Tips For The Amateur Postage Stamp Collector For postage stamp collectors, “a stamp is not just a stamp”. The stamp collector often sees a mysterious place as well as an interesting culture the moment one views a stamp from a foreign country that depicts a foreign landscape. “Postage stamp collecting” is a fascinating hobby that stimulates one's curiosity in people and places beyond one's borders. Here are tips for the amateur postage stamp collector: On soaking the stamps: 1. Before soaking your stamp, separate stamps that are on any colored paper, stamps having colored cancellations, particularly those with purple or red ink, stamps of very dark in color, stamps that are on poor paper quality, or those with unidentified inks that could liquefy in the basin of water and can stain other stamps. Any "unuasual" stamps should be separated and handled one by one. 2. Trim the paper of the envelope that surrounds stamp, being extra careful as not to scratch or slice...