How to start collecting stamps and become a Paleophilatelist?

Every collection started once.
Every beginner has many questions: How to collect? Where to get the stuff? How to store?
This article intends to answer the basic questions and briefly introduce the Philately World.

Content

Definitions Starting Your Collection Stamp collecting Sources of Philatelic Information Purchase stamps Storage systems Albums Hinges Mounts Stock Books Binder Boxes for Covers

Stamps Conditions MINT and CTO used Stamps Philatelic tools Tongs Magnifying glass Perforation measure Perforations Perforation gauge Security signs detector Colour Guides Acknowledgements References

Definitions

Stamps collector: person who collects postage stamps. Postage stamps: often called just stamps, are not every colourful piece of paper with or without perforation, but are adhesive pieces of paper (or any other material) of specified value issued by a national Post Office to be affixed to a letter or parcel to indicate the amount of postage paid. Philatelist: person who collects and studies postage stamps and other philatelic materials. The word "philately" is the English transliteration of the French "philatélie", coined by Georges Herpin in 1864.

Paleontology: is the scientific study of life that existed prior to the start of the Holocene Epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). Paleoanthropology: interdisciplinary branch of paleontology and anthropology concerned with the origins and development of early humans, is the study of human evolution through the fossil and archaeological records, such as stone tools and cave/rock paintings. Paleophilately: collecting and studying philatelic materials related to Paleontology and Paleoanthropology.

Starting Your Collection

People often start to collect some materials related to their occupation, hobbies or something that makes them feel good, like Christmas for example.

The first fossil discovered by Michael Kogan in 1980s.

Michael Kogan, author of this website said:
"When I was 12-13 years old, I found my first fossil. It was a tooth of a prehistoric fish in a piece of stone. I took it to the Natural History Museum where an employee explained to me what I had found.
It was astonishing, because in Lviv, the Ukrainian city, where I grew up, there was no sea or even a river. Prehistoric creatures began to occupy my imagination. I started to collect fossils, mostly small shells, ammonites and belemnites. As I have no place and budget to purchase skeletons of big prehistoric animals, I started to look for alternatives. Postage stamps allowed me to create and maintain the Museum in Album."

Collecting stamps will introduce you to people and places around the world, as sooner or later you will want to share your collection with other collectors, perhaps through swapping duplicate stamps.
A stamp collection will expand your knowledge of history and geography, and the topic you are going to collect, as you could collect the stamps issued world-wide and will give you countless hours of pleasure that will last your entire life.

Stamp collecting

There are many things people can collect: books, images, calendars, coins, covers of chocolate packages ....


France - vintage labels from chocolate packages..
Stamp collecting, began soon after the appearance of the first postage stamp in 1840 in Great Britain.

The "Penny Black" and "Two Pence Blue" the first stamps in the world, issued in 1840 in Great Britain.

As their use spread quickly to other nations the public became fascinated with the beauty of their designs and the diversity available from places many had never heard of before. As soon as Postal Authorities realized a growing market beyond the original purpose of certifying payment for postage, they began creating stamps with collectors in mind.

In XX century philately was the most popular hobby in the world and was often called the “King of Hobbies”. According to Stanley Gibbons stamp catalogue (UK), stamp collecting in the modern day is still one of the most popular hobbies in the world, with more than 20 million collectors globally.

It is a relatively easy hobby to do, with such big variation of stamps there really is something for everyone, from the affordable to the rare and expensive.
There are many friendly stamp communities across the world with whom to share this fun and fascinating passion with.

People who are interested in collecting stamps related to the subjects of this website, Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, are welcome to join the "Paleophilately" Facebook group, created and run by author of this website.

At the end of XIX it was possible to collect almost all world-wide stamps issued to date.

Maximum Card example. Algeria 1952 - the same Ammonite is shown on the postcard and on the stamp

Until the end of the XIX century it was still manageable to acquire a complete collection of all postage stamps issued in the world. At that time only a few stamps were issued in a single country per year. For example, only 100 stamps were issued in Great Britain in the first 60 years since the issue of their first stamp in 1840. Today Great Britain might issue more than 200 stamps a year (2022 – 204 stamps, 2023 – 248 stamps).
Many hundred thousand stamps exist today, some resources give a number of 700.000 and approx. 10.000 added every year. Only a few people with unlimited budget and storage space can afford to try to collect everything.

