Posts Tagged ‘philatelists’

Carl Einar Pelander was noted for his expertise on Scandinavian stamps and received a Fieandt Memorial medal in 1960 from the Finnish Philatelic Society for doing an original research on the stamps of Finland and for promoting Finnish philately.

Philip Ward Jr. was a world famous stamp dealer, known for buying and selling collectors stamps, including the rarest stamps which are classic issues of the world. He had an exceptional collection of match and medicine stamps and his widely known collection was the U.S. Revenues, which had the only complete set of inverted centers. He was the first person to recognize the importance of first day covers and then created the many of the rarest and earliest.

William Woodbury Hicks was a renowned specialist and founder of the Three cent 1851-1857 Unit of the American Philatelic Society. He built the largest and most complete collection of U.S railroad cancels from the 1830s to 1861.

Harry Weiss was an editor of the Weekly Philatelic Gossip in the 1930s and the most prominent philatelic columnist of his time. His column comprised stories on hobbies, new stamps, and hot tips. He organized the Midwest Philatelic Laboratory in 1946, which had technical equipments and offered a wide range of services for stamp collectors. Services include, stamp appraisals, expertization, mounting and even suggested ways for the successful outlook of collections.

George Ward Linn is a known stamp collector, journalist, dealer who own the George W. Linn Company and famous for his “Linn’s Weekly Stamp News”. Some of his stamp specimens have been among the rarest and most valuable among the philatelists. He traveled the world in search for old, rare and obsolete issues of stamps, even the ones with much historic interest.

Louise Boyd Dale is considered to be the most distinguished stamp collector in America. She was the first woman to be appointed as judge for an international philatelic exhibition. She became the first American woman to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelist and was also appointed to the jury of the London International Stamp exhibition.

Ad Indusophon, a known lady philatelist from Siam; was the wife of the late Prakaipet Indhusophon, a popular international philatelist of the 1970s to 1980s. Her greatest achievements in the field of philately include; the building of a foundation in Thailand to promote philately among youth; her “Cape of Good Hope Triangulars” stamps collection, won the International Grand Prix at Toronto in 1996; when her work was recognized and was invited to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in Hereford last July 2001.

Anatoly Karpov was a former world chess champion, who is known for his stamp collection on chess and Olympic Games dated from the first modern Olympic Games in Athens, Greece in 1896 to the Olympic Games in Amsterdam of 1928.

Cyril Harmer was the chairman and managing director of the “Hamers Auction House” from 1967 to 1976. He assembled what was without a doubt the finest collection of the Airmails of Newfoundland, “the Newfoundland overprinted stamps”. This collection was sold last February 26, 2002 for a total of £803,000.00.

Dr. Arthur Woo was known for his unique postage stamp collections of Classic Birds. Some of which are, the Western Australia Swan, the Guatemala Quetzel, the Colombia Andean Condor, and the USA 1869 Eagle.

Hiroyuki Kanai was postage stamp collector known for possessing 6 of the Greatest Mauritius stamp collection out of the 27 and it is the greatest number ever to be owned by one person in the world. The highly valuable Mauritius collection was printed in September 1847, under the instructions of the Governor of Mauritius’ wife, Lady Gomm, who wanted stamps for the invitations to her fancy dress ball. He received numerous awards in the field of philately but he is most proud of the award received in the National Grand Prix for his Finland Collection in Helsinki 1988.

Pichai Buranasombati was a top Great Britain postage stamp collector who formed great stamp collections such as “Straits Settlements” which won the National Grand Prix in Singapore 1995, “Burma” winner of the National Grand Prix in Indepex 1997, “Classic Siam”, which won a large gold medal at Bangkok 1993, and “Siam: middle period”, which won a large gold in Singapore 1995.

Just like stamp collection requires a lot of time similarly taking good care of those stamps is vitally important. Stamp Collection involves a schematic arrangement of the collected stamps and preserving their quality. Stamps having poor quality won’t make a good impression on anyone looking at your stamp collection efforts.

Soaking Stamps

At times you receive a stamp pasted on an envelope. You might have to get rid of the envelope to add that stamp to your collection. Tearing it out would mean loss of quality and possible damage to the stamp. Before separating the stamp from its cover evaluate its worth with and without the cover. At times old stamps with covers are worth more than those without the cover as they have interesting details of postal history. You could refer your query to your stamp club mates to decide if you need to keep the cover or no.

