What's One Piece of Advice You'd Give to Beginners?

Absolutely wrong !

It is still one of the cheapest items to collect in abundance and such collecting endeavour enriches the mind.

When stamps stop being produced they become true antiques. When coins and Banknote cease and become Credits they become collectible.

Don't delay, collect today, if you do not collect anything a valuble part of your brain is wasted like the rest of the 90%

Today you can even have a virtual collection in your pc if you take care to keep up with the latest PC technology and not even own a stamp - how sad.

 

One other thing you can do is go to a Hobby Lobby or maybe an online source and get a 'grab bag' of a number of stamps. Put them all face up and see if anything jumps up and 'talks' to you.

 

VERY true!

One of the things I do with 'extra' stamps: I have bought a couple of old stockbooks... not pretty to look at but functional. I have 3 of them divided into States of the U.S. I have the pages divided as well: 2 rows for State history (centennials, territorials, etc), 2 rows for events that happened in that State, 2 rows for people born in that State, and 2 rows for flags, emblems, state birds, etc.

LOVE Wikipedia and some other historical sites: pick a stamp, look up the subject, and read up on the history.

 

I will gently disagree (in a VERY FRIENDLY way) with this statement. I consider myself to be a very serious collector (both in investment and volume that I am working with) but I will look at every posting and get some of the smaller cost items as well as those costing more. Especially if someone I know is building a topical of some sort.

If someone has a common (1c to 10c for example) stamp that I have a lesser example of, I will buy it. True, I buy some older stamps that I don't have but I have boxes of kiloware and handfuls of other nickel and dime priced stamps that I buy, add to, an go through on a very regular basis. And there is another friend of mine that will trade 100's of low cost stamps for higher priced duplicates.

I then donate some of my 'culls' and on-paper extras (which are generally Fine or better) to places like the Scouts, smaller stamp clubs, etc so that someone else can enjoy them. Hopefully we can get more people interested in the hobby by helping them with their first groupings. And I have also seen on eBay, etc where some older collectors take 100 stamps and offer them for 50c + S/H (usually no more than a dollar) for the same reason.

 

i have bought some kiloware on paper stamps, 99% are definitive stamps from India , starting from the 3rd series. I try to soak them, dry them, then sort them according to the series and then i end up having lots of stamps in my room. Hence i have started a blog/website to exchange my extra stamps.

http://freestampsindia.blogspot.in

Anybody who sends a written request via snail mail to my postal address, would get 50 used India definitive off paper stamps in return. There is no need to pay or give a self addressed stamped envelope in return. I will pay for the shipping,stamps. In return, i try to make a fellow stamp collector to work on my stamps for a few minutes or at least a day using his philatelic skills thereby enriching his stamp collection.

In return i get a postally used cover with stamps on them addressed to me from a distant land. Yes, it is viral, i have started collecting postal covers too. At the end of the day, i get a fellow collector who can appreciate my free stamp giveaway effort.

I have already received a few letters from members of this wonderful stamp exchange.com. I have an exclusive page in the stamp chat forum dedicated to the India stamp giveway effort. This is absolutely not a scam. I post photos of all received covers on my website, i also upload the covers to be sent before posting them at the 228 year old Chennai GPO 600001 (erstwhile Colonial Madras).

So to beginners my advice would be that they buy kiloware, put some man hours in washing them, dry them, flatten them using conventional methods. Then sort them, try to take what you want, the other stamps you can exchange with other collectors or you could also sell on ebay, declampe or my little auctions.

Selling stamps online is an art which many people are not able to master themselves, but envy other master stamp sellers or dealers.

The higher the stamps you can sell, the lower would be the market price. Hence do not sell as bundleware or kiloware. Sell as unique set or as a part set online in a auction style listing. I repeat do not sell individual stamps online for a fixed price or higher auction bid start.

First start buying online to sell later online. Only if you buy, you will know, what other buyers think of online buying. There is no physical checking of the goods, they are buying from the seller. So cheaper the prices, the bids will pour in slowly but steadily.

Last minute bidding is another art, which has to be mastered by all budding collectors.

Sell the items you could spare to others. Do not sell your collection. Sell your duplicate or excess stamps. Do no investment in stamps as an investment as it will lead to losses in the future. But building up a collection is a good hobby. Always try to buy new stamps from the money you earned by selling your duplicates.

Hence you will never end up bankrupt or you will cut money from your monthly budget or use your life time earnings on buying rare stamps. Earn what you can and spend the earning on building your collection.

You have proved to the world that your are very good stamp collector, you have won awards at stamp exhibitions. Stamp exhibition jury's have appreciated your dedication to philately. But still you cannot sell a stamp you own as a duplicate ( which you do not require in your collection).

You can also prove that your are stamp seller or a good stamp exchanger. Either donate stamps to budding collectors or sell them at very low prices, as the collector who is buying should also benefit from the purchase and enrich his collection, as pass on the stamp tray to the next collector waiting in que.

I always agree to disagree with any collector. Members reading my view could agree or disagree with view point, but this is the ultimate truth about stamp collection. I am just cautioning you that you should steadily improve your collection, get appreciated in your stamp club, become generous to budding collectors, yet not end up losing all your retirement benefit money.

warm wishes.

 

Now THAT is an intriguing proposition: collect a 'virtual' collection, but one of the rules is that you can't 'collect' more than X number from any one site. If you copy the link to the stamp, that would be "the tell" if you are being honest or not!

"Trades" would be in the better scans, non-linked photos, etc. What a concept!!