Most collectors (of any kind) struggle with storage related questions. I know a lot can be said about this topic (and I will do so in next 4-5 upcoming posts), but IMO the photos below (of my “stamp room”) summarize the meaning and importance of (somewhat proper) storage.

I think this is what most collectors hope their collections would look like: organized, clean and neat. I confess, some parts of my worldwide collection don’t look as good as this

Stamp related catalogues, books and other publications (including magazines) are essential assets for any collector.   I know from experience that these take up a lot of space (especially if you are one of those guys/gals who never throws anything away)… Digital publications are “hot topic” even in publishing world, but I must confess that I still prefer  the printed versions of everything.  This is a “printed matter hobby”, and I love it as it is.

Acquiring / getting new items is the fun part that every stamp collector loves. I try to place “incoming” stamps ASAP to appropiate place in collection, but sometimes my ASAP can mean months.  Thus I have build a simple storage system for incoming material: everything is sorted to country specific envolopes or glassines stored in a shoebox.

Some of the incoming stuff is on-paper (meaning kiloware), or single items that need soaking (like old/dirty stamps).  Once again I try to keep things organized and have sorted material to country/continent specificly to pile of boxes.

This is where most of the action happens: my “stamp desk”.  And yes, I know it could need some sorting  ;)

And finally the most dreaded territory of my “stamp room”… The duplicates and extras. These I have crammed to country/continent specific envolopes, stockbooks, boxes etc.  Trust me; I’m working very hard to get rid of these… LOL

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