Hobby of collecting stamp began shortly after 6th May 1840, when the world’s first postage stamp ‘PENNY BLACK’ (with portrait of Queen Victoria) was issued in London. By the 1860s, stamp collecting had become a popular hobby.
There is magic in postage stamps! You can travel around the world without leaving your seat. Hobby of stamp collecting broadens one’s horizon, brings people together, and widens the knowledge of geography, history, science and technology. Postage stamps are unique and endless source of knowledge about events, places, sites, people, culture and traditions. Among the children, this hobby arouses curiosity, stirs imagination, develop tendency to analyze subjects, helps to cultivate the good habit of patience and fosters friendship.
Now the stamp collecting has not remained as a hobby but has blossomed full fledge science of Philately. There are various branches in this field. Philatelists not only collects stamps but they also collects, postal stationery, flight covers, exhibition covers, meter franking, exhibition covers, revenue and court fee stamps, stamp papers and postal history. Thematic collection has now become boon in philately. It is a subject wise collection (e.g. Butterfly, Flowers, Dentistry, Birds, Animals, Ships, Fishes, Sports, Aircrafts, Milk, etc.) For developing your theme/topic, you have to study catalogues, reference books on that particular subject. When a theme is properly researched, philatelically as well as academically, the collector will have a vast amount of background information. So the thematic collection makes you master of that particular subject. That is why this hobby is a knowledge-based hobby and I call it ‘EDUTAINMENT’ (Entertainment with Education).
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