There are many ways to get postage stamps for your collection. The most common method is to ask friends and neighbors to save them for you from their incoming mail. Tell them to save the whole envelope since you want to cut off the stamps yourself. This way, you can make certain that the stamp doesn't get torn when being removed from the envelope.

Besides, if the envelope has an unusual postmark, you may want to save the whole envelope for your collection.

You will find that collecting commemorative stamps (these usually honor famous people, places or events) is harder than collecting definitive stamps (these are the common smaller stamps) used in large quantities by mass mailers. Ask your friends to use commemorative stamps on their mail to you.

It costs them nothing extra and you gain some nice items for your collection.

If you know someone who works in an office, or some place that receives a lot of mail, especially from others places in the world, ask them to be on the lookout for stamps and save them for you.

They probably will be happy to save envelopes for you that otherwise would be thrown away. They may even be able to get foreign stamps off their incoming mail. Recently, many thousands of letters arrived in the U. S. from Nigeria asking for money. It was found that many of the stamps used on these envelopes were forgeries and they may be a valuable collectible in the future.

Ask your relatives or friends of your family for stamps. You never know what may turn up. Once people know about your interest, they won't mind keeping an eye out for stamps. The more people you ask, the better your chances!

Another good source of stamps is an old-time stamp collector. They usually have many duplicates lying around and would be very happy to give them to someone who would appreciate them.

Then you can always buy them. This can be done in several ways. AskPhil has a listing of stamp clubs and dealers, including an article on how to Buy Stamps. Look for one in your area. The stamp club often has boxes of stamps for sale at an inexpensive price. This may be a good way to find another collector who would be willing to share their duplicate stamps with you.

Dealers may have a barrel or huge box of stamps at a few cents per stamp. You can usually buy these by the bag full or get a reduction for quantity. When you find that you have a lot of duplicate stamps, you can start trading them with someone else or offer them to another person to help them get started in stamp collecting.