ON FORMING A COLLECTION
The cost of packet collections—The beginner's album—Accessories—Preparation of stamps for mounting—The requirements of "condition"—The use of the stamp-hinge—A suggestion for the ideal mount—A handy gauge for use in arranging stamps—"Writing-up."
It may be reasonable to judge a philatelist by the stamps he has, rather than by the way in which he puts them together in his collection. Yet none can have justice in the process unless he has given due attention to order and method. Postage-stamps, more perhaps than any other objets de collectionner, are well suited to neat, orderly arrangement and effective display, with a minimum of house-room. This very suitability and convenience make some collectors careless of the arrangement of their specimens, especially the commoner issues, but I would have everyone treat stamps rare or common with the same tenderness, and with a keen eye to the beauty of their arrangement. A rare stamp in itself has little significance; it requires to be allocated to its fitting place in the mosaic of stamp-issues comprising a collection, and there can be no beauty in a few rare stamps if there has been no proper care exercised in the selection and arrangement of the accompanying issues which go to complete the picture.
It is scarcely necessary for me to more than briefly discuss the methods of starting to collect stamps, but it may serve some useful purpose to indicate a sound method of establishing a good start. The prime necessity to the collector is stamps—if he be an enthusiast he can never have too many. But at the outset, if he have none, the best start is in one of the numerous packet collections, the stamps in which are all different. These are sold by all dealers, and a fair price for such packets is indicated in the following scale:—
| 500 | varieties | from | 3s. 6d. | to | 4s. | per packet |
| 1,000 | " | " | 12s. | to | 15s. | " |
| 1,500 | " | " | 30s. | to | 35s. | " |
| 2,000 | " | " | 45s. | to | £3 | " |
| 3,000 | " | " | £8 | to | £8 10s. | " |
| 4,000 | " | " | £13 10s. | to | £14 | " |
Such packets contain the commoner stamps, as a matter of course, but they are a necessity to the general collection, which is made up of all grades of common to rare specimens.
The album for the beginner should be a small inexpensive one, the importance of keeping the small collection compact being that it is more readily comprehensible than if scattered meagrely through a wilderness of blank, or nearly blank, pages. If the stamps are carefully arranged in a small album, a rare delight will be found later on, when the collection is bulging the first album covers, in transferring it to a more commodious home. But at the outset too many beginners waste their substance in an elaborate album instead of on the all-important stamps. They buy cumbersome volumes in which the collection in embryo is lost. They should realise from the start that the purpose of the album is to assist in the formation of the collection, by keeping the stamps easy of access for reference and study.