HastyStamp collecting for beginners: philately, postmarks and postcard collecting
8 October 2026 · Hasty
The short answer: start by keeping the stamps that come to you, soak them off their envelopes, and sort them by country or theme. That’s philately, the collecting and study of stamps. Postcard collecting is called deltiology.
Getting started
- Pick a focus: a country, a theme (birds, ships, space), or simply “everything I receive”.
- Soak stamps off paper in cool water, dry them flat, and handle them with tongs.
- Keep them in a stock book or album.
Postmarks and postal history
A postmark records where and when a letter was posted. Collectors of postal history keep whole envelopes, because the postmarks, routes and rates tell the story of how a letter travelled.
Postcard collecting (deltiology)
Postcards are collected by place, era, artist or theme. Postcard swaps and postcard pen pals are an easy way to grow a collection from around the world.
Stamp trading
Swapping duplicates is half the fun. Trade with friends, clubs or online communities, and agree on what you’re swapping before you send.
Collecting digitally
Hasty is a pen pal app with a collection built in: stamps, postcards and stationery arrive with letters, many of them vintage designs from public-domain collections, each with a rarity. You can swap spares in a blind exchange, like for like, without seeing which one you’ll get.
Letters that take the long way
Hasty is a slow, calm pen pal app for adults, coming soon to Android. Be the first to write.
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Questions people ask
Is there a collecting app for stamps and postcards?
Yes. A collecting app lets you collect digitally. Digital collecting is a modern collecting hobby; Hasty sends stamps and the digital postcard collection with letters.