1.
Penny Red
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The Penny Red was a British postage stamp, issued in 1841. It succeeded the Penny Black and continued as the type of postage stamp in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until 1879. The colour was changed from black to red because of difficulty in seeing a cancellation mark on the Penny Black, a black cancel was readily visible on a Penny Red. Initially, some of the plates that were used to print the Penny Black were used to print the Penny Red. Initially, the stamp had no perforations, and had to be cut from the sheet using scissors in the manner as for the Penny Black. Perforations, first came into use in 1850 and were adopted in 1854. The experimental issue can be distinguished from the issue as the later was applied to stamp which used a different alphabet type for the letters in the lower corners. Each stamp has unique corner letters AA, AB, AC, AL etc. so its position on the plate can be identified. In January 1855, the size was changed from 16 to 14 as it was found that the sheets were coming apart too easily. The reduced size allowed the sheets to remain intact until pressure was applied to force the separation, the stamps were printed in sheets of 240, so one row cost 1 shilling and a complete sheet one pound. On 1 April 1864, the stamp was issued with the plate number engraved in the design, in the left, at this time, the stars in the top corners were also replaced with the same check letters as used in the lower corners, but in reverse order. Because of wear, over 400 different plates were used to print the Penny Red, Two different basic watermarks were used for the paper, small crown, and large crown, introduced on 15 May 1855. The first stamps printed on the large crown watermarked paper showed two small vertical lines in the portion of the crown. Later printings showed a revised watermark on which these lines are not present. The 1d red plate 77 is rare because usually at least one sheet was printed from a new plate, when approved, one sheet was kept there as the registration, or imprimatur sheet as it is often known. Any faulty sheets would then have been destroyed by burning at Somerset House, so, any example sheets examined should have been returned to be first accounted for and then destroyed if faulty and issued if not, and in the case of plate 77 some stamps have survived. Hill must have been looking at least one sheet produced from plate 77 to have made this decision - so at least one sheet from plate 77 existed at some point. After all, it is reasonable to assume that he would have wanted to make sure that plate 77 was unusable before rejecting another plate
2.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
3.
Zeppelin mail
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Zeppelin mail was mail carried on zeppelins, the German airships that saw civilian use from 1908 to 1939. The first zeppelin to carry mail was LZ4, in July 1908, followed shortly by LZ3. The early flights did not use any special markings, the first was an oval reading LUFTSCHIFF / SIGNALPOST around the edge and Z III in the center, used on LZ6 from August to October 1909. By 1911 a number of different postmarks were in use, an example was a circle reading AN BORD DES / ZEPPELIN / LUFTSCHIFFES, with a date in the center. These were actually applied on board the zeppelin while in flight, the zeppelins were taken into military service in 1914, and thereafter did not carry civilian mail, although military commanders had special handstamps applied to their mail. In late 1919, LZ120 Bodensee resumed flights and mail carriage, using postmarks much as before the war, LZ126 carried mail briefly in 1924 before it was delivered to the United States and renamed the Los Angeles. The Los Angeles carried mail between Lakehurst, New Jersey, Bermuda, and Mayagüez, Puerto Rico several times, LZ127 Graf Zeppelin had a long and celebrated career. Within weeks of its first flight in September 1928, the Graf Zeppelin carried the first airmail to go directly from Germany to the US, Germany issued special 2-mark and 4-mark stamps for the occasion. On the return trip, the zeppelin carried almost 52,000 postcards and 50,000 letters, in 1929, Graf Zeppelin circled the globe, with stops in Tokyo and Los Angeles. By the time it was out of service in June 1937. Although LZ129 Hindenburg is most famous for its end, for the 14 months of its existence, it carried considerable amounts of mail overseas. Most of the 17,609 pieces of mail on the last flight were destroyed in the fire, but a handful were recovered, some stamps were regular issues overprinted while other were specially designed. 1930 Graf Zeppelin stamps of the United States LZ127 Graf Zeppelin Airship Zeppelin Notes References Sources Zeppelinpost Spezial-Katalog eZEP
4.
Gibraltar
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Gibraltar is a British Overseas Territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula. It has an area of 6.7 km2 and shares its border with Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the landmark of the region. At its foot is a populated city area, home to over 30,000 Gibraltarians. An Anglo-Dutch force captured Gibraltar from Spain in 1704 during the War of the Spanish Succession on behalf of the Habsburg claim to the Spanish throne, the territory was subsequently ceded to Great Britain in perpetuity under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Today Gibraltars economy is based largely on tourism, online gambling, financial services, the sovereignty of Gibraltar is a major point of contention in Anglo-Spanish relations as Spain asserts a claim to the territory. Gibraltarians overwhelmingly rejected proposals for Spanish sovereignty in a 1967 referendum, under the Gibraltar constitution of 2006, Gibraltar governs its own affairs, though some powers, such as defence and foreign relations, remain the responsibility of the British government. The name Gibraltar is the Spanish derivation of the Arabic name Jabal Ṭāriq, earlier, it was known as Mons Calpe, a name of Phoenician origin and one of the Pillars of Hercules. The pronunciation of the name in modern Spanish is, evidence of Neanderthal habitation in Gibraltar between 28,000 and 24,000 BP has been discovered at Gorhams Cave, making Gibraltar possibly the last known holdout of the Neanderthals. Within recorded history, the first inhabitants were the Phoenicians, around 950 BC, subsequently, Gibraltar became known as one of the Pillars of Hercules, after the Greek legend of the creation of the Strait of Gibraltar by Heracles. The Carthaginians and Romans also established semi-permanent settlements, after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Gibraltar came briefly under the control of the Vandals. The area later formed part of the Visigothic Kingdom of Hispania from 414 AD until the Islamic conquest of Iberia in 711 AD, in 1160, the Almohad Sultan Abd al-Mumin ordered that a permanent settlement, including a castle, be built. It received the name of Medinat al-Fath, on completion of the works in the town, the Sultan crossed the Strait to look at the works and stayed in Gibraltar for two months. The Tower of Homage of the Moorish Castle remains standing today, from 1274 onwards, the town was fought over and captured by the Nasrids of Granada, the Marinids of Morocco and the kings of Castile. In 1462, Gibraltar was finally captured by Juan Alonso de Guzmán, after the conquest, King Henry IV of Castile assumed the additional title of King of Gibraltar, establishing it as part of the comarca of the Campo Llano de Gibraltar. In 1501, Gibraltar passed back to the Spanish Crown, the occupation of the town by Alliance forces caused the exodus of the population to the surrounding area of the Campo de Gibraltar. As the Alliances campaign faltered, the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht was negotiated and ceded control of Gibraltar to Britain to secure Britains withdrawal from the war. Unsuccessful attempts by Spanish monarchs to regain Gibraltar were made with the siege of 1727 and again with the Great Siege of Gibraltar, during the American War of Independence
5.
Rio de Janeiro
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Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the second-most populous municipality in Brazil and the sixth-most populous in the Americas. The metropolis is anchor to the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan area, Rio de Janeiro is the capital of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazils third-most populous state. Part of the city has designated as a World Heritage Site, named Rio de Janeiro. Founded in 1565 by the Portuguese, the city was initially the seat of the Captaincy of Rio de Janeiro, later, in 1763, it became the capital of the State of Brazil, a state of the Portuguese Empire. Rio stayed the capital of the pluricontinental Lusitanian monarchy until 1822 and this is one of the few instances in history that the capital of a colonising country officially shifted to a city in one of its colonies. Rio de Janeiro has the second largest municipal GDP in the country, the home of many universities and institutes, it is the second-largest center of research and development in Brazil, accounting for 17% of national scientific output according to 2005 data. The Maracanã Stadium held the finals of the 1950 and 2014 FIFA World Cups, the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, the city is divided into 33 administrative regions. Europeans first encountered Guanabara Bay on 1 January 1502, by a Portuguese expedition under explorer Gaspar de Lemos captain of a ship in Pedro Álvares Cabrals fleet, allegedly the Florentine explorer Amerigo Vespucci participated as observer at the invitation of King Manuel I in the same expedition. The region of Rio was inhabited by the Tupi, Puri, Botocudo, in 1555, one of the islands of Guanabara Bay, now called Villegagnon Island, was occupied by 500 French colonists under the French admiral Nicolas Durand de Villegaignon. Consequently, Villegagnon built Fort Coligny on the island when attempting to establish the France Antarctique colony, Rio de Janeiro was the name of Guanabara Bay. Until early in the 18th century, the city was threatened or invaded by several, mostly French, pirates and buccaneers, such as Jean-François Duclerc, on 27 January 1763, the colonial administration in Portuguese America was moved from Salvador to Rio de Janeiro. The kingdoms capital was transferred to the city, which, thus, as there was no physical space or urban structure to accommodate hundreds of noblemen who arrived suddenly, many inhabitants were simply evicted from their homes. The first printed newspaper in Brazil, the Gazeta do Rio de Janeiro, from the colonial period until the first independent decades, Rio de Janeiro was a city of slaves. There was an influx of African slaves to Rio de Janeiro, in 1819. In 1840, the number of slaves reached 220,000 people, the Port of Rio de Janeiro was the largest port of slaves in America. As a political center of the country, Rio concentrated the political-partisan life of the Empire and it was the main stage of the abolitionist and republican movements in the last half of the 19th century. Rio continued as the capital of Brazil after 1889, when the monarchy was replaced by a republic, until the early years of the 20th century, the city was largely limited to the neighbourhood now known as the historic city centre, on the mouth of Guanabara Bay. Expansion of the city to the north and south was facilitated by the consolidation and electrification of Rios streetcar transit system after 1905, though many thought that it was just campaign rhetoric, Kubitschek managed to have Brasília built, at great cost, by 1960
6.
