Stamp Collecting Tools For Husband's Birthday

Hello! I apologize in advance for this being a long post. I figured I would get all of my questions on here at once. :-) My husband is a stamp collector - he's been collecting stamps for 20+ years - and I'm hoping to pull a basket of stamp collecting goodies together for his birthday. I'm hoping some of you can give me advice on what to get.

I know I want to get him some sort of color guide as he is regularly looking on the Internet to identify the difference between red-brown and brown-red. Is one color guide better than another?

Also, he is constantly misplacing his stamp tongs so I thought I'd get him another pair or two. Maybe a pair to keep in each room that he works on his stamps. I definitely don't want to get the pointed kind. Is there an advantage over the spade tip versus the round tip? Is there an advantage to the bent tips? How about the gold tongs versus stainless? He's been using the same set of tongs since I've known him (14 years), so I don't think he's that picky.

Another thing I want to get is a good magnifying glass (or two if that's recommended) since his is quite scratched up. Any recommendations?

Can you think of any other goodies that might be good? The present will be from myself, our 2 1/2 year old and our newborn, plus it's his 35th birthday, so I figure I can spend a little more to put together a really nice basket for him. He has a perf guide, UV light, watermark detector and fluid, drying books... He primarily puts his new stamps in Lighthouse albums and his used stamps in Lighthouse binders. I'm not sure what type of stock sheets he would need for his extra stamps or which supplements he already has.

I know he orders a lot from Subway so I was going to order his supplies from there. Is that a good place for supplies or is there somewhere else that you recommend?

If it makes a difference, he collects new and used stamps from all over the world. He gets the yearbooks for some new stamps and buys others loose to put in his Lighthouse albums. His used stamps are mostly older stamps or ones that we receive in the mail.

Thanks in advance! I appreciate any help you can give me to make this present extra special for him!

Welcome! What a lovely, thoughtful gift you are contemplating. It's always nice when a spouse supports their mate's hobbies.

First of all, color guides...for my money, the best one is the one made by Stanley-Gibbons, which can be found here (I don't know if Subway has it, but you can check):
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...380112898365



The advantage to Stanley-Gibbons' Colour Key is the fact that each chip has a hole punched in it so you can lay it right over the stamp to do the comparison, plus it stores so compactly.

As to stamp tongs, I find that they're mostly a matter of personal preference. I have used both the spade tip and the round tip, and I tend to favor the former; I have used the bent tips and found that I had to adjust myself to them, but then again, this is just personal preference, along with the question of metal type. Suffice to say that extra tongs are always a good thing, and my suggestion would be to just get him the same kind as he is already using, unless he has said anything himself about getting a different kind.

Magnifying glasses are always nice, also, and it doesn't hurt to get one that is at least 10x, power-wise. Better still is one of those magnifiers with the built-in lamp and a gooseneck like you see in labs, because this ensures always having good light for viewing.

As to storage, my advice is to just duplicate what he has. An extra album or two is always nice but remember to see if he favours any particular color or size. As to pages or stock sheets for Lighthouse albums and binders, I am not really an authority, but if you could measure the size of the sheet and state how many rows there are on the page, and perhaps even scan one, I am sure that there is someone else here more conversant regarding them.

I have found Subway to be pretty good as a supplier, and find them nice and quick, and have never had a problem with them. They usually have a catalogue that shows up every once in a while; a good idea might be to check around the house for them and see if he has jotted any notes, etc. in them.

One other suggestion I would make is to find some kind of a box that is sectioned off inside that would help him to keep all of his smaller stamp collecting things in one place. I am sure he would find this handy. Size and type are up to you, but I have even found suitable ones at the local dollar store made of high impact plastic, but even a small tool box would probably work, if he has a lot of stamp goodies, or maybe even a small tackle box used for fishing tackle with the pull-up trays, which could even be used to store stamps in once they've been sorted.

If you have any other questions, don't hesitate to ask. We have a lot of knowledgeable people here who can supply answers without fail.

Welcome TXGator.

