Types of Collections

In the previous section we looked at the various types of stamp issues. In this section we will look at the variety of ways in which collectors specialize in certain stamp areas, topics and themes.  This not only helps to make the collection more manageable,  but also allows the collector the freedom to tailor his or her stamp collection more in line with their own personal interests. For instance; a submarine sailor might start a topical collection of  U.S. submarine commissioning covers or collect submarine souvenir sheets from around the world. Some collectors concentrate on one or two issues, thus our submarine collector might want to collect all covers, cancellations, and postal material relating to the "Artic Explorations" issue of 1959 which pictures the USS Nautilus.

An African American collector might wish to specialize in the 25 "Black Heritage" issues or they might wish to collect Martin Luther King, Jr. issues from around the world. All of these collections discussed so far are known as themed or "Topical Collections."

A collector could also specialize in "First Day Covers," First Flight Covers," "Plate Blocks," or collect just Air Mail stamps. Some collectors opt for collecting a single country and attempt to get at least one single of each stamp issued by that country. An even more generalized type of collection would be collecting singles from as many countries world-wide as possible. 

The main idea is to have fun! 

Now let's look at some of the different types of specialty collections in a little more detail. Select the links below for a further look into the different types of collections.

Introduction//Stamp Types//Collections//Supplies//Associations