Starting a new hobby can be both exciting and challenging, therefore it is recommended to set some boundaries to your collection.
One possibility is to just collect stamps from a specific country or region. Other collectors focus on a specific time period. Yet others focus on stamps used for specific functions such as airmail or revenue stamps. A lot of collectors focus on a specific topic or theme such as sports, transportation, art, space, etc. A collector may even collect stamps and other philatelic materials that honor a specific person such as Charles Darwin or Thomas Jefferson.

Do some research to check if there is sufficient philatelic material to enable you to collect the topic. On the other hand, check if the topic is not too wide.
Don’t try to collect too wide a topic, such as Sport of World-Wide Fauna as there is a huge amount of philatelic materials. It is a good practice to start with a more specific area, such as football or Olympic Games, rather than all sports; or horses, dogs, or wild cats, rather than the entire world-wide fauna.

Another type of limitation to consider is the sort of philatelic materials to collect:

• "unused" stamps known as MINT stamps by philatelists.
• cancelled to order (CTO) stamps.
• used stamps, removed or washed out from circulated covers (envelopes, postcards, packages ...).
• First Day Cover (FDC).
• Maximum Cards - postcards with postage stamps placed on the picture side of the card where the stamp and card match (see an example on the right).
• Artwork and proofs used during the design and initial production of stamps.
• etc.

Many topical collectors collect all kinds of available philatelic materials that belong to their topic. Others collect only one of a few types of philatelic materials mentioned above.
According to the American Topical Association (ATA), a topical collector is the person who collects stamps and other philatelic materials which are chosen by their design rather than the countries that issued them or the class of postal service they provide.

This website deals with representation of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology topics in philately. “Paleophilatelie” can be split into smaller sub-topics such as: fossils, reconstruction of prehistoric animals, paleontologists, etc..
Some people collect stamps of dinosaurs, others collect fossils, Ice Age Fauna or human evolution only. Some people collect mint stamps other collect First Day Covers or Maxi Cards only.

Sources of Philatelic Information

Example of stamp catalogues

After you made your choice what to collect you would need to inform yourself about available and coming philatelic issues related to your area of interest.
If you decide to collect stamps of a specific country, it can be good to purchase printed or online stamps catalogue of the country.

Many Postal Authorities offer annual packages, sometimes for many years back. You might also subscribe to their future issues and receive all new stamps of a country sent to your home regularly.
If you decide to collect any specific topic, reading materials are especially beneficial. For almost every country in the world, publishing houses release catalogues that survey stamps issued in their respective nations.
The following four are major Publishing houses who publish world-wide stamps catalogues in several volumes:

• MICHEL (Germany)
• Scott (USA)
• Stanley Gibbons (Great Britain)
• Yvert & Tellier (France)

These publishing houses produce many special catalogues as well. It can be a detailed catalogue with variations of specific stamps or groups of stamps – "Penny Black" variants for example, or stamps issued by ATM machines.

The American Topical Association (ATA) offers over 350 topical checklists to their members.
The checklist might be of only a few or many thousand entries. Members purchase the checklist once, then receive an update on an annual basis upon request for free. If you cannot find the checklist you are looking for, a custom checklist can be generated for you on demand. These checklists are arranged in alphabetical order by issuing country with Scott catalogue numbers, date of issue and a short description.

This website contains a "Illustrated Checklist of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology" related stamps.
Checklists of postmarks and FDC are under construction.

Many philatelic study units affiliated to the major philatelic societies and associations provide additional services to their members and publish bulletins or magazines on a regular basis.
The Biology Study Unit, one of the oldest study units of ATA, issues “Biophilately” magazine once per quarter with lists of new stamps for different types of organisms and articles related to biology. Mr. Michael Kogan, author of this website, runs the Paleontology column in the unit’s magazine. Dr. Peter Voice, who edits and reviews this website, runs the Marine Invertebrates column.

Example of updates about new stamps related to Biology topics from “Biophilately” magazine.

In case you have access to a philatelic library, it can be of help. Many philatelic libraries have recent stamp catalogues, magazines and philatelic books which can help you to start collecting and provide an overview about existing philatelic materials related to your area of interest.

