There is a lot of good advice above, and I would like to add a little something to it if I may.
As a lad I told an uncle of mine that I was collecting stamps, as he was also a collector.
He had worked for the Post Office in Scotland but on the telephone systems (the companies were joined at one time).
He gave me a book 'The Post Office, an Historical Summary' dated 1911. He asked me what was the rarest stamp, and being young I said the 'Penny Black'. He kindly corrected me on that but indicated in the book how many letters the post office dealt with in the years around 1840 when the penny stamp was introduced.
1839 - 82,000,000
1840 - 169,000,000
1841 - 1845 average per year - 227,000,000
His meaning was that although scarce, there were millions printed, (just as there are of today's stamps), and therefore don't rush in, wait , use patience (as above) and you will find what you need to fill a gap or whatever. (I know there were also twopenny blues issued at the same time, and some letters were not 'stamped', but there were still 'million's').
I know this can be a generalisation as you will find out through acquired knowledge the details about the stamps you may be looking for, and there may not be millions of the specific issue or cancellation that you wish to collect and that is one of the judgements you will have to make.
Hope this is of use.
Regards. |
Posted 11/26/2011 6:09 pm
