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MORE ABOUT PHILATELY

July 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

While Philately includes the study of both technical and topical aspects of stamps, it can extend to much more than that. Some concentrate their studies on the history of the postal system and still others may study only “Cinderella” stamps, which are basically stickers that look like stamps but aren’t. Some examples of Cinderella stamps would be the Easter Seal stamps or Christmas stamps.

The Philatelists who study the postal system extensively will typically concentrate their focus on the mail system. All the processes that mail goes through to get to its destination are included in this study.
The history of the mail system will include all the different forms of conveyance used over the years to move mail. For a period of time the Pony Express was considered the quickest way to move mail. Some collectors look for covers that actually moved with the Pony Express mail and if one is found, it’s generally considered pretty valuable. Other forms of transportation over the years are trains, planes and of course trucks. Philatelists will also study post offices, authorities who work for the postal system and postmarks found on letters and packages.

There are thousands of books, papers and reports written on the subject of philately. These books explain every finding and information on the subject of stamps or the postal system. One can find books detailing the history of the postal system and its transportation methods. There are books that list every single stamp that has been officially issued by the post offices over the years. They’ll explain every stamp in detail, telling one what to look for and what to watch for by the way of forgeries.

Philately is basically a lot of reading but one also needs to study actual stamps. For this, there have been special tools created just for handling these stamps. Tools from stamp tongs to protect the integrity of the stamp from skin oils to a perforation gauge to distinguish perforation sizes are used. Being that stamps are so small and the details even tinier still, there is a super strong magnifier created just for studying stamps. For the study of watermarks or the gum on a stamp, there is a fluid especially made to “wet” this without destroying the integrity of the ink or gum. Some have gone even further to use colored light filters to try and avoid touching these objects in any way. Fluoroscopes are used to determine whether a stamp is authentic or not. The use of ultraviolet lights is extremely helpful in examining stamps for any possible flaws or even previous repairs.

Many people who start off collecting stamps as merely a hobby usually find themselves getting more and more interested in the philately side of stamps. The more they read and study on stamps and the history of the postal system, the more it pulls them in. The history of the postal system dates back many, many years and there are millions of stamps available for study. There are so many different areas in this field that one can study, it would be hard to limit one to just a small field. The more one learns about this, the more fascinating it becomes.

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STAMP COLLECTING TIPS

July 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Now that you’ve decided what type of stamps you want to collect, here are some tips on the best way to keep these stamps in good condition. You may end up with one that is worth a lot of money someday and you’ll want it to be in the best possible condition.

• When looking for a stamp album, look for one that has blank, acid-free pages. Don’t go for anything that has flimsy pages for these will not be sturdy enough to house your stamps safely. Make sure you have stamp hinges or mounts that are designed for housing stamps. Using glue or tape will damage your stamps.

• Do not try to tear or peel a stamp off of an envelope. Cut them carefully from the envelope without touching the perforated edges, this damages the stamp. Once the stamp has been cut off, float it in a small bowl filled with cool water. This dissolves the glue to a point where the paper from the envelope will come off easily. (Be careful with those stamps that have been heavily inked with cancellation stamps or strange looking ink that could potentially damage other stamps.) Rinse the remaining glue with fresh water and spread out to dry. If necessary place them in a book after drying to straighten them out. Always handle them with tongs.

• Think about your collection theme and sort the stamps according to your theme. Whether it’s by a topical or country theme or stamp types, it’s good to have some kind of order to them. Remove any damaged stamps as the value is most likely not that great. The only time you want to hang on to something that’s damaged would be if you had something that was extremely rare or valuable. If you have duplicates then display the best one you have of the set and use the other for trading with other stamp collectors. Sorting is an ongoing process as you pick up more and more stamps.

• Another extremely important thing to think about is having tongs. Seems like such a simple thing, doesn’t it. People think they can handle just as well with their fingers but they don’t think about how much oil we have on our skin. These oils transfer to the stamps and can damage them in the long run. Tongs are the best way to handle stamps. One may need to practice handling tongs before attempting to pick up stamps with them as some of them, if not handled correctly, could tear or poke holes through the stamps.

Once you’ve made the decision to collect stamps and you’ve gotten all the essential tools for collecting, you’ll probably find getting more and more curious about the history behind some of these stamps. There are thousands of books, literature and papers written on the subject. Many of them explain how and why some of these stamps became so valuable or interesting over the years. Most stamp collectors become so for a lifetime. There are so many different types of stamp collections that one could collect for years and never find themselves getting bored.

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PHILATELIC FORGERIES

July 13, 2011 By Leave a Comment

There are two distinct types of fraudulent stamps. The first is called a fake, which means someone took a genuine stamp and altered it. By altering they could overprint, alter stamp design, and change perforation numbers… to make them appear as something else. The other is a forgery, which is when someone actually creates a whole new object to look identical to the real one.

The first forgery was produced by a man who eventually gained his place in history as one of the master forgers in philately. Jean de Sperati would obtain a real stamp and bleach it before using a process called photolithography, which would create the desired copy. Towards the end of his lifetime he had become so famous as a master forger that he sometimes would sign his work on the back and today some of his forgeries are actually worth more than the real stamps with collectors.

Postal counterfeits fall into a different category altogether. These are produced for the sole purpose of defrauding the government out of stamp prices. They are reproductions of the current postal stamps in large quantities. The difference between a postal forgery and a philatelic forgery is that the former is strictly done in mass production for the purpose of saving money on the real stamps. A philatelic forgery is done in an attempt to fool collectors into thinking they have a genuine collector’s item. Not only valuable stamps are forged. Some collectors will actually look for a forgery in an attempt to complete their collection. Simply having a complete book of stamps is enough for some and they don’t mind having a couple of forgeries in there.

Some stamps are high in value simply due to a misprint or some small variety in production. When this happens some people will take the cheaper version of the exact same stamp and alter it in such a way that it appears to be the varied version thereby increasing its value. These stamps are called fakes. Collectors need to be aware of these fakes so that they don’t end up paying a high price for something that’s basically worthless.

There are stamps that are classified as “fantasies”. These stamps have been created and presented as stamps from places that have never existed.

Even governments have been known to put out forgeries of their enemies stamps. During wartime the allies created forgeries of the German stamps so that their soldiers behind enemy lines could use the mail system without paying a cent to the German government.

The study of forgeries and fakes can present quite a challenge to many philatelists. It becomes quite interesting to look in to the history of how many of these came into play and all the different methods of creating these philatelic frauds.

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