The prices will change from Monday 6 April

The price of first and second-class stamps is to rise by 3 pence from 6 April, the Royal Mail has announced.

For standard letters weighing up to 100g, a first-class stamp will cost 39p, while second-class will be 30p.

Royal Mail stressed that the increases were within the price limits set by the regulator, Postcomm.

It also said that even after the latest set of rises, delivering stamped mail would remain a loss-making business for Royal Mail.

‘Very affordable’

Last year, Royal Mail lost more than £100m providing the universal mail service.

For large letters, the price of a first-class stamp will go up 9p to 61p while a second-class stamp will rise 5p to 47p.

“Stamped mail remains very affordable and consumers are still receiving excellent value for money,” said Luisa Fulci at Royal Mail.

“Most countries in Europe charge more to deliver less.”

They’ve been topping the bill for hundreds of years, now some of our favourite pantomime characters are set to take centre stage on millions of Christmas stamps.

Stepping forward on the 2nd Class stamps are the stereotypically burly bullies from Cinderella, the Ugly Sisters, who are joined, as if by magic, on the 1st Class stamps by Aladdin’s Genie.

There’s some low cunning at work on both the 50p and 81p stamps where Peter Pan’s Captain Hook and Snow White’s Wicked Queen are seen in typically evil mood.

We are also offering the Madonna & Child stamps first produced last year. These beautiful stamps feature classic paintings from the 14th and 19th centuries and reflect a more traditional view of Christmas through the universal image of a mother’s love for her child.

Also available this month Lest We Forget issued on 6th November 2008 As the 90th Anniversary of Armistice Day draws near, Royal Mail is proud to release the third and final in the acclaimed Lest We Forget series of commemorative stamps.

Royal Mail have announce that their prices will be going up again in early 2008. You can beat the price increase by stocking up NVI stamps (that show 1st or 2nd rather than 24p or 34p) which will still be valid after the price increase.

We sell stamps at a significant discount to the face value making it an even better deal. Look at our price and order today.

Tariff 2008

Pricing Changes

On Monday 7th April 2008 our new prices will come into effect. If you would like to look up the new prices, just view the document below to get straight to the updated price table for that particular service.

Key changes

• The 1st Class Letter price will increase to 36p for stamp and 34p for meter.
• The 2nd Class Letter price will increase to 27p for stamp and 24p for meter.
• Royal Mail Special Delivery® Next Day will increase by 30p to £4.60 for mail up to 100g.

January - Ian Fleming’s James Bond
February - Working Dogs
February - The Houses of Lancaster and York
March - Celebrating Northern Ireland
March - Mayday - Rescue at Sea
April - Insects (Endangered species part 2)
May - Cathedrals
June - Classic Carry On and Hammer Films
July - Airshows
August - Olympics
September - Uniforms of the RAF (Uniforms part 2)
September - 50th Anniversary of Country Definitives
October - Women of achievement
November - Christmas 2008
November - Lest We Forget (part 3)

Or, you’re probably awed over that huge collection of stamps featured at the nearby museum. You look at it and say, “That looks like an interesting hobby.”

Well then, welcome to the world of postage stamp collecting.

First things first. To start any activity, you have to have your materials and tools. In stamp collecting you’ll need:

- Your stamps
- Stamp album or stock book
- A magnifying glass
- A glass vessel, usually 8″ by 10″ or 10″ by 12″ in size, to soak your stamps in
- Lots of plain, white, paper towels
- A stamp drying book
- A thermometer
- Heavy books

These can be found at your local post office, DIY store and the internet. You might also want to buy a watermark detector, but if you’re just starting out, it isn’t really necessary yet.

Now on to the steps:

1. Get

If you’re starting from zero, the best way to go is to buy local postage stamps first. A packet of 500 or 1000 assorted worldwide stamps are usually available at your nearest post office. This goes for at least $3 to $6.

Still isn’t too varied for you, you could try to buy from dealers who sell “kiloware”. Kiloware are stamps on-paper sold by weight (by the pound) for a specific amount. You could also try going to stamp shows where they sell stamps, by the bucket! See http://www.stamps.org for a calendar of the shows.

Now, you can get try getting stamps for free! Here are some quick tips on how to. This will definitely make your stamp hunting more interesting and worthwhile:

- Inform everybody you know that you’re collecting stamps. Chances are they’d pull out all that old letters they kept and start giving them to you. Don’t forget to say thank you.

- Have relatives in foreign countries? Ask them to send you some (or a lot) of postage stamps available in that country. If that doesn’t work, try asking them to send you letters instead. - Know of anyone who’s going on a business trip abroad? A vacation in Asia? Going up north? Ask them to send you post cards form wherever they are. Not only do you get the stamps, you also get to keep track of how they are.