Purchase stamps

There are several options to buy stamps, First Day Covers and other philatelic materials.

• The Philatelic desk of the Postal Authority of your country or even a local post office might have some recent stamps of the topic you are interested in. Many Postal Authorities keep a stock of stamps from the last few years. In some cases, it can be even a few decades back. They might also offer some thematical sets.
• If you live in a big city, you might visit a philatelic store, even though in the last decade the number of philatelic stores has been significantly reduced.
• Try to find information about local philatelic clubs and societies. They usually organize trade events on a regular basis. Usually everybody, not only the members, are welcome to come.
• Try to visit some Stamp Shows, who usually host many dealers.

The biggest option can be found on the Internet however. Please read “How to collect stamps in the XXI century” for more details.

Stamps Conditions

MINT (clean, unused) and CTO (Cancelled To Order) stamps sold by the Postal Authorities in their offline and online store in full sets or individually. The CTO and especially MINT stamps are usually stored by collectors in albums or stock books (the details below) to preserve their condition as they were purchased.

Mint, CTO and used stamp of Switzerland 2010. The mint and CTO stamps look the same with unhinged mint, the same colour, but CTO cancelled with pictorial or regular postmark of the issue date. The used stamp cancelled by regular postmark or "stamp killer" (obliterator), its colour can change after it was soaked from a cover or postcard. The postmark is often not readable.

Any damage of the face or the reverse side, loss of the glue for example, might reduce their value significantly.
Stamps and covers should be kept where humidity and temperature are at safe and fairly consistent levels.
High temperatures and humidity can activate the gum on the back, which may cause them to stick to each other or to pages of albums. Cold temperatures may cause stamps to become brittle, which can also be damaging.

Choose a storage place that allows stamp albums or stock books to always be stored upright, as it distributes the weight evenly and reduces pressure. Otherwise, pressure can increase the risk of stamps sticking to a page or of damaging fragile stamp edges and perforations.

Stamp stock books on a shelf

Used stamps in glassine envelopes

Used stamps might be less enjoyable, as the cancellation over stamps might obscure details on the stamps.
It also may be difficult to find a complete set of stamps in used condition. However, they are much cheaper than the Mint and CTO stamps.
Used stamps are often offered in stamp mixtures, known as “kiloware”. These stamps, usually on paper, are sold by their weight, usually between 50g and 500g.
There are many articles on the Internet and videos on YouTube explaining how to soak/wash-out stamps from the paper.
The storage of used stamps can be cheap, as they do not require any special treatment and can be stored even in a box.

Glassine envelopes, available in many different sizes - very thin and translucent can be used to store used stamps which belong to the same topic or country of issue and can protect them from air and moisture.

Storage systems

There are several stamps and covers storage systems available on the market. The most popular are Albums and Stock books.
Doesn't matter what system you chose, it is a good practice to store them in plastic slipcases (see an example above), that have been made of chemically neutral (archival-quality) materials, to protect them and the stamps inside. It is recommended to store the philatelic collection at a "room" temperature (approx. 18° Celsius) and with relative humidity of between 55% to 60%.

Albums

The first stamp albums appeared shortly after people started collecting stamps, in the middle of the 1800s. At that time, it was required to stick stamps on the pages, because glassine or foil strips had not been invented yet.

"Penny Red" stamp from 1864 with remain on hinges on the reverse side, MiNr: 16, Scott: 33, SG: 43 plate Nr. 90.	Stamp in transparent mount from an exhibit page. Petrified wood, Mozambique 1971, Mn: 561 ; Sn: 502.	Stamp in black mount, Thomas Jefferson, USA 1856, Mn: 5 ; Sn: 12.

Collectors used stamp hinges - small, thin, folded pieces of translucent paper with special gum on one side of the hinge. They were used to mount stamps onto paper of album pages, but they damaged part of the glue on the reverse side of the stamp.
Usually, a small part of the reverse side was licked or wetted, then attached to the page. Stamps hinges are available to date, but you better not use them for MINT or CTO stamps, so you don’t damage their gum and reduce their value.

The better option is to use mounts - clear plastic sleeves (pre-cut or cut-to-size) that protect stamps without using adhesive. Mounts are usually used on empty album pages, to allow the collector to arrange the stamps in a desired or preferred order.
Mounts with transparent or black backgrounds are also used on the pages of philatelic exhibits to mount stamps on the pages.