Once you have made up your mind to separate the stamp from its cover, cut finely around the stamp close enough to keep the teeth around the edges intact. Then soak this stamp cut out in lukewarm water, spread in a saucer. Allow the paper to float till the stamp is separated from the paper. You may rub off the remaining adhesive at the backside of the stamp with your fingertips. Now you need to dry these stamps using either a newspaper or an absorbent paper. Once these stamps dry they develop wrinkles on them, which could be removed by placing them between the pages or beneath a heavy book.

Stamp Collection Album

Arranging your stamps is an important part of stamp collection. This ensures better quality and gives more life to your stamp collection, when preserved in an appropriate manner. There are different ways to store stamps. Easiest would be to sort stamps and put them in separate envelopes. Envelopes are available in different sizes and ones having a transparent portion called as the glassine envelopes would be preferred by stamp collectors as the stamps are visible through it. This would be the most basic way to store your stamps. If you want to store your stamps for a higher durability you could make use of stock books. Stock books or folders have a set of transparent pockets where in stamps could be arranged depending upon their sorting. This ensures durability but not a very good presentation of your stamp collection as the stamps are in groups. Individual stamps cannot be viewed.

Making a Stamp album for your collection would be the ultimate way to preserve your hard earned stamps. You could design your own stamp album by punching a set of handmade paper together either with a ribbon or getting it spiral bounded. Choose a good color for the paper on to which stamps would be prominently visible. You may choose to stick stamps on either side of this paper or just on the right hand side, making use of special peel able gum that will not harm stamps.

Another option would be to purchase a ready made album having printed information that would help to sort stamps into different subjects. This seems to be a good initiative for budding stamp collectors. The only trouble here is that a readymade album restricts any kind of creative presentation to preserve stamps. When you create your own stamp album you could add on as many more supplement s as you wish to. Moreover you could design various sections within your album such as Sort by type – animals, ships, nations, country, etc. You may add a separate section for covers. Used and unused/mint stamps could have separate pages allotted too. Remember to make use of stamp mounts while you stick mint stamps to your album. This will help to restore its quality and preserving the adhesive at the back of the stamp.

If you’re a stamp collector, then you may be seeking a more high-tech way to find, identify and organize your stamps. How about using the power of computers? There are lots of great software programs out there dedicated to stamp collecting. Most of them are easy to set up and learn how to use. There are so many different programs out there, it can be hard to decide which program is right for you. Here are some great titles to get you started:

AlbumPro — This software allows you to create customized pages for your album. You can even add your own custom color graphics and headings to your album pages. Just be sure to use acid-free paper when printing them out!

HobbySoft — This amazing piece of software provides you with stamp values, standard and custom reports, want lists, and more! This software also works for currency collectors and coin collectors, so if you collect more than stamps, you’ll definitely want this powerful program!

Stamp Organizer Deluxe — This simple to use software allows you to list, organize and catalog your stamp collection. Even a computer novice can utilize this great program. This software is perfect for someone who needs a simple program to help them organize and catalog their various stamps without a lot of complicated extra features.

Stamp Tracker – This stamp collecting software lets you store information about your stamps and keep them organized. You can list and track what you paid for each stamp, and keep track of its current value. A notes field allows you to write helpful notes about each stamp.

3D Stamp Software — You get a gorgeous visual catalog that is set based, and lets you see the entire set in the window at once. You can search for stamps using various criteria such as color, denomination or year. You’ll also get price and want lists, and the ability to resize and crop stamp images.

These represent just a few of the stamp collecting software choices out there! Using software to organize your stamp collection can save you lots of time and money. Don’t take our word for it — try it for yourself! Many software sites offer free demos where you can test the software out before buying. This can be the perfect way to decide if it’s right for you.

Stamp collecting is easier and more fun when you have the right tools to help you organize, identify, and handle your stamps.

Philatelists (stamp collectors) have special tools that help them collect with skill and enjoyment. The great thing is that there are only a few basic items you will need and they are inexpensive. As a beginner, you really only need an album, hinges or mounts, a pair of tongs, a magnifying glass, a perforation gauge and a watermark detector. Stamp catalogues are very useful, but you don’t have to have one. You can borrow catalogs from other collectors or you can usually find them in your local library. Let’s review these tools in greater detail.

Stamp Albums: It is a good idea to store your stamps in albums to help protect them. You can buy stamp albums from local stamp dealers, make your own, or even use a photo album with acid-free paper. (Do not use a photo album with pages that are sticky as these pages will damage your stamps). Some stamp albums that you purchase feature specific categories with pictures of the stamps that should appear on each page. A stock book is another type of album with plastic or paper pockets on each page. Stock books do not picture the stamps, so you can organize them however you wish.

