Young collectors
Everything a new collector needs to start: how to collect, how to look after stamps, and how the hobby began.
Tips for collecting
Stamp collecting is one of the most popular hobbies in the world. Stamps are the visiting cards of nations: they show a country’s history, its famous people, its events and its progress in science.
Getting started
Begin with the stamps on letters, postcards and parcels you receive. You can keep them all, or choose a subject you like: art, history, sport or wildlife. Many collectors choose a country, such as the UAE.
Keeping your collection
Protect your stamps in a notebook or a stamp album. Attach them to the pages with hinges or mounts; mounts keep a stamp in the condition you bought it. Pages with plastic strips let you slide the stamps in without sticking them.
Keeping it cheap
Start with used stamps and a small album. The UAE philatelic bureau offers a free subscription service: you pay only for the stamps you buy.
Taking a stamp off an envelope
- Cut the corner of the envelope carefully, so the stamp is not damaged.
- Keep stamps from coloured envelopes apart, so the colour does not run.
- Soak the stamps face down in warm water.
- Wait a few minutes until they come loose, then lift them out with tongs.
- Lay them face down on a paper towel and put a weight on top.
- Leave them overnight to dry flat.
What you need
Stamp tongs
Fingers leave grease on a stamp; tongs do not.
A magnifying glass
It shows the artist’s fine work and the small details that tell stamps apart.
A stamp catalogue
It helps you name a stamp and learn about it. Libraries have them.
How the hobby began
A postage stamp began as proof that postage was paid. Over the centuries it has done more, but it is still a contract between the sender and the post office.
Collecting began with the first postage stamps in 1840. The Penny Black appeared on 6 May of that year, though serious collecting only grew in the 1860s. Before that people collected autographs and revenue stamps, and this led in time to the study of postal markings.
The classes of philately
Traditional philately
The study of a country’s or region’s stamps: how they were made, classified and used. It covers stamps, sheets, first day covers and records such as essays and proofs.
Postal history
Exhibits that trace how the postal system grew, with attention to routes and postal rates. It studies covers, postcards, postmarks and mail routes, and became a serious field in the 1930s.
Thematic philately
Telling a story with a wide range of philatelic material. Collectors gather stamps around a theme, such as birds, chess or transport, from many postal administrations. It is where many new collectors begin.