Mounts cut device

Above: Stamp Album with pre-printed pages filled out with stamps of San Marino 1965. Below: Stock Book

Many more stamps can be stored on one page of the stock book and both sides of the page can be used to store stamps.

There are many companies who provide printed pages or even offer to design and print your own pages.
Stamp albums with printed pages are created especially for stamps from a specific country, time period or theme, including dinosaurs. They have a dedicated space for each stamp and may also contain black-white images on the page and even be accompanied by some explanatory text (see example on the right).
The problem with pre-printed pages is that the stamps must be of the standard size to fit to the slots. If you would like to add the stamp from the corner or side of the sheet (with selvage or labels), it might not fit. In the case, you would like to add an additional stamp such as a stamp with designer autograph on selvages or a stamp with a design error, there might be not enough empty space to place them on the same page.

Stock Books

Stock books are distinguished from albums, by having stiff pages lined with glassine or foil strips. The glassine or foil strip act as pockets to hold the stamps. The pages are usually white or black in color.
It gives collectors freedom to store the stamps as they wish, add new variations and sort/resort the stamps collection without remounting the stamps.
Stamps of different size, from different countries or time can be placed together on the same page as there are no dedicated slots.
Stock books are available in two formats – book like, with fixed pages and as binder with stock cards. These stock cards are removal pages, can be removed from the binder for display purposes or placed in another stock book.

Binder

Some collectors choose to make their own albums using nice binders and blank pages. This is the most expensive and time-consuming approach. It can be good for collectors of small topics who add new stamps and other philatelic materials to their collection infrequently. On the other hand, it gives you an opportunity to store your collection in a unique, creative way. You can keep stamps and corresponding covers on the page or place a long strip of stamp in diagonal, while glassine or foil strips in the albums and stock books are always preplaced horizontally. You can also make a bigger space between rows or create small rows of stamp mounts (small plastic sleeves) for one or a few stamps. You might even store non-philatelic materials, the entrance ticket of a museum depicted on the stamp for example, on the same page and even write notes on the same page. A binder gives the possibility to make a unique album of your own.

Boxes for Covers

Covers Box

First Day Covers, Maxi Cards and postal circulated covers can be stored in dedicated albums, or boxes. The albums might be expensive and occupy much more space as office-archive boxes. Office-archive boxes are a cheap solution, but they are not designed to store postal covers and it is difficult to find them in the size of covers.
Some collectors use shoe-boxes. It might work if your shoe size is big enough and you buy new shoes regularly.

Some philatelic accessories companies produce specially designed boxes for postcards and cover collectors. They have the right width and several sections for better preservation, acid free, and sorting the covers. They are more robust then shoe boxes and prevent damage from humidity. It is good practice to store your covers in a separate transparent glassine envelopes, produced by one of the major philatelic accessories production companies. When there is nothing special on the reverse side, you can place two covers (back-to-back) in the glassine envelopes.

Covers Albums with First Day Covers

Philatelic tools

Tongs

You better don’t touch your valuable stamps with your hands. Even if you have washed your hands, your fingertips may secrete oils that can stick to and damage your stamps. There is also a high risk to damage/bind the stamp by touching it with your hands.
Stamps collectors usually use tongs to handle their stamps.
Stamp tongs are made of metal and keep the stamp from getting damaged from dirt and oil from your skin.
They are used for picking up and handling stamps.

Attention: Tweezers are not tongs! Their sharp points can tear stamps. Philatelic tongs have broader tips and easier grip than tweezers, sharp tips and hard grip of tweezers can damage the stamp.

Magnifying glass

A magnifying glass is a very common tool for stamp collectors - it is used to enlarge details on stamps.
Alternatively, you can scan your stamps in high resolution (300dpi at least) or use a digital microscope to see all the details on a big computer display.


There are several types of "philatelic" magnifying glasses:

• The simple/classical magnifying glasses, usually with magnification of 2x to 5x (see an example above). These magnifying glasses are good for general inspection of stamps and identifying postmarks.
• Loupe, usually with magnification of 5x to 20x. These magnifying glasses are good for examining fine print, microprinting, and errors.
• Illuminated Magnifier with LED and/or UV Light, usually with magnification of 5x to 20x. These magnifying glasses are good for examining fine print, microprinting, errors, as well as detecting UV security features in modern stamps.
• Digital USB Microscope, usually with magnification of 10x to 1000x. These magnifying glasses are good for examining fine print, microprinting, errors, creating high-resolution images, detecting fakes, cataloging stamps digitally.

