Collecting guide

How to Collect Stamps

Postage stamps, covers and other postal items, revenue stamps and stamp-like labels.

Stamps look alike until you measure them. The same design can exist in several perforations, watermarks, papers and colour shades, and one of them may be worth a hundred times the others. Good philately is careful identification, written down.

Getting Started

Pick a scope you can finish, or at least follow: one country, one period, a topic such as birds or ships, or a single issue studied in depth. Exhibitors organise collections in the classes ordicio uses as categories:

• Postage stamps, with proofs and essays.
• Covers and postal history: letters and cards that went through the post, including first day covers.
• Postal stationery: envelopes, cards and wrappers with the stamp printed on them.
• Revenue and fiscal stamps for taxes and fees.
• Cinderellas and labels: stamp-like labels that are not postage.

What to Record

• Catalogue numbers: Scott, Stanley Gibbons, Michel or Yvert & Tellier, always with the catalogue named, because the numbering differs. Issues since 2002 also have a UPU WADP number.
• Production details: printing method, perforation gauge (measured with a gauge, e.g. 14 x 13½), watermark, paper and colour. These are what separate one catalogue listing from the next.
• Varieties and errors: plate flaws, missing colours, imperforate pairs.
• Usage: mint never hinged (MNH), hinged, no gum, used or cancelled to order, and the postmark if it is legible.

For covers, record the route, the postage rate, the markings and the dates rather than only the stamp: the cover’s story is what collectors of postal history look for.

Condition and Grading

Condition starts with the gum and the centering: how evenly the design sits within the perforations. US dealers describe centering from Superb and Extremely Fine through Very Fine and Fine to Very Good; certificates from PSE and PSAG add a numeric grade on a 100-point scale. Faults such as thins, short perforations, creases and toning lower the value and belong in the record. For expensive stamps an expert certificate is part of the stamp - record its issuer and number.

Care and Storage

Use stockbooks or albums with acid-free pages and clear mounts; old hinges can damage the gum. Handle stamps with tongs, never fingers, and keep them away from sunlight, damp and heat. Store covers flat in archival sleeves.

Mistakes to Avoid

• Soaking stamps off covers that are worth more as covers.
• Recording “perforated” without the gauge.
• Trusting a colour name without comparing it to a colour guide in daylight.