Beginning To Collect: Smooth Stamps, Tweezers, Nordfrim Kiloware, Self-Adhesive/Citrus Method

This is a bit of a catch-all post for some questions I have. I have just started to collect stamps by purchasing lots from ebay and meetups on Facebook marketplace, and I bought a few Vario stock sheets off of Amazon.

I've encountered these extremely smooth stamps from a cats topical lot off of ebay, as well as a birds topical lot off of Nordfrim. The stamps are extremely smooth, almost like they've never been used, and the paper looks untouched, just a bit yellow. What tipped me off was the exact same postmark on all of the Tanzania cat stamps on the upper right.



Is there an explanation for this? Perhaps they are all from first-day covers? Or the soaker did a very thorough job?

How important are tweezers? I know the oil and dirt from your hands can cause damage over time, but I also see some videos where the collectors touch the stamps by hand.

I am considering getting this starter set from Nordfrim (item no. 49383) I ordered from them before and I have a discount of $10 off, so it would come out to $33.50 for the set after shipping. Would you say it is a good value, or could I do better? It comes with 200g kiloware, and a bunch of different packets.


I bought a can of pure citrus for my self adhesive stamps, but so far my experience with it has been hit-or-miss: sometimes it works very well, but more often the stamp peels off, but the gum stays. As others have recommended I have tried to use a credit card to scrape off the gum but that doesn't work all the time. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks for everyone's help.

The stamps with identical cancels are Canceled to Order or CTO stamps. They are sold as collectibles from some countries' postal agencies and were never valid for postage. They do not trade for much money.

tweezers - make it easy to handle stamps, pick them up, insert them into album sleeves, and examine them under light and/or magnifying glasses.

A number of African countries and Caribbean islands produce masses of thematical stamps hoping thematical collectors will part with their hard-earned money to add them to their collections. A number of those issuers make sure they can add the full amount received to their revenues by selling them cancelled. Some even go as far as to print them with cancels.

You can find whole football teams from European countries issued by countries that have not received notice yet someone invented the football (talking about football played with the foot).

Collectors may refer to these "cancelled-to-order" (CTO) stamps as wallpapers, as they have more value as wallpaper than as philatelic items. The name CTO is not completely correct. True CTO-stamps were sold as an alternative to mint stamps by some philatelic services. Collectors could order stamps mint or cancelled. This allowed collectors to have apparently 'postally used' stamps. Normally, they are easy to identify as they have excellent legible cancels in a corner of the stamp and gum.

Many 'socialist' states or 'democratic people's republics' also cancelled stamps for collectors. It was a source of real monetary revenue as they could receive US Dollars and Deutschmarke selling those to foreign collectors when their own 'monopoly' money was not accepted in international trade as the exchange rates were political fantasies.

Stamps should generally be handled with care, but stamps should also be handled with care when using tweezers, especially the pointy variety, which can easily damage the surface of stamps or cards.

A valuable learning experience for you! The Pure Citrus solution is over-rated, IMHO. Unless you scrape the gum completely off, the original gum will remain. Pure Citrus will also often blur postmarks. There are other chemicals you can use, but some are dangerous and must be used with extreme caution. Others cut clear acetate or mylar squares and mount on them after removing from the paper. This is silly, also IMHO. You're just changing one kind of backing for a clear one...

I have been experimenting for years, and have yet to find the perfect solution.

I now just trim closely and mount on paper. This has one big advantage in that you can use modern crap hinges with no damage to the stamp.

You are doing nothing wrong.

John

Hi and welcome to the stamp collecting world. First I would say all the replies above are good and raise valid points especially about CTOs and stamps that were printed only for collectors not for postal reasons.

Most important is if you buy mint stamps with gum do not use hinges on them. Use a proper stamp mounting system or better as a starting point a stock book. If you decide that used stamps are you thing then condition is very important. In most cases torn or heavily cancelled stamps are only worth a small fraction of what a good used one is.

I think you need to understand what and why you have decided to collect stamps for. If it is looking for a return on the money spent "investment" that is extremely unlikely to come to fruition. In general the only people to make money from stamps are dealers. Most collectors do so for the pleasure they get from collecting while possibly hoping to get some return on the money they spend. Remember almost all hobbies cost you cash and people are happy with that.

If you decide you want to collect a theme say "cats" as you show then you can make an interesting thematic collection . Many people collect birds or butterflies etc but remember may countries produce stamps with these subjects just for collectors (see replies above). Until you have more experience do not spend much money on these. But if that is what you want do not let people put you off. There are many very good and interesting thematic collectors and collections.

