How to Start Stamp Collecting on a Budget

     Stamp collecting is the best thing to do in Neopia. It’s true! Unfortunately, a lot of people are intimidated by stamp collecting because they think it will be too expensive and time consuming. I’m here to tell you it does not have to be! There are a lot of different ways stamps can be acquired beyond spending millions on stamps from the Post Office, user shops, auctions, and the trading post. Hopefully in this article you can learn a thing or two and become inspired to join the world of philately! Here I am going to list a daily activity that is either free or very cheap (I consider cheap to be less than 2,000 nps) that could reward you with stamps just for participating! Without further ado, here is how to start your collection!

     Anchor Management

     I am going to start with the best type of daily: the free daily! Free is my favorite flavor. Anchor Management requires you to Fire!!! at some danger lurkin’ in the waters off of Krawk Island. If you click and you are lucky, you could be rewarded with one of a couple different album items, including Adopt A Grundo Coin, Grobleen Salad Coin, and Pirate Attack Stamp. If you get one, go ahead and add it to your album! Visiting Anchor Management also gives you the chance to win the 9 different pieces to the Forgotten Shore Map. Stay tuned, those will come in handy!

      The Forgotten Shore

     See, I told you those map pieces would come in handy! After you have all 9 and have redeemed them, you will gain access to the Forgotten Shore on Krawk Island. It is located just above the Governor’s Mansion. If you visit the Shore and you see a blue coin or a necklace in the sand, congratulations! You’ve won an album item! The possible coins are Adopt a Grundo Coin, Ancient Peophin Maractite Coin, Cosmic Cheese Stars Coin, Dual Tone Maractite Coin, Gormball Coin, Grobleen Salad Coin, Grundo Veggieballs Coin, Grundo Warehouse Coin, H4000 Helmet Coin, Half Maractite Coin, Maraquan Kau Maractite Coin, Round Maractite Coin, Seaweed Design Maractite Coin, and Squared Maractite Coin, The necklace will give you an item for your Treasures of the Deep album, including Bangles of the Deep, Circlet of the Deep, Earrings of the Deep, Hairpin of the Deep, Necklace of the Deep, and Tiara of the Deep. There are quite a few different types of prizes beyond stamps including morphing potions, backgrounds, doubloons, and an avatar, so come back every day!

      Council Chamber

     If you have completed the Altador Plot, then this is another free daily you have access to. Visiting King Altador daily in his Chamber will reward you with one of quite a few possible items. Of those items are two shells for your Sea Shell album. These are the Green Clam Shell and the Purple Scallop Shell. Not too bad for finding some constellations! If you have not completed the Altador Plot, what are you doing? Go do finish it! It is very fun and a great activity.

      Grave Danger

     Now we reach one of the dailies that stamp collectors new and old alike frequent! The reason most people visit Grave Danger in Neovia is for the elusive Grave Danger Stamp which is incredibly rare. The way this works is you choose one of your Petpets to venture down into the Catacombs below Neovia. Then, a countdown begins for between 3 and 10 hours for when they will return with a treasure! Do not worry, your Petpet will absolutely return, there is no risk of losing it down there. There are a couple prizes exclusive to Grave Danger such as the highly sought after Grave Danger Stamp. What some people forget is you can also get quite a few other stamps as well! Other possible album prizes include Biyako Stamp, Fauna Stamp, Halloween Ona Stamp, and Korbats Lab Stamp. Unfortunately, the Orange Gummy Stamp is just a trick. It is candy! Since the timer is random it is actually possible to get a prize from Grave Danger multiple times a day, so go ahead and start exploring!

      Apple Bobbing

     With this entry, we have reached the last completely free daily, with some caveats. The Apple Bobbing Cart is located in the Haunted Faire and is owned by Bart the Gnorbu. Once a day he will give you the chance to stick your face in the water and try and bob out an apple! There are quite a few rare apple bobbing prizes that are worth trying for, but this is an article about album items! There are three possible album items you could receive as a prize: Imposter Apple Collectable Charm, Korbats Lab Stamp, and Spooky Gravestone Stamp. BE WARNED though, there are some possible negative outcomes. These include losing some Neopoints, losing a random item from your inventory, losing hit points, or contracting the sickness Blurred Vision. Both of these stamps are also available from other dailies, so make sure you fully understand the possible consequences before proceeding! There is an avatar available for this daily as well, so if you are going for that keep an eye out for those album items!

