Some Fun Facts About Stamps


Stamp collecting is an educational, engaging hobby that is enjoyed all over the world by people of all ages, young and old. It can be the hobby of a lifetime or a means of investing money that's relatively safe since it's not subject to the ups and downs of the stock market.


Here are some fun facts about stamps and stamp collecting:


Postage stamps are currently produced by more than 200 countries, and despite the advent of the Internet and email, more and more stamps are being issued each year.

Many children collect stamps, but even more stamp collectors are adults.

Stamps come in a variety of shapes, including rectangular, square, round and triangular. Tonga issued banana-shaped stamps, and Bhutan produced circular stamps that looked like vinyl records. If they were put onto a record player, they played the Bhutanese national anthem!

The world's first self-adhesive stamp was issued by African country Sierra Leone in 1964. Now, only 45 years later, it almost seems like every new stamp is a self-adhesive.

The world's first adhesive postage stamp was issued by Great Britain in 1840. It's known as the "Penny Black" because it's black and it's original cost was one penny. Nowadays it's worth a lot more than that.