Hello. I've Never Collected Stamps Before But I'm Interested.

I know absolutely nothing about stamps or stamp collecting but am interested in learning. As someone who has spent over 20 years collecting coins I understand the importance of narrowing down what one chooses to collect. As such I've decided to focus on topical collection of stamps with birds on them. I think I'll start with stamps from English speaking countries for now so that a) it narrows things down somewhat (although I'm sure that still leaves a lot to choose from) and b) I can understand what the stamp says, hopefully making identification, cataloguing etc. easier.

My questions as a curious beginner:
1) If I'm not 100% sure if this is a hobby for me but am curious enough to read some books about stamp collecting yet don't want to spend more than around $20 to $25 per book, what are the top 5 books about stamp collecting in that price range or less would you recommend?

2) What in your opinion are the top 10 stampcommunity.org posts that all beginning collectors or people curious about collecting should read?

3) Recommended websites for further stamp collecting education?

Anything about proper storage, handling and grading would be appreciated.
Thanks and I look forward to learning from you guys and hopefully have some fun along the way.
-rbjr85

You'll be cutting yourself pretty far down limiting to English-speaking entities, unless your focus is also being limited to birds endemic to one or more of those areas.

You might start with the American Philatelic Society (www.stamps.org) which will include a variety of basic resources for new collectors, and the American Topical Association, which has material on topical collecting, including literature on birds.

Birds are a fun topic.

http://www.stampsmarter.com/index.html

I just found out about something called Federal Duck Stamps. That looks interesting. Does anyone here collect those? I only learned about them in passing, so I don't know a lot about them right now. Are there any online articles where I can learn more about them? I know they're of higher denomination than other stamps, but is their collector value prohibitive for a beginning collector on a budget? I'm not ready to spend more than $25 on a single stamp. Less would be better. Thanks for any advise.

Never mind. I looked up some of the prices. That's definitely not for me right now.

Basically what I'm interested in are full color stamps with naturalistic artwork of actual species of birds.

Think John James Audubon or Peterson Field Guide type illustrations. Something similar to that.

Welcome rbjr85,

My suggestion is to find a copy of a Scott stamp catalog and read the intro - plenty of good stamp collecting How to/what's that? info there.
The USA put out lots of stamps with birds. You could start there... Are you thinking used/cancelled stamps or mint/unused stamps?

Dave N

My main issue with the Scott stamp catalogues is that they're so expensive, and I'm just a little apprehensive about spending $100 plus on a book when I'm not 100% sure if stamp collecting is for me. I'm interested. I just don't think I'm $100 per book interested at the moment. In time if I fully decide that this is a hobby for me, and I become a little more dedicated, that may change. I just want to get my feet wet, not jump into the deep end of this hobby financially speaking. I'm interested in mint stamps. I want to collect for the artwork and having cancellation marks over them would just ruin it for me. Also, what's the difference between the Scott catalogue and the US/BNA postage stamp catalog?

rbjr85,

You do not need to buy a new Scott catalogue. You can buy an older used. I have a 2014 if you want it for free. The values in Scott especially for modern are mostly the same so no real value information gained.

You can get a free catalogue from companies like Mystic Stamp but you end up getting a lot of offers and approvals that you send back.

If you want a decent catalogue, consider Brookman's US spiral bound book. It also can be purchased used and both cost well below Scott. Brookman's advantage is that it lists only stamps you are likely to buy - not all those errors that few collect. Brookman provides their catalogue online in PDF format but just not in one file.

Some more questions I have:
1)When, where, and what was the first full color postage stamp? Not the first postage stamp because I know that was the Penny Black from Great Britain issued in 1840, but the first full color postage stamp.

2) When an artist is designing a stamp how big of a canvas do they start with? I'd imagine illustrations that work well on a larger canvas don't always translate well when reduced to postage stamp size.

3) Are there any good articles online or Youtube videos about how stamps are made, from design to manufacture?

angore,
So Prices don't change much for modern stamps? As someone coming from the coin hobby where prices are fluctuating all the time that sounds strange.

Mystic seems like something similar to Littleton coin company and that makes me hesitant.

I'm probably just seeing patterns that might not be there. But it seems that If you're interested in older stamps, the books are affordable, because the weren't as many stamps issued in those days, which means smaller books. But the stamps themselves are a bit more pricey. However, if you're into more modern stamps, the stamps themselves are affordable. However, because modern stamps have so many issues, that translates into bigger and more expensive books. Either way there seems to be a stamp/book price trade off of some kind. Or am I just imagining that? Of course that pertains mostly to brand new books.

I'm interested in stamps as hopefully a more affordable alternative to coin collecting. I still enjoy coin and I always will. The problem is that my taste in coins has exceeded the size of my wallet. Finding a decent coin that I like for less than $80 is getting more and more difficult because I like vintage American silver coins of the 1816 to 1860 period in upper middle grades (XF to AU). When it comes to stamps I prefer the colorization of modern stamps over the banknote engraved look of vintage stamps. Although I understand the appeal of those, especially considering that they're probably a bit more scarce.

federal ducks do get expensive if you are collecting mint, but you can get a pretty good number of them under $25 each. The ducks are "used" by signing them, so you can find examples with unobtrusive signatures much cheaper, but used duck stamps are also frequently subject to damage from being on hunting licenses (and in wallets, etc.). Another alternative still within the realm of waterfowl: many states also issue duck stamps. The face values are lower and therefore the stamps less expensive. You may be able to find some groups of these at or under face value. The Sam Houston Duck Co. publishes an annual comprehensive price list that would be a great reference for duck stamps.

Your local library likely has a set of Scott catalogs, so they may be available as you need them rather than needing an expensive and heavy set of books on your shelf. There are thousands of inexpensive bird stamps out there from all over, along with some pretty expensive ones. If you are focused on US only, there are alternatives to the Scott catalog, including the Mystic Stamp Company's annual catalog (the prices are high, but it's a useful resource in terms of knowing what exists). The USPS also has or had a stamp collecting app that serves as an online catalog and inventory tool that only cost a few dollars and used scott numbers (it was released in 2016). I'd have to look and see if that's still available....

ebay has 7,910 US bird listings.

ebay has 84,652 bird listings.

ATA
http://www.americantopicalassn.org/

The stamp hobby does not have something like the CDN gray sheet that tracks prices. There are some price lists by grade but not something like the price list is in coins where is a real barometer for trading.