[00:09.09]Reading
[00:10.74]COLLECTING STAMPS AND COINS
[00:14.18]Staring a stamp collection is easy and not very expensive.
[00:19.44]Before you start, you need to decide what kind of stamps you want to collect.
[00:25.60]Most people collect stamps that have something to do with what they are interested in:
[00:31.22]a certain country, a type of animal,
[00:34.56]a famous person or even a sport.
[00:37.72]Whatever you choose, you will find that there is a world of knowledge in stamps:
[00:43.94]you will learn about people, geography, architecture, history and culture.
[00:49.87]Once you know what you want to collect,
[00:53.52]there are a few thins you need.
[00:55.80]First of all, you need stamps, of course.
[00:59.85]Luckily, it is easy to get hold of them.
[01:03.29]You can collect stamps that come to your in the mail,
[01:07.34]ask your friends to let you have their old stamps,
[01:10.66]or you can buy used stamps.
[01:13.01]When you get a letter with a stamp on it,
[01:16.38]carefully cut out the stamp.
[01:18.52]Leave lots of room around the stamp so that you will not damage it.
[01:23.38]Put the stamp in water and wait until the water has dissolved the glue so that you can safely remove the stamp.
[01:31.25]Carefully lift the stamp off the paper and place it on a clean sheet of paper to dry.
[01:38.22]A stamp can get wrinkled and ugly when it dries,
[01:42.58]so place the wet stamp between two clean sheets of paper and put some books on top.
[01:49.06]You do not need much equipment to collect stamps,
[01:53.01]but it is necessary to have a pair of tweezers and a magnifying glass.
[01:57.94]The tweezers will help you to handle stamps and the magnifying glass help you see details and discover tiny faults.
[02:06.48]It is also important to have a good album to put the stamps in.
[02:11.53]For most collectors, the joy of collecting and learning about the items is the most important,
[02:18.79]but collections can become worth a lot of money.
[02:22.03]A collection becomes valuable if it is complete,
[02:25.97]that is, if it includes all the items in a series,
[02:29.81]or if it contains rare items.
[02:32.58]Stamps can also become valuable if there is something wrong with them.
[02:37.41]A Swedish stamp, issued in 1855,
[02:41.67]was printed on yellow paper instead of the green paper that should have been used.
[02:47.24]As a result, a stamp that had only cost a few pennies became worth millions of dollars.
[02:54.65]The only existing copy of the stamp was found by a young boy looking through his grandfather’s collection.
[03:02.10]The stamp was sold to a collector in 1996 for ＄2.3 million!
[03:09.18]Collecting cons is not quite as easy as collecting stamps,
[03:14.04]but beginners can start by going through the change in their pockets,
[03:18.06]that is, collect coins which are in circulation.
[03:21.33]Someone who wants to start a collection can also contact a club for coin collectors or ask a relative or friend who collect coins.
[03:31.57]Experienced collectors usually have more than one coin of a certain kind and will not mind sharing the extra ones.
[03:40.19]They can also provide helpful advice about where to buy old or rare coins.
[03:46.53]Most collectors begin by collecting coins from their own country.
[03:51.58]A collection can be built around any theme,
[03:55.13]but coin collectors often arrange their collections based on where and when the coin was made
[04:01.58]As with stamps, you do not need a lot of special tools or equipment.
[04:08.01]You do need a safe place to store the coins.
[04:11.27]There are inexpensive albums that will protect your coins while still allowing you and your friends to enjoy them.
[04:19.21]You can hold the coins with you bare hands,
[04:22.87]but you should wear gloves if it is a valuable coin.
[04:26.79]Never touch the face or back of a coin.
[04:30.08]The dirt on your fingers will destroy the surface of the coin.
[04:34.76]Nor should you ever clean an old coin-if you do,
[04:39.88]the coin will lose its value
[04:41.91]You can clean ordinary coins if you wish:
[04:45.44]copper coins can be cleaned with vegetable oil and silver coins with common soap.
[04:51.29]After cleaning the coins, wipe them with a clean cloth.
[04:56.15]Never use any strong or dangerous chemicals.
[04:59.81]Perhaps the most valuable coin in the world is the 1933 “Double Eagle”.
[05:06.89]The coin was first issued in 1850 and was made of gold from California.
[05:13.65]The coin was changed in 1907 and was used until 1933,
[05:19.90]when the American government decided to take the country off the gold standard.
[05:24.86]People were no longer allowed to own the coin,
[05:28.99]and all the coins were brought back to the bank,
[05:31.55]where all but two were destroyed.
[05:33.98]The two coins that were left were kept in a museum.
[05:38.34]Some coins stolen, but all of them were found by the police-except for one!
[05:44.27]The last “Double Eagle” remained missing until 1996,
[05:49.91]when police officers managed to get the coin back in secret operation.
[05:55.37]The government allowed the coin to be privately owned and it was sold to a collector for 7.5 million dollars |