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!