If you have an interest in starting a fire stamp collection, here are a few tips:
- Talk to other collectors! Join the FSIP Association and start writing to other members to swap items or duplicates.
- Make up a binder with folders or separators for each country.
- If you mount covers or souvenir sheets use corner mounts for photo albums and DON'T use glue or stamp mounts!
- Don't three-hole-punch the pages, instead insert the pages into poly sleeves.
- Avoid anything made of Vinyl since PVC can interact with paper and pigment and ruin your collection. This applies even more for photo albums.
- Make up a "want-list" so you know catalog number, year and country of a stamp issue. It pays to look through a country collection and pick out the fire stamps very quickly.
- Visit local stamp shows, stamp clubs and topical dealers (see the links page). If the "Fire" bin is cleaned out, ask that you are put on a mailing list.
- Be aware of "special productions" that look impressive but aren't real postage stamps. Recently, some very dubious issues have appeared and they are usually high priced. You can pay the money and collect them but they are not admissible in philatelic shows. Sometimes it's better to wait and ask another collector instead of jumping the gun. It is never as rare as the seller wants you to believe!
- The most desirable item is a clean "cachet" that has the stamps, a readable cancellation (maybe even a special commemorative cancel) and has actually been "through the mail". This is getting to be more and more difficult because of automatic cancellation systems that can turn a pretty cover into a piece of junk in the blink of an eye or tear up a post card. On the other hand, a cachet that includes other postal markings, like "Registered" or "Express", even "return to sender" is a very collectible item. Mail has even been delivered by fire truck and bears the postmark for it! Some people don't like addresses or labels showing on a cover but this does not decrease it's value or collectibility.
- If you send requests to other collectors or post offices, include a return envelope with your address and the expected postage. That can mean the difference between no answer and some material being sent back to you.
- Remember that you alone determine what's worth collecting.
- and, above all, HAVE FUN!
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