Introduction

What is Philately?

According to Wikipidea, in simple terms, "Philately is the study of revenue or postage stamps".

"Phil" is a prefix that connotes attraction or love, hence a philosopher is a "lover of truth" and an Anglophile is a "lover of all things English". Up until the introduction of postage stamps mail was sent postage free with the cost to be paid by the person to whom the mail was addressed. It was a sort of Cash On Delivery system which in today's terms may seem unfair. In the 19th Century this was equated with being taxed for the delivery of mail, but the introduction of stamps and fixed rates allowed mail to be paid for by the sender. Thus the French coined the term Philately, i.e. "love of being tax-free", for those early stamp collectors.

Stamp Catalogues

Stamp catalogues contain the details of the each and every stamp released in the world. Typically in a stamp catalogue the details of stamps released are arranged coutrywise and then sub categorized yearwise. Information is provided on the current market price of the stamp (mint and used). Any important feature like rareity, watermarks, different shades etc., of the stamp is mentioned. These catalogues are the guiding light for the serious stamp collectors. You can think of buying a catalogue only you are very serious about the hobby and hunting stamps for thematic philately or rare stamps. There are few catalogues available, the following section gives more information on the catalogues available.

Scott's: This is the catalogue of preference in the United States and Canada. Its prices represent what the publishers feel is the market value for a particular stamp in the North American market.

Stanley Gibbons: This catalogue is published by a retail stamp shop on the Strand, London, England. Its prices are supposed to represent how much they charge for a particular stamp. This is the catalogue most of the people in the world refer. Due to the high volume of stamps released all over the world, the catalogue is currently 5 volumes larger!

Phila India Guide Book: A comprahensive catalogue on Indian stamps. This catalogue is published by "Philatelia" a Kolkata (India) based philatelic consultants, writers and publishers. This catalogue provides exhaustive information of all the stamps released in India pre and post independance era. Information is provided as how much each mint or used stamp costs in the current market, rarety, special fetures of the stamp. The currently available guide book was published in 2005 and the new issue may be available shortly.

Types of postal items

Things you must have for collecting stamps

First and foremost, you need to have some stamps to begin with, after which you can add stamps to your collection.

1. Stamps
2. Stamp album
3. Stamp stock book
4. Mounts (plastic mount/Havid mount)
5. Hinges, Photo corners 6. Exhibition sheets and protectors
7. Display sheets
8. Magnifying lens to examine stamps
9. Flat head tweezer
10. Scissors, pen knife and ruler
11. Stamp catalogue
12. Water mark identifer

Items 11 and 12 may be required only if you want to pursue the hobby very seriously.
Very useful information on how to use the accessories, how to mount the stamps and more information on stamp collecting is available from "Singapore Philatelic Museum" website. Please follow the link given below to see the information:

"Singapore Philatelic Museum"

Thematic Philately

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Glossary

A.