- Get to know your neighbors. Chances are one of them is working in a big company or institution wherein loads of letters pour in everyday. And if you’re really lucky, said neighbor might actually be the one in charge of opening all those letters. You get the drift?

- The next time you visit the post office, keep an open eye for stray envelopes that recent visitors have carelessly tossed aside. Many people read and discard their letters at the post office.

- Make friends with fellow collectors. Trading and swapping not only increases your collection, it also allows you to get acquaintances and friends.

- Get your grandma or grandpa to let you see their old letters. There is a high chance that you’ll get rare and old stamps that you won’t see anywhere ever again.

2. Sort

Have you stamps in one huge box? Now’s the time to sort them all out. Sorting is necessary to facilitate the storing process. Most of the stamps you have are on paper because they are cut out from mailing envelopes. You need to sort them out into:

- stamps with white background paper
- stamps with colored background paper
- stamps with rubber stamp ink (especially those in red and purple)
- stamps without rubber stamp ink

3. Trim

Leave about 1-2 cm safety margin when you trim your stamps. Also, try not to cut the perforations, as it will decrease the value of your stamp.

4. Soak

Never try peeling a stamp off the paper, even if it’s loose. Peeling like this is a surefire way to ruin your stamp. The way to do it is to soak it in water.

First, fill up your vessel to about half. The water temperature should be around 30-35°C. Water that’s too warm or hot will increase the chances of color running. Soak your stamps by batches, around 8 or 10, for around 15 minutes.

Remember: NEVER soak a stamp with white background paper and a stamp with a colored one at the same time. Stamps with a colored background paper and those with rubber stamp inks usually stain the water and might damage your white stamps. This is why you need to sort them all out before starting.

They way to go with these problematic stamps is to soak them individually. Yes, it could be time consuming and tiring but in the end, you’ll get great stamps.

After 15 minutes, pick up a stamp with your fingers and try to peel it off the backing. If there is even the slightest of resistance, drop it back into the water and wait for another 10 minutes or so.

5. Dry

After peeling, lay your stamps face up into a waiting paper towel. Put another sheet on top and gently blot the excess moisture. Be extra careful since wet stamps are very fragile.

Afterwards, line them up in the plastic page of your stamp album. Place the blotter sheet atop them, close the book and press. It’d help if you put heavy books on top of the drying book to ensure nice, flat stamps. They should be sufficiently dry after 4-5 hours.

6. Store

If you want to be able to move them around and shuffle them, you’ be better off with a stock album. A stock album has plastics sleeves wherein you can keep the stamps and their duplicates.

But if you want to store them for good, you can mount them in a stamp album. It’d be a permanent home for your beloved collection.

There have been an incredible number of stamps that have been created over the decades. For one to have a complete comprehensive collection they would have to have literally thousands of albums to hold them all. Typically your average collector will limit their collection to a specific topic or types of stamps. Some collect only stamps from a specific country while others will look for those stamps from a certain time frame. Whatever the range that collectors are limiting themselves to, one can be certain that there will always be some very interesting pieces in the collection.

With the sheer number of stamp collectors there are today, there are now thousands of clubs and organizations for these collectors to exchange information about their passion. The Internet has also opened up huge opportunities for one to search for a particular stamp or investigate a certain type of stamp that they may be looking for. Just about any postal system all over the world has had some rare stamps. They can be postal errors or simply a very limited number that had been printed. One of the rarest stamps around is the 1-cent Z grill stamp. There are only two of these stamps known to exist. One is on display in a library in New York, under lock and key. The other one is available to collectors.

Stamp collecting began roughly in the 1800’s. In the beginning it was considered mainly a child’s hobby. It wasn’t until the late 1800’s that these children, now adults began to study existing stamps and read up on plate flaws and general production information. In the early 1900’s there was a sharp increase in the number of stamp collectors when people found that there was value and profit in certain stamps. This encouraged people to begin looking for specific stamps. With the onslaught of Internet communication, emails and text messaging, it may be that stamps will grow even more in value as they become more and more scarce.

The advantages of stamp collecting include:

• Learning about stamps which have been issued by other countries of the world over the years
• Appreciating stamps as works of art – colourful, well-printed, and well-designed
• Understanding the purpose of the stamp – whether it is to commemorate famous people or events, flowers, railways, flags, or space and sport

Stamp Collection

Stamp collections can provide both entertainment and education. By learning about all the stamps which have been issued by the countries of the world, you can begin to understand another country’s geography and history. Stamps collection is also a practical way to learn the politics, religion, and everyday way of life in different parts of the world. Stamps also open a world of education in a country’s postal services and postal history, transport systems, and the significance of postmarks.

