If you are new to stamp collecting or looking to upgrade your kit, then which tweezers, or ‘tongs’, you should be using may be at the forefront of your mind. This is a comprehensive post about this essential stamp-collecting tool.
The best tweezers for you will come down to personal taste and your ability to use a specific design effectively and confidently. Tweezers are an essential part of the stamp collecting kit and are almost as important as having the stamps themselves. Choosing the correct pair designed for handling postage stamps, will help you to work efficiently and effectively with your collection whilst eliminating any damage via handling them incorrectly.
To be honest, knowing which tweezers not to use is about as important as knowing which tweezers you should use. There are loads of designs and brands out there for you to choose from – this is why I am here to help you, because it might seem a little bit overwhelming at first 😁. This post is going to be a combination of my own experience and the experiences of others sourced from around the ‘webiverse’ for your reading delight. I think a lot of the enjoyment in choosing your desired tweezer comes from reading the opinions of others, so I have included some wonderful anecdotes from the philatelic community to keep us engaged along the way 🙃.
[Side Note: If you’re curious about whether they are ‘tweezers’ or ‘tongs’, that is a topic for a future post! If you normally call them tongs, I apologise. You may get annoyed by this post, as I refer to them as ‘tweezers’ throughout. Generally speaking, the US use ‘tongs’, the German ‘pinzetten’ (translates to a ‘pair of tweezers’) and the UK use ‘tweezers’.]
Why use tweezers or tongs at all?
Tweezers are extremely important to use when sorting stamps because they prevent the grease and muck from your hands transferring onto the stamps, and reduce the likelihood of damage. If you’ve ever tried to sort CTO (Cancelled To Order) or mint stamps with slightly sweaty hands, you’ll understand what I mean! They make it easier to slip stamps into, and out of, stock books and bags and keep things cleaner all round.
At first, you may find it difficult to wield tweezers, but try to keep at it and it will become easier eventually. There are a few different lengths, weights, shapes and even colours of tweezers to try if you are struggling with a certain type.
Tweezers are very affordable with prices ranging from £6-15 (approx. $8-18) delivered to your door.
What tweezers (or tongs) NOT to use for your stamps
Let’s first consider the most important point I raised above – what not to use for your stamps. This photograph 👇 of a selection of my non-stamp tweezers I use for a variety of craft endeavours says everything I need to tell you. Don’t use/buy tweezers that:
- Have serrated tips
- Have very sharp, pointy tips
- Are closed rather than open by default
- Have spikes to keep them aligned
- Are not nickel-plated, stainless steel
- Are not sold by major stamp dealers/stamp accessory manufacturers for the purpose of handling stamps
Tweezers such as these – and even the tong people will agree with me 😉 – are highly likely to damage your stamps. They are too sharp and may cause indentations in the paper. At best they will make it difficult to handle stamps properly and at worse they will rip and/or pierce them.
To put it positively, aim to buy/use tweezers that are:
- Smooth-tipped
- Round-edged
- Sit open when not in use
- Are smooth throughout the entire tool
- Are made from high quality nickel-plated, stainless steel
- Are manufactured by major stamp accessory companies
If you like what you are reading, then You’ve Got E-Mail, might be just what you are looking for:
Now lets consider your options. These come down to; manufacturer, coating/colour, length and tip shape. Weight is an additional aspect. In future I will endeavour to compare different tweezer makes and models, but for now I am limited to what I have on hand:
Tweezer Manufacturers
Good stamp tweezers should feel comfortable in your hand and maintain their shape well. They shouldn’t be hard to squeeze together with no bending, and should spring back neatly. They have a slightly ridged section on the outside to help you maintain grip. The tips should come together neatly and be aligned with each other. Therefore they also shouldn’t close to one side when you use them.
There are several major stamp tweezer/tong manufacturers still going and for the most part availability/price is influenced by where you live. As a general rule, manufacturers offer pointy, spoon/round and spade-tips in 120mm and ~150mm lengths.
Here’s a list of major suppliers, their typical markets, and some key differences:
- Leuchtturm (or Lighthouse) (Europe) – two lengths, spade and pointy only
- Showgard (US) – seems to be the most popular brand in the US, offers gold-coloured versions but they were out of stock when I looked
- Prinz (Europe) – my current tweezer brand; offer very pointy in addition in 120mm and 150mm length; sell a plastic case
- SAFE (UK) – offer two lengths (120mm and 155mm); round, pointed and square tips all with straight or bent options; also sell cases
- Davo (Europe) – offer red, blue and gold tweezers 😍
- Lindner (Europe) – offer nickel-plated and stainless steel options, some with cases included
Watch out for the fakes. I saw some sold on Temu as ‘Lighthouse’ – they were definitely not. They may be OK, but see this post (scroll about a 1/3 way down the page) for a comparison. And also be wary of second hand tweezers too, they may have damage on the tips. Also consider replacing your own if they have damage. This is where a little slip case might come in handy. I do find the pointier they are, the easier they are to damage.