      Coconut Shy

     After you are finished with the Apple Bobbing in the Haunted Faire, you can travel over to the Deserted Fairground and throw some balls at coconuts with Leeroy the Quiggle. This totally not rigged game is the only place you can obtain most of the Evil Coconuts for your Evil Coconut album. Each ball you throw costs 100np. If you manage to completely knock a coconut off, you will be awarded 10,000nps, an avatar (if you have not received it already), and one of 23 Evil Coconuts! The possibilities are the Angry, Burning, Damaged, Golden, Hairy, Horned, Infernal, Light Brown, Mini, Moaning, Monstrous, One Eyed, Painted, Scorched, Screaming, Silent, Sinister, Sliced, Stitched, Tusked, Ugly, Vicious, and Wailing Evil Coconut. The Flaming, Seasonal, and Ghostly Evil Coconuts are not available from the Coconut Shy and all were released from previous events. I do not have any tips about getting the coconuts to fall, but I will heavily suggest muting your sound. Leeroy’s evil giggles at your expense are not fun to listen to after your 20 daily throws!

      Faerie Caverns

     If you are interested in avatars, then you already know about the dreaded Faerie Caverns Stamp. It is an incredibly rare stamp that is only given out from this daily and is part of one of the most sought after stamp collector avatars, Faerieland! Once a day you can pay 400np to enter the Caverns and try and make it to the treasure. You will be presented with a fork in the road and you can choose to go left or right. If you choose correctly, you will be faced with another fork. If you choose correctly again, you reach the treasure chest! Upon claiming your prize, you will receive a random amount of Neopoints and you have the chance to also receive one of 5 prizes specific to the Faerie Caverns. The elusive Faerie Caverns Stamp is one of those items. It is difficult to make it to the end, and the items are very rare once you do make it, so do not give up! If you like battling in the Battledome and participate in the Battleground of the Obelisk, there is a boon that you could win that will help you here! It is called the Cartogriphication boon, and choosing it will allow you to make it to the treasure chest every day while the boon is active! This will greatly improve your chances of finding that lucky item at the end of the cavern.

      Battledome

     Speaking of battling, one great perk of the new Battledome is winning daily prizes! If you have a pet you like to battle with, there are quite a few album items available from different challengers. Some of the challengers are quite difficult so unless you have already put some time and effort into raising a battle bet, they could be impossible to beat. Any challenger you battle in the Dome of the Deep has the chance to award you the Maraquan Defenders Stamp and Maraquan Troops Stamp. The Evil Sloth Clone can award the Grinning Sloth Stamp, Lava Ghoul can award the Lava Monster Stamp, Tiki Tack Man has the chance for the Mystery Island Travel Stamp, Jelly Chia has both the Jelly Pop Stamp and Jelly World Stamp, The Brain Tree could give the Brain Tree Stamp, and Esophagor has the chance of winning the Esophagor Stamp and the Moonlit Esophagor Stamp. Get out there and battle and you could get very lucky!

      The Wishing Well

     Finally, this may be my favorite daily to try and actively win album items for cheap. The Wishing Well in the Neopian Plaza in Neopia Central will grant the wishes of 20 people a day, 10 in the morning and 10 at night. The trick to the well is it will only award an item of r89 or lower, and you have to donate at least 21 Neopoints per wish to be considered. You can enter 7 times per wish period, meaning 7 times before the morning wishes are granted and 7 times before the night wishes are granted for 14 total wishes per day. What I like to do is choose an item I want and put it for each donation. I like to wish 21, then 22, then 23, on to 27 to make sure I get all 7 of my wishes in and I do not get distracted. This method will cost you 168 nps each time, and you have the chance of getting some very expensive stamps! Because the only requirement is being r89 or lower, you can basically get every album item this way. This is a great way to get a newly announced stamp without paying new stamp prices, or to save some Neopoints and add some of the more expensive ones in this range such as Christmas Scene Stamp, Super Bright Rainbow Pool Stamp, Fountain Faerie Stamp, or Snowager Stamp. Keep at it and you will absolutely get your wish granted!

          Well here we are, we have reached the end of my suggestions. I hope you have added some new dailies to your Neopets routine and that I have inspired you to give stamp collecting a try. Collecting is first and foremost about fun, so do not let the big price tags of some incredibly rare stamps scare you off! Many stamps are easily and readily available and just waiting for you to win them. Once you start adding stamps and see your album start to fill up, you will not want to stop! Good luck on your stamp quest!