Philatelic exhibition
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A philatelic exhibition is an exhibition of stamps and postal history where stamp collectors compete for medals. The displays are shown in glass frames, and the exhibition is accompanied by stamp dealer bourses and post office stands where stamps. Many philatelic exhibitions are regular events, held annually or at some other frequency, exhibitions are normally of international, national, regional or local scope. They may also be for specific collecting interests, for instance the Eurothema exhibition for thematic collecting, Exhibits are shown in different classes. In addition, exhibitions not endorsed by FIP may have different classes, Philatelic judging is done according to agreed criteria, and in the case of international exhibitions the rules of the FIP are normally used. Judges need to be accredited by the FIP in order to be qualified to judge at FIP endorsed exhibitions, Judging is a skill in its own right for which training is required. The judges award a variety of prizes, including gold, silver and vermeil medals and it is common for commemorative covers and souvenir sheets to be produced for the larger exhibitions and these are a recognised collecting specialism in themselves. List of philatelic exhibitions DeVoss, James T, Federation Internationale de Philatelie Awards List. J. T. DeVoss, 1980-199014 editions Grough, James Peter, the Ever-Changing Paradigm of Philatelic Exhibiting. Guide to Exhibiting and Judging Traditional and Postal History Exhibits, zurich, Federation Internationale de Philatelie,1993 EXPONET virtual philatelic exhibition
7.
Postage stamp
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Postage stamp may also refer to a formatting artifact in the display of film or video, Windowbox. A postage stamp is a piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are printed on special paper, show a national designation and a denomination on the front. They are sometimes a source of net profit to the issuing agency, stamps are usually rectangular, but triangles or other shapes are occasionally used. The stamp is affixed to an envelope or other postal cover the customer wishes to send, the item is then processed by the postal system, where a postmark, sometimes known as a cancellation mark, is usually applied in overlapping manner to stamp and cover. This procedure marks the stamp as used to prevent its reuse, in modern usage, postmarks generally indicate the date and point of origin of the mailing. The mailed item is delivered to the address the customer has applied to the envelope or parcel. Postage stamps have facilitated the delivery of mail since the 1840s, before then, ink and hand-stamps, usually made from wood or cork, were often used to frank the mail and confirm the payment of postage. The first adhesive postage stamp, commonly referred to as the Penny Black, was issued in the United Kingdom in 1840, there are varying accounts of the inventor or inventors of the stamp. The postage stamp resolved this issue in a simple and elegant manner, concurrently with the first stamps, the UK offered wrappers for mail. S. Postal service for priority or express mailing, the postage stamp afforded convenience for both the mailer and postal officials, more effectively recovered costs for the postal service, and ultimately resulted in a better, faster postal system. With the conveniences stamps offered, their use resulted in greatly increased mailings during the 19th and 20th centuries, as postage stamps with their engraved imagery began to appear on a widespread basis, historians and collectors began to take notice. The study of stamps and their use is referred to as philately. Stamp collecting can be both a hobby and a form of study and reference, as government-issued postage stamps. The postage for the item was prepaid by the use of a hand-stamp to frank the mailed item. Though this stamp was applied to a letter instead of a piece of paper it is considered by many historians as the worlds first postage stamp. Rowland Hill The Englishman Sir Rowland Hill began interest in postal reform in 1835, in 1836, a Member of Parliament, Robert Wallace, provided Hill with numerous books and documents, which Hill described as a half hundred weight of material. Hill commenced a study of these documents, leading him to the 1837 publication of a pamphlet entitled Post Office Reform its Importance
8.
Postal history
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More precisely, philatelists describe postal history as the study of rates, routes, markings, and means. Postal history has become a philatelic collecting speciality in its own right, the specialized area of philatelic history defines postal history as the study of rates charged for postal services provided, routes followed and special handling of letters. Areas of special interest include disrupted or transitional periods, such as wars and military occupations, the philatelic-based definition of the term developed as the discipline developed. Philatelic students discovered that understanding and authentication of stamps depended on knowing why postal authorities issued particular stamps, where they were used and how. For instance, a stamp apparently used before any other stamp of its type could be proved a forgery if it was postmarked at a location known not to have received any stamps until a later date. Much information is not known about the workings of postal systems. The postal history topics described below are some of the better known, regional studies are typically based on a geographical area, such as countries of origin, native districts, cities, towns or villages, places associated with family roots, or workplaces. It is best to select a topic to study that is broad enough because narrow geographical boundaries will likely bring frustration due to the lack of material available, examples are, Postal History of Brünn 1638-1875, and Private and Foreign Post Offices in St. Thomas. Postal routes are alternate geographical based study areas that provide great variety due to the places and services available along a route. The era for a geographical based study can add dimension depending on the available or the changes that took place. The period should seek to tell a story and not limit the chosen topic. Aerophilately specialises in the study of airmail, crash covers, Imperial Airways Empire route mail to Australia and South Africa, CAM or FAM routes to and from the United States are a few topics. Balloon mail was employed during the Siege of Paris to get out of the city during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. Balloons can be manned and unmanned but balloon mail is not a common form of mail transport. Maritime mail is a theme that offers a variety of possibilities. Many ships applied their own endorsements so collecting examples of all ships of a shipping line can be aspired to. Maiden voyages and wreck covers are very desirable, naval mail can also fall in the Military mail category and are also known to apply identifying endorsements or postmarks. Rocket mail is the delivery of mail by rocket or missile and is a collecting area of aerophilately called Astrophilately
9.
Stamp collecting
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Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is related to philately which is the study of stamps and it has been one of the worlds most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth century with the rapid growth of the postal service. Stamp collecting proved to be an almost perfect hobby for collectors because there was a never ending stream of new stamps as each sought to advertise its distinctiveness through its stamps. Because some stamps became rare, a international trade in stamps was created. While stamp collectors are of all ages, it has been particularly popular hobby among children, Stamp collecting is generally accepted as one of the areas that make up the wider subject of philately, which is the study of stamps. A philatelist may, but does not have to, collect stamps and it is not uncommon for the term philatelist to be used to mean a stamp collector. Many casual stamp collectors accumulate stamps for sheer enjoyment and relaxation without worrying about the tiny details, the creation of a large or comprehensive collection, however, generally requires some philatelic knowledge and will usually contain areas of philatelic studies. Stamp collectors are an important source of income for countries who create limited runs of elaborate stamps designed mainly to be bought by stamp collectors. The stamps produced by these countries may exceed their postal needs and it has been suggested that John Bourke, Receiver General of Stamp Dues in Ireland was the first collector. In 1774 he assembled a book of the existing embossed revenue stamps, ranging in value from 6 pounds to half a penny and his collection is preserved in Dublin. The first postage stamp, the Penny Black, was issued by Britain in 1840 and it was produced without perforations and consequently had to be cut from the sheet with scissors in order to be used. While unused examples of the Penny Black are quite scarce, used examples are quite common, people started to collect stamps almost immediately. One of the earliest and most notable was John Edward Gray, in 1862, Gray stated that he began to collect postage stamps shortly after the system was established and before it had become a rage. As the hobby and study of stamps began to grow, stamp albums and stamp related literature began to surface, children and teenagers were early collectors of stamps in the 1860s and 1870s. Many adults dismissed it as a pursuit but later many of those same collectors, as adults, began to systematically study the available postage stamps. Some stamps, such as the issues of the Cape of Good Hope, have become legendary. Stamp collecting is a popular hobby in the early 21st century than it was a hundred years ago. In 2013, the Wall Street Journal estimated the number of stamp collectors was around 60 million
10.
