Collector of stamps, the essential ones

Essential tools of the collector of stamps

Does philately impassion you? That you already began or not a stamp collection, discover the tools and all the material of philatelist which will be useful for you for the daily newspaper to handle and protect your small works from Article.

Which tools to handle and observe the stamps?

    The grip with stamps

If there is well a tool which is essential to very good philatelist, it is the grip! The stamps of collection are fragile and do not have to be handled with the fingers (even after being itself washed the hands), under penalty of seeing traces, prints or spots to appear. You have the choice between a grip with nickel stamp with pointed end or a grip with nickel stamps with end shovel. Attention, it is highly disadvised replacing this grip especially designed for philately by tweezers: the latter is cutting and could damage your stamps.

    The magnifying glass

Another tool impossible to circumvent for a collector of stamps: the philatelic magnifying glass! It is sometimes difficult to notice certain details by the naked eye and to benefit fully from the beauty of a stamp. This instrument will also enable you to locate the anomalies and other defects on your stamps.

    The odontometer

How much teeth your stamp does it have? With a odontometer, you will be in capacity to measure the serration of your stamps. Generally manufactured out of plastic or paperboard, this instrument can prove very useful to differentiate two stamps which appear identical at first sight.

    The signoscope

Thanks to the signoscope, you will be able to detect if your stamp comprises or not a filigree. This tool will also enable you to locate the traces of repair or thinning on your stamps.

Do you need to take off of the stamps stations?

With this intention, you will have:

    To cut out the envelope around the stamps.
    To plunge the latter in a vat filled with tepid water.
    Blotting paper or sopalin will then enable you to absorb remaining moisture. It is an effective solution to avoid damaging the stamps! There exist nevertheless electric dry-stamps which will do the same job but more quickly.

Which material to arrange and classify the stamps?

We highly advise you to arrange your stamps in catalogs or sorters adapted to prevent that those are not damaged. Free with you to choose the arrangement which corresponds to you best!

- The sorter of stamps

A sorter especially designed for philately comprises hard-bound pages like several transparent bands. The philatelists can then slip their stamps and arrange their collection as they wish it: set of themes, year, country, area, value, etc a black bottom is recommended since it emphasizes better the stamps. There exist two formats of sorter (A4 or A5 in particular).

- The stamp album

The stamp album offers the same level of protection as the sorter. However, the site of the stamps in an album is given: each one of them has a transparent small pocket.

- Hinges

It is about a small support with double face which makes it possible to the philatelist to also observe the back of the stamp. The hinges can easily be stuck on the pages of an album but damage the back of the stamps somewhat.