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Stamps Collecting

"How to begin ..."
 

My Stamps Album...

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- Filatelia -
(from the Greek philein, to like+ ateleía, postmark)

Philately brings us an inexhaustible source of culture, as no other variant of collecting Hobby. To be a collector, to have a Stamps Collection or simply a group of stamps (Topical), is to have a repository of the History and civilization that precede us.

Collecting with affection and love and sometimes with monetary sacrifice, is to contribute to increase our knowledge, our culture and to preserve all this to our successors.

However all the collectors begin in the same way, gathering stamps. In the beginning I suggest that the candidate to a Stamps Collector spends the possible minimum to initiate its collection.

... so follow these 10 steps in :
how to begin Collecting Stamps ...

  1. Ask to relatives and friends to keep for you all their personal or professional mail stamps. It is very important that the stamps are not pulled out, but cut of the envelope or if possible the entire envelope. Pay attention that stamps in envelopes that look like to be very old, will not have to be soaked off the envelope as we perhaps are destroying a good Philatelic specimen.

  2. After having these stamps, you must soak the papers off. Place them Pinças para Selos / Stamp tongs (tweezers specially made for the handling of stamps)face-down in a bowl of warm water. After a while the paper should float away. Pick them out using Stamp tongs (tweezers specially made for the handling of stamps). By handling stamps with tongs, the collector keeps from damaging the collectibles.

    Caderno de Secagem / Stamps DryingbookCarefully we have to wash the back of the stamp to guarantee a total gum removal. If you have a proper stamp drying book (if not then get one it dries and presses the stamps.) Carefully lay the stamps on the pages. Put the book under several heavy books, this will press them when they dry.
    You can buy this drying book in any Stamps Shop.

    If not then place them face up on blotting paper, and press them between sheets of white paper when dry.
    Comment: The self-adhesive stamps, very common in the daily mail cannot be soaked off, not even with water, correct is that you scissor them near its margin, taking care of not to damage it and keeps it thus exactly in the same format (together with the piece of the envelope).

  3. Exam them for quality one by one - clean postmarks, clean condition, not torn, not wrinkled, all perforations intact. In the back not scraped and aminci. Separate the no good from the good stamps.

  4. To keep them, you must placed into a storage device such as an printed album or stockbook. (Stockbook - in some ways similar to albums, except that these are Classificador de Selos / Stamps Stockbooksimple storage devices where stamps can be placed in clear pockets on pages for easy sorting and viewing). You can buy one in the specialized commerce. Do not glue them in notebooks.

  5. Gather all the stamps you can get, no matter the size, the format or the appearance, nor if he is National or Foreign. Even the ordinary stamps are specimens desired by the foreign beginners, thus constituting an excellent source of stamps for possible swaps or exchange.

  6. Fulfilled these steps and repeating them some times, at this point, the collector has begun to focus on a particular "specialty". Deciding if it goes to collect a specific topic or a Country.

  7. It is very important for you to keep all the stamps you can get, as long as they are in perfect conditions, you can multiply them Álbum de Selos / Stamps Album
    In case that you wish to specialise in a specific Country, I advise to look into the Market the respective Album printed Sheets. They are sold annually, being pre-printed with the drawing of the Stamps emissions.

    Folhas de Álbum com tiras "hawid" / Album with mounts You can also have the option of Stamp Sheets with mounts "hawid" included (vinyl or plastic holders, clear on the front and with gum on the back. Stamps are placed inside the mount and them mounted into the album).

  8. Check the Internet home page of Afinsa http://www.afinsa.com/. There the collector will assemble some of the tools one needs to pursue the Hobby.

  9. It is a good option to subscribe a Lupa para Selos / Magnifying Glass philatelic Magazine, to associate with a Stamps club or a philatelic association in your city or region. Therefore will find other fellow collectors for swap of ideas and stamps.





  10. Right! When you have done this contact me and I will guide you through the next process!

 

"Philatelic errors"

Erros Filatélicos - Portugueses Philatelic Stamps with printing Errors Philatelic Errors in Portuguese Stamps type CERES

 

Please do not hesitate to correct
my English spelling or grammar. E-mail me for questions or suggestions!

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Last Update: Novembro 20, 2009.

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