Ancient Greek
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Ancient Greek includes the forms of Greek used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around the 9th century BC to the 6th century AD. It is often divided into the Archaic period, Classical period. It is antedated in the second millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Hellenistic phase is known as Koine. Koine is regarded as a historical stage of its own, although in its earliest form it closely resembled Attic Greek. Prior to the Koine period, Greek of the classic and earlier periods included several regional dialects, Ancient Greek was the language of Homer and of fifth-century Athenian historians, playwrights, and philosophers. It has contributed many words to English vocabulary and has been a subject of study in educational institutions of the Western world since the Renaissance. This article primarily contains information about the Epic and Classical phases of the language, Ancient Greek was a pluricentric language, divided into many dialects. The main dialect groups are Attic and Ionic, Aeolic, Arcadocypriot, some dialects are found in standardized literary forms used in literature, while others are attested only in inscriptions. There are also several historical forms, homeric Greek is a literary form of Archaic Greek used in the epic poems, the Iliad and Odyssey, and in later poems by other authors. Homeric Greek had significant differences in grammar and pronunciation from Classical Attic, the origins, early form and development of the Hellenic language family are not well understood because of a lack of contemporaneous evidence. Several theories exist about what Hellenic dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Proto-Indo-European language and the Classical period and they have the same general outline, but differ in some of the detail. The invasion would not be Dorian unless the invaders had some relationship to the historical Dorians. The invasion is known to have displaced population to the later Attic-Ionic regions, the Greeks of this period believed there were three major divisions of all Greek people—Dorians, Aeolians, and Ionians, each with their own defining and distinctive dialects. Often non-west is called East Greek, Arcadocypriot apparently descended more closely from the Mycenaean Greek of the Bronze Age. Boeotian had come under a strong Northwest Greek influence, and can in some respects be considered a transitional dialect, thessalian likewise had come under Northwest Greek influence, though to a lesser degree. Most of the dialect sub-groups listed above had further subdivisions, generally equivalent to a city-state and its surrounding territory, Doric notably had several intermediate divisions as well, into Island Doric, Southern Peloponnesus Doric, and Northern Peloponnesus Doric. The Lesbian dialect was Aeolic Greek and this dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived in the Tsakonian language, which is spoken in the region of modern Sparta. Doric has also passed down its aorist terminations into most verbs of Demotic Greek, by about the 6th century AD, the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek
11.
Watermark
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A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light, caused by thickness or density variations in the paper. Watermarks have been used on stamps, currency, and other government documents to discourage counterfeiting. There are two ways of producing watermarks in paper, the dandy roll process, and the more complex cylinder mould process. Watermarks vary greatly in their visibility, while some are obvious on casual inspection, various aids have been developed, such as watermark fluid that wets the paper without damaging it. A watermark is very useful in the examination of paper because it can be used for dating, identifying sizes, mill trademarks and locations, the word is also used for digital practices that share similarities with physical watermarks. In one case, overprint on computer-printed output may be used to output from an unlicensed trial version of a program. In another instance, identifying codes can be encoded as a watermark for a music, video, picture. Watermarks were first introduced in Fabriano, Italy, in 1282, traditionally, a watermark was made by impressing a water-coated metal stamp or dandy roll onto the paper during manufacturing. The invention of the roll in 1826 by John Marshall revolutionised the watermark process. The dandy roll is a light roller covered by similar to window screen that is embossed with a pattern. Because the chain wires are located on the outside of the wires, they have a greater influence on the impression in the pulp. This embossing is transferred to the fibres, compressing and reducing their thickness in that area. Because the patterned portion of the page is thinner, it transmits light through. If these lines are distinct and parallel, and/or there is a watermark, if the lines appear as a mesh or are indiscernible, and/or there is no watermark, then it is called wove paper. This method is called line drawing watermarks, another type of watermark is called the cylinder mould watermark. A shaded watermark, first used in 1848, incorporates tonal depth, instead of using a wire covering for the dandy roll, the shaded watermark is created by areas of relief on the rolls own surface. Once dry, the paper may then be rolled again to produce a watermark of even thickness, in philately, the watermark is a key feature of a stamp, and often constitutes the difference between a common and a rare stamp. Collectors who encounter two otherwise identical stamps with different watermarks consider each stamp to be a separate identifiable issue, the classic stamp watermark is a small crown or other national symbol, appearing either once on each stamp or a continuous pattern
12.
Postage stamp design
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Postage stamp design is the activity of graphic design as applied to postage stamps. Many thousands of designs have been created since a profile bust of Queen Victoria was adopted for the Penny Black in 1840, some designs have been considered very successful, a stamp design includes several elements required for it to accomplish its purpose satisfactorily. Most important is the denomination indicating its monetary value, while international agreements require a name on almost all types of stamps. The fundamental purpose of a stamp is to indicate the prepayment of postage, since different kinds and sizes of mail normally pay different amounts of postage, the stamps need to carry a value. The usual form of the denomination is a number, optionally preceded or followed by a currency symbol. A number of recent stamps have substituted a textual description of the rate being charged, such as 1st for first-class letters, in such cases, the preprinted stamps simply state A, B, etc. with the equivalent rate being announced just before they go on sale. Canada also uses a non-numerical denomination, the mark P printed over a maple leaf, the letter P stands for Permanent which indicates that the stamp is always accepted regardless of the current domestic postal rate. Anytime the domestic rate changes, the permanent value stamps already in circulation continue to be accepted, semi-postal stamps are usually denominated with two values, with a + between, the first indicating the actual rate, and the second the additional amount to be given to a charity. In a very few cases a country has had a currency. The second required element, at least for stamps intended to be used on mail, is the name of the country. The first postage stamps, those of the United Kingdom, had no name, to this day the UK remains the only country not required to name itself on its stamps. For all other UPU members, the name must appear in Latin letters, many countries using non-Latin alphabets used only those on their early stamps, and they remain difficult for most collectors to identify today. The name chosen is typically the countrys own name for itself, with a trend towards using simpler and shorter forms. For instance, the Republic of South Africa inscribes with RSA, while Jordan originally used The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, some countries have multiple allowed forms, from which the designer may choose the most suitable. The name may appear in a form, as in Posta Romana for Romania. Dependent territories may or may not include the name of the parent country, the graphic element of a stamp design falls into one of four major categories, Portrait bust - profile or full-face Emblem - coat of arms, flag, national symbol, posthorn, etc. While numeral designs are eminently practical, in that they emphasize the most important element of the stamp, by far the greatest variety of stamp design seen today is in pictorial issues. The choice of image is nearly unlimited, ranging from plants and animals, to figures from history, to landscapes, images may represent real-world objects, or be allegories or abstract designs
13.
Postage stamp gum
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In philately, gum is the substance applied to the back of a stamp to enable it to adhere to a letter or other mailed item. The term is generic, and applies both to traditional types such as gum arabic and to synthetic modern formulations, gum is a matter of high importance in philately. Before postage stamps existed, people receiving letters would have to pay for them, the payment was based on how many papers were in the envelope and how far the letter had traveled. Rowland Hill came up a solution of prepayment and this led to his invention of stamp gum in 1837. The worlds first adhesive stamp was called the Penny Black. Many early stamps were not gummed, however, and some have been unable to be gummed due to shortage, extreme tropical climates were also a problem for Curaçao and Suriname. Some stamps, intended only for sale to collectors, have been issued without gum. On the first stamps of Great Britain the gum was called cement and was made from a mixture of starch, wheat starch. There have been a couple of instances where stamps were regummed after being perforated. On early issues, gum was applied by hand, using a brush or roller, but in 1880 De La Rue came up with a machine gumming process using a printing press, the gum is universally spread as uniformly as possible. The greatest manufacturing problem of the process is its tendency to make the stamps curl, due to the different reaction of paper. In the most extreme cases, the stamp will spontaneously roll up into a small tube, various schemes have been tried, but the problem persists to this day. On Swiss stamps of the 1930s, Courvoisier used a machine that pressed a pattern of small squares into the gum. Another scheme has been to slice the gum with knives after it has been applied, in some cases the gum solves the problem itself by becoming crackly when it dries. The appearance of the gum varies with the type and method of application, german stamps from 1921 had a pattern of wavy lines while Czech stamps from 1923 had gum showing the initials of the Czech Republic, CSP. These patterns have been called gum devices or gum watermarks, in recent years, the use of self-adhesive stamps, otherwise known as pressure-sensitive stamps, has become widespread. This relatively new form of stamps has a release carrier backing that has the same pressure-adhesive backing as the stamp itself, therefore, the stamps can be released easily from the backing and placed onto a postal envelope. Post Office began transitioning from water-based stamps into the use of self-adhesive stamps, by 1995, only 20 percent of the thirty-five billion stamps the Post Office produced every year were self-adhesive, yet by 2013 almost all U. S. stamps issued had become self-adhesive
14.
