Stamp Collecting

Stamp collecting (in German Briefmarken) is one of the most popular hobbies worldwide, attracting over 20 million collectors in the United States alone! Stamps are one of the easiest investments to store and preserve, more so than jewelry or art. What started out as an inexpensive trade item for British children, has exploded into a global madness, with auctions, organizations, societies, festivals and magazines dedicated to the subject.

To get started with stamp collecting, people buy several items: an album (to hold, maintain the stamps), a stockbook (to hold duplicates), stamp hinges (to affix stamps), metal stamp tongs (for handling), a magnifying glass (for inspecting), a perforation gauge (to tell rare from average stamps), a watermark detector (to view secret images) and a stamp catalog like "Scott's."

What do people look for when collecting stamps? This depends, of course, on personal preference. Some people collect themes, artwork or stamps from countries they like, just to have a collection of some sort to show off to friends and family or pass down to future generations. Maybe there's someone who collects Star Wars, Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and other pop-culture stamps. Or there could be another collector who specializes in war-time stamps from around the world. Others look out for exceedingly rare prints that are worth a great deal of money.

Generally anything before 1900 and in good condition, will be worth a good sum. The first United States postage stamps -- the five-cent Franklin and the ten-cent Washington (unused) sold for $1,400 and $28,000, respectively. Britain's first official adhesive stamp ("Penny Black") sold as used postage stamps in an auction for $200 in the year 2000 -- and unused for $3,000! Also, errors, misprints and flukes are naturally the most coveted. For instance, the "Inverted Jenny" is a US postage stamp from 1918 featuring a photo of a Curtiss JN-4 airplane where the plane was mistakenly printed upside-down! Only 100 were ever printed and a block of four just sold at an auction for $2.7 Million! Similarly, the "Treskilling Yellow" stamp from Sweden was misprinted in the wrong color, placing its value at over $2 Million.

Many people do most of their stamp collecting on eBay because the bidding starts as low as one cent and often entire collections can be found for reasonable prices. Online auctions are simple to use (once registered), expansive in size, and great for both beginners and expert philatelists. Before selling, sellers should organize their collection using computer software, as well as upload photos and descriptions of their items, checking the Scott's Catalogue number beforehand (since this is how most stamp collectors categorize their items). Before buying, collectors should check the seller's ranking and user comments to make sure this particular seller is legit.