Young stamp collectors will be searching through thousands of stamps to find items to start or expand their collections during the 23rd annual Youth Stamp Fair on Oct. 19 at the Dudley House Museum, 197 N. Ashwood Ave. (Ashwood Avenue and Loma Vista Road), Ventura.

The free event, sponsored by the Ventura County Philatelic Society and the Anacapa Middle School Stamp Club, will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and feature contests, door prizes, and information about the basics of stamp collecting. The event is open to the young and young at heart who want to learn more about stamp collecting, which has been called the king of hobbies and hobby of kings, but the contests are limited to those 18 and under. The young visitors will be asked to guess the number of stamps in a large jar, and the person who has the closest guess to the actual number without going over the number will win the jar and a collector’s kit. Young artists can prepare a cachet (pictorial envelope) at the event, and first-, second- and third-place winners will be chosen in three age groups. All the winners will be notified by mail and invited to the awards presentation during a meeting of the Ventura County Philatelic Society on Nov. 18.

The most popular part of the event is the pick-and-choose area, where visitors can search through thousands of U.S. and foreign stamps to find items for their collections. The stamps are free to children, but adults are asked to pay 5 cents each for stamps they take.

Several workstations will introduce the visitors to basic stamp collecting techniques: how and why to get stamps off paper; how to detect watermarks (designs in the paper) and measure perforations (the holes around the edges of stamps); how to identify stamps; and how to safely store stamps and other philatelic material. Other stations will introduce visitors to topical collecting (saving by stamp’s subjects rather than the countries that issued them), and collecting covers (postal stationery and envelopes that have been sent through the mail). Visitors will also be able to make bookmarks with the stamps of their choice.

A special cancel picturing one of the entries to the Olivas Adobe in Ventura will be available at the event. The picture was drawn by Carolyn Weber, a member of the Ventura County Philatelic Society. The entries in the cachet contest will automatically receive the cancel. Others who want a copy of the cancel may bring envelopes or other items bearing first-class postage to the event for cancellation.

More information about the event may be obtained from Chairman John Weigle at 485-7121 or by email at jweigle@cipcug.org. Weigle, who lives in Oxnard, also advises the Anacapa Middle School Stamp Club.

The Ventura County Philatelic Society meets on the first and third Mondays of the month at the Church of the Foothills, 6279 Foothill Road, Ventura. The doors open at 7 p.m. and visitors are welcome. The Anacapa Middle School Stamp Club meets during the lunch hour on Mondays during the school year and is open only to Anacapa students.