Once you are set to pursue stamps collection seriously keeping in view all the precautions and pre-requisites, then come the questions-   888888

What stamps to collect?

What are the different types of collection?

What are the other items of philatelic importance to collect?

What the sources for stamp collection?

How to identify stamps of various countries?

What to examine in the stamps collected before adding it to one’s collection? 

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What to collect?

  1. Mint and Used Stamps

    2. A beginner, first and foremost has to decide on what he wants to collect i.e., whether he wants to collect Mint Stamps or used/cancelled stamps. A stamp sold across the Post Office counter, and not affixed to a cover or mailed and cancelled is a "Mint" stamp. It is in its original condition, with its glue intact. It has greater value. Used Stamps are those which are affixed on a letter, mailed and cancelled. They are of more value then-CTOs. Regrettably, some small countries issue highly colourful odd shaped or three dimensional stamps which are often sold, mint or cancelled to order for less than the face value of the stamp. Such stamps while-enriching the issuing country impoverish the gullible Young Collector.

  2. Definitives, Commemoratives

(i)  Definitives : Definitives are those stamps issued for day to day use. Their main purpose is to collect revenue for the government. Their rates subscribe to the existing major postal rates. They are not changed for 10-20 years and are usually printed in large numbers. Example of definitive stamps is Rs.1 Gandhi Stamps. 

(ii) Commemoratives : Commemorative stamps are issued to commemorate personalities, events, and themes of national and international importance. Only limited and specified quantities of these stamps are printed. They are not supposed to be reprinted. Example of commemorative stamps are the Royal Wedding stamps issued by U.K., Gandhi and Nehru stamps, etc.

Types of Collection

    (a) Omnibus Collection : Omnibus collection refers to collection of special stamps issued to mark a particular theme or to commemorate a particular event, by various countries. Such omnibus collection helps to build the life stories of personalities or the stages of development of an event. The omnibus themes that are popular are International years, World Food Day, U.N. Themes, International personalities ‘Events’ etc.

    (b) Country Collection : This is a traditional form of stamp collection. Generally all the stamps issued by a country are collected and arranged chronologically.

    If one chooses to go in for a traditional country collection for ex:- on India, it may be on the following lines:

    Pre-Independence India used Abroad

    Princely States Post Independence

    French/Portugese Republic of India

    Settlements in India Post – partition States

    (c) Thematic Collection : Thematic or topical stamps are commemorative stamps issued on specific and special themes. They draw attention to the importance of the theme they bears on birds, butterflies, wild life etc.,

Related items of Philatelic importance to collect

One need not limit oneself to collect only postage stamps. So many other related items may be collected. Postal Stationery is fast becoming a very important and challenging area of collection. Post-cards/letter-sheets, envelopes, pre-paid telegram forms etc. come under this category. England was the first country to issue 1 penny letter-sheet, popularly called "Mulready Cover" alongwith the penny-Black. Recently an item of Mulready Cover affixed with a Penny-Black has been sold for a mind-boggling price of 3.4 million Swiss Francs. India issued a blue ½ anna letter-sheet and an envelope in 1857, ¼ anna post-card in 1879. Popular interest in collection of postal stationery is yet to catch up. Experts of postal stationery say that it is a challenging field of philately.

Various other items of philatelic importance include:

    1. First Day Covers/Special Covers.

    2. Souvenir sheets/cards

    3. Postage due labels

    4. Stamp booklets

    5. Revenue stamps

    6. Cancellations and pictorial post marks

    7. Postal stationery-MO form, certificate of postings Air Mail, Inland letters, Postcards/Envelopes, etc.

    8. Mail impressions.

    9. Stamps with traffic lights (Colour indicator)

Various Sources of Stamps & other Philatelic material

(i) Letters received in your own Mail Box and that of your neighbours, friends arty relatives contain stamps.

          (ii) Stamps can be acquired through exchange with friends/Pen

friends and fellow collectors and Clubmates.

(iii) They can be purchased from dealers at auctions, stamp fairs and

at their retail outlets in the form of approved packets.

(iv) From the Post Office, mint stamps can be purchased across the counter or by opening a deposit account in the Postal Philatelic Bureau.

Identification of Stamps

This is important because, there are some items which look very similar to postage stamps like Christmas seals, Flag Day stamps, Charity stamps and Revenue stamps.

The name of the country and the value of the stamp is to be present on a postage stamp to be valid. Sometimes, instead of the name of the country, an easily identifiable symbol is used.

Identifying postage stamps of various countries is not always an easy job, particularly when the script on the postage stamps is totally unfamiliar to you or when they bears/strange-sounding names. Do not throw away or mount a stamp until you are sure of its country of origin. Consult a more experienced collector to identify for you, if you cannot do so yourself.


Examination of Stamps

One must examine and ensure that :

i) The perforations are not damaged or missing. (Perforations are the holes punched out between the stamps for easy separation from one another)

ii)The stamp is not thinned at the back due to forceful separation or peeling from the cover.

iii) It does not have folds or creases in the front or back

iv) There are no ink or grease marks, and the cancellations are light and properly applied, if they are used stamps.

v) The gum is not missing, if they are mint stamps.

vi) If stamps seem unusual and out of the ordinary with regard to their shape, features, colours, shifts, flaws, errors or variations in comparison to the stamp catalogue, whether they are worth collecting.

vii) It is made of water paper and is not a counterfeit stamp.

Once you make sure that all the above conditions are fulfilled, you may transfer the stamp to your stock book carefully. In the stock book do not keep them in a haphazard manner. Arrange them according to some order, for example, country-wise or theme-wise. This will help one to choose from the available stamps to do the final arrangement in the album, and from there to exhibition boards. It will also give one, a rough idea of the missing stamps, for the acquisition of which, efforts can be made eventually. Do not throw away anything unless you are sure what it is. Do not class a stamp as a duplicate until you have checked every detail of its design, perforation, watermark, paper, printing process, etc.