Hinges/Mounts: Put stamps in your albums with a hinge or a mount. Don’t use tape or glue as you will decrease the stamp’s value and possibly damage the stamps when you try to remove them from your album. Hinges are small, thin, folded pieces of translucent paper or plastic with special gum on the one side. Mounts are clear plastic sleeves that are open on both sides. Both hinges and mounts are available from local stamp dealers.

Tongs: Keep your stamps in good condition by handling them as little as possible. We suggst that you use tongs to handle dry stamps because no matter how well you wash your hands, oil from your skin will damage your stamps. Tongs look like tweezers, but have a smooth gripping surface designed to handle stamps.

Magnifying Glass: Some stamps appear to be alike, but with close inspection you will see small differences that can help to identify a rare stamp. Considering the size of a stamp, a magnifying glass is a great tool to help see the details of our stamps and to find differences. When selecting a magnifying glass, choose one that magnifies clearly, without distortion. We recommend a magnifying lens with at letast 5 times to 10 times magnification. It’s also a good idea to select one that folds into a case to help prevent scratches on the lens.

Perforation Gauge: Here’s another tool to help us find differences in stamps. Some stamps have the same design but different numbers of perforations (holes between stamps that make it easy to separate them). Of course you could count the perforations yourself by counting how many appear along a row 20 millimeters long on each edge of the stamp — sounds confusing, don’t you think? That’s why perforation gauges are a good idea. They are usually made of cardboard, plastic, or metal and make the measurement of perforations simple. The gauge has different scales showing the various sizes of perforations so that you can simply place your stamp against each scale until its perforations match exactly those on the gauge.

Watermark Detector: Watermarks are another way to recognize differences in similar stamps. A watermark is a design (maybe a letter, a number, or a picture) that is pressed into the paper that a stamp is printed on during manufacturing. Watermarks are used to make it harder to counterfeit stamps. Sometimes watermarks are visible, or can easily be seen by looking at the back of a stamp as you hold it up to the light, or by placing the stamp face down on a black background. If these methods don’t work, a watermark detector can be used. A watermark detector is a shallow, glass black cup or dish. Simply place your stamp face down in the detector, and pour watermark fluid over it; if there is a watermark, it should become visible. Plain water is the most common and safest watermark fluid, but you can’t use it with all stamps. You don’t want to use water to test stamps that have gum intact or on stamps that have ink that can be damaged by water. For these special stamps you will want to use stamp chemicals known as “dry fluids,” as they evaporate quickly and won’t harm the stamps. These chemicals are flammable and can produce harmful fumes — so use them only with the help of an adult.

Stamp Catalog: A variety of stamp catalogs are available. They are very helpful, and can easily be borrowed from the library. A stamp catalog is a great reference book filled with illustrations that can help us identify and learn about our stamps. They provide us with such information as, the date when the stamp was issued, a description of the stamp, why it was issued, how it was printed, and gives the value of the stamps in used and unused-condition.

Stamp Collection does not necessarily need a lot of financial resources. If you are really keen on starting stamp collection as a hobby, but you don’t want to spend a lot of money then simply begins with collecting used stamps. You will really need to do a lot of hard work to collect stamps inexpensively but the efforts would be worth it.

The most basic place you can start stamp collection is your own mailbox. Chances are high that you might end up fetching similar stamps at the beginning but this surely is a head start. Some of the letters don’t have a stamp at all instead they have an imprint on them indicating that the postage has been paid for. The best way to ensure getting better stamps through your mailbox is to convey to your friends or relatives to select stamps other than the common ones when they send you a mail. Once your acquaintances know that you are a keen stamp collector they would be more than happy to help you own a good stamp collection. Also when you are sending mails regarding offers that need to be processed through mail use stamps that you want to add to your collection, as these mails will be coming back to you at the end of the process.

Since you have conveyed the news of your stamp collection hobby to your friends its time even your neighbors know about it. Neighbors could help you too to make the world’s best stamp collection. Just ask your neighbors to keep their empty envelopes for you to make use of the stamps over them. Letters coming from other countries would be a bonus!

Since you have conveyed the news of your stamp collection hobby to your friends its time even your neighbors know about it. Neighbors could help you too to make the world’s best stamp collection. Just ask your neighbors to keep their empty envelopes for you to make use of the stamps over them. Letters coming from other countries would be a bonus!

