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Chapter 11. How to Acquire Stamps

Time was when many a great collection was started by an embryo collector visiting the attic and discovering an old trunk full of letters with stamps attached. In fact, many of our greatest rarities were discovered in just that way and many others were ruined through ignorance of what had been discovered!

The old trunk and the wastebasket have pretty well been explored and, while an occasional find is still made in such places, they no longer offer an acceptable means of building a stamp collection.

The office mail, if you can latch onto it, is still very good for turning up new stamps especially if your employers do an international business. But even such correspondence is seldom available to the tyro. Usually the office mail is turned over to the office stamp club and divided up among all its members.

The windfall of someone giving you an old collection, "which uncle had when he was a boy", doesn't happen very often.

All these things are additional ways of adding to your collection but by far your greatest source of supply for stamps is the stamp dealer. This being the case it would be intelligent to know how to buy stamps.

Stamps are sold by dealers in mixtures, packets, sets, and in single specimens. The individual cost of the stamps you acquire increases exactly in respect to the order in which we have listed them: from the lowest-cost to the highest-priced single specimens.

"Ho! Ho!" you say. "I'll buy all my stamps in mixtures and save money!"

Take it easy, friend, and let us study this thing out. Let's find out just what we will be getting for our money.

Now take mixtures. These are an accumulation of stamps, either on or off paper as may be described, which are put up into large envelopes, cloth bags, or boxes. They are quite often sold by weight. A pound of stamps on pieces of paper may run to as many as four thousand stamps. Off paper a pound would run to considerably more. But just as the name implies, a mixture is a lot of stamps of nondescript determination, many, even most, of which will be duplicates of each other. As a general rule mixtures contain only the commonest of stamps the kind you and I receive daily in the mail. Now it is completely possible, albeit highly improbable, that you may find a very valuable stamp in a mixture. I know one instance where this actually did happen some years ago. A youngster bought one of those twenty-five-cent mixtures that were popular at the time, and in it he discovered a two cent Pan-American 'invert'- which he sold for well over one thousand dollars! This, so far as I know is the only such instance on record. However, it is not unusual for you to find many desirable stamps in mixtures and for a lot of fun, with the chance of finding some additions for your collection, the mixture is the best buy for your money.

The beginner, however, should turn his attention to packets. These contain all different stamps; there are no two alike.

"All different" packets represent the form in which stamps may be acquired at the lowest possible cost to the collector.

There are three general kinds: packets of all different stamps of the world; all different from a single continent or group of nations; and all different of any one country.

Unless otherwise described, packets will duplicate the stamps of other packets in the same group.

Thus, a packet of two thousand all-different stamps of the world would be very likely to contain all of the stamps, or a great proportion of those, that were contained in a packet of a thousand different stamps of the world.

With so many stamps available it is comparatively easy to make up a packet of one thousand different stamps of the world. There are a great many very low-priced stamps that may be included in such a packet and, hence, such a packet may be sold at a very low price. It's like buying wholesale. If you request just one stamp, the very lowest priced, it would, in all likelihood, cost you two cents. But if you purchase a thousand different stamps put up in a packet, the cost would be less than three dollars.

It gets a little harder to make up a packet of two thousand different, it is even harder to make up one of five thousand different, and it begins to become really difficult to make up ten thousand different. With each increase in the number of stamps that are included, better-grade stamps are required and the cost increases.

A packet with a fine collection of 10,000 different postage stamps of the entire world.

You can not expect, nor will you be able to acquire, a packet of ten thousand different stamps for just ten times the cost of a thousand different stamps.

The intelligent way to progress through any list of packets is as follows:

1. Buy all different of the world first.
2. Supplement this with all different of the continents.
3. Supplement this with all different of a single country.
4. Always buy the largest packet that you can afford in any particular group.

You will, of course, find considerable duplication with this method but you will hold such duplication down to a minimum and you will have added a maximum number of stamps to your collection at a minimum cost.

