Philately is the hobby of collecting stamps and is considered one of the oldest and most established hobbies around the world. Many people take up stamp collection as in provides a unique and special way of recording and chronicling the important events and history of the world. However, as a new stamp collector, it can be quite a challenge to build up a respectable collection. The following are a couple of ways that can help a new stamp collector jumpstart the process.

The fastest way to get a quick collection is to go through any of your existing and used mail to harvest the stamps. Besides your own, you can also ask friends and relatives for any used stamps that they may have. Although these stamps may be common, they will appreciate in value as time goes by. One important to note is that it may sometimes be more valuable to keep the stamp intact on the envelope if the postmark is unique – for example, the postmark may be on a special date; or the postmark may contain some special marking or announcement.

Besides that, another quick and easy way is to buy used stamps for your collection. Used stamps can be purchased through many channels – depending on the quality and value of the stamps. The more common channels include your common departmental store, mail order companies and online websites specialising in the sale of used stamps. Although purchasing used stamps would yield more valuable stamps from different countries, the downside is the financial investment that you will need to cough up for the purchase.

Besides these common purchase avenues, as you get more involved in the hobby, you can also consider the more unique channels where valuable stamps are made available. These include auctions and exhibitions. Obviously, the financial investment will be larger since the stamps will be more valuable.

You can also consider purchasing new stamps from your local post office. Keep a look out for announcements from the post office on special issues or collector sets. You can easily get the postal clerk to postmark the new stamps to make them ‘used'. Another advantage of this method is that you can personal see to it that the postal clerk postmarks the stamps in a clean and proper manner. Besides normal stamps, most post offices publish first day covers to mark special events. These first day covers include a special envelope and a special postmark. Including first day covers in your collection will definitely increase the overall value of your stamp collection.

Once you have a respectable collection, you can increase the value of your collection by trading stamps with other hobbyist or enthusiasts. Trading is especially useful if you have multiple copies of your stamps that may not be easily available to other collectors from another country. Remember that for the general hobbyist, it is much easier to be able to get local stamps as compared to foreign stamps. As such, trading increases the value of your stamps as it allows you to expand your collection to include stamps from other countries and geographies.