GETTING STARTED

There's no really steps to be followed if you want to start collecting stamps. If you are really interested with stamps and other related materials in philately, then you are on the right track.

A person who would like to embark to the exciting world of stamp collecting will find no difficulty in acquiring stamps. You could simply statrt by looking through your own mailbox. Most of the letters that you receive might have stamps on them. Tell also your friends and relatives that you are collecting stamps. They might save stamps for you and might even give you an access to their mailbox.

Stamps could also be bought from stamp dealers. Most dealers have packets for beginners. This contains pre-sorted unit of all different stamps, a common and economical way to begin a general collection. You can also purchase stamps directly from the post office. Most post offices will usually have recent issues and you could buy them at their face value.

In terms of tools to be use in stamp collecting, you don't need a lot of supplies to start. Although its practically possible to start without any tools at all, few items proves to be useful for beginners.

Stamp tong is a tool used to handle stamps. It looks like a pair of tweezers, but unlike tweezers, it has a polished rounded tips. Stamp tong is used to handle stamps as fingers contains natural skin oil that could stain stamp paper.

Stock book is used to store stamps. It is specially designed blank book containing rows of pockets on each page to hold stamps.