A Postage stamp design and error

This Philippine stamp of 1932 is captioned Pagsanjan Falls, but actually depicts Vernal Fall; compare the photo below.

A postage stamp design error is a mistake made during the design phase of the postage stamp production process. Design errors most commonly occur as minor mistakes, such as a missing letter in the binomial name of an organism depicted on the stamp, but some have been major gaffes, such as a map appearing to lay claim to another country's territory, or the depiction of the wrong person on the stamp.

Design successes and failure

In the end, successful stamp designs receive relatively little notice from the general public, but considerable praise from the philatelic press. On the other side, design errors regularly get through the multiple stages of review and checking. Errors have ranged from minute points of rendition (such as the subtly-reversed ears on an Austrian stamp of the 1930s), to misrepresentations of disputed territory in maps, to mistaken text.

Another category of failure includes designs that are simply rejected by the stamp-buying public. The 1970s-era anti-alcoholism stamp of the US is a well-known example; it consists merely of the slogan "Alcoholism: You Can Beat It!", which must have looked good during the design process, but affixed to the corner of an envelope it suggests that the recipient is an alcoholic in need of public encouragement, and few people ever used this stamp on their mail.

Starting to collect the stamps

Collecting Procedures
One of the attractions of stamp collecting is the ease of starting a collection. With access to enough incoming mail, especially from abroad, a person can build a collection without any expense. Literally tens of thousands of stamps, however, including many of the older issues, are priced very cheaply.

Little special equipment is required. A collector needs only an album to house the collection, some hinges or other types of mounts to attach the stamps to the pages, and a pair of stamp tongs with which to handle them. Stamps and accessories can be purchased easily. Nearly every city has a one or more professional stamp dealers. Thousands of other dealers operate exclusively by mail or the Internet.

Exchanging duplicate stamps is one of the greatest pleasures in philately. The best way to find trading partners is to join a school or other local stamp club.
further reading These sources provide additional information on Stamps and Stamp Collecting.
When collectors have accumulated a number of valuable stamps, they must take precautions for safe storage, preferably in a bank safety deposit box. If the stamps are in mint condition, they should not be overlapped; through changes in humidity, overlapping stamps may stick together and become seriously damaged. Collectors also should keep accurate written inventories of all their philatelic material.
source: encarta encyclopedia.

Preparations

1. stamps album or a school binder
2. Stamps tongs
3. Stamps hinges
4. Glassine envelopes
5. Magnifying glass
6. Perforation gauge
7. Watermark detector
8. Stamps catalogue

Type of collections

1. Serious stamps collecting
2. topical stamps collecting
3. Nation's postage stamps collecting
4. Collecting only First day cover
5. Collecting only Commemorative stamps
6. Collecting only certain kinds of stamps