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Cartoon characters that have been designed by children and holograms were just a few of the hundreds of stamps that were issued throughout the world in the year 1995. There were also special addition stamps to help commemorate the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. There were stamps that honored famous people. Some made to help us remember to protect the environment. There were dozens of others issued, with many different themes.
An increase in postage rates led to a tremendous amount of new issues. In all, there were more than 200 new items during one year alone. These new items included stamps, post cards, and stamped envelopes.
There was a group of 32 cent stamps designed by children that carried the message, "Kids Care About the Environment." About 150,000 children between the ages of eight and thirteen submitted designs for the stamps. The four that were chosen show ways to clean up the environment.
Stamp collecting is one of the most interesting of all my hobbies. People will collect stamps for many different reasons. Some will just like to get stamps together and arrange them in an album. Still others will be interested in history, geography, and culture of the countries in which their stamps came from. Others are attracted to the stamps because of the many interesting subjects that are pictured on them.
Stamp collecting began as soon as the first stamp went on sale. Since the Penny Black was the first and only stamp in existence, it brought about great curiosity. Many people collected Penny Blacks as a souvenir.
In 1847, the United States government issued two stamps- a 10-cent stamp that had a picture of George Washington on it and a 5-cent stamp with a picture of Benjamin Franklin. Postage stamps had been used in the United States for many years when the postmasters of some cities issued their own stamps. These are known as Postmaster's Provisional. They are really quite valuable today.
It was not long after that, when other countries began to issue stamps. Collectors were quick to get in line to get their hands on as many of these as they could.
The first step in becoming a collector is, of course, to aquire your stamps. This can be done in several different ways. Friends who are collectors can help you in getting stared by giving you batches of their duplicate stamps. Local companies that do business by mail will many times save stamps for collectors. Once you have made it know that you are a collector, your friends will probable save stamps for you as well.
You can always buy your stamps as most collectors will end up doing. You maybe lucky enough to live in a town that has a stamp dealer, If not, you can always order them by mail. Stamp dealers will usually advertise in newspapers and magazines. Some will sell stamps outright, while others will sell on approval. To buy stamps on approval, you send a letter to the dealer requesting an approval selection of stamps. You only pay for the stamps that you deep and then you return the rest.
Mint stamps are the ones that have never been canceled. You will find that some collectors will specialize in only mint stamps. Others, however, will take any stamp that comes their way. When a stamp goes through the mail, a cancellation mark is printed on it in indelible ink. This ink cannot be removed. Many collectors prefer canceled stamps because they are less expensive.
The cheapest way to buy stamps is by getting a mixture. This is a batch of unsorted stamps. Some dealers will sell mixtures by weight. That means that they will sell them at so much per pound. A mixture will contain canceled stamps. Most will be current issue. You must be ready to get many duplicates when you purchase mixtures. They also will most likely not contain any stamps of value. However, there is always a chance that you will find that "sleeper".
A packet of stamps contains no duplicates. That makes packets more expensive than mixtures. You will, however, get more for you money with these.
Some collectors will buy sets of stamps. A set will have all the stamps that a government issues at one time. Sets can be complete or they can be broken. A broken set will be missing one or more stamps.
Once you have your stamps, the next step will be to sort them. First, you will want to set aside those that are stuck to bits of paper. The stamps must be separated from their backings. Remember never to rip them loose, or you may end up damaging the stamp. Instead, you should soak them in lukewarm water in a clean dish. Let the stamps soak in the water until they float free from the bits of paper that they were stuck too. Then remove the excess water moisture by pressing them between two clean white blotters. Place them on clean paper to dry. If by chance they were to get wrinkled, you could put the damp stamps between two blotters and put a weight on them overnight.
Now it is time to sort your clean, dry stamps. You should arrange them in piles. This should be done alphabetically by country. Next, you will want to sort each pile by stamp. Then you will be ready to start the mount.
Before you mount stamps in your album, you must sort them just one more time, this time it will be done by condition. You will probably have many duplicates and should put the ones that are in the best condition in your album. Not all stamps will be worth keeping. The value of a stamp will depend on two things: it's rarity and it's condition.
Most collectors and dealers will use the following standards for grading stamps:
Superb: like new, with clean, fresh color. There are no creases or tears. The design is perfectly centered with even margin. The perforation teeth are perfect and complete. If the stamp has not been through the mail and the gum on the back is in mint condition. If the stamp has been canceled, the stamp should be light and legible.
Very Fine: a physically perfect stamp. The color might be slightly off shade and it may have a heavier cancellation mark. It may even be that the margins are slightly uneven. It is not quite as good as a superb stamp.
Fine: a stamp without defects or blemishes, but is still not quite up to very fine standards.
Good: a stamp without tears or creases. It's colors will probable be faded and it maybe heavily post marked. It may even be printed off center.
Poor: these are stamps of the lowest quality. They may be torn or creased. They may have thin spots. Keep these poor stamps only if they cannot be replaced.
You are now ready to mount your stamps into your album. You should try to buy the best album that you can. An inexpensive album will probably not have enough space for all of your stamps. A good album will have plenty of room and the place where each stamp belongs is clearly marked. Spaces will be chronologically (by date) ordered. Pictures of the stamps are printed in many of the spaces so that all you will have to do is mount your stamp over where the picture is.
Almost every subject you can name has been shown on stamps. Because of this it is possible for collectors to build a topical collection. These are collections in which all the stamps are related to one topic. So, give it some thought, pick a topic, and start collection. The possibilities and the fun are endless.
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