Hi everyone!
I received all the duplicate stamps (3000+) of my dad two years ago and I have finally came around to opening the boxes and sorting them. This is SO MUCH FUN! I already bought a few small albums (lighthouse) and I have been sorting through the stamps little by little. The majority of stamps is from Europe (heavily France, Germany and the UK) as well as the previous African French colonies. Quite a few are from the Americas (US, Canada) and Asia as well (China, Japan, Vietnam, Indonesia), and Oceania (Australia, NZ, New Caledonia). Almost nothing from Central and South America!!
It took me some time to decide the type of album I would like to use to preserve them. I hesitated between Verio binder and stock albums, and ended up with stock albums. I like that I can have one per country or per continent, that they are sturdy and compact, and that their look will be consistent on my shelf. I also bought a 1000 WW stamp lot on
Amazon for $18 and this has been fun! I have been peering into it and there are SO MANY countries and close to no duplicates, at first glance. I told myself I would first sort all my dad's stamps before taking care of this purchase, but I can't wait!! I also have a few old Chinese stamps from my in-laws.
I have been finding a lot of good information on philately from YouTube, a little bit on Reddit, and browsing the
ebay listings. I also discovered a few swapping websites (25stamps.club and tradeonlystamps) but I am stopping myself from acquiring more than I already have. I don't want to feel overwhelmed and I want to spend time understanding my stamps. The joy of taking a stamp from the envelope, looking for the information online about it (I love using a collecting website and sometimes Hipstamp) and then entering this information in my digital collection (I use Obsidian) is just priceless. It's like opening a magical box of surprises every time! I tried using the app named Stamp Identificator but it removes all the fun... I'd rather take my time and search per monetary value, country and a rough idea of the decade haha.
I think that's it! I am still very unclear on watermarks (and the idea of placing the stamps in water scares me) and what to do with stamps on paper. If they have adhesive glue, do I leave them as is, do I cut the paper close to the edges of the stamps (except if the cancellation is worth saving), do I never cut the paper next to the stamp? Also why are some stamps so thin and almost translucent (is it because they were incorrectly removed from the original paper?)
Also I learned that some people toss the stamps if they are slightly damaged. That shocked me! I really love used stamps the best, I like knowing that the stamp was actually used by people and that it has travelled and passed through many hands. I love the archival feeling of protecting a 100+ year old stamp, or a 1 year old stamp haha!
Also, how do people reuse stamps that were never cancelled but are still on paper? Is it cheating the postal service? I have so many questions haha! This new hobby is providing the right amount of stimulation for my brain (and is perfect for my love of history, geography, travels, sociology). I even learned of a few new countries! Or that Cambodia abolished the use of money in the 1975–79 period!
Anyway, as you might tell, I am excited to join the community. This forum seems to be the nicest I've seen, so I picked it.
It's so nice to meet you all!
Posted 11/27/2024 6:08 pm