Similarly you know someone who is working in an office. Start with your own parents. Office mail can also be scanned to get some of the best stamps since mails throng in from different possible locations in a work place. Ask your parents, relatives, friends, and neighbors too if they could remove some time to check the mail envelopes in their offices and pass on the ones with stamps to you. You could also ask them to check if they have any old mails that have stamps on them. The older the better, as they are more unique. Instead of tearing stamps from old envelopes you could soak the stamp along with the envelope in water. This will make it easy to remove the stamp as the adhesive will be lost and the stamp will separate from the envelope. We can now dry these stamps. This will help to minimize the possible damage caused by tearing.

Take help from other stamp collectors. They might also swap some of their duplicate stamps with you and you might end up having a chunk of good stamps at a much cheaper cost. The best place for stamp collection is a stamp club. Join your local stamp club. Here you can meet up with other stamp collectors, seek advice from them and even exchange stamps with them. At times these clubs present stamps as prizes or make stamps available at a lower price for their club members. For those of you who are not finding any stamp club in your vicinity, the advice would be to create one yourself. Form a group of 3-4 people who are stamp enthusiasts to start your very own stamp club. Come together every weekend to exchange ideas, information on the latest stamps available and also swap stamps if you want.

Another source for stamp collection would be a pen pal. Letters coming from your pen pal would have their country stamps. Even if they are common stamps of that country, for you they are as unique as any other stamp. You would have both – a great pal and another means to getting different stamps!

Stamps may also be purchased through the mail. Many newspapers and magazines carry advertisements offering free or inexpensive stamps. Care must be taken to read and follow the company’s sales approval conditions, paying for those you keep and returning the others promptly.

These tips should surely be of great help for a budding stamp collector. The aim is not more towards having each and every stamp that exists in your collection, but to learn about different countries and their cultures while at the same time you manage to have a pretty good time doing it. Care should be taken to store the stamps you collect diligently as you want to keepsake them with you for a good number of years ahead. You must take care of the stamps unless you can’t enjoy your stamp collection hobby more fruitfully. Enjoy your stamp collection, however small it may be, with a lot of care. You never know if it turns out to be most valuable in a couple of years.

We can find that specialists study their stamps to an extent far greater than the general collector, for, in his limited field, his energies are not scattered to the extent that those of a devoted general collector are. We all admit and perhaps this is one of our pet arguments as to the benefits of Philately, that the study of our stamps, and the knowledge gained thereby, is one of the most important advantages conferred by the Goddess Philately on her prostrate admirers and worshippers. This granted, to make a proper and advantageous study of our stamps, it is, of course, reasonable to state that it is not wise to have a field too extensive, else it is a case of “knowing everything, yet knowing nothing well”.

Specialism may be practiced to a greater or less extent. Some collectors seem to have the idea that to be a specialist you must throw up the greater part of your collection and confine yourself to a single country. This idea seems to be sheer foolishness. We are all specialists of a kind. We all have some favorite country that we prefer to all others, even though we collect everything from everywhere. Thus a general collector is in a small degree a specialist, having some country he devotes more attention to than to others.

Again oddities are collected by many, as an outside specialty; albinos, miss-cuts, miss-strikes, double impressions, and in fact anything of a like this nature seems to be carefully hoarded up.

Another very useful specialty is that of counterfeits, which are of great value for comparing with the genuine stamps, and the Philatelist who masters the points of difference between the genuine and the forged stamps has acquired an important portion of his Philatelic education.

So much for a few interesting side specialties, for either specialists or general collectors.

Investment in postage stamps should not really be called collecting since the real meaning of the word collecting is to obtain as many of a thing as you possibly can, and investment buying of stamps is something entirely different. Actually, investment buying is something that only people who have a surplus of cash can do.

Unless you are so financially situated, investment buying is not for you. The best you can do is to buy a few stamps now and then and hope for the best. The real investment buyer follows every item of news in every periodical devoted to stamps. He is up on world trends, politics in particular, since political changes in countries profoundly affect the value of its postage stamps.

Investment buying takes two forms. One is the accumulation of stocks of current stamps, usually in full sheets, and in quantities of those sheets. The other is buying rare and costly items, holding them until they rise higher, and then selling them at a profit.

Investment buying of postage stamps is a good hobby and a good way to make a buck if you are already rich. It is a good way to lose your shirt if you are not rich enough to play with a lot of money, or if you don’t know all the ins and outs of philately.

It is about hundred and forty five years since Turkey first attracted the Philatelists’ attention. Turkey’s first stamps were issued in 1863. In the same year Russian offices were opened and a large square label, a 6k blue, was put forth by the Russian Steam Navigation Company.  This is now quite an un-common stamp.

