SIWMP08

2009-03-20T07:06:00.000-07:00

20th March 2009 [Friday] 10:07pm

Hello to all readers. These days i have some personal problems to handle. Thus I have no time, or rather no mood to blog. Please hang in there ok? I'll try to blog after solving my problems.

2009-03-12T04:02:00.001-07:00

12th March 2009 [Thursday] 7:00pm

I've received my results. Thankfully it is not bad.

This week's post shall be short. I've been attending extra lessons in school so there was hardly time to post any updates.

Hence, I'm not very sure whether i could post alot or not..

2009-03-06T03:14:00.000-08:00

6th March 2009 [Friday] 7:14pm

It is indeed not easy trying to upkeep a blog. Especially one started for assignments. Despite it being holidays, I still have extra lessons. Thus not being able to update very often.

Here's a short post about using phonecards. Basically, one would have to look for a payphone that charges via phonecards. First insert your phonecard into the card-slot. Then enter the phone number of the person whom you wish to contact. Most public payphones charge 10 cents every 3 minutes for local call.

Once call has been completed, caller hangs up the phone. The card will be ejected from the card slot. What is different, is that now a hole is punched on the line at the rear of the phonecard mark the value that is left in the card. It is only a very tiny hole, and hence will not pierce through to the front of the card and affect its frontal appearance.

If i'm not mistaken, once the card exhausts its value, a larger hole will be indented on the value-line of the card. However, this hole will still not be deep enough to cause a through-hole. Hence benefitting card collectors greatly.

2009-02-25T01:50:00.000-08:00

25th February 2009 5:50pm

IT IS AFTER EXAMS!! I dont wish to talk much about it, but just... I feel... I DID QUITE WELL.

Now back to topic.

People collect phonecards differently. Most hobbyists' main aim is to increase the quantity and variety of their phonecard collections. However, some would collect phonecards because they have sentimental values. Some would focus on the beautiful pictures on the phonecards, while others may focus on phonecards that commemorate special occasions.

I forgot why I started phonecard collections, but it probably started off with MRT cards instead. I am a transportation fan. This also explains why most of my phonecards are transport-themed.

This picture is of the first page of my phonecard album.

Figure 1a - Main page of Main Phonecard Album

As you can see, all of them are vehicles.

I will now focus on some of the cards.

Figure 1b - Austin 7 Meteor.

This card, as with the other 2 identical cards, features the Austin 7 Meteor, a 1927 vehicle.

The stored value in this card is $10. The reason why i put them together, is for ease of exchanging.

Figure 1c - Ferrari and Lambo

The card to the left features a Ferarri F355. While the one on the right has a Lambo Diablo VT. The stored values are $5 and $3 respectively.

Figure 1d- Shell Cars

These are a series of advertisement cards for the petrol company/brand "SHELL". The wordings on top are : " We've got the power". They each have a $2 stored value.

Sadly, I could not find many phone cards that feature locomotions/trains, which are actually my favourite. I only managed to find this card....

Figure 1e - MRT and New Town

In this picture, you can see that in the foreground, there is an MRT. However, the main focus of this picture is the New Town. In the background, you can see an MRT station. I presume it belongs to the west side of Singapore because the architectural design of this station cannot be found on the east side other than Eunos Station. However, I know the landscape around Eunos Station so i can safely say that this station is not Eunos.

Enough of vehicles, the next series of phone cards are of very special values. They commemorated the years of National Day Singapore had.

Lets start off with 1996

Figure 2a - Singapore National Day 1996

It shows the majestic Merlion, at Marina bay, with the towering buildings signifying Singapore's growth. There is also the motto: " My Singapore, My Home" printed on it. This card has a stored value of $3.

Figure 2b - Singapore National Day 1997

This card has a Merlion grayscale in the foreground, with my favourite, transports, in the background. It has a stored value of $5

Figure 2c - Singapore National Day 1998

Its the National Day Parade, with various events taking place during the parade.
The stored value is $5

Figure 2d - Singapore National Day 1999

This card also has National Day Parade as its picture. It has a motto: " Moving towards The Next Millenium." Stored value is $5

The last series that I am showing in this post, is of highly precious values. Very memorable indeed. They are Calendars. Yes. Multipurpose cards. Not only are they phone cards, they also function as calendars.

