basic accessories are available.

ALBUMS: There is a large choice of
Albums. The simpler albums start with
fixed pages and printed headings. The
disadvantage with these albums is that
the collector may soon overflow the pages
provided. Some albums consist of loose
leafs, allowing additional pages to be
added whenever needed. The third kind of
albums has pages with images of stamps
printed to help the collector organize
his stamps.

MOUNTING & HINGING: Hinges are made of
thin paper. The hinges are narrow and
long and folded back. One side of the
fold is attached to the back of the stamp
and the other side to the album. Since
never hinged stamps are more desirable,
it is not advisable to hinge
the stamps especially the expensive
stamps. The more popular but slightly
expensive way is to insert stamps in
plastic
strips that are gummed on the back.
These plastic strips are then fixed at
a proper location in the album.

TOOLS FOR COLLECTORS: Stamps should
be handled with tweezers or tongs to
avoid the finger prints caused by human
body oils and perspiration. A magnifying
glass is very useful in examining the
details of a stamp. A perforation gauge
is used to measure the stamp
perforations. The watermark detector
solution is used to check the watermark
on the paper used for the stamp. The
ultra-violet quartz lamp is used to
identify if a stamp is phosphorescent.
It is also used to study the
composition of the stamp paper.

INVENTORY OF THE COLLECTION: An
Inventory program is bundled with this
product than will help keep an account
of your collection. In addition you can
generate want lists, summary and other
reports.





