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Stamp Collecting
How to Handle Your Stamps
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Always keep your stamps in a stamp album or stock book or other clean container designed to protect stamps. Stamps can get easily bent, torn, or soiled, so you should keep them safe. You should also use stamp collecting equipment when examining or handling your stamps.
Stamp Collecting Equipment
There are a few basic items that you will want in order to handle your stamps:
Tongs: This are basically tweezers with nice round ends. You use these to handle the stamps. This way you don't get fingerprints or smudge up the stamps. They also make picking up the stamps easier so you don't bend them. Some collectors like to have two pairs of tongs: one to hold the stamp and the other to hold the stock page back while they place the stamp.
Magnifying Glass: So you can see all the little details of the stamp.
Perforation Gauge: This is a way of measuring the distance between the perforations. Usually they are measured by how many of them there are in every 2cm of length. This can be an important way in identifying rare stamps as some similar looking stamps were made with different perforations.
Stamp Catalogue: There are various stamp catalogues available that will give you all sorts of interesting information about your stamps. Some major stamp catalogues include the Stanley Gibbons and the Scott Catalog.
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