Postage stamp separation
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For postage stamps, separation is the means by which individual stamps are made easily detachable from each other. In the early years, from 1840 until 1850, all stamps were issued imperforate, once reliable separation equipment became available, nations switched rapidly. In 1847, Henry Archer constructed the first machine, the Archer Roulette and his plan, submitted to the Postmaster General on 1 October 1847, was referred to the departments of the General Post Office and the Inland Revenue. After experimentation both machines proved to be failures, from one machine a few stamps from Plates 70 and 71 have survived. This machine consisted of lancet-shaped blades working on a fly-press principle, Archer then abandoned this approach in favour of perforation, a process which used rows of small round pins to punch out the holes. In 1848 Archer patented his perforation machine which worked on the stroke principle, the arrangement of the pins enabled the top and sides of each stamp across the row to be perforated in a single operation, and this became known as comb perforation. Perforation trials were conducted in 1849 and 1850 under the auspices of the British Government, the Archer machine proved the viability of the process but never entered service. Archers patent for his machine was purchased for £4,000 in June 1853. New machines based on Archers principles were constructed by David Napier and Son Ltd, also in 1854 a rotary process was patented by William Bemrose and Henry Howe Bemrose. The Bemrose machine was designed as a rouletting machine, both the stroke and rotary processes have been refined since then, but are basically still the ones in use in the 21st century. In a few cases the size of the holes has been a factor, in the case of certain stamps produced by Australia for sale in rolls rather than sheets a pattern can be seen on the stamps short side of two small, ten large and two small holes. The standard for describing perforation is the number of holes in a 2-centimeter span, the finest gauge ever used is 18 on stamps of the Malay States in the early 1950s, and the coarsest is 2, seen on the 1891 stamps of Bhopal. Modern stamp perforations tend to range from 11 to 14, Stamps that are perforated on one pair of opposite sides and imperforate on the other have most often been produced in coils instead of sheets, but they can sometimes come from booklet panes. Booklet panes can be associated with any combination of one, two or three imperforate sides, sheet edges can produce any one imperforate side or two adjacent imperforate sides when the stamp comes from the corner of the sheet. Variations include syncopated perforations which are uneven, either skipping a hole or by making some holes larger, in the 1990s, Great Britain began adding large elliptical holes to the perforations on each side, as an anti-counterfeiting measure. Rouletting uses small cuts in the paper instead of holes and it was used by a number of countries, but is rarely if ever seen on modern stamps. Varieties, often described by philatelists in French terms, include straight cuts, arc, sawtooth, a few types of stamps have combined rouletting and perforation, for instance South Africa in 1942. The first self-adhesive stamp was issued by Sierra Leone in 1964 and these are inevitably diecut, meaning that the stamps themselves are cut entirely apart, held together only by the backing paper
15.
Overprint
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An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage stamp, banknote or postal stationery after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting, the most well-recognized varieties are commemorative overprints which are produced for their public appeal and command significant interest in the field of philately. The term surcharge in philately describes any type of overprint that alters the price of a stamp, surcharges raise or lower the face value of existing stamps when prices have changed too quickly to produce an appropriate new issue, or simply to use up surplus stocks. Any overprint which restates a stamps value in a new currency is also described as a surcharge. Stamps have occasionally been overprinted multiple times, a famous example of repeated surcharging happened during the German hyperinflation of 1921–1923. Prices rose so fast and dramatically that postage stamps which cost five or ten pfennigs in 1920 were overprinted for sale in the values of thousands, millions, Overprints have often been used as commemoratives, providing a faster and lower-cost alternative to designing and issuing special stamps or postmarks. The United States, which historically has issued relatively few commemorative overprints, did this in 1928 for issues celebrating Molly Pitcher, British stamps heralding the 1966 FIFA World Cup were reissued after Englands victory with the overprint England Winners. In some rare cases, commemorative overprints have been applied to souvenir sheets, when these postal commodities are overprinted, they are always very carefully positioned for aesthetic appeal, usually on the blank outer border of the paper. The opposite occurs as well, in this special function stamps are overprinted to serve as regular stamps. Overprints have been used as security measures to deter misuse and theft, in the nineteenth century, Mexico was plagued by thefts of stamps on their way to remote post offices. To address this, stamps were shipped from Mexico City to the districts where they were overprinted with the district name – they were not valid for postage without the overprint. Nations overprinted stamps for use in their colonies mainly for the reasons as for their domestic use. Due to poor planning, supply problems, faster than anticipated changing postal rates, changes in currency or other reasons they ran out of stamps, some overprints were used to establish the first stage of postal service in a new territorial possession or colony however. If preparations had not been made, the controlling nations regular homeland stamps would be overprinted with a local name, in a similar fashion a nations domestic stamps may be overprinted for use in foreign post offices under that powers control. For example, from 1919-22 the United States overprinted 18 postage stamps at double value and marked for its office in Shanghai, provisional stamps are postage issue made for temporary ad hoc usage to meet demands until regular issues are reintroduced. New states or states in transition have sometimes found it necessary to recirculate stocks of stamps printed by a previous government, during times of war, many nations have issued war tax stamps. Before new stamps could be printed, older stamps were overprinted with surcharges or a simple inscription such as War Tax. In actual combat zones, the replenishment of stamp stocks is generally low on a militarys list of priorities, in contested or occupied areas, captured local stamps are often expediently overprinted by the occupying forces
16.
Underprint
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An underprint is anything printed underneath the main design of a stamp, banknote or similar item. Underprinting is used as a security measure to prevent forgery, or the cleaning of a postmark from a used stamp, the most common form of underprinting is burelage which takes the form of a faint pattern of lines or dots. Underprinting may also take the form of single or repeating words, the term has also been used in philately to refer to advertising or other wording printed on the back of postage stamps. However, this is thought to be a use of the term
17.
Perfin
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In philately, a perfin is a stamp that has had initials or a name perforated across it to discourage theft. The name is a contraction of perforated initials or perforated insignia and they are also sometimes called SPIFS. Great Britain was the first country to use perfins, beginning in 1868, the practice spread quickly to Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and Switzerland, and Austria, the U. S. finally allowed perfins in 1908. In Britain unused postage stamps could be redeemed for cash at the post office, by agreement with postal authorities, a perfin stamp on a letter could be used only by the owner of the perfin. Therefore, a stolen perforated stamp would be of no value to the unauthorized bearer, thus the use of perfins gave organizations better security over their postage. The demise of the perfin came about by the use of postage meter machines which obviated the need for perfins. A number of countries have perforated stamps to denote official mail, Denmark punctured stamps for use by the Danish Home Guard. The United States has punctured stamps for use by various Federal organisations and Australian states such as Victoria, formerly considered damaged and not worth collecting, perforated postage stamps are now highly sought after by specialist collectors. In addition to stamps, postal stationery envelopes, postcards, perfinned British postal orders were used to pay out winning bets on the football pools and these postal orders are very sought after by collectors. Specimen stamps have often been perfinned with the specimen to denote their status
18.
Philatelic fakes and forgeries
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In general, philatelic fakes and forgeries refers to labels that look like postage stamps but are not. Most have been produced to deceive or defraud, learning to identify these can be a challenging branch of philately. To a large extent the definitions below are consistent with those given in the introduction to recent editions of the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue. We use the term forgery to indicate stamps produced to defraud collectors, fake is used to indicate the alteration of a genuine stamp to make it appear as something else. Fakes might refer to cancellations, overprints, added or clipped perforations, stamp design alterations, although some philatelists stick to precise definitions of these terms, one should not assume that this is the case with every writer. Questions are often raised about when a stamp is produced for postage. Jean de Sperati is among the master forgers in the history of philately, the Vancouver Island forgery refers to a stamp that was originally issued in 1865. To produce his forgery, de Sperati bleached a real, cheaper stamp of the same vintage and he then used a process called photolithography to make an almost perfect copy of the stamp. In his lifetime, Jean de Sperati forged over 500 stamps and he sometimes signed his work in pencil on the back. His forged stamps are now worth more than the originals. Stamp-like objects, not all of which are really fakes and forgeries, are described below for the sake of developing an understanding of such claims. Those who produce counterfeits appeal to a different market from philatelists. They depend on their stamps being produced in quantities in order to be able to recover their outlay. The person who would use them must feel that he can purchase them for a price that is lower than what he would pay at a legitimate post office. This makes the most common current stamp used for mailing a prime target for counterfeiting activity. The earliest forgeries are all postal, and the Penny Black was the first stamp to be copied in 1840, partial forgery consists of changing colors or changing the face values of stamps to imitate a higher value stamp. Other tricks consisted of methods to make the cancellation disappear, the Spanish Post Office had to change its stamps almost annually between 1850 to 1879 to stay ahead of the forgers. Postal services developed, early on, measures to protect the integrity of their stamps, some of these steps are similar to those used to protect against forged currency
19.
Topical stamp collecting
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Topical or thematic stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps relating to a particular subject or concept. The earliest stamps simply depicted busts of reigning monarchs, important figures, or coats of arms, bears appeared on provisional stamps of St. Louis in 1845, while the beaver was featured on the earliest stamps of Canada. More than 150 years later, the variety of designs on stamps is enormous, the American Topical Association and others have published handbooks and lists of larger topics. Topical collecting is a category for competitive exhibitions and has its own Commission with the FIP. London, Batsford,1980 ISBN 0-7134-1974-1 Griffenhagen, George and Jerome Husak, tucson, American Topical Association,1997 Gupta, V. K. Delhi, B. D. Gupta,1989 Lee, Alma, london, National Philatelic Society,1983 Martin, M. W. Topical Stamp Collecting. New York, Arco Pub. Co.1975 ISBN 0-6680-3754-7 Morris, london, Gibbons,1977 ISBN 0-85259-920-X Handbooks of the American Topical Association. Media related to Stamps by topic at Wikimedia Commons American Topical Association LearnAboutStamps
20.
