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How To Make Money With Your Stamp Collecting
Hobby
Millions of people all over the world collect stamps as a
hobby, and the number is growing every day.
It is indeed an exciting and rewarding hobby, and it can
also be extremely profitable.
The price of stamps vary with supply and demand due to the
number of collectors increasing. The price of stamps is steadily
rising, as the supply of stamps diminishes and more people
want to acquire them.
Most people start a collection for the pleasure and education
just like any other hobby, but this hobby offers a financial
reward as well, as collections experience a steady increase
over the years.
It is possible to start your own business if you are experienced,
and already have a good size collection. For information about
becoming a dealer, write to the
American Stamp Dealer's Association 147 W
42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.
HOW TO START:
Some people very early in life collect stamps, it often begins
as a gift of a small package of stamps given to a child, and
the child becomes a collector for life. As the collection
grows, some tools become essential:
* Stamp album * Hinges * Magnifying glass
and tongs
They can be obtained from a stationary store or your local
stamp dealer.
You can find albums at any price, starting from about $5.00
to the most expensive one at about $200.00.
Stamps should always be handled carefully, because the condition
is a very important factor to determine the price of resale
value.
The various grades of stamps are: mint, very fine, fine,
good and poor.
Specimens in outstanding condition often sell at many times
their catalog value, which is the reason you should not mishandle
any stamp, which could drastically reduce its value.
If you want to know if you have valuable stamps in your collection
and are really serious about pursuing this hobby, you can
buy the Scot's Standard Postage Stamp catalog which lists
every stamp in the world. This is a three volume encyclopedia
and is the complete reference. You can also consult it at
your local library if you don't want to go into the expense
for the time being.
To start your collection, ask everybody you know to save
you stamps they get from different countries, also go through
old letters and small boxes hidden in your attic, chances
are you'll be surprised at how much you find. Other cheap
sources of supplies are flea markets and garage sales. Start
swapping when you have doubles. There are many philatelic
clubs all over the country and it would be very advisable
for a serious collector to belong to one. This way you will
become educated in the field and learn everything you can
before you spend money on your collection. Stamp clubs also
provide their members with possibilities to exchange and sell
your stamps.
You should also read as much as you can about stamps by subscribing
to a philatelic magazine.
WHERE TO SELL YOUR STAMPS:
Stamps are like any other commodity, you can always go to
a dealer who will offer you the current wholesale value of
your stamps, but you can do much better by selling to other
stamp collectors by advertising in magazines and newspapers
specialized in stamp collecting.
Check several current issues of those magazines, it will
enable you to compare the ads with what you have to offer.
If you want to buy stamps as an investment, try to buy a
few moderately expensive stamps a year. Always buy quality
instead of quantity, and diversify, do not invest heavily
in a single area.
It is our opinion that stamp collecting is one of the best--and
safest--ways to keep up with inflation.
If this article is of use to you, please provide
a link back to Hoover Web Design http://www.hooverwebdesign.com.
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