Stamp collecting

📖 In short

Stamp collecting is a fun hobby for young and old all over the world, called “the hobby of kings” and “the king of hobbies”. Collectors gather small colorful postage stamps from different countries and arrange them in a special album.

🤩 Did you know?

By 1860 most countries in the world used stamps to pay for post.
In 1918 a stamp with a plane printed upside down by mistake came out in America.
Famous kings and presidents have collected stamps.
You can start your collection with stamps from your family's letters.

🔎 Find out more

🌟 The world in an album

Stamps show animals, flowers, famous buildings, people and historic events. By collecting them you get to know the countries of the world and their cultures while sitting at home.

🔍 The first stamp

The world's first postage stamp came out in Britain in 1840. It was black with a picture of the queen and was called the “Penny Black”. A few years later almost every country had its own stamps.

💡 The collector's tools

A stamp collector uses small tweezers to hold stamps without damaging them, a magnifying glass to see their details, and an album with clear pockets.

🎯 Rare stamps

Some stamps are very rare and valuable, like stamps printed with a mistake, such as an American stamp where the plane appeared upside down, which became one of the most expensive stamps in the world!

🧩 Test yourself

1 What does a collector hold stamps with?

2 Which country issued the first postage stamp?

3 Which picture shows “Stamp collecting”?

⚽ Discover more

📷 Picture sources: Wikimedia Commons

bomont57 · Public domain