Having exhausted the possibilities of all-different packets your next advance is to purchase stamps in "sets." Sets are stamps of a single issue put up to sell as a unit. They may be "complete" every stamp that was issued of a given series; or they may be "short sets" just some of the stamps of the series. Because sets involve some of the principles of mass production in that you are buying all at one time many stamps which have been prepared into merchandisable units, they offer a low cost method of adding to your collection. The possibilities of acquiring sets of stamps will never be exhausted, so this is one of the most satisfactory methods of acquiring stamps of any description.

A packet with stamps of Iceland.

But even having progressed exactly as outlined which, of course, no one will ever do there will be blank spaces in your album which you will wish to fill. From now on, you will have to acquire the stamps you wish as single specimens. There are two methods open to you.

1. Visit a stamp store and select individual stamps from the stock books or from stamps that may be on display.
2. Submit a "want list" of stamps you wish. The dealer will then select copies from his stock, mount them on an approval card and indicate the price for each stamp.

The first issue of the Kingdom of Laos. A stamp issuing country since 1951, the Kingdom was formerly part of French lndo-China.

All dealers submit stamps against want lists through the mail. This is done either on approval, against a charge account, or on direct order. "On approval" or against a charge account means that you have previously established credit with the dealer and the stamps are sent to you on open credit according to whatever terms have been established. "Direct order" is a case where you send your money along with your order for certain stamps. All stamp dealers are well used to doing business by mail and will issue credit slips or make prompt refunds for any stamps you have ordered that may be out of stock.

Many collectors, and especially beginners, simply request the dealer to send "approvals". In such cases the dealer will send selections of stamps he has available at regular intervals until such time as you request him to cease. You make whatever selections you wish from the stamps that are sent and return the balance together with your remittance for those you have retained. Very few dealers will send you approvals unless you have asked for them. Actually approvals are consignments and remain the property of the dealer sending them until such time as you either return or pay for them. The responsibility of returning them in good order and promptly in accordance with the stated terms, rests upon you, and this responsibility should not be taken lightly. Remember, you have requested the stamps, the dealer has accepted you as a responsible "credit risk," so do not destroy this credit. As you go along it will become one of your most valuable assets.

Stamps sent on approval.

REMOVING STAMPS FROM PAPER

The most practical method of removing stamps from paper is to soak them in cold water. Merely place a quantity of stuck down stamps in a pan of water and allow to stand long enough to dissolve the gum. When the stamps begin to float free of the paper, separate the stamps from the paper, place the stamps face down on some spread out newspaper and allow to dry.

Any stamps that may have become creased or wrinkled can be wetted again separately and pressed flat between blotters. Place some heavy books on the blotters so that enough pressure will be exerted on the stamps to remove the wrinkles.

While most stamps are not affected by even prolonged immersion in water, there are a few which have soluble colors which would tend to strain the other stamps being soaked. For that reason it is advisable not to soak too many stamps at one time.

CAUTION

Certain stamps may not be subjected to the rude process noted in the foregoing. Among these would be certain British and British colony stamps that have been printed on "chalky surface" paper in other words coated paper such as is commonly used for "slick" paper magazines. If the surface of the paper appears "glossy" it should not be soaked in water. To make sure mark the edge of the stamp with an ordinary ten cent piece (any real silver will do). If the paper is "chalky surface" the edge of the dime will leave a black mark.

Certain other stamps are printed in fugitive colors and will "run" if soaked in water. Some early U. S. postage due stamps are so affected. If you note the water in which you have placed your stamps begins to take color examine the lot and discover just which stamps are leaching color. Remove them.

STAMPS OF HIGH VALUE

By and large the soaking process described in the foregoing will not hurt even the most valuable stamp. Just make sure it is not printed in fugitive ink or on chalky surface paper.

If you have doubts or are timid about "taking a chance" there are various gadgets for removing individual stamps from paper. They are available from most all dealers and come in a variety of trade names.

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