XANTHE'S
STAMP MAGAZINE

As some of you will know, I have been looking at different ways to get your stamps. So far, I have considered: 1. Approvals 2. Kidstamps (if you're a young person!) 3. Philatelic Bureaux 4. Stamp fairs Today I have going to look at Ebay and ask how this compares to the others. Lots of people are buying stamps online and Ebay has millions of listings - just today I found 840,000 listings for GB stamps, and that is without looking at the rest of the world. That's a lot of s

Tomorrow is Hallowe'en... so what could be better than talking about Hallowe'en stamps? I'm afraid I don't have many of them in my collection, but I had a chat with Michael Burzan on e-mail a few weeks ago and he gave me some ideas. I decided to take a look at some of the Hallowe'en stamps from around the world. Did you know that Royal Mail once created a Hallowe'en stamp? Not so long ago in fact - in 2019, as part of a set celebrating events and festivals. One of the £1.55 v

Heidi (left) and Xanthe (right) interviewing PTS Chairman Simon Carson This was the fourth time I have been to a large stamp event at the Business Design Centre in London but only the third Stampex as my first time was for London 2022 International Stamp Exhibition. Things have changed in a short time, but some things stay the same. It is always reassuring to see friendly dealers and talk to people who know a lot about philately. I don't think that will ever change so long a

At Stampex, my sister Heidi and I met with Simon Carson, the chair of the Philatelic Traders Society (PTS). The PTS is a very important and influential organisation and one of the many things it does is organise Stampex. Simon very generously agreed to spend fifteen minutes talking to us about the PTS, Stampex and collecting generally. Heidi: What makes Stampex special compared to other stamp shows? Simon: Stampex is a very, very special stamp show because it's the sort of n

In the next few days I will be writing a lot about Stampex, which was held in London last week. During Stampex I was able to interview some very interesting people. The first of these is Susan Henderson, from the Stamp Active Network. Some of you will know about Stamp Active but, if you don't, it promotes stamp collecting for young people in the UK. Stamp Active also runs a club for young collectors, called Kidstamps. My sister Heidi and I caught up with Susan at the end of

"No-one gets stamps on their mail any more!" - at least that's what a lot of people say. The trouble with that is that I get a lot of...

In this month's edition of Stamp Collector , I read about something new - The Stamp Rain Project . Michael Burzan, who is a regular...

It's been a while since I looked at the different ways you can get your stamps. I've previously written about approvals , Kidstamps (f...

Showing your stamps at an exhibition can be really rewarding - here's why! Showing your stamps can be a really great thing to do! I did...

Robert Laidler was a stamp dealer and for the last three or four years he sent me approvals. I talked about him last year when I wrote...

Today I received a copy of Stamp Magazine . I have been reading it for several years. It is always interesting and I learn a lot from...

Christmas Stamps purchased from Jersey Post There are so many places you can get stamps. So far I've looked at approvals and Kidstamps . Today I'm going to tell you about philatelic bureaux. Every country that issues stamps has a philatelic bureau. They offer collectors the opportunity to buy new stamps and recent issues. I often buy stamps from Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man, Luxembourg, Gibraltar, Ireland and Switzerland this way. There are some good reasons to buy stam

First Day Covers and PHQ cards from Kidstamps A few months ago I talked about getting stamps on approval. Today I'm going to tell you...

I have been collecting stamps for a few years now. I think it's a great interest to have but there are people who ask "What's the point...

Discovering Cinderellas in Devon and Cornwall The MS Oldenburg, Lundy's passenger ship Last week I went on holiday with my family. We...

When you start collecting stamps, what are the best ways to add to your collection? In the next few weeks I am going to look at the...