Need Advice On How To Start A Collection The 'Right Way'

Hello friends,
i wish to start collecting GB & British Commonwealths stamps 1840-1952, and I am not quite sure how to begin with this joyful task.
i have purchased some of the necessary literature (Gibbons catalogue, The Encyclopaedia Of British Empire Postage Stamps).
But how to start? should I first buy this era album pages ? and than start to fill the albums? should I look for general British Commonwealths collections? or buy single sets and items?

I would love any advice.
Thank you!
Ohad

I'm probably a minority, but I say start with what you like and/or can afford. As you go along, you will fall into things. I'd think it would be slightly dull "collecting by the numbers". You may get bored and stop collecting all together! And we don't want that.

;-)

I'd say that you've already made a wise choice, this board! Read thru everything that interests you, and you'll soon have more of an idea of what kind of collection you want to build.
The people here have almost an unlimited knowledge base on all philatelic subjects.

Ohad,

The nice thing about stamp collecting is that there is no "right way." You collect what you want, the way you want and what you can afford.
There are probably as many ways to start a collection as there are stamp collectors but I will tell you what I do.

When I begin a new area of collecting, I usually try to purchase a relatively inexpensive collection that looks like the collector took care to collect. Of course, most of the key/expensive issues will be missing.
I then mount the stamps in Steiner pages http://www.stampalbums.com/(I use black split back mounts). I check each stamp against the catalog to see if any errors were made (we all make mistakes). Using the catalog also gives me a better feel for the area (variations, key stamps, definitive series etc.)
When that is finished I start to fill in the holes and upgrade any stamps that I think need improvement.
This method cuts down on the number of duplicates I end up with. Some people like to dig through piles of stamps. That can be fun too but I already have too many piles of duplicates to do that anymore.
I hope that gives you some ideas.

Dan

ohadz,

Since you are just beginning on Britain and Commonwealth, perhaps you could focus on a particular time period. The King George VI is limited to 1937-1952; a rather limited time period. Additionally, Palo and Stanley Gibbons publish catalogs specific to this era.

Jack Kelley

There is no right way to collect .Buy a large mixture of British Commonwealth and start sorting and looking at what you got . Then buy a few more different mixtures or collections after awhile you will start finding what interest you .

Yes - the bigger the initial lot, the better. I'd concentrate on getting stamps and putting them in stock-books first, then worry about "which album?" later.

The problem with bigger lot is it will cost more and what if you decide collecting is not for you? Also, as a newbie, you don't have a good feel for what things are worth, so you could make a big mistake. I say get your feet wet before you jump in the deep end.

I started my foreign (not US) by buying some lots of album pages with stamps off ebay.

If you are going to collect used stamps then you can pick up a lot for not much. When you go for mint stamps and often better grade used, these are more often sold in sets on ebay.

By confining yourself to the KGVI era and earlier, you are ruling out buying bulk lots of British Commonwealth which, in my experience come with a lot of very common modern issues and duplicates. I also collect Commonwealth stamps from the same period but I extend it to 1970 to pick up the earlier QEII issues which are typically as well engraved as the KGVI and earlier material. You may find some good collections of some Commonwealth countries which, as someone said above, will give you a start but I suspect you will be looking on ebay and elsewhere for most of your stamps, set by set. Have fun - it's a great collecting area.

I will add that, if you are a completeness nut, you will spend some serious money. This may influence the way you want to mount your stamps. I have chosen to use blank quadrilled paper with Lighthouse mounts. I don't annotate the pages except to note varieties. So, the blank pages give you a lot of freedom to assemble a really interesting collection without having to spend the big bucks for some of the high values - especially in the KGV and earlier issues.