Want to Start Collecting?

Many stamp collectors have advice for those looking to get into the stamp collecting scene, however, the best advice to the novice is to buy the largest packet of whole-world stamps you can afford. Also, consider buying with this purchase, a medium-priced album and some ‘hinges’ to mount the stamps. By buying a large amount of stamps at first, you can then go through most of the stamps, identifying those which you don’t believe you can find in the stamp collectors catalogue for identifying purposes.

Sources of Stamps

To keep your stamp collection moving along, there are several different types of stamps and locations to pursue:

• Persuade your friends to save your stamps from those letters mailed to them from abroad
• You can buy stamps from the UK Post – several times a year, the UK Post will issue special stamps for those interested in collecting
• There are several stamp magazines where you can see and meet other collectors
• Review the online stamp collecting websites for forums and discussion on where to get the latest stamp collection tips

Stamp Collecting and Increasing Worth

Over the years, as stamps age and their rarity increase, the worth of the stamp can increase tenfold. The condition of the stamp is vitally important to its worth. Nothing detracts more from the value of a stamp than a crease, tear, or heavy postmark. Damaged stamps are generally considered useless and worthless, so be wary of your collection when adding stamps.

If you are looking to make the most of your stamp collection, have unused stamps in their original gum as issued by the post office. Also, the ideal postmark is light and clear, as heavy postmarks decrease the value of the stamp by large amounts.

If you are already realizing that there is much more to stamp collecting then first thought, you are right! Stamp collecting can be extremely rewarding if you take the time to pursue it as a serious hobby. Consider learning more about your planet and start your stamp collection today.

THINGS YOU NEED

The things that you need to have a complete stamp collection kit are:
• Stamps
• Stamp Album or a Decent Register
• Hinges
• Gums

Note carefully that never apply gum to the stamps directly to fix them onto the pages or the album; use the hinges for the purpose rather.

Where To Get The Stamps From

If you are just starting and don’t know the sources of stamps, buy a packet of about 1000 stamps to start your stamp collecting hobby.

Next there are several sources where you can collect the stamps from:
• Direct purchase from the shop.
• Collecting from the used postal envelopes.
• Exchanging with friends.
• From pen friends in foreign countries.

SORTING THE STAMPS

While stamp collecting, do not just put the stamps in the pages of the album randomly. This will be a confusing collection for you later at a time. Distribute them in the various pages of the album after proper classification.

Don’t Damage the Stamps

While removing the stamps from the envelop or letter, be careful not to get it torn or damage. This will cause a loss in value of the stamp.

Use Hinges

You should use hinges rather than using gum directly to paste the stamps. This allows you to rearrange the stamp positions in the album later and also would improve the quality of your collection. This will also make you look more professional in stamp collecting.

In Case You Want to Trade Stamps

When you decide to use the hobby of stamp collecting to earn profits, you have to bring a change in the strategy of growing the collection. For such an investment, it is better to invest on a few good quality stamps every month rather than going for several low priced stamps.

More Information on Stamps

There is an association called American Stamp Dealer’s Association 147 W 42nd Street, New York 10036. This association can be wrote to if you want to gain more information about becoming a dealer.

A good stamp collecting guide can be The Scot Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue. Here you can find which stamps in your collection of stamps are valuable; hence it proves to be a very useful help for the ones taking stamp collecting as a way to earn profit.

Stamp Types generally means the difference between a definitive stamp and a commemorative stamp. A definitive stamp most always showed a portrait of some famous person at present time or in history, although recently these have expanded to include the U.S. flag or the White House. Typically these stamps are relatively small and ordinary looking. They can be purchased at different denominations to pay for the different types of postal mail. These usually get printed in large numbers and remain in effect until the postal rates changes.

Commemorative stamps are larger than the definitive’s and are printed in much smaller numbers. They’re usually sold for the standard first class postage rate. The pictures usually show images of historical events. Once these stamps run out, they usually are not printed again. In recent years there has been another stamp type called the Special. A good example of these stamps would be the Christmas stamps that are printed out for the holidays. These are larger, decorative stamps that are sold at the standard postal rate for a certain time period until the supply runs out.

Purpose shows what the stamp is for. Most stamps are classified as regular stamps because they are used on your every day basic mail. However, immediately after the postage stamp was distributed came along other stamps showing different purposes. Some show postage due for the mail that had insufficient monies applied to the postage. Other stamps were created to show classified mail, airmail and a variety of other special services.

Stamps are issued in a variety of ways. Format is another classification term used to show how these stamps were originally issued. Whether it was as a sheet, booklet, coil or panes.