Tweezer length
There are two major lengths: 120mm (approximately 4¾”) and 150mm (just under 6″). As a general rule I would suggest shorter tweezers are probably better for smaller hands and longer ones for bigger hands, but it will come down to personal preference and how easy you find it to manipulate them.
Longer tweezers have the advantage they can reach deeper into bags and envelopes. Sometimes a pesky stamp gets stuck in the corner of a plastic-fronted bag and only a longer tweezer will do the job to fish it out. I find I have more control over the pressure in a shorter tweezer though and they feel more natural in my hand. However I have small hands.
The big divide – the tip
Your biggest conundrum is likely to be which tip you want to use and, as an additional factor, whether you prefer a straight or bent tip. I’ve compiled a table here to help you make your decision:
| Tweezer tip shape | Why people like it | Why people don’t like it |
|---|---|---|
| Very pointy | Similar to below | Damaged even more easily than standard ‘pointy’ |
| Pointy | Sliding under items like cellophane and hinges Severing hinges Best for advanced users Easier to pick up stamps More efficient to use Easier to see stamp | Tip damaged more easily Easier to damage stamps if incorrect pressure is applied |
| Spoon/round | Best of both worlds Good for general users | |
| Spade | It feels safer to use It has a good grip on stamps Better for beginners | They are thicker so are more difficult to get behind stamps |
In 2021, Stanley Gibbons ran a survey into tweezer tip preference. The latest poll update as of October 2024, says over half of people prefer a spade tip, around a quarter like pointy tips, and less than 1 in 10 people prefer a spoon/round tip (😥)
The poll is still open and you can vote here.
Compare this with Graham Beck’s findings. He reports on a social media survey he did in conjunction with the American Philatelic Society, in his video ‘Best Stamp Collecting Tongs/Tweezers’:
Again around 53% of people preferred a spade-tip. Handily he has split it into whether you prefer a bent or straight tip and this is about half and half for each. Pointy is a similar percentage also – about a quarter. But there seems to be over double the amount of people that prefer the round type. This survey had almost double the amount of participants and is more US-focused. Graham made a comment that the Philatelic Trader’s Society ran a similar survey and they found almost 100% preferred a pointy tip. The PTS is a trade organisation made up of dealers, therefore this is a clear preference of pointy tips by those at a professional level.
Metal, Colour and/or finish
The majority of tweezers are made from German Solingen Stainless Steel. Solingen Steel has protected status meaning it must be produced in the city of Solingen and surrounding Haan. This ‘City of Blades’ has a long history of cutlery and knife production resulting in high quality steel and tools.
There aren’t as many manufacturers offering coloured stamp tweezers; Davo has the widest range. They offer the usual silver, plus gold, red, blue, and black. Some nickel-free versions are available should you have an allergy to this metal.
Weight
I have to say a small bit about weight and build. I have a pair of 905 Showgards and they are about 50% heavier than the equivalent Prinz model. It also takes more effort to close the Showgard tweezers. Is this a major issue? Probably not, but I much prefer the lighter Prinz tweezers. I feel that if I was using a heavier tweezer for extended periods of time it would contribute to hand fatigue. You could argue that the Showgards are a ‘higher quality’ item in that they are probably more robust e.g. if you drop them, but to me it makes them a bit more difficult and a bit less adept to use. For you however, if your hands are bigger and stronger, you may find the heavier version a better fit for you.
And what do I think?
Personally? Well I prefer a spoon tip. It has the best of both worlds – more adept and agile than a spade tip at slipping onto stamps, and less dangerously pointy than point-tipped tweezers. I was surprised, and maybe a little disappointed, to see spoon-shaped come out so low in the SG poll! Anyway each to their own, but that would be my personal recommendation.
However if you are in doubt about which ones to try, then a spade-tip is most likely to be your preferred design so perhaps go for that as a first point of call.
And on the comment about eyebrow tweezers … the reverse may be true; I have an extra set of spoon-shaped stamp tweezers for that very purpose 😉
In summary
If you listen to what others are saying, there’s a clear divide between the ‘Spadies’ and the ‘Pointies’, with the preference directed towards how confident you are/feel at wielding a pointier end. I’m here to shout out for the Spoonies though, which are my personal favourites, and I feel at least, bring the best of both worlds. I reckon your greatest challenge may be availability if there is specific tweezer design, manufacturer and finish you’d like so you may need to hunt around. Many sites seemed to be out of stock of different varieties, so if you want something beyond silver pointy, spade or spoon, you’ll be out of luck. However for less than £10 ($15) you can have the full freedom to choose the most essential part of your stamp collection kit.
Make sure to capture your thoughts in posterity by casting your vote in the SG tweezer poll! Plus on the last page, there is a space to leave your thoughts in writing.
Until next time, Annette x