Stamp Collecting Merit Badge Requirements

8 Requirements Updated January 21, 2026 View Official Page ↗ Download Free Pamphlet ↓

Complete stamp collecting requirements including stamp mounting techniques, history research, collection organization, and philatelic knowledge to earn this merit badge.

Requirements

  1. Do the following:
    1. Discuss how you can better understand people, places, institutions, history, and geography as a result of collecting stamps.
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    2. Briefly describe some aspects of the history, growth, and development of the United States postal system. Tell how it is different from postal systems in other countries.
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  2. Define topical stamp collecting. Name and describe three other types of stamp collections.
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  3. Show at least ONE example of each of the following:
    1. Perforated and imperforate stamps
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    2. Mint and used stamps
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    3. Sheet, booklet, and coil stamps
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    4. Numbers on plate block, booklet, coil, or marginal markings
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    5. Overprint and surcharge
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    6. Metered mail
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    7. Definitive, commemorative, semipostal, and airmail stamps
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    8. Cancellation and postmark
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    9. First day cover
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    10. Postal stationery (aerogramme, stamped envelope, and postal card).
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  4. Do the following:
    1. Demonstrate the use of ONE standard catalog for several different stamp issues. Explain why catalog value can vary from the corresponding purchase price.
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    2. Explain the meaning of the term condition as used to describe a stamp. Show examples that illustrate the different factors that affect a stamp’s value.
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  5. Demonstrate the use of at least THREE of the following stamp collector’s tools:
    1. Stamp tongs
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    2. Water and tray
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    3. Magnifiers
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    4. Hinges and stamp mounts
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    5. Perforation gauge
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    6. Glassine envelopes and cover sleeves
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    7. Watermark fluid.
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  6. Do the following:
    1. Show a stamp album and how to mount stamps with or without hinges. Show at least ONE page that displays several stamps.
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    2. Discuss at least THREE ways you can help to preserve stamps, covers, and albums in first-class condition.
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  7. Do TWO of the following:
    1. Design a stamp, cancellation, or cachet.
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    2. Visit a post office, stamp club, or stamp show with an experienced collector. Explain what you saw and learned.
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    3. Write a review of an interesting article from a stamp newspaper, magazine, book, or website (with your parent or guardian’s permission).
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    4. Research and report on a famous stamp-related personality or the history behind a particular stamp.
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    5. Describe the steps taken to produce a stamp. Include the methods of printing, types of paper, perforation styles, and how they are gummed.
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    6. Prepare a two- to three-page display involving stamps. Using ingenuity, as well as clippings, drawings, etc., tell a story about the stamps , and how they relate to history, geography, or a favorite topic of yours.
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  8. Mount and show, in a purchased or homemade album, ONE of the following:
    1. A collection of 250 or more different stamps from at least 15 countries
    2. A collection of a stamp from each of 50 different countries, mounted on maps to show the location of each
    3. A collection of 100 or more different stamps from either one country or a group of closely related countries
    4. A collection of 75 or more different stamps on a single topic. (Some interesting topics are Scouting, birds, insects, the Olympics, sports, flowers, animals, ships, holidays, trains, famous people, space, and medicine). Stamps may be from different countries.
    5. A collection of postal items discovered in your mail by monitoring it over a period of 30 days. Include at least five different types listed in requirement 3.
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