Other ideas are to collect a single country that appeals to you. Personally I would only pick a "dead" country ie. one that is no longer producing stamps or put a cut off date on your collection. I collect Canada but only between 1937 and 1990. After that they printed too many stamps aimed solely at collectors. Also watch out for stamps issued in sheets small enough to put on an album page. Again these are really targeted at collectors. The post offices like these as they can sell them a "face value" confident that most will never be used to pay for any mail service. So 100% profit for the post office.

If you have an interest in history then "postal history" can prove fascinating. This looks at how and why stamps were used and how the postal system worked. One of my interests is the postal history of Canada during WW2 and the people involved but you could pick anything.

My main suggestion is really to think long and hard about what you want to collect and why but do not spend too much money before you finally decide. And if you have any more questions ask here.

AQ

As explained above, the identical 'postmarks' are printed on and form part of the 'stamp', which is really only being produced for collectors, often beginners. The majority of experienced collectors don't want these stamps unless they have some special interest in the country or theme.

Shiny paper - it's just cheap grade paper used typically on the dubious stamps mentioned above. You may encounter lots of such stamps from places like the Trucial States (Ajman, Ras Al Khaima, Manama etc). Probably all the stamps in your top image fall into that category.

Tweezers - yes. Do get some and get used to using them. It's not only dirt and oil from your fingers, but also the mechanics of picking stamps up and taking them from stock books etc, with big, ungainly fingers. You can very easily fold back perforations or cause a snag in the paper. Also hard to examine a stamp with your fingers covering it up. Tweezers are definitely the way to go.

The starter kit looks like fun. Probably worth getting but don't be surprised if you soon outgrow it. You will realise soon that you want to narrow down your collection somehow, eg only look at certain countries or eras. When you do, you won't necessarily want the stamps in that kit - but it's a good way to get into things.

I remove the stickers with gasoline from a lighter, I put them with the rubber side up to dry and then I rub them with talcum powder.

IMO, it is unfortunate that putting talc on the back of stamps was ever publicized. If the self-adhesive layer is totally removed, then talc is unnecessary. The talc is powdered rock and if nothing else, any excess will act as an abrasive dust and damage other stamps, etc. I would never buy a collection which had been talced.

Neither would I recommend talc for stamps. I was however surprised to find a number of high value sets from Italy a couple of years ago in a large lot I purchased that had stamps with talc in glassines. Have to say that the stamps were "Post Office Fresh". It is not empirical evidence of the efficacy of talc though since the stamps may have stayed that way anyway if properly stored.

Don't get your tweezers from Walgreen's; those are the wrong kind. Look for stamp tongs on the philatelic supply web sites or at a show or shop. They are called "tweezers" internationally but in the U. S. are referred to as "tongs".

Talc is the lightest mineral abrasive on the planet on all hardness scales.
The Rosiwal hardness scale ranges from 0.03 for talc to 140,000 for diamond.
Many stamps have plaster in their composition, which is harder than talc, they are what they call chalk paper.

The point is that if one completely removes the self adhesive with the solvent, then there is ZERO need for talc. There is a difference between mineral content embedded within the paper and mineral powder added to the surface, but I suspect I won't make any progress here, so we may have to agree to disagree.

Thanks everybody for their helpful advice. It seems like the majority of the stamps I bought off of cheap ebay lots are CTOs, but it's OK since I didn't drop a lot of coin on them. Thank you NSK for the explanation of CTOs.

My tweezers are on their way - and they are 4.75" / 12cm round tips from Unisafe. I somewhat regret not splurging for the longer 6 inch ones but I can buy those later.

Thank you John for your experience regarding Pure Citrus; it really does seem like there's no perfect solution for removing self-adhesive stamps without harsh chemicals like Bestine. I think I'll follow your suggestion of hinging them.

Thanks rog and and Mr. Becker for saving me a couple bucks on talc.

Thanks Ringo and AQ for weighing in on collecting in general. I have thought about it for a while and I think I will buy some more kiloware and sort and soak them before I buy anything in specific - I reflected a bit and maybe it is the tactile feeling and sensory pleasure of soaking stamps and arranging them that attracts me, not any sort of money-making.

For future reference, what are these cardboard cards called? They are similar to stock sheets but the backing is cardboard, yet there are multiple rows for stamps. I think I will use these to send CTOs to friends.




Maybe I have not been lurking for a long enough time to see a flame war but it seems like this forum really is a family - I appreciate everyone's positive attitudes and helpful advice.

Since everyone is talking about talc now, I have to ask: talc having been largely replaced by cornstarch for most hygiene and cosmetic applications, would it be able to fill the same role for philatelic applications?

Not that I was planning to powder any of my stamps, cornstarch or otherwise.