Newbie hello

Welcome to our Forum, Katrina!

My father gave me his collection before he passed and now that he's gone, I think of him ever time I break out one of his albums.

We were all newbies at one point so don't hesitate to ask any questions that might arise.

I hope you enjoy your foray into stamp collecting and in spending time here on the forum.

Hi Chris,

Where to begin?

The collection is a combination of US (majority) and international. My dad made up his own binders using the clear sleeves with black paper. I"ve been sorting bags of stamps into denomination and placing them in an envelope. Once I get the sorting done I would like to put them in albums. One of my many questions is - I have 19 Dorothea Dix stamps - Do I put all repeat stamps in the albums on their own pages?

Thanks for the quick reply post, Katrina.

The truth is that their can be as many different ways of choosing to collect stamps as there are collectors!  If it were me, I would probably choose the best copy of the Dorothea Dix stamp and put that one in the book and then trade or give away the others.  But that's just me.

If your goal is to keep your Dad's holdings intact, then you could put all of the copies of one stamp (like the Dorothea Dix commemorative) on the same page, or order them in some other way.  Did you also inherit a stamp catalogue?  Do you know how to use one?

A catalogue is a useful item, as it will show you the chronological order in which stamps of each country have been issued.  That is another possible way to order a collection, and in fact, is probably the way most collectors would choose.  Certainly most published albums are ordered that way.

Does this help at all?

Welcome to the World's Greatest stamp forum.

Your stamp collection is a new toy. Play with it. Enjoy it.

The Postal Service Guide and the Jamestown booklet will at least give you the US stamps up to 1987.  If you have stamps from after that time, which I am guessing you do, you will probably be better off with an actual stamp catalogue.

Do you have a local library near you, Katrina?  It sounds like you may be a bit isolated living on an island in Puget Sound.  Most libraries have stamp catalogues on their shelves which you can access for free.  The biggest US publisher of stamp catalogues is Scott, and they do both US and worldwide books.  The first 10-15 pages of most of their catalogues explain how to use the catalogue and different conditions of stamps.

As Anping already mentioned, quality is the important thing, but if you are truly just beginning with stamps, perhaps even that is not clear.  There are many attributes which a stamp has which can help you determine when one copy is better than another.  For starters, is the stamp completely intact?  If it has a tear, or has been cut into when being removed from an envelope, or if it is stained or thinned or creased or damaged in some way, it is probably not worth keeping, unless it is a very rare, expensive stamp.

So, if the stamp is in "sound" condition, meaning not damaged in any way, then you can look for centering, cancellation, brightness of the color, etc. to choose the best copy. Katrina, I suggest that you check out the "Collecting Basics" board on TSF to learn more, and if it is still unclear to you, you can post some specific questions, which I feel certain that one of us will be able to answer.

Well said.  
Thank you to all for the "first steps" advice.
It's a beautiful day in Puget Sound so I've been enjoying the playtime and am in awe at the beauty of the stamps.  I will be heading to our library today so will check out the Scott book.  My dad collected a lot of stuff but the stamps and money are by far my favorites to look at. 

For some visual guidance for better understanding of beginning a collection, YouTube has many, many videos. Use THIS LINK to access a video by Janet Klug (past president of the American Philatelic Society, member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory, and noted philatelic author), and utilize the links on the right side of the page for more basic information for beginners. I do not know about you, but I am a visual learner and comprehend new concepts better with "show-and-tell."

Bobby

Yeah, once in a while I talk to my wife about a recent acquisition, or some new thing about postal history that I learned. I was really gratified when she said (more or less), "I had no idea that stamp collecting was so interesting. I'm really glad you got into this."
It's great to see such enthusiasm from a new member. Browse around the forum - there are some very cool threads to explore here.

The store in Edmonds is pretty good they get there around noon Tuesday thru Sunday but Sunday is a gamble. Beryllium Guy posted a website that I use quite often called Amos Advantage they carry the things I need (and frankly the only place to carry my preferred brand)I cant remember right off hand if there is a store in Everett but will check into it. Another thing to check into is the Fennwick Stamp bourse. Which is a group of dealers that don't have brick and mortar stores and get together every other month to sell their wares. The next one of those is on the 13th of August in Renton Wa. Then in early September is SEAPEX the Seattle areas biggest stamp show (I cant wait for that one) If ya haven't been to a show they are quite fun and definitely educational!

seapexshow.org/
www.istampshows.com/Fenwick-Stamp-Coin-Show


those are links to the shows mentioned above
Cheers! 

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Katrina, UAR = United Arab Republic = Egypt

By the way, Katrina, you should start posting questions like this in a different place than your intro post thread.  I would suggest starting a new thread in the "I Need Help with Stamp Identification" Board:

thestampforum.boards.net/board/162/help-stamp-identification

You could start a thread titled "Sorting Through Dad's Stamps" or something, then just post scans of anything you need help with.

Just a suggestion.