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What is Philately?
Philately or stamp collecting is considered the world's most
fascinating hobby. Through philately, you can learn of a
country's history, art, culture, and industry as depicted in
special commemorative stamps.
Philatelic stamps come in different forms: Mint, Cancelled,
Setenant, Souvenir sheets, and Sheetlets.
Other Philatelic products such as first-day covers, stamp albums
and presentation packs are available at the Stamp and Philatelic
Division of the Manila Central Post Office and in major post
offices nationwide.
Stamp collecting guide
To outline all of the facets and sidelines of stamp collecting
is much like trying to define outer space. Each has almost
limitless boundaries. While this document will explore the more
common philatelic pursuits, the possibilities are by no means
complete. They can never be complete, because collecting stamps
and related material defies full annotation.
Stamp collecting's charm is its individual, tailor-made freedom
to fit the desires of any collector for as much as he wishes to
spend in time, money and effort. For beginning collectors, one
good advice is not to take on more than they can handle
comfortably in all of those areas. That maxim applies whether
stamps are collected by country, by topic, by time period or
within any other personal parameters.
Many years ago, it was possible to collect all the stamps of the
world. A small, optimistic minority may still try to do so. But
with more than a half million stamps already issued worldwide,
and with thousands more being released each year, that is an
impossible dream even for the opulent few. Great rarities and
thousands of varieties now make it impractical for anyone,
however wealthy, to attain world completeness.
The following guidelines may aid you in whatever your collecting choices may be.
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