Stamp Collecting Tools

Stamp Collecting Tools

What tools does a Stamp Collector need? Well to start with you must decide what type of stamp collector you want to be. For instance, I have broken down three different levels of stamp collecting in the list below.

Professional collector - a stamp collector that wants to be very accurate in stamp identification.
Semi-professional collector - a stamp collector that wants to measure only a few specification to identified a stamp.
Fun collector - a stamp collector who wants to admire the beauty of stamps and store then in a stamp album.

Which one did you choose? I'm a Semi-professional collector. I only measure perforation, Stamp Size, look at watermarks and some other specification. So I don't need as many tools as a professional collector. Now you may be asking where do I get these stamp specification? You can find them in Stamp Catalogs. Many different catalogs are available but I prefer using Scott stamp catalog for all my stamp specification needs. Scott has detailed foreign and detailed United States of America stamp catalogs. If you collect stamps from your homeland only, you may be able to get a stamp catalog from your local post office. Let's now list the tools that will be needed for each type of collector.

Professional Collector

Stamp Catalogs - used to gather information about a stamp value, specification, errors, watermarks, and more.

Stamp identifying Reference books - used to help identified forgeries stamps, very fine detail stamps and more.

Proof Sets - used to help determine forgeries
Foreign Stamp Identifier - used to identify foreign stamps.

Perforation Gauge - used to measure the size of perforation, Serpentine Die Cut, Rouletting and other types of stamp separation.

Magnifier up to 100x power - used to identify small fine details of a stamp.

Centimeter, Millimeter, and inch rules - used to measure stamp size and other stamp features.

Watermark Fluid - used to unhide an invisible watermark on the back of the stamp.

Color Gauges - used to determine exact color of a stamp

Stamp Condition Charts - used to determine the grade of a stamp. Such as Very Fine, Fine, and so on.

Ultraviolet light - used to identify stamp Luminescence tagging.

As you can see the professional stamp collector needs a lot of tools to do an accurate job of identifying a stamp. There are other tools not listed but this list covers the major ones. Now a Semi-professional stamp collector does not have to be so accurate. He is tooled to do an accurate identification but not an flawless identification. Usually a general type of identification is good enough to identify a stamp. Only with a very expensive stamp would you want to use more extensive identifying procedures. A list of Semi-professional stamp collecting tools are as follows:

Stamp Catalogs - used to gather information about a stamp value, specification, errors, watermarks, and more.

Foreign Stamp Identifier - used to identify foreign stamps.

Perforation Gauge - used to measure the size of perforation, Serpentine Die Cut, Rouletting and other types of stamp separation.

Magnifier up to 100x power - used to identify small fine details of a stamp.

Centimeter, Millimeter, and inch rules - used to measure stamp size.

Watermark Fluid - used to unhide an invisible watermark on the back of the stamp.

Color Gauges - used to determine exact color of a stamp

As you can see in the above list the semi-professional stamp collector tools are basically just a part of a professional stamp collector tools. Basically they only differ on the amount of time spent on studying the details of a particular stamp using various references. A fun stamp collector doesn't want to be bother with the details of a stamp. They usually just want to admire the beauty of a stamp and store it in a stamp album. This is the best part of stamp collecting if you ask me. Putting a stamp in a stamp album is just like building a puzzle. You look at the stamp and match it up with a picture in your stamp album. Then you place it over the picture using a stamp mount. After you finish covering all the stamp illustration in the album you can store the stamp album and enjoy the beauty of the stamps you collected for years to come. A list of a fun stamp collector tools are listed below:

Stamp Album with stamp illustration - used to store your stamp in

Stamp Mounts - used to mount your stamps in your stamp album

Foreign Stamp Identifier (optional) - used only if you collect foreign stamps

Now you have a basic understanding of what stamp tools are needed to do a specific type of stamp collecting. You can determine where you would like to start. Whatever type of collector you decide to be. Just make sure you have fun.