Again, I apologize for the bad quality of my photos, as I am unable to purchase a good camera. I am in the process of saving up.

Figure 3a - 1995 Calendar

This is a calendar of the year 1995. You would be able to faintly see a famous singapore bridge and some buildings at the back.

Stored value : $5

Figure 3b - 1997 Calendar

As the title says, 1997 Calendar. I couldnt figure out what the picture is. It seemed like some sort of food. Probably a fruit.

Stored value: $5

Figure 3c - 1998 Calendar

A 1998 Calendar Phonecard. The background consists of an assortment of colours that blends nicely with each other.

Stored value: $5

Figure 3d - 2000 Calendar

Millenium Calendar Phonecard! How cool is that?! Of course, since it is the year of the dragon, the background consists of the word "dragon" in mandarin, pronounced as "long".

Stored value : $5

Thats all for this post. I apologize for not being able to upload pictures of MRT cards.

I feel that my camera is very lousy and am sourcing for a new one now. Like I said, i'm also saving up.

Please stay tuned for the next post.

2009-02-16T07:55:00.001-08:00

here's a short post to all my readers and visitors. I am very very busy these days with my exams and will not be able to post updates. Please pardon me. I will do it once i finish my exams. I'm quite sure many of you would want to do well during exams right? Me too. I'd like to perform well for my exams and be in a good mood to post more updates to my blog. So wish me luck ok? thank you.

2009-01-28T21:03:00.000-08:00

28th January 2009 [Wednesday] 9:00pm

First wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year!!

Now, I will start off with some pictures since I haven't been able to upload pictures for the previous posts. This post would be mainly pictures.

Here goes...

Figure 1a ~ Phonecard!

See detailed description in sections: Figure 1e & 1f

Figure 1b ~This is the front view of a conventional phone card by Singtel.

It has a stored value of $5 and its expiry was August 2004.

Figure 1c ~ This is how the card measures up against a ruler in length....

It is about 8.4cm in length.......

Figure 1d ~ and width.

and approximately 5cm in width.

Figure 1e ~ Here's the front view of another phonecard.

The picture printed in front is of a scene in the sea. The text shows "Protect Our Marine Environment". The logo on the top right corner of the card represents "International Year of The Ocean". Guess the year of this card? ----1998

Figure 1f ~ And this is the rear side.

The stored value in this card is $10, different from the previous card mentioned in Figure 1b.

Here's what is printed on the back of the card.

- This phonecard has $10 worth of calls.

- Phonecard once sold is not refundable.

- Do not bend, scratch, soil or place phonecard near magnetised articles.

- Refer to the latest Singapore Phone Book for COnditions of Issue and Use of Singtel Phonecard & Public phone Service.

This card is by Singapore Telecom.

In the next post, I think I will be blogging about other types of phonecards, and let all my readers (all of you of course), to have an eye's feast. I will be uploading a lot of pictures on phone cards and describe them.

Oh and I will upload a picture of a phone album. Also, I will diversify this chapter of my blog to touch on the once majestic stored value transitlink card, also known as MRT card. AND.... of course I will be uploading pictures of them too! I guess many of you probably miss them right? here's a temptation first =P

Figure 2 ~ M&M's Transitlink Farecard

Child/Student TransitLink Farecard.

Haha.

DO Check back regularly!

2009-01-21T22:50:00.000-08:00

21st January 2009 [Wednesday] 10:51pm

In this update, I shall continue to teach readers ways to begin the phonecard collection.
One of the ways to increase your phone card collections, or even get a first card, is to keep your mobile phone aside, especially if you are using a pre-paid card. It is the most meaningful when hobbyists themselves are contributing to the collection. Do not fret if you are using a post-paid mobile phone plan with a monthly subscription fee. You can still use the phone cards when you feel you have exceeded your monthly call limits.

