What Was Your Absolute Biggest Mistake As A Beginner?

As the title says, what do you look back on now and wish you'd done differently when beginning your stamp collection?

Starting to purchase expensive stamps without first acquiring the requisite knowledge to correctly gauge their condition and genuineness (or getting certs for the more expensive stamps).

As a child back in the 1960's, I wish I'd not used sticky tape to mount stamps when I ran out of hinges!

None of those stamps survive now as I started again when I retired. I still find stamps with that tape on in some local auction finds though...

Taking collecting advice from grumpy old men who had forgotten how much fun beginning collecting can be.

I have to remind myself of that when replying to questions from beginners, especially as my own age and grumpiness grow.

Dale

Checking for watermarks with carbon tetrachloride. Fortunately, I seem to have survived without I'll effects...I think.

Not following my own instincts when I was in my late teens and wanted to work in the hobby. I should never have listened to those who told me "you don't know enough". There were dealers at the time where I could have started out as a beginner and my desire to learn would have carried me through.

licking mint stamps & putting in my first album. (NTW: all low value & bought at Woolworth's in 15c-25c packets)

Two huge mistakes as a beginner and somewhat intermediate collector...

#1: My grandmother got me into collecting stamps when I was 10 years old (1974) with a paper H.E. Harris album for each of us, a few worldwide grab bags of stamps, and glue sticks to put them into the albums.

#2: Fast forward a decade and a half...I was building a U.S. collection on a limited monthly budget and started collecting at the present day (then 1988) and working my way backwards. I would buy everything I could at the post office, then year sets through approvals and mail order. I ended up with lots of stamps that had little more than face value.

Oracle of Delphi wrote:




Yes, yes and yes. Oracle channeled my first thought when I saw the topic title. I "got out over my skis" big time.

Every expensive 19th century stamp has a fault (damage), repair, or is a forgery/fake unless proven otherwise by a "respected" authority or by you (based on your own education/expertise). Don't trust yourself until you know how to analyze a stamp properly for thins, repairs, regums, reperfs etc. obtain correct equipment, lighting, magnification if you want to jump into classic old stamps

Wow!

Some super insightful replies here. Keep them coming!

This takes many years of study to learn how to do this properly. And it takes a lot of reading, and hopefully having mentors who know what they are doing and are willing to teach (I was incredibly lucky in that). And it takes seeing lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of stamps. And still more stamps after that.

Trying to collect too many categories of the same stamps. Pick one - your wallet will thank you later.

My grandfather started me at age 10 with U.S. singles, First Day Covers, and plate blocks. Fast forward 50 years when I retired and re-started my collecting. Filling in missing issues across all that was intimidating and expensive; gave up on the FDCs. Refused to continue his mint sheet collection. SHOULD HAVE DONE THE SAME with either the plate blocks or the singles. Big expensive mistake, but I'm at that point of "In for a penny; in for a pound".

Early on I did not do much specializing. My collecting took off when I picked 5 or 6 areas to collect.

gr1956stamps, at what point did you realise you had to pivot from general collecting to focusing on specific areas?

Going for quantity over quality. A not great habit I still sort of have. My wife says In all my hobbies I like the hunt more than the catching.

A few things changed my outlook. Some advice I took to a bit late "buy the book before you buy the stamp"
But which is fairly difficult in reality.

Seeing a collection that was put together entirely based on quality and whether the stamp spoke to the collector.
Granted, they had a lot more budget than I'll ever have but it was a revelation.

Would I change all the different things I have done since I was 5? Mistakes and all? No, not really. I learned things from even the bad batches of stuff
and wouldn't be me without those experiences.