Perforation measure

Perforations are small rows of holes punched between stamps to make them easier to separate. The number of holes in a 2cm distance is called the perforation number. For example, perforation 11 means the stamp has 11 holes along a 2 cm distance.
The number of holes on horizontal and vertical sides of the stamp can be different. One side might have 11 punches, while the other side might have 12 punches per 2cm of the distance. For security reasons, to prevent forgeries, many stamps have perforations as floating numbers: 11.75 x 12.25 for example. Visually the same stamp, but with different perforation might have completely different catalogue value.



Perforation difference on stamps of China 1991 "13^th Conference of International Union for Quaternary Research" The stamp above has perforation of 11 x 11.25, while other stamp has perforation 11.05 x 11.50. The second stamp was issued in small numbers, therefore its catalogue price (MICHEL) is nine times more than the first one. You can see the difference by placing two stamps next to each other or measuring them with a perforation gauge.


Perforation gauge was invented in 1862 for the accurate measurement of perforations, can be used to measure perforation of the stamp. It is usually a piece of plastic or metal, with hole markers on the sides.
Align the stamp with a set of holes on the perforation gauge to see if they match. If not, move the stamp to another example set until they match.

Measure perforation of Ankylosaurus stamps from "Dinosaurs" set of Papua New Guinea from 2004. MiNr.: 1045, Scott: 1105, Perforation: 14 x 14.

Today some Postal Authorities create fancy perforations, as an additional protection against forgeries. For example, Portugal makes one perforation in the form of a Maltese cross in the middle of the left and right sides of their stamps. Poland often makes an oval perforation on the left and right sides of the stamps. Other countries use fancy perforations that have shapes related to the design of the stamp on one or more sides of their stamps.


Example of fancy perforations:

• the Sauropod shape perforation used on the middle of the right side of South Korean stamps from 2012 - "The Age of Dinosaurs - Cretaceous Period".
• the oval shape used near the bottom of the left and right sides of the Polish stamps from 2000 - "Prehistoric Animals: Dinosaurs".
• the cross shape perforation used on the middle of the left and right side of Portuguese stamps from 2009 - "Bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth".

Security signs detector

Since the issue of the first stamp, in Great Britain in 1840, the issuing authorities (Treasury, Finance Ministerium ...) treat stamps like banknotes and try to prevent forgeries. The old technique was to add a watermark on the paper.

A watermark is a security measure, akin to a hidden signature, that helps prevent counterfeiting.
These marks are created during the papermaking process, often involving a variation in thickness or density of the paper, which can be seen when held up to light.

Sometimes it is enough to hold the stamp to the light or to lay it down on a dark background, in other cases, especially when the reverse side contain traces of cancelation ink or changed its original colour as result of chemical reaction to air or water (used stamps), it might be required to use a special fluid, UV lamp or a kind of "Watermark Detector" device.

Watermarks on the reverse side of Brontosaurus stamp of San Marino 1965 are visible with the naked eye.	Watermarks on the reverse side of Ammonite stamp of the British Antarctic Territory 1990 are visible under artificial light of a watermark detector device.

Watermarks detection device (some devices have multiple lights: green, blue, red ....)

First of all, it is important to check the watermark, if available, to ensure the stamp is genuine. All major stamp catalogues provide information about watermarks and their design. Have a look in the catalogue for the stamp you wish to inspect.

Souvenir-Sheet of Indonesia under UV lamp.	Stamp of Nepal, Elephas namadicus, under pocket UV lamp/loupe.

Stamps that are visibly the same may be available in variants with and without watermarks. The variants may even have different catalog values. For example, the "Moon Valley" stamp of Argentina from 1977 was issued on watermarked and not watermarked papers. Stamps with watermark have a catalogue value 6 times more than stamps without the watermark.

Ignoring the details, such as watermarks and perforations, can lead to misidentification, and overpaying.

