What Are The Most Useful Tools For Identifying/Collecting

Since I am brand new to this game, I want to know what tools, gizmos, resources, etc... are most useful to you when identifying, storing, organizing and handling stamps? I see magnifying loops, lighted magnifiers, tweezers, hinges, watermark fluid... and on and on!

If you could tell me what tools you can't live without and even provide links to where I can purchase them cheapest, that would be great! Also, ANY links to your favorite online sites, forums, resources would be amazing! :)

They're not tweezers...they're tongs!

I find stamp colour gauges to be very important to figure out shades.

Also perforation gauges are really useful to figure out varieties.

I store my stamps in vario sheets which look great and are secure!

LINDSEYR 702--------Since you asked -------here is some help from a 60 year ,none stop collector.
My advice is two points ,to make this a enjoyable hobby ...........get organized and have all your stuff organized and your stamps sorted into a manor were you can find anything .Second decide what your going to collect and stay focus on that subject and learn it ,so your the "go to guy" . Don't jump around like most collectors ,they start with a worldwide collection ,then they start a country collection ,then a FDC collection and then they think they want plate blocks or coils . Then after a few years they start a postal history collection . Before you know it they got 15 uncompleted collections and they die and the family got a room full of junk to sell because nobody can make heads or tails of their hobby .........STAY ON SUBJECT and enjoy it ,forget trends in the hobby ,they change every few years.

Thank you both very much! Sorry - TONGS! ;) I'm not 100% sure that I want to add to what I already have - at the moment I'm most interested in identifying what I have and will go from there. If I decide to collect as well, I will most likely try to finish the two albums that were given to me!

floortrader, brilliant discoursed! Thank you for sharing!

Hi Lindseyr 702!

Welcome to stamp collecting! I've been at this for almost 50 years and have found it a relaxing and enjoyable hobby.

First of all, enjoy it as a hobby. It is amazing what you learn about history, politics, geography and, of course, the little works of art we collect, stamps. If you collect to make money or your goal is to leave a valuable collection to your heirs, be prepared to spend a lot of money and have a little luck. Otherwise, think of it as your collection and collect the way you want and how you want. There are no hard and fast rules. It's your collection. Enjoy!

Having said that, the gizmos you probably should have are tongs, a perforation gauge, a watermark detector, mounts/hinges, glassine envelopes or some other way to store your extra stamps, a magnifying glass of some type and a catalog. This serves most collectors well. If you do a search of the threads here you will find any number of opinions on the best and the least expensive of each. Look around a little and see what you think meets your needs and budget. You can spend as little or as much as you want on this hobby and have fun.

One caveat on catalogs: I can't tell you how many budding collectors have been discouraged by seeing the values listed in a stamp catalog only to be told their stamps are only worth a fraction of the listed value. Catalogs are very useful for their information and some measure of the relative scarcity of a stamp. They are worthless if you want to determine the market value of your stamps.

It sounds like you already have albums. You can work on filling those albums or take another approach, a different kind or type of album (a specific country, world wide or topical), stock pages, printing pages from the internet or designing your own pages. Again, opinions abound on this subject. Do a little research and see what you like. There are lots of threads here on this topic too.

If you get into the weeds like some of us, you will be looking at additional gizmos: UV lights, natural lights, color guides and micrometers. It depends on what you collect and how deeply you want to go into an area.

There are a lot of good internet sites for stamp collectors. It really depends on what and how you want to collect. You have already found what I think is one of the best resources on the internet, SCF! There is a wealth of information here that you can access by searching and plenty of helpful people to answer your questions or point you in the right direction.

I hope you stay around! Have fun!

Dan

danstamps54 - thank you for the welcome and the information! I'm definitely not collecting to make money - I've learned that the only sure way to do that is work! I'm most interested in identification of what I have so I think a catalogue is in order! Can you suggest a catalogue for the stamps I have? Also, what is your preferred method of watermark detection? Thanks again!

Sorry - I forgot to mention, my albums are Minkus British Europe and British Oceana. The stamps date from 1840 to about 1980!

Collectors in the US tend to use Scott catalogs. You should be able to test drive them at your local library), but since your albums are for British Commonwealth stamps, you might want a Stanley Gibbns catalog (which you ae unlikely to find at your local library).
Either one may be intimidating for a starter.

I mainly collect US, "Germany," Brazil, Canada and postmarks so that area is a little out of my wheel house.

There are a lot of very knowledgeable people here who would know better than I but Stanley Gibbons seems to be the go-to catalog for that area.

I'm old fashioned when it comes to watermark detection. A black tray with lighter fluid is my method. For some stamps just holding them up to the light can give you the watermark. That works great for a lot of German stamps but you will get cross-eyed looking for Brazil watermarks!

Dan

Lindseyr 702

See how great SCF is? You got an answer to your question while I was typing!

Dan

That's rich

I'm assuming it took all 60 years to do that ? All kidding aside, I wish mine were like that.

Hi,
Last year, I got back into the hobby "with both feet" after 40 years or so away. I got a lot of advice and most of it turned out pretty good. I found that the most important stuff - other than stamps and albums (major decision here)- wasn't all that expensive. Anyway, I recommend:
- a 6 inch pair of spade tongs. They are much more user friendly than the 4 inch.
- Linn's Stamp Identifier: a $12 book that had made identifying stamps relatively easy. I use it often.
- a used Scotts cataloge. I have a used USA one from ebay, and a 1955 set of two books for worldwide from ebay ($25).
- Dennison hinges (if you can get them)
- 3x5 or so glassine envelopes. I first had to buy a pack of 100. I thought "why so many?". Ha, I've now used 200 of them.
- a good quality perforation gauge and metric ruler - both inexpensive.

How can I make my own stamp album?
Thanks

Type your query into the search function for the site. Many members here have made custom pages that are beautiful and loads of helpful information can be found on the subject.

Thank you all for the useful information! I've been looking at Amazon and ebay for the catalogs but the choices are making my head spin!! I don't care much about the values listed - I would be able to find those online but I really want the catalogs for identification purposes. The tough part is that the British Oceana album I have encompasses SOOOO many countries and I don't have the expendable funds to buy all of them - woe is me! Lol!