Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Guidelines On How To Identify Rare Postage Stamps

By Scott Wagner


Over the years, stamp collectors continuously dream of finding valuable stamps. They focus more of their energy and time towards getting them. However, to find and identify Rare Postage Stamps is difficult. It requires one to have skills and knowledge of philately. It is important to note that they are becoming rare due to various factors like errors in printing, content and perforation.

The age of a stamp can make it become rare. Those which were used in the ancient times have become infrequent as compared to those used recently. They are becoming rarer since many collectors have kept them in their permanent collections. This has led to an increased value of such stamps and their cost continuously increase.

There is a need for one to have skills of differentiating each stamp from another. There are mint ones which are also known to have a fine condition. They are rare to find as they are considered to have a great value which in turn increases their prices as they still have their original gum, no defects and do not have cancellation marks. However, used ones have lost value as none of the above characteristics can be sold at a lower cost.

It is important to use a perforation gauge to help in taking measurements the number of perforations on the edge of a stamp. Those which look nearly identical in most cases have different perforations. Some of these perforations may be infrequent which leads to an increased value of a stamp. Therefore, it ought to cost more than you would have expected after identifying it.

It is necessary for you to conduct research on each stamp you have. You will understand whether it is common or rare through checking from relevant sources like the Scott catalog. Checking on the resource material carefully, you will understand that the rarest stamp was used a very long time ago. It is the rarest in the world and most valued.

It is necessary to check the printing errors. There are some which are printed mistakenly baring some mistakes which were not noticed until they were released. A good example is the inverted Jenny which is an airmail stamp. It had a pane of one hundred which was printed upside down. Due to the mistake, it became among the rarest stamps and increased its value.

It is necessary for one to check the content error. Take time to compare the content of your stamp with what is provided on the Scott catalog. For example, there are some sheets that were mistakenly printed with images of rodeo star Ben Pickett issued in year one thousand nine hundred and ninety-four. They were required to have the image of his brother Bill which as well increased their value compared to the rest.

Use of the Scott Catalog is one of the best ways to acquire the needed information and be informed on how to differentiate a stamp from another. It is important to note that the information provided on this reference material is updated annually. Therefore, any information you would wish to check is readily available to help identify their values.




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