Postmark
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A postmark is a postal marking made on a letter, package, postcard or the like indicating the date and time that the item was delivered into the care of the postal service. Modern postmarks are often applied simultaneously with the cancellation or killer that marks the stamp as having been used. Postmarks may be applied by hand or by machines, using such as rollers or inkjets. The local post Hawaii Post had a postmark, parts of which were hand-painted. At Hideaway Island, Vanuatu, the Underwater Post Office has an embossed postmark, the first postmark was introduced by English Postmaster General Henry Bishop in 1661 and showed only the day and month of mailing in order to prevent the delay of the mail by carriers. In England during the part of the 17th century several postmarks were devised for use with the London Penny Post. The postmarks bore the initial of the particular post office or handling house it was sent from along with a time stamp. Postage was prepaid and the postmark was applied to the item by means of an inked hand-stamp. Some historians also consider these postmarks to be the worlds first postage stamps, in Great Britain the first postmark employed for the cancellation of the then new adhesive postage stamps was the Maltese Cross, so named because of its shape and appearance. This was used in conjunction with a stamp which was applied, usually to the rear of the letter. Different types of postmarks include railway post offices and maritime postmarks, similar to this is the censored postmark, overprinted with a black obliteration of the time and place of mailing for similar reasons. The Pony Express used a variety of different postmarks on the mail it carried across the Western United States, there are only 250 known examples of surviving Pony Express mail/postmarks in various collections today bearing one of more than a dozen different types of postmarks. Hawaii post once had a surfboard mail postmark, for covers that traveled by surfboard, a colour postmark is on the United States Postal Service-issued collectible envelope commemorating the 2004 inauguration of George W. Bush. Unofficial entities that issue artistamps may use postmark-like markings as well, marcophily is the study of postmarks and there are many published work on postmarks covering the topic from before 1900, such as the fancy cancels, until the present day. These include the so-called fancy cancels of United States to modern machine postmarks, fewer postmarks are used now than previously, with the advent of meter labels, some types of computer vended postage, and computerized postage that people can print from their own PCs. These indicia are not always postmarked by the Post Office but if put into the later than the date listed on them. Because of this, it is a bad idea to try, an official example relating a numismatic item to postmarks occurred on April 13,1976 when the U. S. issued a new two-dollar bill. People could buy the bills at face value, add a first class stamp, large numbers of these were produced and they remain common
21.
Post office
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A post office is a customer service facility forming part of a national postal system. Post offices offer mail-related services such as acceptance of letters and parcels, provision of post office boxes, and sale of stamps, packaging. In addition, many post offices offer services, providing and accepting government forms, processing government services and fees. The chief administrator of a post office is a postmaster, prior to the advent of postal and ZIP codes, postal systems would route items to a specific post office for receipt or delivery. The term post office or post-office has been in use since the 1650s, in early Modern England, post riders – mounted couriers – were placed every few hours along post roads at posting houses or post houses between major cities. These stables or inns permitted important correspondence to travel without delay, in early America, post offices were also known as stations. This term and post house fell from use as horse and coach service was replaced by railways, aircraft, today, post office usually refers to postal facilities providing customer service. The term General Post Office is sometimes used for the headquarters of a postal service. A postal facility that is used exclusively for processing mail is known as sorting office or delivery office. Integrated facilities combining mail processing with railway stations or airports are known as mail exchanges, there is evidence of corps of royal couriers disseminating the decrees of the Egyptian pharaohs as early as 2,400 BC and the service may greatly precede even that date. Similarly, organized systems of posthouses providing swift mounted courier service seems quite ancient, certainly, by the time of the Persian Empire, a system of Chapar-Khaneh existed along the Royal Road. The 2nd-Century BC Mauryan and Han dynasties established similar systems in India, suetonius credited Augustus with regularizing the Roman network, the cursus publicus. Local officials were obliged to provide couriers who would be responsible for their messages entire course, locally maintained post houses privately owned rest houses were obliged or honored to care for them along their way. Diocletian later established two parallel systems, one providing fresh horses or mules for urgent correspondence and another providing sturdy oxen for bulk shipments, procopius, though not unbiased, records that this system remained largely intact was dismantled in the surviving empire by Justinian in the 6th Century. The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis initiated regular mail service from Brussels in the 16th century, the British Postal Museum claims that the oldest functioning post office in the world is on High Street in Sanquhar, Scotland. This post office has functioned continuously since 1712, an era in which horses, in parts of Europe, special postal censorship offices existed to intercept and censor mail. In France, such offices were known as cabinets noirs, in many jurisdictions, mail boxes and post office boxes have long been in widespread use for dropoff and pickup of mail and small packages outside of post offices or when offices are closed. Deutsche Post introduced the Packstation for package delivery in 2001, in the 2000s, the United States Postal Service began to install Automated Postal Centers in many locations both in post offices and in retail locations
22.
Pony Express
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The Pony Express was a mail service delivering messages, newspapers, and mail. Waddell, all of whom were notable in the freighting business, during its 19 months of operation, it reduced the time for messages to travel between the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to about 10 days. The idea of a fast mail route to the Pacific coast was prompted largely by Californias newfound prominence, after gold was discovered there in 1848, thousands of prospectors, investors and businessmen made their way to California, at that time a new territory of the U. S. By 1850, California entered the Union as a free state, by 1860, the population had grown to 380,000. The demand for a way to get mail and other communications to. In the late 1850s, William Russell, Alexander Majors, and they were already in the freighting and drayage business. At the peak of the operations, they employed 6,000 men, owned 75,000 oxen, thousands of wagons, and warehouses plus a sawmill, a plant, a bank. Russell was a prominent businessman, well respected among his peers, Waddell was co-owner of the firm Morehead, Waddell & Co. After Morehead was bought out and retired, Waddell merged his company with Russells, in 1855 they took on a new partner, Alexander Majors, and founded the company of Russell, Majors & Waddell. They held government contracts for delivering supplies to the western frontier. The initial price was set at $5 per 1⁄2 ounce, then $2.50, the founders of the Pony Express hoped to win an exclusive government mail contract, but that did not come about. Russell, Majors, and Waddell organized and put together the Pony Express in two months in the winter of 1860, the undertaking assembled 120 riders,184 stations,400 horses, and several hundred personnel during January and February 1861. Alexander Majors was a man and resolved by the help of God to overcome all difficulties. He presented each rider with a special edition Bible and required this oath, the Pony Express demonstrated that a unified transcontinental system of communications could be established and operated year-round. When replaced by the telegraph, the Pony Express quickly became romanticized and its reliance on the ability and endurance of individual young, hardy riders and fast horses was seen as evidence of rugged American individualism of the Frontier times. From 1866 until 1889, the Pony Express logo was used by stagecoach and freight company Wells Fargo, the United States Postal Service used Pony Express as a trademark for postal services in the US. Freight Link international courier services, based in Russia, adopted the Pony Express trademark, in 1860, there were about 157 Pony Express stations that were about 10 miles apart along the Pony Express route. At each station stop the rider would change to a fresh horse
23.
Cover (philately)
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The term does not include the contents of the letter or package, although they may add interest to the item if still present. The term originates from the practice of covering a letter by folding a separate sheet about it to protect it. In the first half of the 19th century it became the fashion to cut the cover into a diamond or lozenge shape and this was the precursor of the version of the envelope known today. A philatelic cover is an envelope or post card prepared with a stamp and address, there are several different basic categories for covers. Names for cover types is also usually used by collectors of stamps. There exist a variety of covers that can fit into several basic categories. The categories begin with the most common types of collectible covers, sometimes there will be an area of overlap in the subject of categories. For example, there are First day covers that were sent with mail aboard airplanes on First flight mail runs. Event covers can include, First flights, or other types of covers. A military cover sent to a head of state can also be referred to as a Historic cover, a first day cover is typically an envelope with a postage stamp canceled on its first day of issue. The design or theme of the stamp may be printed on the cover to enhance its appeal to the philatelic community, an event cover celebrates an event or notes an anniversary. This is a cover that is collected as an example of a given stamp postally used on a cover, however older stamps with recent cancellations are usually philatelic, a pre-stamped cover is a cover that already has an imprinted stamp. First flight covers are those carried on an aircraft, usually authorized by a government or postal administration, commemorative covers can include a wide variety of subjects and usually have a commemorative design and often a special postmark that designates the place and date of the specific event. Military covers can include a variety of subjects that may include first flight covers. Mail sent from an Army Post Office or a Navy Post Office are common types of military covers, railroad covers is mail that was processed aboard special rail cars outfitted with an official post office where mail is processed en route to its general destination. Historical covers are those that have historical significance above and beyond that of the average collectible cover. These can include mail sent by Kings, Presidents or other heads of state, if the historical cover is i. e. to or from a General in an Army the cover then can also be classified as a military cover. Names for cover categories are used as general reference in philately
24.