I agree that the Stanley Gibbons color key is an excellent guide. I especially like the holes. I find though that not all stamps match perfectly with the color guide. That is due to the inks and paper of the guide are not the same as those used for stamps.

I use a magnifier with an incorporated battery powered light bulb. But I also find that a good general lighting source such as a desk lamp is also very helpful. A natural sunlight bulb is best since it does not give off a yellowish hue as does an incandescent bulb. A fluorescent bulb is also better than incandescent but some are more like white light than natural light.

Very good advice above. However, I would caution against the Stanley-Gibbons Color Guide mentioned if your husband is using Scott catalogs for identification because the terminology for color used by Stanley-Gibbons does not equate with the te4rminology for color used in Scott. For Scott purposes I use the "Wonder Color Gauge" which should be available from Subway. I have also found the "Linn's" clear plastic Perforation Guage to be indispensable. There is a bit of a learning curve but, once you're used to it its pretty sweet and is expecially useful for the modern perfs measured in 1/10ths.

Thank you so much for the advice! Please keep it coming if you can think of anything else!

Regarding the color guides, I see that the G&K Wonder Color Guide has 140 shades and the Stanley-Gibbons has approximately 200. I like the idea of the Wonder Color Guide being intuned to the Scott catalogues as that is solely what he uses to catalogue his stamps. Will the 60 less shades make a large difference?

Thanks again!

No, they won't be missed but they wouldn't key to the Scott catalog system anyway.

TXGator.....


Welcome to the club....

A link to this club....??....


A bottle of watermark fliud would always come in handy.

Glassine envelopes and 102 or 104 cards would be useful......and here's a link to subwaystamps....

http://www.subwaystamp.com/Aboutus.asp

Thank you all so much for the fantastic advice! You've really given me a lot of great ideas!

I think I'm going to get him 2 magnifying glasses - a 10x stand magnifier and a 20x pull out LED magnifier - a couple extra pairs of spade tongs (I believe that's the type he currently uses), a bottle of watermark fluid and a clear perforation guide. I couldn't find the Linn's one, so I'm hoping this one is close? It's the only clear one I could see on the Subway site.

http://www.subwaystamp.com/prodinfo...er=ZCGMEAT56

I'm also going to get the Wonder Color Guide since he exclusively uses Scott and it looks like it has the holes similar to the Stanley Gibbons guide. I'm going to see about getting a small tackle box (I like the idea of him being able to put his sorted stamps in there instead of leaving piles all over the desk for our toddler and cat to get into!) to put it all in.

One more question - I see on the Subway site stamp lifting fluid and a stamplift. What are these? I'm guessing it's for removing used stamps from envelopes? Is there an advantage to using something like this versus soaking the stamps in water?

Thank you all again for your help! His present would have been a total mish-mosh of semi-useful supplies if it hadn't been for you. My husband doesn't currently use this site (not that I know of at least!), but I'm definitely going to refer him here after his birthday!

TX Gator and everyone.........

Soon to come. Some unusual Philatelic gifts for yourself, your partner, a Collector friend, a family member or even your worst enemy !!

Personalized stamp Collectors gifts !!
Choose your gift, then choose your subject or country that you want, add a name or place and you can have a lovely personalized gift !! You can even treat yourself to something for your desk, your Stamp Room, the door, the Kitchen or even the Toilet !

Photos and lists to come shortly. You lot , here at the Stamp Community Family, will be the first to see and be offered these lovely personalized gifts.

Watch out for a personalized thread....coming soon

Londonbus1......Bearer of glad tidings

The Linn's perf guage I referred to is available from Subway. It is called "Linns Multigage" and is #ZLI-MEATMG. Another very useful item is a spiral-bound book called "Linns Stamp Identifier" also available from Subway as item #RLI-24, $9.60. The Stamplift may be of use to him but the stamp lifting solution would be a waste of money.

Thank you so much for the item numbers! I'm finding that a lot of the Subway items don't have photographs, which makes it hard for me to tell what exactly I'm looking at. The Linn's Stamp Identifier looks like it will be a big help for him too - he's frequently trying to figure out what country his stamps are from! Thanks again!