LOL yes apparently there are so many queen stamps from UK. I didn’t even know they had so many colours for one denomination too. And I only showed up till 15p… I have 3 whole pages of queen stamps. So if I find a denomination with a new colour / a new drnomination of the queen stamp, I have to shift the entire set one stamp back
My favourite part is the one where I had the natural sights of Thailand which I showed earlier. Buying the entire 2 sheets made me really happy! I have a lot of random stamps which I like a lot too
It takes a long of time though. I can spend almost 5h on my stamps, and for only one country!
I love to collect Japanese stamps - especially from the years before 2000. They are like miniature works of art.
My favourite topic to collect is “stamps on stamps”. Sometimes a stamp is issued with a picture of an older stamp on it. It is so fascinating to learn about the history of the older stamps.
When I send my PostCrossing postcards, I like to use older stamps. Today I had to put 6 stamps on one postcard. I hope the people receiving them like to get different UK stamps from me.
@monarja the stamps are lovely! Especially the Ramayana, very beautiful
@madeleiner I agree a lot of Japanese stamps are exquisite. I will have to look up these ‘stamps on stamps’!
I think everyone who receives your cards will be lucky, UK stamps are cool
I’ve loved postcards since I was a child and once had a collection although I have no idea what happened to it!
I’ve only recently even noticed stamps! I was just using the forever US international stamp until I noticed that people liked more of a variety haha. Since then I have started really paying attention to them. I think for now I will just keep them on their cards and start a pictorial collection as I do with my cards. Maybe in the future that will change but I’m not sure. I also plan to keep 1 of the US stamps I buy for my budding collection!
That being said…I am a nurse and love that some other countries are doing Covid-19 stamps and so have started collecting as many of those from other countries as I can.
Same, as a child my family traveled and moved a lot and I collected postcards. I dunno what happened to them.
And I only got interested in stamps because of this forum.
I mean I knew there were designs but I never realized they could coordinate so well, that people had such awesome collections. I didn’t even know there were sleeve thingies to put stamps in?
It’s definitely super fun to hear about people’s collections.
I also don’t take them off my postcards but I do take them off envelopes. I keep telling myself to save one of each stamp but I end up just using them up. Haha
I collect used New Zealand stamps, because I live here. But the internet has ruined domestic mail & I now get 95% overseas. Have 2 albums of NZ stamps, in order. Have folders of overseas stamps, but they’re not a high priority. First Day Covers of NZ & countries I’ve been to
I hoard all used stamps that I come across and I also inherited some. Several people “collect for me” by now, because my grandmother told all of her friends that I collect stamps and my aunt told her colleagues and I don’t even know most of these people but I regularly receive a fat envelope full of stamps from my relatives… By now, I have several albums. But I just hoard them all, I find it fascinating to see all the differences both in time and in culture and to learn from them about history and even stuff about my own country. I don’t restrict myself but I also don’t spend money on my collection apart from buying empty albums. I sort them by country, and then I further separate them into series/not part of a series (if I can recognize that at least two stamps belong together), and then I sort them further by shape (vertical, square, horizontal, round, others) and then size and lastly postage value. But often, I only have a handful of stamps from a country and they are just grouped together.
I’ve gotten quite excited about EUROPA stamps recently when I was curious and wanted to see how many I had. I was baffled to find that I have some very old ones but there are also several years completely missing, and sometimes, I have stamps from countries far away but not a single German stamp for several years in succession. I never would have expected this outcome! So I collect Europa stamps in a separate album now because I’m a nerd and find this totally interesting.
I remove the stamps by using burning hot water and letting them soak for a minute or two. I am not patient enough to do anything with hot steam – I think I darkly remember being told to do it like this in my childhood but I haven’t used this method since then. I also don’t like to work with chemicals and I never bought any to test them.
In my experience, it works better to pour very hot water over the stamps and not let them soak too long. Sometimes, the paper (or even the glue) can stain the water and the longer you leave the stamps in it, the more the colour bleeds into the stamp or sometimes, the colours of the stamp lose brightness. And sometimes, they become too soft when you soak them too long and the stamp rips more easily when you try to peel it off. Better remove them as fast as the glue is soaked through. (But @everyone, you should do what works best for you, I think.)
Certain stamps from USA and Russia and Spain and alternative postal services of Germany don’t get this treatment though. I peel the stamps off slowly and carefully with my fingers and without any water and put sellotape over the back so that I can put them into an album. I think they are designed specifically so that they are not peeled of the paper and to self-destruct in contact with water. So you need fine motor skills, patience, a steady hand and a good eye for this and also sellotape.
Favourite postcards are hung up on my wall and not cut into pieces so that I can get to the stamps! (However, times change and we change with them and I might not be quite as attached to the card in ten years time. ) (But maybe I will be, and it will still be displayed somewhere in my room. Some of these cards have been with me for a long time already and they will probably continue to line my walls until they fall apart on their own…)
Ah! Same. Except mine are just homemade haha, I never cut up my postcards but who knows maybe someday when I have thousands? Maybe not.
Wow how cool, if you’re ever in a sharing mood I’d love to see some of your favorites! I’ve not seen many NZ stamps.
Ooh, we’re they in a stamp album? That’s so neat
Livin the stamp dream, my fren, living the dream
I actually tried a recommendation from another postcrosser to use cold water and apart from the time being longer there’s less color bleed. I think I’ll stick with warm water myself, I’m willing to wait a bit longer but not as long as cold water takes lol
Wait so does that mean you don’t use the black sleeves some people posted here? Or does everyone stick them in? Sorry newbie
Wheeze, friend, I thought the stamps were on envelopes I was squinting. Then I realized they’re ‘stamps on stamps’
Ramayana is an Hindu epic, depicting story of Lord Rama an obedient son, a faithful husband, a loving brother, a devoted son and bold warrior, able ruler ,who was asked by his step mother, to leave his kingdom for 14 years and live in exile. A beautiful and magnificent temple is under construction at his birth place Ayodhya.
Hi everyone
I’m new to postcrossing.
I see some nice photographs from other users!
I collect stamps from the age of 7.
Now I try to get some points on the national competition with my collection about the sea eagle. http://zeearendfilatelie.be/node/101.
In my club I guide children to start with there collection.
With covid, i’m looking of a way to go digital. Some suggestions how you keep collecting stamps a live in lockdown?
Regards Jasmine
I have 3 whole pages of queen stamps. So if I find a denomination with a new colour / a new drnomination of the queen stamp, I have to shift the entire set one stamp back 
So I collect Europa stamps in a separate album now because I’m a nerd and find this totally interesting.
don’t get this treatment though. I peel the stamps off slowly and carefully with my fingers and without any water and put sellotape over the back so that I can put them into an album. I think they are designed specifically so that they are not peeled of the paper and to self-destruct in contact with water. 
So you need fine motor skills, patience, a steady hand and a good eye for this 
and also sellotape.
) (But maybe I will be, and it will still be displayed somewhere in my room. Some of these cards have been with me for a long time already and they will probably continue to line my walls until they fall apart on their own…)
