Philately in a flow chart

Philately in a Flow Chart

I tried to not miss anything in the flowchart. It took a long time to make and the grid I used was also small so I tried my best not to make it look jam packed :)! Here, I present a flowchart on Philately that may be helpful for your use!

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 😊😊!!!

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

My Journey as a Stamp Collector

Part I

Well, everyone likes story time, especially these days when we are stuck at home with boredom :)! So, I thought I will share a little bit about my journey as an avid 'Stamp collector' in multiple posts as reading sooo much at once sucks, trust me. I will also be sharing some tips and guides to becoming an amazing Stamp Collector.

My stamp-collecting journey started 8 years back when I was in 6th grade. I had recently then come across the small collection of used stamps that my mom and dad had collected as teenagers. I was mind blown when I saw a page full of butterfly and animal stamps. Being a layman as I was in this hobby, I just took it as a fun pastime job to sort, organize and store them. About a year later, my parents took me to a philatelic club to nurture my interest. Initially, it was just me attending meetings and listening to the experienced philatelists speak about their collections. I was also given a packet of used stamps, mostly colourful ones from Australia since I was a youngster and a beginner. 

TIP 1: During the early stages of your journey, I would highly recommend you'll to join philatelic clubs and discuss with experienced philatelists. They will guide you to the right path.

By the end of that year, I had gathered some new information and tips to start a proper collection. One of the biggest turns in my journey came right then when I attended an exhibition and won way toooooooooo many used stamps and also learnt what special cover and pictorial cancellation was!! I also posted about this stamp exhibition and this was the first post and beginning of this blog!

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/01/chenspex-2014-kicked-off-today.html

SPECIAL COVER : They are colourful covers released to commemorate an event or someone or something. They are usually matched with apt or related stamps and a pictorial cancellation representing/commemorating the event.

PICTORIAL CANCELLATION: Permanent, regular date cancellations that generally features tourist attractions of a place, or pictures depicting or related to an event etc.

TIP 2: Attending philatelic exhibitions and going through other's exhibits gives you an insight of how things are done!

After attending the exhibition, I also learnt that it was time I started to collect philatelic materials theme wise rather than generally collecting anything. Once back home, I sorted all the stamps based on themes I could think of. The rest that I couldn't label, I sorted them country wise. I decided to collect "People at Work" and also make a "Stamp a day" kind of exhibit (find special days of the year and apt stamps).

That idea lead to this

Stamp a day

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/02/

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/03/

People at Work

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/04/people-at-work-nurses.html

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/05/people-at-work-post-men-and-women.html

TIP 3: Don't collect anything that comes to your hand. Narrow down to the theme/topic that you like or have more materials of. Preferably the former I would say!

Then, on the side I started collecting PPCs (Permanent Pictorial cancellations).

This was my first PPC, the PPC of Sri Rangam Temple!

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/05/sri-rangam-temple.html

Then, after coming across a Sri Lankan odd shaped miniature sheet and silk stamps of Thailand, I decided to change my theme to odd and unusual stamps which has now grown into a vast collection!

MINIATURE SHEET: Sheet consisting of one or more postally valid stamps with which  the issue concerns.

Beginning of my Odd and Unusual journey

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/05/silk-stamps-thailand.html

I started off by buying some odd and unusual materials from WOPA and also buying stamps and other materials whenever I go abroad . 

A small glimpse into my odd and unusual collection now

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2017/07/my-odd-and-unusual-stampsms-collection.html

TIP 4: Buying is not the only option to grow a collection. Swapping/Exchanging materials with friends around the world helps too. Both have an equal role to play.

This is all for this post! Stay tuned for the next part!

Environment based survey

Hello all :)
As you all might know, I have always dreamt of being an environmental engineer and have tried adapting many measures to protect mother nature. I have also published some posts on protecting the environment and environment related.

You can view them here 


http://philateli.blogspot.com/2018/12/role-of-philatelist-in-our-en... 

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/11/project-tiger-through-stamps.... 

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/07/29th-july-world-tiger-day.htm... 

http://philateli.blogspot.com/2014/11/sanctuary-club-nature-walk-in... 

This time, I have prepared a survey to understand the views and concerns of students (studying in high school) regarding the current environmental degradation and pollution.

If you are a high school student or your kids are high school students, please ask them to take up this small, quick and free survey regarding the environment :)You can take up the survey here

https://forms.gle/gGSj89VuUoHxMbig6 

Please help me with this small survey :)

A big thank you to those who filled/are filling up the survey :)

Thank You!!!!

School Speech on Philately

Today, at school, I gave a speech on the topic "Philately - The King Of Hobbies". Keep in mind that most of my peers do not know about stamp-collecting :) Given below is an extract from my speech.

"I am a philatelist. Philately is about collecting stamps - this hobby is referred to as the King of Hobbies.

Postage marks & stamps indicate pre-payment of money to transfer packages. The very early stamps were not made of paper but were in fact wax seals.

The 1st modern paper stamp was introduced in the UK in the year 1840. The 1st post office in India was setup in the year 1688 in Bombay followed by Calcutta and then Madras.

Philately as a hobby allows us to learn about different countries, their history, novel printing methods etc. 

The highlight of my collection is a set of stamps that capture the evolution of flight. It shows the history of flight starting from balloons to gliders, powered flight and finally space travel. I also collect unique stamps. Some are unique because of the shape, like triangles, circles and hexagons. Others are different because of the material - Gold & Silver foils, ceramic, leather & wood. Some are known for the special printing like phosphorescence, holograms, CDs and fragrances.

My notes on stamps can be viewed on my blog @ philateli.blogspot.in

My offer of cards and stamps for swaps can be viewed at http://icanoffer.blogspot.in/"

After my speech, some of my friends asked me how I got interested in philately and where in the internet they can find more information.

Philately in school curriculum

All kids have a curiosity when they receive their new school books. They would want to take a look inside a few books (not only theirs but even their siblings' books) to see what is in there. 

I had the same curiosity that when I opened my sister's Hindi text book there was a page on Philately- The King of Hobbies. 

Few things I found interesting were:

1) There is an English essay on philately in a Hindi text book!

2) Philately is now in school curriculum. The actual Hindi lesson contains a story around on Philately!!

My own Social Studies text book's cover is filled with pictures of various stamps.

All these days, I was worried that Philately may die out over time, I have hope now.

Using Philately for School Projects..

I am happy to note that both my and my sister's teachers are encouraging use of stamps in our school projects.

You can see below, two recent projects that I have helped my sister with. Due to the large poster-sheets on which the projects need to be made, we cannot use 'real' stamps. Instead, only enlarged color printouts are used.

For "Agriculture through stamps", I have tried to show a few aspects of Agriculture using stamps from different countries.

For "Timeline", since I had already done a 14 sheet exhibit, we used some of those details to lay out the evolution of flight using stamps.

My sister and I would like to thank Mrs. Saraswati (Maths), Mrs. Jayashree (Social Studies) , Mrs. Savithri (Social Studies) and Mrs. A.N.Geeta (Science) for their encouragement.