collecting

Comic Collecting- Keep Looking for the Million Dollar Titles

5th June 2022 by UBee

Comic collecting has gone through ups and downs in popularity through the years.

It could have been a hobby that lost millions of followers with the rise of TV and cinema. However that has only added to the appeal of collecting comics.

The first printed comic came onto the market in the USA back in the 1930’s.

So where do you get started? Like all collections, some people start them for the love the of subject, while for others it’s based on a financial decision.

As a beginner it’s often easier to decide to base your collection around a Superhero you like. Start with one set of comics and then build up from there.

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Stamp Collecting A New Skill

15th March 2022 by UBee

Collecting stamps is a great hobby that people from all over the world enjoy. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old. This hobby is not only fun, interesting but you can also learn a lot. There is a whole wide world collecting stamp community for you to be part of. The key for collecting stamps is the variety you can collect. In this case you can certainly say more is better. If you are new to this hobby you have must realize that you have to have stamp collecting supplies ready before you start your collection of stamps.

Here is a list of supplies that you will need for your hobby. Stock books, stamp hinges, stamp tongs, magnifiers, glassing envelopes, blank pages, drying books, perforation gauge, water mark detector, stamp mounts, stamp catalogues, binders and of course stamp albums. This may look like big shopping list but there is no reason to be panic. Not like many other collecting hobbies, this hobby doesn’t have to be expensive at all. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on expensive equipment and supplies. There is of course a list of items no stamp collector can do without.

Let’s start with the one item that collectors cannot do without and that is a stamp album. The stamp album keeps your stamps safe while at the same time it enables you to organize your collection and to display your stamps in an attractive manner. Look for something that is high in quality. What you should look for is an album that contains plenty of space for your stamps and have strong bindings with thick pages made from good quality acid free paper. Another smart item you cannot do without is a stamp hinge. A stamp hinge is a small, folded, rectangular piece of paper or glassine coated with a gum. One end of the hinge is gummed onto the back of a stamp and the other end is gummed onto the album page. This helps to firmly hold the stamp on the page. These hinges are very inexpensive and around a thousand can be purchased for a few dollars. Stamp tongs look like tweezers, but these are specially designed for picking up and handling stamps. Tongs are available in both stainless steel and plastic. Either type will do, but make sure you choose tongs that do not have sharp edges, as they may tear and ruin your stamp. If the value of your collection is important to you then a stamp catalogue is a must. The stamp catalogue will help you identify a stamp and will also give you a rough indication of its current value. So, you exactly know how valuable your collection is in the world of philately. What you also need is a magnifying glass. This will help you to examine the inscription and design closely, the feature of a stamp as well as its condition. Also, the magnifying glass would help you spot the creases or printing error of a stamp. All of these factors have an impact on a stamps grade and its value. Glassine envelopes are translucent and available in various sizes. They are useful for sorting and storing the stamps before you place them in the album. You can also mail stamps in these envelopes. Some other gadget you will need is a perforation gauge. It measures the number of holes per two cm length of the perforations on the side of the stamps. Stamps differ in the number of perforations each have, which even helps distinguish between two identical looking stamps and also influence the relative rarity. A water mark detector is useful in detecting forgeries and identifying stamp varieties.

In hobby shops and on the internet all these tools are easy to find. Remember that these tools don’t have to cost you an arm and a leg. To start your hobby, you will need these stamp collecting supplies and have fun while collecting.

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Making a Collection From Clutter

1st March 2022 by UBee

From postcards to thimbles to salt & pepper shakers, the seeds of an unintentional collection could be right under one’s nose. According to a recent Nielsen survey, one in 10 collectors developed an interest in the hobby by slowly acquiring items over time, and only later decided to establish their own showcase collections.

“My enthusiasm for collecting began as a child with the inexpensive cars my mother would buy me as a treat during trips to the market,” said Bruce Pascal, owner of the legendary Hot Wheels red-lined Beach Bomb, valued at £72,000 at a recent collector’s convention. “When I became an adult, I rediscovered these long-discarded playthings and grew to appreciate the artistry behind them.”

Each year, collectors like Pascal gather at conventions nationwide to show off and trade their precious items. Hot Wheels collecting “pros” provided the following suggestions on how to create amazing collections. These tips are applicable not just for die-cast vehicles, but for virtually everything under the sun:

Craft a theme-Whether it’s based on size, year, location, etc., crafting a theme will help narrow down the “shopping list” when searching for additions to any collection.

