Recommended Magazines

Can anyone recommend a stamp magazine for a beginner?

Also what are the best hinges to buy?

Thank you.

All stamp hinges are now produced by Prinz, then given other branding. There is, therefore, no point in paying more for Gibbons, Lighthouse etc hinges. These modern hinges don't peel well, so need to be used with care. Vintage hinges from Rapkin, Gibbons etc p, which peel better, occasionally appear on ebay - these may have deteriorated with time, so care is needed when buying.

Once in a while we see some of the nice UK publications here across the pond. Gibbons has one, try to find some older copies if they carry them in stamp shops or clubs. I've always been a fan of "Collect British Stamps" a little book that is published every year and used copies abound, even here in the states. Awesome for a beginner. I echo GeofHa's comments on hinges, but since one can no longer soak most modern issues, the hinges that stick with an iron grip are just fine if you cut out around the stamp and leave paper on the back to mount it in an album. Older stamps off paper, it's worth it to get old hinges. Pretty much any made before 1980 will do the trick.

For me, when I watch Dr. Who I absolutely must work on my British stamps- especially when watching the old episodes on VHS ;)

Since Stamp Magazine ceased publication, Stamp Collector is what remains as an alternative to Gibbons Stamp Monthly. For a beginner, Stamp Collector might be the better choice. At over £ 5 an issue, however, I do not find it gives value for money. But that may reflect I am not a beginner.

I wonder if one of the books about collecting might be a better bet than a magazine?

Does your public or school library subscribe to any? Not as convenient as being delivered to your home, but less expensive. Also try the possibility of on-line subscriptions (not my favorite, I like paper).

Is that bookshop in Eastbourne, where the books are stacked three deep and fifteen feet high and there's a parrot in the attic, is that still open? No idea where the philately books are. Probably under the parrot's cage.

I suggest you buy single copies of Stamp Collector and Gibbons Stamp Monthly to see if you like them.

If, as a beginner, you mount your stamps with hinges, it won't be long before you become dissatisfied with the way you've arranged them and want to change it. I strongly recommend using stock books in the early stages.

I agree with GeoffHa that books are likely to be more use to beginners than magazines. I don't know of any modern books suitable for beginners, but a second-hand copy of Stanley Phillips's Stamp Collecting might be useful, and Anthony New's Observer's Book of Postage Stamps is eccentric but interesting.

Have fun!

Flightle Bee, that's my kind of bookshop!

Internet

I recently bought a copy of Stamp Magazine, only to find it was to be the last issue. Guess I came late to the party.