New Member - Need Advice

Hi - I have just purchased my first stamps, bought a box of old stamps at an auction. My question is - what is the best way to start sorting these stamps? What do I put them in? Some are in ok condition, some are not. They are from all over the world. There are 1/2 cent stamps, 11/2 cent stamps and many others.

Any advice will be most helpful

Thanks!
Sonia

Hi Sonia,

Welcome to the group!

I would sort them by country first. then by denomination.
You can just put them in envelopes or plastic bags for now to keep them separate.
Do you plan on keeping them all or just certain ones like ones from a particular country or a certain topic like animals or flowers?
There are all kinds of stamp albums you can get or print from the computer to put your stamps in.

Dave N.
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Hi sonia capsioux



welcome!

try segregating them in each envelope per country, and if their your very first stamps, give each a good long peering look, because that's what stamps are for, for the looks! I did that long long ago and still havent forgotten my first good looking stamps

then go for a collection of one from each country

happy collecting and dont forget to post some pics!

Welcome. Depending upon the volume of stamps you have, you could store them in a stock book for now. This would be after you have sorted them. Have Fun!

Welcome.

I would get a set of stamp tongs as soon as possible. A stamp dealer, many hobby shops, and very many online sources will have them, for $3 to $10, or so. They look like tweezers, but they aren't tweezers. They let you move the stamps around without leaving the oils from your skin on the stamps. (You should make it your goal to never touch a stamp with your fingers.)

Plain envelopes will be fine for short-term storage. As you look around, you'll quickly find a better solution that fits your needs, but right now, you won't know what your needs are.

Most of all, have fun!

Welcome Sonia.

I can't add more than the other guys have done at this point.
Just enjoy your new hobby and have fun.

Londonbus1

G'Day Sonia (what a lovely name) and to the forum.

I agree with the rest

have fun

Harry

Hi and welcome Sonia! If you have a photo of the box showing some of the stamps maybe we can help you better!

Welcome capsioux! (Sonia),

Glad to have you here.

I agree with the stamp tongs suggestion. You can use your fingers but when you realize you've been transferring finger oils and other stuff to your expensive stamps or the ones you want to keep or your fingers were moist and you touched a stamp with the gum (glue) still on it and after it stuck to something, or similar horror stamp stories, you willl wish you had got some stamp tongs.

But, mostly, enjoy the process, the learning, the beauty of stamps and history.

Part of the fun of stamps is that there is no one way that is 'the way' to do it. Everyone changes and adapts things to their own style and choices.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions, sorting, tongs, and envelops will be the start. The box only cost $7.50 and I just thought it would be an interesting place to find some really different stamps. So far there are many run-of-the-mill stamps. The ones from all over the world are the interesting ones. They all seem to be used, and I am guessing mailed to the people who had the household auction.

Do you just re-glue them to the stamp pages, when I get that far?

Thank you all for your help!

Usually we use a variety of methods depending on the depth of out pockets and what we are doing with the stamps.

Arranging by country or topic and sorting out by year is sometimes better done in a stock book or stock pages, old cardboard or new plastic ones.

You can either leave them there or then buy or print your own paper pages (to the quality of paper and design you prefer) (lots of suggestions on that topic throughout this forum) and attach the stamp by little hinges (singular hinge or stamp hinge) to the paper.

These little glassine paper hinges (glassine is a little like wax paper) are gummed (have glue) on one side and bent in the middle or one third of the way along, so you can lick or moisten the smaller part to attach to the back of the stamp (smaller to avoid more damage) and the larger part to the stamp album page. (Not photo albums, oh no, the glues on those pages will do bad things to stamps)!

Or, you can mount the stamps in plastic mounts and lick the back of the mounts and stick them to the pages.

If you put stamps on both sides of the pages you might want to buy glassine pages or leaves to put between so the stamps won't pull and tear each other when you open the pages. Sometimes.

Lots of different ways. Start small and look at what others are doing and see how that looks to you and how you want your stamps to display on the pages. If you have more fun accumulating and sorting (like me) you might just store the stamps in glassine or paper envelopes for large quantities or to await your buying of pages or stock books to keep them in.

Sttamps have a tendency to curl up when just left lying there in the open too long. Some more than others. Mint or post office fresh stamps will do this because of the humidity in the air reacting with the gum on their backs.

I am not sure how store bought albums are nowadays but when I collected worldwide I enjoyed the paper pages in a store bought album to which I could add new blank pages as I went along and arrange the stamps on those blank pages in the arrangements that pleased me the most, instead of by the pictures of what the manufacturers had made. Those are good but when you get more, and more and more . . .it just doesn't stop. . . you find that they don't show you all the pictures for every stamp or set.