The primary aim of reference collections is to provide a comprehensive and authoritative resource for researchers, students, professionals, and the general public.
[2] Reference collections are generally large undertakings maintained by institutions; instead of having a single representative of each object, they will typically have multiples, so as to illustrate variations and, sometimes, provide samples for comparisons.
[3] Items within a reference collection may include books, journals, manuscripts, samples, artifacts, and other primary and secondary sources of information.
As new knowledge emerges and older materials become less relevant or outdated, the reference collection may undergo periodic reviews and updates to ensure its continued usefulness and reliability.
[8] In philately, reference collections are critical to expertization, since the characteristics differentiating authentic stamps from reprints, fakes, and forgeries are often too subtle to be described verbally.