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Stamp Collection - Preservation - Antique value of stamps

Importance of Stamp Preservation

Stamp collection is a fulfilling hobby taken up by people world over. But acquiring stamps is not the only requisition of stamp collection. After collecting the stamps, care should be taken to preserve them. A slight careless attitude can prove troublesome. Below are a few pointers that will ensure that your hard work do not go waste.

Stamp Hinges

There are easy peel hinges available in the market to stick the stamps on album pages. There is a fixative on the back of these hinges which make it easier to remove the stamps when you need to study them or maintain them.

Stamp Mounts

Stamp mounts which are made of clear plastic sleeves should be used to store the brand new stamps or precious stamps. These mounts help to conserve the adhesive on the back of the stamp that is there originally when the stamp is made. While using such mounts, stamps can be slid into the transparent sleeves of the mount and placed in the album.

Stamp Albums

Once you have mounted the stamps, you should place them in a stamp album. The stamp albums are used for preservation of stamps. There are different types of stamp albums. Some have plastic sheets into which full envelopes can be inserted. Some have small pockets to store individual stamps.

While placing stamps in a stamp album, always keep a distance between two stamps. Also when you place stamps in an album, place them only on one side and leave the other side of the page blank. If you stick stamps to both sides of a page it could lead to damage of stamps due to compression when they come in contact with each other.

You should always store your stamp album in moderate temperature to avoid damaging the stamps.
Make sure that you follow each of these steps and preserve your collection all-well.

Antique Value of Stamps

Stamp collection is a very passionate and age old hobby known as philately and is one of the most widely practiced hobby by stamp collectors from all over the world who appreciate the details and antique value of stamps.

Antique stamps

The value and reverence for a stamp grows with the antiquity factor in it. Any item that is more than a century old is known to be antique and stamps especially from the 20th century and before have a better value than recently published stamps  within a span of 70 years.

Antique stamps are more difficult to collect and also need a complete verification of very small details like a small symbol, engraving or paper quality to ensure its authenticity.

Value of stamps

The value of stamps depends on various factors like
• Its antique value
• Type of collection
• Quality
• Condition (Used or unused stamp)
• Availability

General facts on antique value of stamps

• Used stamps have lesser value than unused mint stamps with original gum
• The more a stamp is older, the higher is its value.
• Perfect stamps are worth more than stamps with tears, creases and other faults.
• Loose used stamps are not very highly valued.
• Incomplete stamp albums are valued less.
• Beginner’s stamp albums are valued very less.
• The availability of stamps also matter. An antique stamp that is available in huge numbers even today will not be valued highly whereas a rare antique stamp could cost a fortune.
• An antique stamp that is unique and has some distinguishing fine detail that is not normally known could be valued very highly due to its exceptionality. For instance, out of two similar antique stamps, one with a misprint or extra detail like an engraving could be much more highly valued than the other one.
So having these points in mind and collecting the rare and most valued antique stamps will add more spice to your philatelic passion.

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