Austria, seeing the advantage of having its own office in such a cosmopolitan land, followed by issuing a set in 1867 for its newly formed postal station.

Germany was third, putting forth a series in 1884.

Great Britain was fourth, issuing adhesives in 1885.

In the same year France, the fifth nation to establish its own Levant mail service also put forth a number of surcharges. Separate issues for Dedeagh, Port Lagos, Cavalle and Vathy did not come out until 1893-94 however.

Roumania was sixth, overprinting six values with Turkish currency in 1896.

Italy was seventh, making the first two definite sets, for Albania and Janina in 1902. However, a set for use all over the world had been available since 1874.  A general issue for the whole Levant and separate issues for Constantinople, Durazzo, Jerusalem, Salonia, Scutai, Smyrna and Valona come out within the following five or six years.

Russia followed Italy’s lead by issuing separate stamps in 1909 for the following cities: Constantinople, Jaffa, Jerusalem, Kerassmunde, Mont Athose, Salonique, Smyrna, Trebizonde, Beyrouth, Dardanelles, Metelin and Rizeh.

The seven nations kept up their own services until 1914. Then come a crushing blow, the Abolition of Capitulations which did away with all for foreign offices in the land of the star and crescent.

But collectors who hoped that this act would lessen the flood of labels from this part of the world were destined to be disappointed.  Turkey was on its way to the carving.

The first piece to bereak loose was Hejaz, which declared its independence in 1916.  A little later the British occupied Palestine and Mesopotamia.

The next nation to wield the butcher knife was Greece.  Although three sets came out about this time all were bogus.  The first for Rodosto, a place never occupied by the Greeks and the second and third for Smyrna and Cydonia, both private speculation.

As hostilities had ceased, Roumania and Poland opened offices at Constantinople and the adjacent coast in the latter part of 1919.

Then came an avalanche of issues make by France, for Cilicia, Syria and Castellorizo.

Three independent countries Arabia, Armenia and Trans-Jordania were also formed from fragments of the ‘old bird’.

Later all these countries issue many interesting stamp issues, which attract philatelist’s attention.

With the birth of stamps came the birth of stamp collectors or philatelists as they have become known. Shortly after adhesive postage stamps were introduced by Great Britain in 1840, people began collecting them. In 1841, a women even placed an advertisement in the London Times in which she requested help in collecting stamps so that she could paper a bedroom wall.

The two terms philately and philatelist, which refer to the collection and study of postage stamps, were derived from the Greek word phileo, meaning “I love” and ateleia, meaning “free of charges”, in the sense that postage stamps replaced a cash postal charge. As people began to collect these interesting pieces of paper, no one realized how valuable stamps could become.

The condition of a stamp is a very important factor in determining its value and desirability.  Philatelists classify different stamps in various categories depending on their condition.

Mint Never Hinged (MNH): An unused stamp that remain the same condition as it was manufactured.  It has its full original gum.  And there is no cancellation.

Unused: An unused stamp that may not have its gum completely due to hinging or other reasons. And there is no cancellation.

Used: A used stamp has served as postage, so it will not be gummed and have a cancellation.

There are other categories describing conditions of stamps that apply regardless of their used or unused status.  These categories are as follows: Superb, Very Fine, Good, Average, Poor, and Bad.

Superb: A superb copy is in outstanding condition and optimum in condition. The design is perfectly centered, which means stamp has equal margins all around. The color of the stamp is full and no fading. A Superb mint stamp has full original gum intact, and a used copy has a very light cancellation.  The Superb stamp has all perforations are complete.

Very Fine: A very fine stamp is in excellent condition.  The stamp has clean design and complete perforations. If mint, full original gum is intact. If used, the cancellation is light.  The design may not be as perfectly like superb condition.

Fine: A stamp in fine condition is an excellent copy with no flaws or defects. No perforations are missing. If mint, stamp may be lightly hinged.  If used, cancellation is fairly light. The design may be off center.

Good: A stamp in good condition is no serious flaws or defects and don’t have any thin spots. It may be quite off center and have a fairly heavy cancellation.

Average: A stamp in average condition does not show serious defects or damage. But it usually heavily cancelled, off center and might have short perforations.

Poor: A stamp in poor condition often torn, have thin spots or have several missing perforations. It may have heavy cancellations.

Bad: A stamp in bad condition has serious flaws or defects. They often badly discolored; have missing perforations, holes, tears and very heavy cancellations.

It may often be very difficult to obtain stamps in very fine to superb condition and collectors often must pay a premium for such copies.