Stamp Collecting for Beginners

My interest in stamps began much later in life but most of my stamp collecting and philatelist colleagues have been undertaking stamp collecting from a very young age.

In stamp collecting, age has nothing to do with whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced. Stamp collecting has so many variables within it there are many areas that you can concentrate on.

So as a beginner what is it that you need to know as you start stamp collecting?

First of all why are starting a stamp collection? What is it about the stamps that attracts you? What do you enjoy about it? Is it just the artwork, the craftmanship, the history?

A Collection by Interest

Choosing a specific them as a beginner is a good way to get to know many of the world stamps. Some themed collection ideas include trains, planes and automobiles as well as birds, flowers, balloons are really popular, music, art. The list is endless and can really be catered to your own personal interest.

Although themed collections may not be perceived to be as valuable as some of the older stamps, they do hold some value to other collectors of the same theme or someone who would like to own an extensive collection of one of the themes mentioned above.

These are some questions that will help guide you through the world of stamps and decide on what area you want to start to focus on. If you continue with collecting stamps, you will find your focus shifting throughout time as many things are likely to capture your attention for one reason or another.

A Collection For Investment

If you want to start a stamp collection as a form of investment, this may take a little more knowledge and time.

Stamps do increase in value over time. This is due to the inherent value in the stamp. I’ll go into more detail about why stamps are so valuable in another post, but for now, if this is a reason that you want to begin stamp collecting, you should do a lot of research to choose an area that will hold and increase its value over time. Higher value stamps are usually those between 1840-1930 but this is not a complete indication of all valuable stamps. There are valuable areas found in many stamps after this period. Stamps that were printed during wartime can also hold greater value.

A Complete Country Collection

Another way to start is where you live. Start by collecting the stamps from your country. This will be easier for modern stamps but as you go further back in history the more difficult it will become. Year of issue stamps is also a great way to begin a collection. It is more difficult than it sounds to collect a whole year of all different stamps collected. Depending on where you live, some stamps are only issued to certain states in some countries so to obtain the whole series can take a bit of work.

So before you start collecting, try to decide where you are heading. This will help you stay on track as you navigate the world of stamps. It is so easy to get distracted (at least it is for me) with all of the different types of stamps available. Have fun with it and decide which stamps give you joy and concentrate on those as you begin your collection.