One can also choose to purchase brand new cards to collect. However, this type of collection is very cost inefficient, and is recommended only to those who have the extra bit of budget allocate to leisure use. This method of collection is for hobbyists who collect the phone cards for their colours and designs. Prolonged usage/exposure of the card surface to other surfaces would result in the deterioration of the cards' surface image. Therefore, if one day you find a card whose design you really adore, it is alright to purchase it and keep it in its original state. Having said that, there are also card protectors available so that the phone cards will not be damaged when it is carried around in wallets or bags. The key idea is to handle the cards with care as you would your mobile phones and other gadgets.

If you wish to quickly increase the size/prospective size of your phone card collections, do be on the lookout for book fairs and similar exhibitions in your country. Most book fairs also have other miscellaneous items on sale such as phone card collections. Take the "World Book Fair" for example, it is held in Singapore once a year and you can often find a booth that sells hobby items such as stamps and phonecards amidst the sea of books and stationery. In addition, hobbyists would be delighted to find rare card collections at these exhibitions. However, hobbyists would have to be willing to part with their cash as these rare items do not come cheap.

In the next post, I will talk about various themes in phone cards' designs, as well as what purposes some of them have.

2009-01-15T21:21:00.000-08:00

15th January 2009 [Thursday] 9:25pm

To collect phone cards, enthusiasts first have to obtain the necessary acessories. The basic item is a card album, also known as card holders. Card albums come in many sizes and colours. I have yet to see card albums in other shapes so I guess the card holders that are currently on sale are the regular, rectangular-shaped ones. The most recommended starting album would be one that can contain approximately 50 cards. Card albums are easily available from stationery shops. A beginner should expect to spend approximately 5 SGD or its equivalent in other countries on a small sized card album.

For the cards, hobbyists should not worry too much because, despite the widespread availability of mobilephones/handphones, traditional card-operated payphones are still widely available. Afterall, it functions as an emergency communication device for the public and will still come in handy when mobile phones run out of battery or when mobile phones malfunction. For a start, beginners at phone card collections can make the people around them aware of their collection so that there are more people on the lookout for used phone cards.

Why do I say "used" phone cards? Thats because beginner phone card hobbyists are more likely to find owners who intend to discard their spent phone cards. However, this still poses a considerable amount of difficulty as many people do not consider bringing a phone card as for unexpected cases like battery flats, because there are also coin-operated public payphones available and they are equally convenient.

In my next post I will be talking about ways to start your collection of phone cards.

Currently I am unable to take/upload pictures of phone cards. I will do that as soon as i can afford time.

2009-01-05T17:32:00.000-08:00

6th January 2009 [Tuesday] 9:35am

Firstly I would like to wish everyone a happy 2009 and a fruitful year ahead.

Previously, I've blogged about the various ways of collecting stamps and what to look out for, as well as special features of stamp collection. Since this is a hobby blog, I cannot just remain here talking all about stamps right?

Yes you guessed it. I'm going to move on and blog about another hobby. This hobby will still be under the category of collections.

Prologue: Ways of communication has evolved through the years. Through stamps and letters to emails and parcels. From telegraphs to messengers to telephones. Ever thought how people communicated before the invention of handphones? I'm quite sure many of you would know that it was either by conventional telephones paid using phonecards. Only not long ago, when someone encounters an emergency, the person has to look for a public payphone, and pray that they remembered to carry a phonecard with them. In addition, the phonecard must still have value stored in them. Since phone cards were so popular back then, there were definitely efforts made to personalize and customize the appearances of the phone cards to make them more appealing to the customers/users.

==
The next collection item that i will be blogging about will be phone cards, and i'll also throw in other types of conventional cards as a form of value-add.
==

2008-12-19T18:08:00.000-08:00

20th December 2008 [Saturday] 10am

here's just a short post.

Basically, there are many other ways to collect stamps. For example, in the previous post, I have mentioned that stamps can also come in the form of First Day Covers. In fact they can also be found in other forms.

Souvenir packs are one of the various forms that stamps are sold and collected. Usually in a souvenir pack, they commemorate certain dates or events, like what a first day cover do. But instead of the envelope, buyers often find themselves getting a small booklet or a hard cover 3-fold holder that holds the stamps as well as an elaborate description of the history of whatever event the stamps are commemorating.

