| Love it or loathe it, stamp collecting has been | | | | various kinds of stamps. Most collectors find that |
| around for a long time, and is here to stay. | | | | the larger packets have the best stamps in them. |
| Nevertheless, it captivates people in all walks of | | | | A chronicle of human history can be seen through |
| life, and from all age groups. Even with fax | | | | the picture window of stamps. Peaceful scenes, |
| machines and e-mails, many items are still being | | | | war and other human tragedies, scientific |
| sent by conventional post. It would seem that the | | | | accomplishments, profiles of kings, queens, |
| earliest reference to collecting stamps was in | | | | presidents have all been depicted. During World |
| England in 1841, the year after they were first | | | | War II postage stamps were converted into a |
| issued. People have different reasons for collecting | | | | medium of propaganda by the opposing sides. |
| stamps. Some find it relieves stress. Others like | | | | Commerce and industry have played a part in |
| the educational side of it. Prospects of financial | | | | influencing their design. Some collectors specialize |
| gain motivate still others. Prior to postal service, | | | | in animal stamps. The koala bear, the egg-laying |
| people forwarded messages and letters via | | | | platypus and that noted jumper the kangaroo |
| trusted travelers. By the sixteenth century an | | | | have all had their pictures on Australian stamps. |
| international postal service operated among a | | | | Peruvian stamps have illustrated the llama, while |
| number of European states. | | | | Liberian letters have been decorated with the |
| In 1837 Sir Rowland Hill published a pamphlet on | | | | crocodile. The tortoise has appeared on |
| "Post Office Reform." He recommended that | | | | Vietnamese and Ecuadorean stamps. Some |
| letters be delivered anywhere in England for a | | | | people enjoy doing this by collecting stamps on |
| penny. The British Government followed through | | | | which various nations have portrayed birds |
| and in 1840 penny postage started, issuing the | | | | common to their lands. The eagle has a place on |
| first adhesive postage stamps for use on letters. | | | | the face of Polish, Albanian and Syrian stamps, to |
| These were the famous one-penny stamps | | | | mention only a few. Venezuela has featured the |
| bearing a profile of Queen Victoria (the Penny | | | | vulture, Hungary the raven, Spanish Sahara the |
| Black) and the blue two-pence stamps. A couple | | | | ostrich, Korea the hawk, while Austria, China, |
| of years later the first adhesive stamp in the | | | | Monaco and others have pictured the soaring |
| United States was put in circulation by the | | | | wings of the gull. The pelican has appeared on the |
| Despatch Post of New York city. It prepaid a | | | | stamps of Yugoslavia, Mozambique and Antigua. |
| three-cent delivery charge on a letter mailed inside | | | | Unusual stamps, needless to say, interest many |
| the city. Canada followed suit in 1851 with a | | | | collectors. Stamps come in literally all shapes and |
| three-penny beaver design stamp. Innumerable | | | | sizes. A Papua stamp bearing the names of every |
| books are available through public libraries and | | | | post office in the country was not only an oddity |
| bookstores as aids to knowing stamp values and | | | | but a first. In 1853 the Cape of Good Hope issued |
| what to collect. Information is freely available on | | | | the first triangular stamps. Brazil's first stamps in |
| the Internet. An album is very helpful for | | | | 1843 were oval shaped. One of the world's rarest |
| classifying, as well as a magnifying glass. | | | | stamps, (thus very expensive) is the British |
| Some start by saving stamps from letters | | | | Guiana - now Guyana - 1¢ magenta, issued |
| coming into their homes or places of business. | | | | in 1856. It was issued in limited numbers, and only |
| Others build a collection by purchasing packets of | | | | one specimen is now known to exist. |