Stamp Supplies Guide

Stamp supplies are relatively inexpensive especially when you compare them to the cost of other popular hobbies. The price of stamp supplies certainly helps in getting started in the hobby and staying interested in it. Obviously, the stamps themselves help too!
Here is a quick video on stamp supplies that discusses the essential stamp supplies needed to get you started:

Video On Essential Stamp Supplies

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Stamp Supplies Overview

If you are beginning stamp collecting this post here may help you get started – beginning stamp collecting.
Besides the stamps, which can be bought cheaply to get you started, the stamp supplies needed are
Stamp Album,
A stamp album is needed for displaying and keeping your stamps safe. There are a number of different types of stamp albums – blank albums, albums with stamp images, hingeless stamp albums and stock books.
For a beginner a stamp album with images will help to identify stamps that may be missing from your collection.   You can check out more about stamp albums here>
Stamp Hinges
They are a special type rectangular shaped paper which is translucent and work in a similar to an ordinary hinge. These are used to affix stamps to a stamp album.  The crease for the hinge is about 1/3rd the way down the hinge and this is lightly moistened and stuck to the stamp. After that the rest of the hinge is again lightly moistened and put in the album in the appropriate place. You can pick up a 1000 hinges for only few dollars. Go here to read more about stamp hinges and where to get them
Stamp Tongs
Stamp tongs are like ordinary tweezers and are used to handle the stamps. As stamps are made from paper they can be easily damaged by using your hands from the natural oils on your hands. The use of stamp tongs prevents this damage.
Magnifying Glass
Stamps can contain information not visible to the human eye. A magnifying glass can reveal this to you – from the year of issue to imperfections in the printing to small rips and creases that can affect the value of the postage stamps. You can pick up a good magnifying glass for only a few dollars.
Stamp Catalogs
These books list the stamps that have been issued by country, by year with prices and background information on them.  Most catalogs specialize by country but there are catalogs by topic too. These are essential to understand the stamps available and their prices. Look here for more info on stamp catalogs.
Other stamp supplies to consider as you become more experienced in stamp collecting are stamp collecting software, watermark detectors and perforation gauges.
I hope this quick run through stamp supplies is useful. If you have any questions on stamp supplies please ask one in the comment box below.

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