Another way of collectings stamps is to buy a set of themed stamps. For example, I am interested in transports so I have several sets of stamps that are related to transports. There is a set of stamps on boats, a set on trains, and another set on airplanes. If you are interested in botany, you could purchase a set of stamps that feature various plant species.

Some stamp collectors also look out for post marks on the stamps. Certain postmarks are very memorable or special. For example, on 8th of August 2008, the some post marks would show 080808, and to chinese people, that group of digits is very auspicious. 070707 would be of equal value to some eurasians.

This concludes my post about other ways to collect stamps.

2008-12-01T22:35:00.000-08:00

1st December 2008 [Monday] 10:10pm

This is officially the last post to be graded for SIWM. However, I will keep this blog updated as often as i can, partly for my interest in blogging, partly for SIWM class participation marks.

For this week, I will be posting about unique ways to collect stamps. As we all know, there are often more than one way to doing things, and same goes for collecting stamps. Other than the normal way of collecting stamps by cutting the stamps from envelopes, processing them and then placing them in stamp albums (rather time consuming), stamp enthusiasts can also choose the simpler route.

When new series of stamps are first introduced to the consumer market, the philatelic or related organisations usually create a unique item as a momento to commemorate the first day that the new series of stamps are made official. They call those unique items "First-Day Covers". Indeed as the name implies, it marks the first day of issue of a series of new stamps. A first-day cover basically consists of all the available designs of the newly released stamps, affixed onto envelopes with related images printed on them. There are also special issues that are similar to first day covers. However, they often serve the function of promoting the issuing country's cultures and traditions.

Here are some pictures of special issues and souvenir sheets. Namely Figures 1.1 - 1.3.

Figure 1.1

1995 Singapore '95 Daily Souvenir Sheets

Credits go to: http://www.cs.com.sg/1995.htm

Figure 1.2

1997 Transport Definitives - Low Values

Credits go to: http://www.cs.com.sg/1997.htm

Figure 1.3

1997 Transport Definitives - High Values

Credits go to: http://www.cs.com.sg/1997.htm

People commemorate special dates with special items, what happens when a chinese deemed auspicious icon, the dragon, with the millenium year 2000, with the olympic games all come together?

This is the result. (Figures 2.1 to 2.5)

Figure 2.1

2000 Zodiac Series - Dragon

Credits to : http://www.cs.com.sg/2000.htm

Figure 2.2

2000 Zodiac Series - Dragon (GuangZhou)
Credits to : http://www.cs.com.sg/2000.htm

Figure 2.3

2000 Zodiac Series - Dragon (Switzerland)
Credits to : http://www.cs.com.sg/2000.htm

Figure 2.4

2000 Zodiac Series - Dragon (London)
Credits to : http://www.cs.com.sg/2000.htm

Figure 2.5

2000 Games of the XXVII Olympiad

Credits to: http://www.cs.com.sg/2000.htm

(Disclaimer: I do not own these images. They belong to the following website. http://www.cs.com.sg/)
I thank the website and its owner(s) for the valuable images.

First-Day covers and special issues are usually sold at stamp exhibitions worldwide. They are also available at major events such as the locally held World Book Fair. The following are some pictures of the first day covers that i bought at various World Book Fairs held in Singapore's Suntec Convention Centre.

I'll start off with the China First-Day Covers. (Figures 3.1-3.2)

Figure 3.1 & 3.1.a

1996 First Day Cover featuring various major railways in China

(notice the price tag? It is rather memorable to me so i decided not to remove it)
(Keeps track of cost/inflation too)

Figure 3.2

Also 1996 First Day Cover featuring various vehicles in China

(I'm a transport fanatic, I still have another FDC (First Day Cover) on planes in China as well as one on China's War Vehicles, its Army's 70th Anniversary's FDC.)

Next is the millenium year First Day Covers. (Figures 4.1 -

Figure 4.1 & 4.1.a

This is the Singapore Millenium 2000 FDC, Issued on 1st January 2000.

