ABC of philately and my journey as a Stamp Collector so far - PART II

Here is Part II of our discussion!!

While going through all the themes I have sorted out from the heaps of used stamps that I had gotten over time, I had sooo many materials related to aviation that I decided to collect on the topic, the evolution of flight (a.k.a flights of fancy)! This topic has also grown vastly and helped me win in many exhibitions!!

While gathering materials on this topic to exhibit (I didn't want to exhibit odd and unusual stamps as I was scared they might get harmed or damaged during the exhibition process), I came across a lot of cinderellas. 

MINT STAMP: "Fresh" or unused stamps

USED STAMP: Postally used mint stamps

CINDERELLA STAMP: virtually anything resembling a postage stamp, but has not been issued for postal purposes (it can't be used for posting) by a government postal administration. (Source: Wikipedia).

So I had to sort them out, as cinderellas do not add value/points to your exhibit.

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2015/01/a-few-cinderellas.html

My  Evolution of Flight (Flights of fancy) collection

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2015/10/flights-of-fancy.html

TIP 5: Try to research and gather information of the materials you have in hand and their value!

By 2016, I was no more an amateur in philately, I was maybe a bit more than that xD!

I had swapping partners, guides and moral support from other philatelists around the world, thanks to the internet, exchange websites, forums,apps etc. Also participating in exhibitions myself, and getting jury advice and working upon it helped me a lot as well!

TIP 6: Participation in exhibitions help you develop your collection more and in an organized manner and will also give you some wonderful experience!

Some of the exhibitions I participated!

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2018/01/inpex-2017-large-silver-medal-winner.html

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2016/12/evolution-of-flight-first-prize-winner.html

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2017/01/winner-best-youth-exhibit-tanapex-2017.html

TIP 7: Know your theme, materials and collections and items that add value to it. I came across aerograms, meter cancellations etc, later in my journey and they were a plus point to my exhibit. The blog also helped me learn more about each material I have (99.99 % of materials in this blog are from my own collection) and keep track of it in an organized manner. Also, making a wantlist of items you are missing is a good way to keep track.

Well, these 7 tips are good enough to kick start your onward journey of being a Stamp Collector!!

Hope these were helpful and informative! Sorry, I couldn't post much in detail about other facts and figures of philately, though this, I feel, is enough for beginners!

I will try making more blog posts on the basics of philately!

Happy Collecting 😊😊!!!