Aerophilately
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Aerophilately is the branch of philately that specializes in the study of airmail. Philatelists have observed the development of transport by air from its beginning. Astrophilately, the study of mail in space, is a related area, federation Internationale de Philatelie also maintains a commission. Airmail Airmail stamps of Denmark Airmails of the United States Fitzgerald Collection List of United States airmail stamps Scott Collection A collection of British internal airmails, seymour Collection A collection relating to the de Havilland Comet. Cabeen, Standard Handbook of Stamp Collecting, pp. 207–221 Cheryl Ganz, ed. Collecting Air Mail American Air Mail Catalogue Baldwin, N. C. Sutton Coldfield, UK), Francis J. Field Ltd. William Victor Kriebel, A History of the Development of Air Mail Service in Brazil William J. Murphy, Irish Airmail 1919-1990 Örjan, luftpostens historia i Norden - The history of airmail in Scandinavia. Pioneer Airpost Flights of The World 1830-1935, thomassen, Egil H. Norwegian Air Mail. British External Air Mails until 1934, the Postal History of British Airmails. Heathfield, East Sussex, Proud-Bailey Co. Ltd
25.
Airmail
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Airmail is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of being airborne. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send, Airmail may be the only option for sending mail to some destinations, such as overseas, if the mail cannot wait the time it would take to arrive by ship, sometimes weeks. The Universal Postal Union adopted comprehensive rules for airmail at its 1929 Postal Union Congress in London, since the official language of the Universal Postal Union is French, airmail items worldwide are often marked Par avion, literally, by airplane. For about the first half century of its existence, transportation of mail via aircraft was usually categorized and sold as a separate service from surface mail. Today it is often the case that mail service is categorized and sold according to transit time alone, thus even regular mail may make part of its journey on an aircraft. Such air-speeded mail is different from nominal airmail in its branding, price, specific instances of a letter being delivered by air long predate the introduction of Airmail as a regularly scheduled service available to the general public. Although homing pigeons had long used to send messages, the first mail to be carried by an air vehicle was on January 7,1785. It was flown by Jean-Pierre Blanchard and John Jeffries, the letter was written by an American Loyalist William Franklin to his son William Temple Franklin who was serving in a diplomatic role in Paris with his grandfather Benjamin Franklin. The first official air mail delivery in the United States took place on August 17,1859, weather issues forced him to land in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and the mail reached its final destination via train. In 1959, the U. S. Postal Service issued a 7 cent stamp commemorating the event, balloons also carried mail out of Paris and Metz during the Franco-Prussian War, drifting over the heads of the Germans besieging those cities. Balloon mail was carried on an 1877 flight in Nashville. Starting in 1903 the introduction of the airplane generated immediate interest in using them for mail transport, an unofficial airmail flight was conducted by Fred Wiseman, who carried three letters between Petaluma and Santa Rosa, California, on February 17,1911. The worlds first official airmail flight came the day, at a large exhibition in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. The letters bore an official frank First Aerial Post, U. P, the aircraft used was a Humber-Sommer biplane, and it made the journey in thirteen minutes. The first official American airmail delivery was made on September 23,1911 by pilot Earle Ovington under the authority of the United States Post Office Department, the first official air mail in Australia was carried by French pilot Maurice Guillaux. On July 16–18,1914, he flew his Blériot XI aircraft from Melbourne to Sydney, at the time, this was the longest such flight in the world. The service was terminated due to constant and severe delays caused by bad weather conditions. In Germany, dirigibles of the 1920s and 1930s were used extensively to carry airmail, it was known as Zeppelin mail, the German Zeppelins were especially visible in this role, and many countries issued special stamps for use on Zeppelin mail
26.
Postal stationery
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It does not, however, include any postcard without a pre-printed stamp. It can take the form of an official mail issue produced only for the use of government departments and it can be an issue of a military force where an army, perhaps in a distant war, issues letter sheets for the use of its troops to write home. Postal stationery can be overprinted by the government or, occasionally, in emergency situations, postal stationery has been produced by handstamping envelopes with modified canceling devices, many of the rare Confederate postmasters provisionals are of this form. Finally, some postal stationery can be printed to private order, in this last case, stamped stationery bearing indicia is applied with postal administration approval and with specified regulations, to paper or cards provided by private persons or organizations. Private impressions result in a range of denominations and designs compared with governmental issues. Letter sheets lend themselves to airmail usage because they are lightweight, enclosures are not permitted in aerograms. Sales of aerograms in the United States ended in 2006 due to poor sales, a letter card almost has the advantages of a postal card as far as weight and size, but also the advantage of privacy of contents is concerned. It is a card, folded over, with gum or adhesive applied to the three open edges. It is then opened by the recipient by tearing perforations on the three sides that are on the side of the gum. The gummed strip around the card is discarded, giving rise to the problems collectors have in finding intact used cards. The US has never issued any letter cards, before 1845 correspondence was not enclosed in an envelope. Letters were folded, sealed, addressed and postmarked on the outside and this continued even after adhesive postage stamps were introduced. The popularity of folded letters led postal authorities to introduce stamped letter sheets and these became available in the U. S. in 1861, but the first official postal stationery were the 1838 embossed letter sheets of New South Wales. These were followed by the Mulready stationery that was issued by Great Britain at the time as the Penny Black in 1840. Since then, most postal services have issued a stream of stationery alongside stamps. Often the design of the stationery mimics the contemporaneous stamps, though with less variety and lower printing quality, much later,1947 in the U. S. letter sheets morphed into lithographed air letter sheets or aerograms. Postal cards are postal stationery and have a printed or embossed indicium and are sold by postal authorities. In the United States, they were first produced in 1873, postcards, on the other hand, are cards prepared by private companies that do not have prepaid franking and readily available at commercial outlets
27.
Stamped envelope
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A stamped envelope or postal stationery envelope is an envelope with a printed or embossed indicium indicating the prepayment of postage. It is a form of postal stationery, the Sherborn Collection in the British Library Philatelic Collections is an important collection of 1841-85 Queen Victoria embossed 1d pink stamped envelopes. The collection was formed by C. Davis Sherborn and donated to the British Museum in 1913, in August 1852 an act of the U. S. Congress authorized the Postmaster General to provide suitable letter envelopes with such watermarks or other guards against counterfeits. With the addition of the value or denomination of the stamps so printed or impressed thereon. The first result was the 1853 Nesbitt issues of stamped envelopes, when you combine the different envelope sizes, knives, colors, dies to print the indicia, and denominations there are literally thousands of different stamped envelopes produced for the U. S. Collectors of stamped envelopes use a catalog to know what has been issued, siegfried Ascher was the first to try to comprehensively document all countries postal stationery including stamped envelopes. This was followed some 40 years later by the Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog, though now out of date, it is still frequently cited since it covers all countries and no other comprehensive catalog has been attempted since. The H&G catalog, as it is known, describes stamped envelopes by the envelope size, the United Postal Stationery Society has two published books cataloging U. S. stamped envelopes. These books describe all of the stated criteria plus the envelope knife making them the most complete U. S. stamped envelope catalogs. Most stamped envelopes are collected as entires, in the 19th century the practice was to collect cut squares which involved cutting the embossed indicia from a postal envelope. As a result, one cannot tell from a cut square what specific envelope it came from and, many times, the manner in which the stamped envelope is cut before folding vanishes on a cut square. The envelope size disappears, too, with a cut square, in collecting entires, a single indicium may appear on many different sizes of envelopes. Some countries have issued the same indicium on different paper types, laid, likewise it is common for the same indicium to be embossed onto paper of several different colors. Finally, two envelopes of the size can have a different flap size indicating that they were cut from a different knife. Rarely, a color, or displaced surcharge, or albino indicium, or inside-out folding of the envelope may appear. All of these relate to mint or unused envelopes. When you add a postmark from an envelope to the mix. What was formerly in fashion, collecting only mint examples, has changed because many collectors seem to find used PSE collections more interesting, some postal stationery envelopes contain a corner card, a printed return address on the envelope, usually in the upper left hand corner
28.