Condition of a stamp is very important to many collectors. Mint condition is one that has never been used and is still in the same condition as when it was issued. If one has been in a collection held in an album with a hinge then it is considered an unused one. The reason for the difference is that the one that was in an album has had its “gum” disturbed. One that has been sent through the postal system and been stamped is considered used.

Other classification types are whether they are perforated, what kind of printing is used and whether a watermark was used.

By understanding the different classifications, one can begin their collection based on certain criteria. Many collectors have a certain theme to their collections. There have been billions of stamps that have been issued over the years that it would be literally impossible to have a complete collection. Many people choose a certain topical theme or perhaps stamps from a certain country only. Whatever you decide to create your theme around, it’ll be interesting and fun for you to study.

STAMP COLLECTING TIPS

Now that you’ve decided what type of stamps you want to collect, here are some tips on the best way to keep these stamps in good condition. You may end up with one that is worth a lot of money someday and you’ll want it to be in the best possible condition.

• When looking for a stamp album, look for one that has blank, acid-free pages. Don’t go for anything that has flimsy pages for these will not be sturdy enough to house your stamps safely. Make sure you have stamp hinges or mounts that are designed for housing stamps. Using glue or tape will damage your stamps.

• Do not try to tear or peel a stamp off of an envelope. Cut them carefully from the envelope without touching the perforated edges, this damages the stamp. Once the stamp has been cut off, float it in a small bowl filled with cool water. This dissolves the glue to a point where the paper from the envelope will come off easily. (Be careful with those stamps that have been heavily inked with cancellation stamps or strange looking ink that could potentially damage other stamps.) Rinse the remaining glue with fresh water and spread out to dry. If necessary place them in a book after drying to straighten them out. Always handle them with tongs.
• Think about your collection theme and sort the stamps according to your theme. Whether it’s by a topical or country theme or stamp types, it’s good to have some kind of order to them. Remove any damaged stamps as the value is most likely not that great. The only time you want to hang on to something that’s damaged would be if you had something that was extremely rare or valuable. If you have duplicates then display the best one you have of the set and use the other for trading with other stamp collectors. Sorting is an ongoing process as you pick up more and more stamps.
• Another extremely important thing to think about is having tongs. Seems like such a simple thing, doesn’t it. People think they can handle just as well with their fingers but they don’t think about how much oil we have on our skin. These oils transfer to the stamps and can damage them in the long run. Tongs are the best way to handle stamps. One may need to practice handling tongs before attempting to pick up stamps with them as some of them, if not handled correctly, could tear or poke holes through the stamps.

Once you’ve made the decision to collect stamps and you’ve obtained all the essential tools for collecting, you’ll probably find getting more and more curious about the history behind some of these stamps. There are thousands of books, literature and papers written on the subject. Many of them explain how and why some of these stamps became so valuable or interesting over the years. Most stamp collectors become so for a lifetime. There are so many different types of stamp collections that one could collect for years and never find themselves getting bored.

Stamp collecting is a simple hobby, if you have a little patience in the times when you look for new unique stamps to adorn your collection. To begin with, take the following steps to establish an initial stamps’ collection:

• When you start collecting stamps, purchase the largest packet of worldwide stamps that you can afford to purchase. This gives you the initial inspiration for going ahead. When you are new, if you start buying small packets of stamps, there is often a chance that you tend to get more that one copies of several stamps. A large packet would prevent this.

• Along with the stamps, purchase an album where you can collect the stamps. Try that this album is of good quality, as you will keep the stamps in it for long to come. If it is a good one, you will not have to be concerned about the quality of the album when you grow more professional in stamp collecting.

• Buy many hinges. This will help you to fix the stamps to the album. Pasting the stamps with the help of gum is not advisable as this makes it a permanent arrangement and you can not reclassify the stamps and change their positions when your understanding about them matures.

• Keep the album in which you keep the stamps in a polythene packet so that they are not wetted by water.

Once you have a starter stamp collection, you can always add new stamps to it and if you have used hinges, you can even change the position of the existing stamps in your album according to your convenience.

You can get new stamps from three major sources:

1. From the Shops – This is the most common way to purchase packets of stamps for addition into your stamp collection. When you go for this, prefer buying the collections that, you find are the most different from the stamps in your collection.

2. From Friends – Stamp exchanging is another good way of stamp collecting. You always some stamps in more than one copy. Your friends may have some stamps in multiple copies. If you need a stamp, which is double with your friend, and he needs the ones in doubles with you, you can exchange stamps with each other.

3. From Postal Envelops – You can browse through the old mail envelops in your home and can find some unique stamps that you don’t have in your collection. You can remove it from the envelope and add it to your stamp collection.