Modern stamps, usually, don't have the watermark, but other security features, such as fibers, numbers or even a text visible under UV light. The pocket loupe with UV light is good enough to check it, but a UV light device has a stronger lamp, which might show more details - see an example of the Nepal stamp Elephas namadicus (the results of the pocket lamp above, results of security feature check under UV light device below).

Souvenir-Sheet issued by Indonesian Post for the Asian Stamp Exhibition and Competition in Jakarta, which took place between July 3 and 7, 2024. Left: the Souvenir-Sheet under regular light. Middle and Right: the Souvenir-Sheet under UV light.

Stamp of Nepal 2015 Elephas namadicus ("Prehistoric Elephants of Nepal"). Left: the stamp under regular light. Middle and Right: the stamp under UV light.

Colour Guides

Many old stamps exist in different colour shades.

The "Penny Black" stamp was printed in shades of black: intense black (from brand new plates), black (the most common shade), and grey-black (from worn plates). Some sellers and publications also recognize a fourth variation - grey produced from very worn plates.


Colour shades of the "Penny Black":
Intense Black (MiNr: 1a, Scott: 1a, SG: 1), Black (MiNr: 1b, Scott: 1, SG: 2), Grey-Black (MiNr: 1c, Scott: 1b, SG: 3) and Grey (MiNr: 1c, Scott: 1b, SG: 3).
The first three stamps were printed using Plate 2, while the fourth stamp was printed using a worn Plate 1a.


Similar to the “Penny Black”, the "Two Pence Blue" stamp was printed in different shades of blue:
"deep full blue", "blue", "pale-blue", "milky blue", "steel-blue", "bright-blue", "deep-blue", and "violet-blue".
The first three color-shades have their own numbers: SG: 4 - 6 respectively and are listed in all Stanley Gibbons catalogues. All eight shades are listed as color-variants in Stanley Gibbons Specialized catalogue ^[1] under numbers DS1-DS9.

Shade Name	Stanley Gibbons [1]	MICHEL [2]
deep full blue	DS1	N/A	Colour keys of Stanley Gibbons and MICHEL
violet-blue	DS2	2e
milky-blue	DS3	2f
steel-blue	DS4	2g
blue	DS5 - plate Nr.1, DS8 - plate Nr.2	2b
pale-blue	DS6 plate Nr.1, DS9 plate Nr.2	2c
bright-blue	DS6A	2d
deep-blue	DS7	2a

Notes:
[1] GB Specialised Volume 1 Part 1 'Queen Victoria' Stamp Catalogue (1^st Edition), published by Stanley Gibbons in 2020, ISBN: 978-1-911304-54-8.
[2] MICHEL "Großbritannien-Spezial 2022/2023" published by Schwaneberger Verlag in Germering in 2022. in German. ISBN: 978-3-95402-407-0.

In the case of the “Penny Black” you might be able to distinguish intense-black from black and grey with the naked eye, but it might be difficult to distinguish between different shades of blue.
Color Identifier printed charts of Stanley Gibbons, MICHEL and other catalogues are supposed to help stamp collectors to identify the shade of their stamps and correctly identify its catalogue value. These color identifiers must be stored in a dark place, away from the sunlight to prevent their colors fading with time.
Note: when you purchase the color identifier, match it with the catalogue version you are going to use, as the shade names might change from one catalog version to another.



Have fun collecting postage stamps!
If you are interested in collecting postage stamps and other philatelic materials related to “Paleophilatelie” topics, you are welcome to join the “Paleophilately” group of Facebook to connect with thousands of collectors around the world who share the same interest.

Acknowledgements:

• Many thanks to Dr. Peter Voice from Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Western Michigan University, for reviewing the draft page and his very valuable comments.

References

How to store? Long-Term Stamp Storage Caring for Your Stamp Collection About Stamp Collecting 7 Things to Know About Stamp Collecting How to start collecting A Guide To Stamp Collecting (Stanley Gibbons) "Adventures in Topical Stamp Collecting", ATA handbook #133, published in 1997. ISBN: 0-939991-30-1

Watermarks and other security marks Linns News Stam Collector Introductions to Stanley Gibbons and MICHEL stamp catalogues Topical Stamps Associations: American Topical Association (ATA) British Thematic Association (BTA)

YouTube videos related to the topic of the article