Postal card
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Postal cards are postal stationery with an imprinted stamp or indicium signifying the prepayment of postage. They are sold by postal authorities, on January 26,1869, Dr. Emanuel Herrmann of Austria described the advantages of a Correspondenz Karte. By October 1,1869 the worlds first postal card was produced by Austria-Hungary, by the end of 1870, Great Britain, Finland, Switzerland and Württemberg joined the countries issuing postal cards. In the United States, they were first produced in 1873, to the post office, there were positive advantages to postal cards as opposed to correspondence in envelopes. The cards were lighter and less bulky than letters and they were all the same size, the result was that they occupied less than one third of the space required by the same number of letters. To the public there were also advantages and they were simple and cheap making them an instant success. Britain had a rate to begin with. The U. S. penny postcard rate lasted through 1951, presumably for the purpose of getting a prompt reply, a sender was given the opportunity to pay for postage both ways with an attached message-reply card, first introduced by Germany in 1873. Other European countries quickly followed suit, spain furnished message-reply cards to her Colonies, Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico. The U. S. issued them first in 1892, message-reply cards were attached tête-bêche and likely to be perforated or rouletted to facilitate separation once in the hands of the recipient. The recipient could then tear apart and use the prepaid reply card to correspond with the original sender. In the U. S. message and reply cards have been identical since 1968, the term postal card is clearly differentiated from the term postcard which is a term to designate cards prepared by private companies and which do not have prepaid franking. They are readily available at commercial outlets, the addition of an adhesive stamp is required to mail them. They are frequently illustrated with pictures or printed advertisements and they are not considered postal stationery any more than a plain envelope or sheet of parcel wrapping are. United States Postal Card Catalog,2010, United Postal Stationery Society, higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog,19 volumes covering the whole world. Out of print, but worth looking for, falberg, Bill, and Undersander, Dan, Historical Catalog of U. S. Postal Card Essays and Proofs,1874 -1885, UPSS,2008. The Postal Stationery of the Possessions and Administrative Areas of the United States of America, United Postal Stationery Society,2009, littrell, Robert, Ed. Postal Cards of Spanish Colonial Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico, UPSS,2010. Domestic Postal Card Regulations, 1874–1885, United Postal Stationery Society,2010 edition, wukasch, Ken, Postal Cards of the Worlds Columbian Exposition, UPSS,2005
29.
Letter sheet
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In philatelic terminology a letter sheet, often written lettersheet, is an item of postal stationery issued by a postal authority. It is a sheet of paper that can be folded, usually sealed, the term lettersheet has been used to describe the unstamped folded sheet letters used before envelopes became popular. Most countrys postal authorities have issued true lettersheets at some stage, however, most have discontinued their use, except in the form of an aerogram, due to the popularity of envelopes. The first postal stationery issued by a government is thought to be the AQ lettersheet issued in 1608. In 1790 Luxembourg produced a 25-centime lettersheet, during this period envelopes were rarely used. New South Wales issued prepaid lettersheets in 1838 with uninked embossed stamps to prepay postage within the town of Sydney. Prepaid lettersheets were introduced in the United Kingdom of Great Britain, rowland Hill expected the lettersheets to be more popular than the postage stamps but the postage stamp prevailed. Many caricatures were produced by manufacturers whose livelihood was threatened by the new lettersheet. Only six days after their introduction, on May 12, Hill wrote in his journal, during the American Civil War, in August 1861, two different size lettersheets were issued by the United States which both had the same three cents imprinted stamp design. The suggested use, though practical, did not materialize and they were withdrawn from sales in April 1864, despite the abortive attempt to popularize lettersheets in 1861, two cent lettersheets with a picture of President Ulysses Grant were issued on August 18,1886. They were last produced in 1894, but slow sales of lettersheets continued until 1902, the US has not produced any since, other than air letter sheets or aerograms which became available in 1947 and were likewise discontinued in 2006. Privately produced pictorial lettersheets were published by several stationers in New York City and these lettersheets were popular because of their 8.5 ×21 inch size that could be folded in half, providing four pages for writing but the Post Office regarded them as one sheet of paper. Special stationery on thin sheets of paper, called Air Letter Cards were available in Iraq as early as 1933, the sheets were folded to the size of the blue border, and gummed flaps were used to seal the sheet. He personally copyrighted the product in February 1933 and it was used first in Iraq, in early 1941 the United Kingdom introduced thin, lightweight forms intended for use by their overseas military forces. Known as air letter sheets, they took up less space than regular letters. Allied POW communications through the Red Cross used a special lettersheet inscribed Prisoner of War Air Mail in English, the Forces air lettersheets were rated at 3d while the civilian version was imprinted with a 6d stamp. Several other countries adapted the British lettersheet model during the war, curiously, the British 6d air letter rate remained in effect until 1966 while other postal rates increased. Some German POW and concentration camps issued their own special lettersheets for use by the inmates, towards the end of WWII, at least eight forged German Feldpost lettersheets were printed by the OSS Operation Cornflakes to undermine Axis morale during late 1944 and 1945
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Aerogram
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Most postal administrations forbid enclosures in these light letters, which are usually sent abroad at a preferential rate. Printed warnings existed to say that an enclosure would cause the mail to go at the letter rate. The use of the term aerogramme was officially endorsed at the 1952 Universal Postal Union Postal Union Congress in Brussels, thereafter, the term air letter quickly faded from use. Most aerograms have a stamp indicating the prepayment of postage. As such, this meets the definition of being postal stationery, however, some countries such as New Zealand, Zimbabwe and Ireland, sell unstamped aerograms. Unstamped aerograms are referred to as formular aerograms and can be issued by either postal authorities or by private companies, senders are required to write their name and address on the reverse. The aerogram was largely popularized by its use during the Second World War and he recommended its use to Sir Anthony Eden, the Secretary of State for War during his visit to the Middle East, in late 1940. Use British stamps from all countries, including Egypt, evans first saw the air letter form in Iraq, whilst touring the Commands after his arrival in the Middle East theatre. It had been introduced into the Iraqi postal service in 1933 by the then Inspector General of Posts and Telegraphs, the original form, on thin paper was 124mm x 99mm in size, greyish in colour, with bluelined framing and with the designation legend on the front. It had a beautifully impressed effigy of Faisal I of Iraq and was printed by Bradbury Wilkinson, on 1 March 1941, the air mail service between the Middle East and the UK was started, using a combination of British Overseas Airways flying boats and military transport. On April 29,1947, the US entered the scene with a 10 cent Air Letter Sheet, the same imprinted stamp with the propeller plane was used until updated with a jet airliner image in 1958. The US issued a total of 25 aerograms through 1999, the production of United States aerograms has ceased. Linns Stamp News in late 2006 reported that the United States Postal Service had announced as the supply of Aerograms on hand at Post Offices were exhausted the stock would not be replenished. It quotes David Failor, Postal Service executive director of services as explaining. Many other countries have issued aerograms, the United Nations Postal Administration produced its first,10 cent, sheet on August 29,1952, and periodically issued new ones as designs changed or postal rates increased. Lettercard Letter sheet V-mail Letter Post Manual, Royal Engineers Museum Army Postal Services - origins of Aerogram Aerogramme Society website A comprehensive source on aerogram related topics. Cuban aerograms Illustrations of all mint and used Cuban aerograms
31.
Wrapper (philately)
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In philately a wrapper is a form of postal stationery which pays the cost of the delivery of a newspaper or a periodical. The wrapper is a sheet of paper, large enough to wrap around a folded or rolled newspaper, some catalogs and reference books refer to a wrapper as postal bands which comes from the French term bandes postale. Still others refer to it as a wrapper or periodical wrapper. Charles Knight is considered as the first person to propose the use of stamped wrappers or as the inventor and he made the proposal in 1834 in a letter to Lord Althorp, Chancellor of the Exchequer. All the countries which issued wrappers have now discontinued producing them due to the declining usage, the US removed them from the official schedule on 9 October 1934 though left over stock was sold for a few years thereafter. Most countries stopped production by 1940, some of the last countries to cease issuing wrappers were Australia in 1980, Ireland in 1984, Barbados in 1990 and Cyprus in 1991. In the early days of philately it was the practice to cut the stamp out, today, collectors prefer to collect the whole wrapper as it may have postal markings that provide interesting additional information. Stamps cut from whole postal stationery items are known as cut squares, both are considered virtually useless to the specialist because there is as much interest in the different printed inscriptions on the postal stationery as there is in the stamp itself. Some countries permitted businesses and individuals to submit their own plain or printed sheets for impressing with an imprinted stamp, in Great Britain numerous businesses availed themselves of this facility and since anyone could use this service it resulted in private individuals producing philatelic wrappers. The stamping-to-order facility was introduced in Great Britain in 1855 and withdrawn in 1973, bibliography of literature about Newspaper Wrappers stampdomain. com Article on wrappers and images. Wurttemberg Stamped to Order Newspaper Wrappers for Die Briefmarke
32.