It features the areas of importance in Singapore's growth, namely from left to right,
"Information Technology", "Arts and Culture","Heritage", and "Globalization".
This series was designed by Sylvia S H Tan.

Figure 4.2, 4.2.a & 4.2.b

This is Singapore's Zodiac Series - Dragon FDC.

This First Day Cover was very popular especially amongst chinese who believe that dragons are auspicious beings. Coupled with the rarity of the occurence of a millenium, I believe this FDC was quickly sold out and i was really lucky to have obtained one.

This beautiful masterpiece was designed by Nicodemus Loh Fook Chee.

Figure 4.3, 4.3.a & 4.3.b

This First Day Cover was issued on 23rd April, 1997. It features the Singapore transport system and is considered to be one of my personal favourites. The four modes of public transport featured are (Figure 4.3.a from left to right) "Taxi","Bus","MRT-Mass Rapid Transit", & "LRT-Light Rapid Transit".

This series was designed byDesign Business (S) Pte Ltd.

In addition to the beautiful front of First Day Covers, the back of the envelopes contains detailed information about that particular series of stamps. The details include, but are not limited to, Denominations, Stamp size, Perforation, Printing Process and even the Printer which, for the case of the transportation series, is Joh Enschede Security Printing.

That was all to the First Day Covers. I hope it helped you (all my readers) to understand more about First Day Covers and other unique ways of collecting stamps. Hope all of you enjoyed visiting my blog. Please come back again as my blog will still be updated despite the conclusion of the assignment for SIWM. Thank you.

2008-11-22T17:48:00.000-08:00

24th November 2008 [Monday] 10:15pm

Hello readers. If you've started a small stamp collection, I hope the your stamps are growing steadily in numbers. Now that you have a small collection of stamps, or for those who are already veteran stamp collectors, you might wish to look into this neat little "tool" that my mother created for me. Basically, it makes slotting stamps into the stamp albums so much less of a "chore". Not only does it prevent you from damaging the teeth edges (perforations) of the stamps, it will also dramatically reduce the amount of damage done to the stamp album.

Ok, this week I'll be posting about rare and unique stamps.

I'll start off by talking about rare and unique stamps. People have different definitions when it comes to what really is "rare" and what is "unique". Since it is subjective, then i shall not rank the stamps according to rarity. Rather, I would simply like to show you which are the stamps that i feel are unique.

Firstly, it is this Singapore stamp that is dated June 3, 1960. (in Figure 1)

Figure 1

National Day Singapore June 3, 1960 (4 cents)

It is before World War II! I'm amazed that this little stamp could survive the harsh days of japanese occupation and come into my collections. I can't imagine how much rampage, massacre and ravages its been through. Same goes for these stamps which are dated 1961 and 1962, June 3. (in Figure 2a,b,c,d)

Figure 2a

State of Singapore National Day 3 June 1961 (4 Cents)

Figure 2b

State of Singapore National Day 3 June 1961 (10 Cents)

Figure 2c

State of Singapore National Day 3 June 1962 (4 Cents)

Figure 2d

State of Singapore National Day 3 June 1961 (10 Cents)

They're all printed with the words "National Day". Thus from these stamps we can learn that before WWII, Singapore's National Day was probably on June 3, instead of August 9th.

Figure 1

Next, it is also Singapore stamps. Or rather, Singapore cum Malaysia stamps. As can be seen on the stamp, it has a Queen's figure head printed on it. Thus we can conclude, even without a date printed on the stamp, that the date of print was probably before World War II, when Singapore was still under British rule. The most important specialty about these stamps, is that instead of one country Singapore/Malaysia, it has both Singapore and Malaya(Malaysia was known by this name in the past) printed on it. (Figures 3a,b,c,d,e)

Figure 3a

Singapore Malaya (4 Cents)

Figure 3b

Singapore Malaya (2 Cents)

Figure 3c

Singapore Malaya (5 Cents)

Figure 3d

Singapore Malaya (10 Cents)

Figure 3e

Singapore Malaya (20 Cents)

Another huge set of unique stamps to look at would be the British stamps. They are the only stamps without the country's name printed on it. Instead, it uses the Queen's Figure Head to symbolize that the stamp is from UK.

