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Many people around the world cultivate the hobby of collecting stamps. As a stamp collector you can either purchase stamps or get them from some of the free sources. As a beginner in stamp collection all you are interested in is to have a collection, but without spending much money. At first, you start your collection with only a few stamps, perhaps some favorites that you have from childhood. A great way to begin to expand your collection is to purchase a starter set from a stamp or hobby store. These collections are usually inexpensive, sometimes costing about $6.00 for a collectors pack. In the pack you'll get a nice selection of stamps from different countries. This is an easy way to start and find out what stamps appeal to you and what you'd like to focus future collecting efforts towards. These days another good source for getting stamps is eBay on the internet. Here you will often be able to buy large number of stamps for a very low price. Once you have a sizable collection of stamps, you will need to organize them so that the stamps are safe. This will also help you decide how and where you want to proceed with your stamp collection. When you buy or get stamps from an original source most of the stamps will still be on the paper on which they were mailed. Once the paper backing is removed, the stamp becomes fragile and can easily be damaged. Hence it is important to be careful in the way that you move around the stamps. Therefore it is important to sort out your stamps that you purchased according to country before taking off the paper backing. While taking off the paper backing from the stamps do not just try pulling the paper away from the stamp in a hurry. Take your time and be patient so that you do not damage the stamps. Pulling the paper off in a hurry can rip the stamp edges. So use scissors to cut the paper backing as close to the stamp body as possible. To take off the paper backing from the nicely trimmed stamp take clean water in a bowl. Place the stamp with the paper backing into the water and let it soak for some time. Take care that the stamp side is facing up. You can now try to carefully remove the paper backing from the stamp. After removing the paper backing from the stamp, they need to be dried slowly and gently, so that they don't fold over and wrinkle. After the stamps have dried lay them flat between two layers of paper towel making sure that none of the stamps touch and overlap. Once the stamps are dry you can flatten them by laying them in between the pages of a large book, or you can buy a special drying book that is available at most hobby stores or stamp collecting stores. Once the stamps have been dried and flattened, you'll be ready to sort them into categories within your stamp collecting books.
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Fiona Whealer is the chief editor for FW Stamps, the #1 source on the internet for information about stamps. For more articles on stamps visit: www.fwstamps.com/articles This article is available as a unique content article with free reprint rights.
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