Instructor Biography
Basic Stamp Collecting

Ada Prill

Welcome to Stamp Collecting 101. My name is Ada Prill, and I'll be helping you discover the fun and challenge of stamp collecting. I have taught "live" classes in an American Philatelic Society program called "Stamp Saturday" -- a beginning stamp collecting course for adults -- at stamp shows for several years. In those classes we try to fit everything into one half-day program. In this course we will have a lot more time to explore our topic, Basic Stamp Collecting, over the next few weeks and to get to know each other and our collecting interests.

Collecting stamps is a very individual hobby, even when it is done in a group setting. When I attend meetings of my local stamp club, there are typically 35 people there, no two of whom collect the same way. One collects the stamps of the Ryukyu Islands and also is interested in pharmacy on stamps. Another collects varieties of the 2-cent red U.S. stamps of the 1890's. Still another is a general worldwide collector but has a special interest in ceramics on stamps. All have a common vocabulary of stamp collecting terms, a respect for what the others are doing, and an interest in learning about different branches of our hobby, even the ones they will never actively pursue themselves. I hope that by the time this course is finished our class will have a similar experience of learning from each other as we develop our separate philatelic interests.

Many adult collectors had stamp collections as children, put them aside for a few years, and started again as adults. My own history is a variation on that theme. I did not have much interest in collecting stamps myself as a child, but my mother, older brother, and aunt were avid stamp collectors. I spent hours looking at their stamps, especially my brother's worldwide collection, and later found that I knew a lot more about the world and its people than did classmates who did not have access to these fascinating little bits of paper. I always saved interesting stamps from my mail to give to family members, and I always used the prettiest stamps I could buy at the post office to mail my letters. When my daughter was 9 years old, I decided it would be good for her to learn history, geography, anthropology, and other subjects in the same painless way I had. We started collecting stamps together. A few years later she lost interest in stamps; I was hooked -- permanently.

Aside from my own collections (my main collecting interest is the postal markings of Delaware County, New York, but I have a lot of others as well), I have become involved with stamp shows and encouraging stamp exhibiting. I have been exhibits chairperson for the ROPEX stamp show in Rochester, New York, for nine years. In addition I serve as director of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors' Youth Championship program. I have held offices in the Rochester Philatelic Association, and I'm a member of the Committee for Outreach and Diversity of the American Philatelic Society. I also enjoy trading mail art with the members of the Art Cover Exchange (ACE). In addition, I serve as chairperson of Special Projects for the ACE, which was accepted as an APS Affiliate in February 2000.

Aside from philately, I have diverse interests such as photography, bicycling, folk music, reading mysteries, and gourmet vegetarian cooking. I love to travel and go to as many stamp shows all over the country as I can afford. My husband has no interest in philately, unfortunately, but tries to respect my involvement.

As we begin this course remember: There is no "right" way to collect, but there are some "wrong" ways -- things that harm the stamps or covers -- that I hope to help you avoid.

There are tools and techniques that make it easier and more fun to pursue this hobby. It is my hope that by the end of this course you will have acquired the knowledge that will help you collect stamps your own way with maximum enjoyment, and also that you will also be able to appreciate the beauty and fascination of items that your fellow collectors show you. Ask lots of questions, even the ones you think are "dumb." Chances are several other people in the course would like to know the answer as well. I don't promise to have all the answers, but together we can find many of them.

Let us begin to learn from each other.