Finally, here's my favourite stamp. It is a stamp from Thailand and features a The Royal Barge SUPHANNAHONG in 1997. It is special because it is by far the longest stamp (in length) that i have. I had to draw lots (upturned envelopes) at that time because my younger brother was collecting stamps too and my father had to maintain fairness. So he shuffled the envelopes and turned the back-up, only with a hint that one of them is special. (As seen in Figure 4a,b)

Figure 4a

Measurement of The Royal Barge SUPHANNAHONG in 1997

The Royal Barge SUPHANNAHONG in 1997

In Figure 5, I made a little comparison using the stamps as shown, to illustrate the difference in length.

Figure 5

Comparison of The Royal Barge SUPHANNAHONG in 1997 with standard local address Singapore stamps

That is all for now. Do please comment and please also say whether you feel that i have or have not done justice to the words "rare" or "unique". Thank you.

2008-11-21T19:58:00.000-08:00

22nd November 2008 [Saturday] 12pm

I'll keep this post short and cut to the chase. (Too much assignments to post more than twice a week in high-quantity posts).

Ok as promised, i'm going to describe how i sort my stamps. I will provide images as support at a later time.

Basically, I have several stamp albums, 4 to be exact. Of which the smallest album is empty. For it was originally meant for Singapore stamps, but my collection of Singapore stamps grew so huge that they no longer fit into the tiny stamp album, so i shifted them to a larger album.

Firstly, I sort my stamps based on countries; Singapore stamps take up several pages, then Canada stamps another few pages, Australia stamps yet another few, so on and so forth. After which, taking Singapore stamps as an example : I'd sort them into groups based on themes. Most of the singapore stamps are based on what was the latest happening at that time. For example, there's this group of stamps that show the various places of interest in Singapore. Also, there'd be horoscope based stamps, as well as festival based stamps. Of course not forgetting stamps promoting racial harmony. The racial harmony stamps are one of the best to collect because you'd always have four different colours of stamps that, when placed side by side, either form a bigger whole picture, or a group of complementing colours that appeal to the eyes.

As much as possible, place similar stamps in close proximity to each other so that when exchanges are carried out, you'll be able to locate your stamps with ease and save crucial time for more exchanges. For example, put the festival themed stamps on one page while the racial-themed stamps on another.

Thats all for now. Do check back for the next update on unique and rare stamps that I have collected. (Or at least I feel they're unique and rare). I'm off to exercise.

2008-11-18T06:33:00.000-08:00

18th November 2008 [Tuesday] 10:35pm

Ever since the early days, man has found a need to communicate with one another. The first communications came in the form of verbal exchanges and non-verbal interactions. Then with the widespread of trade, came the need to communicate with people in the distance. Pidgeons were utilized to send messages to destinations far far.......

Well, I guess I should cut to the chase. Afterall this blog is about stamps.

A basic introdution about stamps instead:

It was widely believed that the first postage stamp was the "Penny Black" and featured the young Queen Victoria as seen in Figure Alpha.

*Figure Alpha*

Image taken from:
Primary source :http://www.uno.edu/~asoble/main.htm
Linking source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Penny_black.jpg
~~

It was introduced in United Kingdom of Great Britain on 1st May 1840. It was a part of the postal reforms where postage fee was to be paid by the sender of documents instead of the receipient. The "Penny Black" did not have perforations then as that refinement was only introduced in the later issues.

Beginning:

Now, for any stamp collectors or the stamp collector wannabes, there are basically a few items that are necessary - the stamps, the stamp album, as well as a desire to collect as many different types of stamps as possible.

It is very easy to begin collecting stamps. Firstly, go to the nearest bookstore to obtain a small-sized stamp album, with the cover area to be approximately that of an A5 paper, as can be seen in figures 1a,b and c.

*Figure 1a *

*Figure 1b*

*Figure 1c *

This is how it looks like inside the album.

