2024 is a great time to start your own stamp collection.

Whatever your route into the hobby, philately is a deeply involving passtime.

It illuminates history. It’s fulled to the brim with innovative design. It’s a once-innovative communications technology that changed the world.

The history of stamps is the history of the world - of the rise and fall of Empires, of the hubris of kings and dictators, of moving borders and changing times.

If you start now, I’m confident you’ll be an obsessive by the end of the year.

And it’s never been easier to start.

Here’s how.

Why do you want to collect stamps?

Forget the rather dry image of philately promoted by a million lazy jokes.

And find your passion.

Why do you want to collect?

There are a million reasons.

And these will guide how and what you collect, how you organize your collection, and how you display it.

So, ask yourself now, why do you want to collect.

Money for nothing

Perhaps the driest reason to collect stamps is as an investment alone.

That’s not to say you won’t have a rich and enjoyable experience if you make financial returns and financial returns alone the focus of your collection.

And stamp collecting can be a very good diversification strategy for your investment and savings.

The right stamp or area of collecting can give you returns to dwarf any other investment.

Buying some Chinese stamps in the west at the turn of the 21st Century would have earned you a return of around 300% by now.

These stamps help to tell an important story in the history of the People's Republic of China. 

You can’t go back and ride that wave again, but if you enjoy playing markets and spotting bargains, the stamp world is as swayed by fashions and trends as any other.

Will you spot the next one?

The Chinese boom was driven very largely by the repatriation of a philatelic heritage that had been scattered.

Is that about to happen somewhere else?

A world of passion

Beyond value you can find the whole world in stamps.

And, having a guiding passion will make your collection much more meaningful.

You can collect by nation, by type of stamp, by illustrative theme, by calendar (how about Christmas stamps of the world), by year or decade.

Endless depth.

Where to start

Start online. Or in your local library by borrowing a copy of a standard stamp catalogue.

The best known in the UK is Stanley Gibbons.

It’s the perfect way to introduce the broad sweep of stamp collecting.

Buying your first stamps

You may not need to buy to start a stamp collection.

Many new stamp collectors inherit an old family album.

And, yes, there’s nothing to stop you using stamps that arrive through the letter box as the starting point for your collection.

You can buy large selections of stamps extremely cheaply.

There’s a one-in-a-million chance that there’s an undiscovered gem in one of those colourful packages.

Some stamps are very obviously attractive and well designed. 

Much more likely is you’ll be introduced to a graphic expression, or an illustration, or a national style that takes your fancy.

You can buy online or in person.

A certain amount of care should be taken when shopping online.

And particularly for stamps.

Stamps can be faked. Condition is important to the value of a stamp.

It’s not always easy to judge that online.

So, use reputable sites and known stamp dealers, applying all the usual precautions you would to online purchases.

Stamp fairs and conventions are great fun. You’ll see what you’re buying. And you’ll meet people only too happy to talk about your new passion.

It’s highly recommended.

Auctions run online and in person.

They’re a world of their own and probably best observed in the first instance.

Though, just as you can let your heart rule your head and pay over the odds at an auction you can also find bargains.

We’re not your financial advisers, but please be aware of your budget if you’re bidding for a long-sought treasure online.

Storing and organizing your stamps

The vast majority of collected stamps are kept in albums.

Almost no serious stamp collector frames and shows them - the light exposure isn’t good for them.

You should aim for a temperature of around 12° C and relative humidity of 50% to 55%.

Dark, dry, and with a stable temperature as close to that level as possible is the best many people can manage, and that’s a good start.

Albums usually serve both a preservative and organisational purpose for stamp collectors.

You should never use adhesive hinges on stamps. They can damage the gum on the back of stamps, and that’s key to their value.

Use albums with plastic sleeves behind which you can affix your collection.

Store them vertically on shelves. Don’t stack.

You can buy themed national albums that will not only store but also guide your collection.

The idea is to fill in the blanks until you have a completed collection.

This is a wonderful and very engaging way to collect.

Once you have albums you'll soon find yourself adding more equipment:

Tweezers, a good magnifier, maybe gloves.

Buying extras is all part of the fun of collecting, but in reality you don't need to spend much to keep and handle your stamps well. 

It’s not just the stamp

Stamps - like all collectibles - are worth what you can prove they are.

If you’re collecting stamps in any serious way you’ll soon come across problems of authentication.

Provenance is a key word in stamp collecting.

Where did the stamp come from? What was it affixed to if used? Are there records of sales from reputable dealers or cataloging in well-known collections? Letters about it?

The gold standard is certificated authentication from a reputable philately association.

You can add this to your own collection, though you will have to pay.

This is a standard you need to add to your own collection: don’t just keep your stamps safe, keep a detailed record of your collection and preserve all supporting documentation. This is how to make your collection a potentially valuable legacy.

Albums can also be found online, but I think it’s nice to see them in person as you buy. Not only are you helping to preserve the infrastructure of in-person stamp shopping, which is an important part of the hobby, I think you’ll enjoy the process.

We’re here to help you start your stamp collection

Stamp collecting is a passion as old as stamps.

Genuinely. On the first day of issue of the Penny Black in 1840, John Edward Gray was ready to buy a block of four to keep for posterity. 

There’s no real way of knowing how many stamp collectors there are in the world, but a figure of 20 million is often quoted.

It’s considered very cool in some countries - one of the factors that’s driven the Chinese boom.

We’ve always known how cool it is.

Maybe there’s something in our store that you can add to your collection right now.

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