The Art of Collecting Stamps

There are lots of things that people collect and can collect. Some examples of collections are coins, money, dolls, cars, antiques, shoes, bags, jewelries and game cards.

Collecting postal stamps is probably one of those not so famous collections as you can hardly find or meet someone who collects it. But did you know that some very famous personalities have this collection? Great example is Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family. Based in Wikipedia, there are royal family members who started collecting postage stamps since 1864 and the first serious collector was Price Alfred. The British Royal family postal stamp collection was called the Royal Philatelic Collection.

Another great example is the 32nd US president Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was featured in postal stamps several times as a stamp collector such as in the photo below.

Photo source

Postal stamp collecting is an old hobby and there have been organized groups of stamp collectors in various countries. A stamp collector is also called as Philatelist which can be translated online as literally someone who loves stamps. It can be defined too as someone who collects and/or studies stamps. Personally I think that the term Philatelist is a term for those who really into the art of stamp collecting. This is for those who takes time in understanding the terms and invests in their collection.

So, I usually just coined myself as a stamp collector or simply a hobbyist. I started collecting postal stamps during my high school years. I became interested on it when we had a school project about stamps. During those times, I started to increase my collection by finding the old stamps in our household and from friends who willingly gave me their stamps at home when they learned that I am collecting those. Later I have bought some stamps from collector's shop. I have been a stamp forum member too and received some stamps from other members there. Below are examples of stamp albums from my collection.

There are lots of terms used in stamp collecting and will mention some common terms below.

Album - Used to store or display stamps and covers.
Cancel - A marking over the stamp to show that it was used already and not valid for postage anymore.
Catalog - A book with descriptive information in identifying stamps. There are catalogs that include values for the listed stamps.
Commemorative stamp - A stamp that was printed to commemorate a person, object, event or place.
Cover - Envelop with postal stamp which is typically cancelled or used.
First Day Cover – A cover with stamps postmarked on their day of issue
Glassine - A thin and semitransparent paper which is moderately resistant to the air passage and moisture.
Mint stamp - A stamp that was never used and on its original state.

For Other Terms Click Here

A small glassine envelop for my loose stamps.

Postal themed stamps.

Some of my commemorative stamps.

Some of my First Day Covers.

Stamps on Cover and Post card.

Some of the pages in my albums.