* Figure 2a *

*Figure 2b *

I guess you would want to watch your stamp album fill up as quickly as you can, because the longer time it is to fill up an album, the higher the likelihood of losing interest, however, the satisfaction derived from the completion is comparatively higher too.

Next, get the stamps.

There are many ways to obatin stamps. Kindly request that your parents, relatives and friends who are receiving letters and documents via snail-mail/postage to contribute the stamps on the envelopes to you. Otherwise, you could also purchase a set of stamps from the bookstore. This might spoil the fun, but essentially, the whole idea is to get the collection started.

Note: For some countries, the residents are able to obtain stamps from the philatelic museums that are usually located near the city centre. In that case, you might have a chance to booster-start your collection by obtaining a more unique set of stamps and uncommon stamp albums. In some cases, there might even be starter kits on sale for budding stamp collectors. Isn't it great?

This picture shows the plastic bag of Singapore's Philatelic Museum which you will obtain when you make a purchase there.

*Figure 3*

Once you have obtained the stamps and the stamp album, the next step is to prepare the stamps for insertion into the album. At this juncture, you might want to think of how you would like to organize your stamp album. You might want to sort the stamps according to various factors:

- Shape : i.e. Square-shaped ones take up the first 6 pages, triangular ones the next 5 pages etc.
- Value: i.e. Stamps with 10cents value take up first 10 pages, 20 cents the next 4 pages etc.
- Main colours: i.e. Stamps that are mainly blue in colour take up n-pages, while the ones mainly green in colour take up (n+2)-pages. (where n is a positive integer)

There are other methods like sorting according to themes : plants, animals, places of interest or festivals etc.

*Figure 4a *

As seen in Figure 4a, the animal-themed stamps are placed near the top of the page,
(Zoomed in focus as in Figure 4ai) whereas the transportation-themed stamps are grouped near the bottom of the page. (Zoomed in focus in Figure 4aii)

*Figure 4ai *

*Figure 4aii *

However, the most common way is to sort according to each stamp's country of origin.

Note: You might also wish to leave some spaces in between each group's allocation to allow space for future additions into your collection, as there is a high possibility that your 3rd uncle's friend's daughter's friend's parents' contribution of a very rare and unique stamp could fall into one of the categories that you've previously defined. I'm quite certain you wouldn't want to leave a special stamp out of your album, am I right?

That concludes my first post for this week of 17th - 23rd November 2008.
Here is a recommended site for more information on stamps.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamp

YET, it hasn't ended....

~~~~

In another post later this week, I will describe in as much detail as i can, how I arrange and sort my stamp collection, with the help of images. I hope that it will assist any new stamp collectors in generating ideas for sorting their own stamps, or bring about new ideas for existing stamp collectors.

{Disclaimer: For this post, other than *Figure Alpha*, the other images were taken using my mobile phone. I am not the creator of any items or objects featured in the images, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the stamp production factories for producing such wonderful stamps. I would also like to thank any other contributors who have directly or indirectly contributed to the completion of the items featured in the images. I would also like to thank wikipedia and its authors for providing me with research materials for the background of postage stamps and other valuable information.}

(In addition- Apologies to all visitors for the poor quality in the images. I do not have good photography skills.)

16th November 2008 [Sunday] 4:28pm

Welcome to my blog. My blog will be about the various hobbies that are present in the society or in the world at the moment.

However for a start, it will basically focus on item collection as a hobby. I hope to be able to maintain this blog for as long as there are hobbies in the society/world. Although this blog was created mainly for the purpose of completing a school assignment, but to all visitors I have only this to say -

"You will not leave this blog empty handed".

By that, what I mean is, I hope that everytime you navigate away from my blog, you leave with new insights and with better understanding of the hobbies that I will be blogging about. I will do my best to ensure that the quality of the blog posts are not compromised.

This is a simple schedule of my blog posts.

[edit- 25th November 2008] I have removed my schedule because i just received inspiration from my dad. Blog is not about writing a thesis, about having a specific schedule. Blogging is about newness, about interesting things, about surprises and excitement. So i've decided not to follow set schedule.