Fun for Collectors: Where to Get Stamps September 9, 2006
Posted in : Stamp Collecting , add a commentWith the advent of electronic mail, the internet, and instant messaging, is stamp collecting still a feasible hobby? The answer is yes: sending letters by “snail mail,” after all, is growing to be increasingly rare, and what better time to collect stamps than taking advantage of the rarity of even finding them?
This leads to the question: where can one get stamps in this electronic day and age? Before you begin collecting, or start expanding that current collection, take note that there are actually different types of stamps available, and knowing these different types will aid you in knowing where to get them. Following are some sources of stamps for avid collectors.
(more…)
A Stamp Collector’s Specialization
Posted in : Stamp Collecting , add a commentThe stamp collection mania occurred shortly after the first stamps were used for mailing letters. The first official name for the hobby was timbromania, derived from the French word timbre, meaning stamp. It was 1864 when the word philately, a Greek term which means love for tax-free things, was coined. And it became the official term for the hobby up to the present.
However, there came a time that philatelists seem to be unrecognized and silenced especially in the United States. The hobby of collecting stamps seemed to be uncommon to Americans. Then came President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He is a stamp collector. And he is proud of it. In his terms, he ordered his Postmaster General James A. Farley to issue lots of new stamps. He even helped design some of them. His confession encouraged “closet collectors” and non-collectors to pursue the hobby. Soon, stamp collection regained its glory because more and more are people trying it.
(more…)
How Much is A Stamp?
Posted in : Stamp Collecting , add a commentThe use of stamps for mailing letters was a new application of an old idea. Early civilizations already had portraits of kings and queens imprinted on small pieces of paper and attached to contracts and letters sent to important people. Before, stamps and mailing services are free. Only until revenue stamps were used to verify the payment of an excise tax (Stamp Act of 1765) that stamps acquired value.
Because of its worth, people began collecting stamps not only for a hobby but also for an investment. The more expensive a stamp is purchased, the more profit the collector will gain upon selling it. However, there are also other considerations in determining the value of a stamp.
(more…)