Posts Tagged ‘stamp album’

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.

There are many ways to mount stamps in an album. From the very beginning collectors have resorted to stamp hinges as a practical and inexpensive way to keep their stamps stored in their albums. Hinges, especially our modern ones, are easy to apply and peelable. What then makes collectors turn to stamp mounts instead? Well, hinges invariably leave a mark on the gum side of a stamp, so if you want to preserve the condition of your never hinged mint stamps obviously hinges are not the best idea.

In addition, many collectors know that sometimes it is necessary to wait several years before selling a stamp in order to make a significant profit. If you have to wait that long, obviously you need to keep your stamp in pristine condition, especially if it is a mint specimen. Or, perhaps you are looking to mount your collection attractively in an album without damaging your mint stamps. In all of these cases mounts are ideal.

Stamp mounts are sold in strips of varying sizes to fit the smallest stamps up to large souvenir sheets. They have a clear acetate front and come with either a black or clear background depending on what look you prefer. The back of each mount has a peel-off adhesive backing which keeps the mount attached to your album page. You can trim each mount to the width you need with a mount cutter. In essence, each mount becomes a little frame for your stamp which sticks to your album page, so no glue ever comes in contact with your investment.

There are two different ways of inserting your stamp into the mount. Firstly, top opening mounts, and perhaps the easiest to use, allow you to slide your stamp in from the top with a pair of stamp tongs. There are also center opening mounts. While a little more difficult to use since you have to lift both ends up in order to insert the stamp, this method practically guarantees your stamp will never fall out. So consider stamp mounts next time you need to store your collection in an attractive and effective way, they are definitely worth the money and time! Visit the API boutique to view a vast selection of high quality stamp mounts.

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.

A souvenir sheet or miniature sheet is a small group of postage stamps still attached to the sheet on which they were printed.

Postal authorities worldwide have issued souvenir sheets to commemorate any number of different special events, from royal births to major stamp exhibitions. Although the main purpose of any postage stamp is to show that postage fees have been paid, it often serves a second purpose: to commemorate a past event or a well-known place or person.

The stamps on the sheet may be perforated in the usual way, or imperforate. The margins or selvage of the sheet may have additional printing, ranging from a simple statement of the occasion being commemorated, up to a full picture of which the stamp(s) are just a small part.

On Dec. 22, 1922, Princess Elisabeth of Luxembourg, the younger sister of that country’s present ruler, Grand Duke Jean, was born. Just 12 days later, on Jan. 3, 1923, Luxembourg issued a special small sheet that contained a single green 10-franc stamp with perforations all around, and a wide border of margin paper. There is no inscription in the margins, but the special sheet was prepared specifically upon the occasion of the royal birth.

Although the terminology is not as precise as most stamp collectors would prefer, the souvenir sheet is an interesting part of the stamp hobby. Collectors may choose to collect only souvenir sheets that promote stamp shows and exhibitions, or they may look for souvenir sheets related to another type of event or some specific topic. Many collectors enjoy souvenir sheets because they fit easily on a stamp album page. Some modern souvenir sheets contain interesting artwork as part of the decorative selvage.

A well chosen stamp album is the collector’s most useful tool.  Albums are available illustrated or blank.  For the beginning collector, an illustrated album is the better choice, for it not only aids him in organizing, displaying and storing his stamps, but also serves as a philatelic text book, teaching the new collector many aspects about his new hobby.

A bound, illustrated album can be obtained for a low price and will hold thousands of stamps,  The more popular loose-leaf album will hold many more stamps and will have many more countries represented in it.  Yearly supplements and/or blank pages for stamps not illustrated can easily be added.  Either of these types of albums should contain many illustrations as a guide to identification and proper placement of stamps.

The illustrated album can be used as a reference book.  By studying its pages carefully, the beginner can discover the identifying marks or words of each country’s stamps first hand, and then learn the proper way to arrange stamps.  Each page of a new album should be studies attentively before any stamps are mounted over the illustrations, for each illustration, each country heading, each particular grouping of stamps is there for a good reason and many aspects of philately can be quickly learned by inspecting these guides that the illustrated album provides.

A medium sized illustrated album is the best choice for the beginner, one large enough to grow with but not too large to handle before learning, through experience, about stamp collecting. The beginning philatelist should experience various aspects of stamp collecting before investing in a larger, more specialized album, for instance, an album designed expressly for stamps illustrating one certain topic.

When the more advanced collector begins to seriously specialize in stamps of a certain topic or from a specific country, he can find a more advanced album to suit his growing philatelic interest.  Specialized albums are almost always loose-leaf.  Some are large and widely illustrated; others are blank with elaborated borders and quadrille lines.  Whatever direction the collector’s interest takes, he will find a special album to suit his individual needs.

Happy stamp collecting.