There are thousands of stamp collectors across the globe, out of which some take their hobby seriously while many others do it just for fun. Serious collectors always make sure that they have the right kind of stamp collecting accessories to take care of their collection. Many of them also invest in rare stamps of the world and auction them later for impressive amounts. Maintaining the condition of stamps becomes critical if you want to make money out of this hobby and this is possible only if you have quality philatelic supplies. Let's take a look at some stamp collecting supplies that genuine collectors buy.
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Stamp tongs:
When you handle postage stamps without any precautions carelessly, there are chances that you might fold or tear them accidentally. Moreover, old stamps are more delicate in nature and should be handled with more care. Stamp tongs can help you pick up stamps easily without folding or tearing them accidentally. Apart from that, these stamp collecting accessories keep your valuable stamps away from your soiled hands.
Magnifying glass:
Many a times, collectors have to take a closer look at texts and designs. It is difficult to analyse the minute detailing of stamp designs with your naked eye. In such cases magnifying glasses come in handy.
Stamp collecting albums:
These are the most commonly used affordable stamp collecting accessories by collectors all over the world. These philatelic supplies help in arranging stamps in a systematic manner based on themes or country name. You can affix your stamps in albums using a hinge or a mount. You can decide the number of stamps that you want to display on a page and arrange your collection accordingly. When you store stamps randomly in boxes or drawers, there are chances that you might misplace them. When it comes to albums, you can prepare an index and keep a track of every stamp in your collection. You can also leave space for a little write-up about the stamps on a particular page.
Stamp stockbooks, stockpages and binders:
Many collectors get confused between stamp albums and stamp stockbooks. Stamp stockbooks have plastic slits in which you can arrange as many stamps as you want. This is useful for the ad-hoc collector who simply wants to store their stamps safely, away from any kind of dust or moisture. However, these collecting supplies are not suited if you want to arrange a collection for a competition. You can also buy stamp stockpages separately and add them to your stockbooks in case you are running out of space. Stamp Binders are generally made of hard cover and are thicker since they have a circular metallic binder at the centre.
There are many other stamp collecting accessories such as a Perforation gauge (to measure perforation), watermark detector (to identify hidden watermarks), colour key (to categorise colour schemes) etc. that help collectors in different ways. If you are really serious about this hobby, then you will surely be more excited when you have the right tools with you.
Learn about various types of quality stamp collecting accessories used by serious collectors all over the world and how they come in handy to take care of your valuable collection.