Be picky-It’s okay to pass on pieces that aren’t necessarily attention grabbers. Waiting for that personal “wow” aspect really helps to give each piece in a collection a unique value.

Become familiar-Re-search the collection before beginning the hunting-and-buying process. The more knowledgeable one is, the better the chance of getting a great deal on the price (as well as better quality on each piece).

Budget, budget, budget-Along with researching the details on each piece, know what others are paying for it and one’s own personal budget. Bargaining is allowed with dealers, so knowing the cost breakdown on either side will help to “seal the deal.”

So get out the dust rag and start cleaning-there could be many collections waiting to be discovered in the attic alone!

Scrap Booking Taking It To A New Level

16th February 2022 by UBee

Scrapbook paper can be used in several different ways to add creative touches to your pages and enhance your photos. Displaying your photographs in scrapbook albums is a great way to preserve your treasured memories for posterity, and scrapbooks you’ve made yourself make wonderful keepsakes. To make sure your precious photographs are archived safely, it’s important to use special scrapbooking paper and adhesives that are acid-free and lignin free, so they won’t damage your pictures. There’s a huge variety of different types of papers available these days, in all kinds of colours and patterns. Look out for free scrapbooking ideas online and in craft magazines to help inspire your creativity!

Scrapbook paper is most commonly sold in standard sizes of 12 x 12 or 8 x 8. As well as providing an attractive background for your photos, paper can be used to embellish your pages in many ways. For instance, torn or crumpled scraps of paper can be used to add texture and this is a very simple technique to use. Readymade kits of paper piecing patterns give you the option to add all sorts of images and shapes to help add meaning to you pictures and elaborate on the story they tell. Vellum paper has many uses. Because it is translucent, lots of scrappers like to use it to give their pictures a matte appearance. It can also be decorated and used as a stylish background.

If you’ve got a computer you may want to have a go at digital scrapbooking and print off your own designs onto your paper. If you’ve got a scanner, you could scan your chosen images and print them out to use as stylish backgrounds. You could use anything from a postcard to a map – use your imagination to see what you come up with! Think about what would fit in with the theme of your scrapbook, and reflect the characters of the people in the pictures. Of course, you can embellish your pages by hand if you prefer. Ideas range from using stickers or rubber stamps, to adding journaling or quotes.

Plain scrapbook paper can instantly be transformed with a bit of imagination and some artistic flair. Creating your own unique scrapbooks is a lot of fun and can become an addictive hobby!

Stamp Collecting As a Hobby-First Class Skill

9th February 2022 by UBee

Stamp collecting is a popular and rewarding hobby. If you are just starting out and would like to know where to start, here are some helpful tips.

It is said that the first rule of stamp collecting is to find a particular type of stamp you think you would like to collect and to take care of your collection. Some suggestions for types of stamps to collect are location of the stamp (i.e. country, state, etc.), stamp design, or a stamp for a particular season/holiday.

Some people collect one issue of a stamp in volume, one type of stamp only (sometimes referred to as a specialist), and some people collect all the stamps that are able to.

Once you have decided what type of stamp collector you want to be and what sort of stamps you want to collect, you need to learn how to properly care for your stamps.

The first piece of advice is to always use stamp tongs when handling your stamps. While stamp tongs bear a resemblance to tweezers, they are different from tweezers in that they do not have pointy ends. Tweezers should not be used in place of actual stamp tongs as they may damage stamps.

Stamps should not be handled with fingers or laid out on bare table surfaces as the natural oil in human skin and any particulates that may be on the table will cause damage to the stamp over time. When viewing stamps, they should be laid out on a clean piece of paper to avoid as much contamination as possible.

The basic necessary supplies for stamp collecting are the stamp tongs, an envelope to store your stamps in and a storage box to store the envelopes in. It is important to note that the stamp tongs will need to be purchased from a stamp store or can be found at a stamp show.

Once your collection grows, it is suggested that you invest in glassine envelopes for your stamps. These envelopes are made for stamp collecting and are semi-transparent. The glassine material is found to have no harmful effects on the stamps it stores.

It is suggested that once your stamp collection has grown and you have isolated what particular types of stamps you like to collect, you may wish to invest in a album for stamp storage.

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