Embossing (paper)
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Embossing and debossing are the processes of creating either raised or recessed relief images and designs in paper and other materials. An embossed pattern is raised against the background, while a pattern is sunken into the surface of the material. Often used in combination with foil stamping, embossing alters the surface of paper stock or other substrates by providing a three-dimensional or raised effect on selected areas, the procedure requires the use of two dies, one that is raised and one that is recessed. The dies fit into each other so that when the paper is pressed between them, the raised die forces the stock into the die and creates the embossed impression. A thorough understanding the process will enable a successful result. Generally, embossing is the process most often employed to attract attention or convey a high quality textural contrast in relation to the area of the paper stock. Debossing is similar to embossing, but recesses the design rather than raising it, rather than the paper being raised in specific areas, it is indented. The process involves applying pressure to the front side of a substrate, although it is not as common as embossing, it is occasionally used to provide a different effect or appearance that fits a particular theme. Embossing and debossing on digitally printed applications is an off-line process, embossing is basically used to create a distinctive effect. The greatest concern and emphasis on the clients behalf should be placed on the outcome of the embossed effect, pressure, the intensity of the impact on the weight of the stock being embossed. Heat, the ability to maintain a consistent heat level for the best impression, most types of paper can be embossed, and size is not normally a consideration. Embossing without ink, so that the image is raised but not colored, is called blind embossing, embossing used in conjunction with ink, so that the raised area is colored, is called color register embossing. Embossing used in conjunction with foil stamping is called combination stamping or combo stamping, embossing involves a separate stage in the production process, after any varnishing and laminating. It requires a press run, and is priced accordingly. In addition to being used as an element, embossing can be used to improve the performance of paper products like napkins, diapers. The metals most often used for die construction are zinc, magnesium, copper, the material used for a specific application depends upon a number of factors. Blind embossing does not include the use of ink or foil to highlight the embossed area, the change in the dimensional appearance of the material is the only noticeable difference resulting from the embossing. The blind embossing process provides a clean and distinctive or subtle image on paper stock and it is best used to create a subtle impression or low level of attention to the piece, yet provide some slight form of differentiation for the finished work
33.
Imprinted stamp
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In philately, an imprinted stamp is a stamp printed onto a piece of postal stationery such as a stamped envelope, postal card, letter sheet, letter card, aerogram or wrapper. The printing may be flat upon the surface of the paper, an imprinted stamp is also known as unadhesive stamp or indicium. The cost of the item of stationery includes the manufacture of the item, the design of imprinted stamps often bears a close resemblance to normal adhesive stamps of the same country and era. It may be a definitive or commemorative stamp, in the early days of philately, it was common to cut the imprinted stamp from the rest of the item and retain only the stamp. This is known as a cut square, in the U. K. this is known as cut-out. If the imprinted stamp is then trimmed around the edges, it is known as cut to shape and it is a full corner if it has the complete corner of the envelope with side and back flaps attached. Today collectors much prefer to keep postal stationery items intact, because cutting destroys the postal history, the knife of the stamped envelope, in some countries, it was permitted to cut out the imprinted stamp and use it to pay postage on another item of mail. This is also known as a cut-out, such covers are known as conjunctive covers, and such use is known as a conjunctive use. Placement of the stamp in addition to the imprinted stamp in order to pay a higher postal rate is called uprated. This term also applies when an imprinted or embossed stamp is overprinted or handstamped to increase the face value, embossed postage stamp The British Postal Museum & Archive, First British pre-paid postcard. 1881 Canada postcard with imprinted stamp
34.
Indicia (philately)
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In philately, indicia are markings on a mail piece showing that postage has been prepaid by the sender. Indicia is the plural of the Latin word indicium, meaning distinguishing marks, the term imprinted stamp is used more or less interchangeably, but some indicia are not imprinted stamps. Indicia can take a number of forms, including printed designs or handstamps where a stamp would normally be that indicate the pre-payment of postage, imprinted stamps on postal stationery are indicia. The term also refers to a meter stamp impression or the part thereof that indicates the value or postal rate, Indicia Information Based Indicia Postmark Carnegie Mellon University Computer Science technical reports CMU-CS-96-113, Cryptographic Postage Indicia
35.
Cinderella stamp
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In philately, a cinderella stamp is virtually anything resembling a postage stamp, but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration. The term also excludes imprinted stamps on postal stationery, as cinderella stamps are defined by what they are not, there are many different types and the term is usually construed fairly loosely. Revenue stamps are sometime considered cinderellas, but as they are issued by an official government agency. Some telegraph, railway and other stamps may also be issued by government agencies, local stamps have a long history and began to be issued soon after the invention of the postage stamp. Zemstvo stamps were issued in areas of the Russian Empire. Many local stamps performed a genuine postal function where the national post was lacking, other locals, however, amount to nothing more than colourful labels. In the United Kingdom many local carriage labels have been issued by offshore islands, others were produced simply to sell to collectors and tourists. Usually they had to be placed on the back of the envelope, islands for which such labels have been issued include the Summer Isles, Lundy and the Calf of Man. Hotel Stamps may also be regarded as a form of local stamp, Stamps with encouraging slogans have been attached to letters for prisoners of war, or troops serving abroad. The Indian National Army produced ten stamps as part of their campaign, from 1951 to 1966, UNESCO issued a series of 41 gift stamps. Considered to be cinderellas, they were produced to raise money for the organization, the series is unusual in being an international cooperative effort. Most are readily available from specialized dealers, colin Ward, along with Harper, published a book in 1997 called Stamps, Designs For Anarchist Postage Stamps, containing an essay by Ward on the subject of anarchists and postage stamps. Fund-raising stamps with anti-state messages have appeared within labor unions such as the ones printed by the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, current officially licensed Heritage railway-operated services include the Ffestiniog Railway Letter Service. United Kingdom railway letter stamps almost always specify a fee for the use of this official, sometimes a fictitious country or denomination may be present. While many cinderella stamps are common, others were produced in limited numbers, are little-known. Revenue stamps are a competitive category within the FIP and have their own commissioner. There are cinderella stamp clubs in the United Kingdom and in Australia and its not a stamp, but it looks a lot like one. Cinderellas add more fun to your collection, archived from the original on 2013-07-07
36.
Easter seals (philately)
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An Easter seal is a form of charity label issued to raise funds for charitable purposes. They are issued by the Easter Seals charity in the United states, Easter seals are applied to the front of mail to show support for particular charitable causes. They are distributed along with appeals to donate to the charities they support, Easter seals are a form of Cinderella stamp. They do not have any postal value
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Christmas seal
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Christmas seals are labels placed on mail during the Christmas season to raise funds and awareness for charitable programs. They have become associated with lung diseases such as tuberculosis. Christmas seals are regarded as a form of stamp in contrast with Christmas stamps used for postage. At the beginning of the 1900s tuberculosis was a greatly feared disease, in 1904, Einar Holbøll, a Danish postal clerk developed the idea of adding an extra charitable stamp on mailed holiday greetings during Christmas. The money raised could be used to help children sick with tuberculosis, the plan was approved by the Postmaster and the King of Denmark. In 1904 the world’s first Christmas seal was issued, bearing the likeness of the Danish Queen, over 4 million were sold in the first year at DKK0.02 per seal. During the first six years, enough funds were raised to build the Christmas Seal Sanatorium in Kolding, the Danish Christmas Seal Committee – today known as Julemærkefonden - decided at that time to put all future collected funds to use in building and operating convalescent homes for children. Soon after Denmark issued the first Christmas seal, Sweden and Iceland followed, Seals then spread throughout Scandinavia and every major country in Europe, and are still popular today. Christmas seals have been issued by hundreds of different societies, nationally, and locally in Asia, Africa, North and South America, and Australia. The majority of all TB seals since then were issued at Christmas time and included the symbol against TB. Bissell hoped to raise money for a sanitarium on the Brandywine Creek in Delaware, bissell went on to design a Delaware local Christmas seal in 1908. Local Christmas seals have existed alongside national issues in the US since 1907, by 1908, Bissells idea grew to a national program administered by the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis and the American National Red Cross. The seals were sold in post office lobbies, initially in Delaware at 1 cent each, net proceeds from the sales would be divided equally between the two organizations. By 1920, the Red Cross withdrew from the arrangement and sales were conducted exclusively by the NASPT, after World War II with the development of the antibiotic streptomycin TB became a curable disease, although it would be decades before it could be considered under control in developed countries. To reflect the scope of the organizations goals, the name was changed to the National Tuberculosis. The NTRDA became the American Lung Association in 1973, though the 1974 seals continue to show the NTRDA inscription on the sheet margin, today the Christmas seals benefit the American Lung Association and other lung related issues. Tuberculosis was declining, but recently has been on the rise, TB is still one of the most common major infectious diseases in the world. In 1987 the American Lung Association acquired a trademark for the term Christmas Seals to protect their right to be the sole US national fundraising Association to issue them, by 1908, the campaign had reached Canada
38.
Philatelic literature
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Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history. Philatelic literature is held by collectors and dealers, philatelic societies. The holdings of the British Library, for instance, are estimated at 30-35,000 works, for example, currency exchange rates, maps, newspapers etc. Perhaps the most basic sort of literature is the stamp catalogue and this is basically a list of types of postage stamps along with their market values. The first stamp catalogue was published in France by Oscar Berger-Levrault on 17 September 1861, the first catalogues in Great Britain were published in 1862 by Frederick Booty, Mount Brown, and Dr. John Edward Gray. The first in the United States was The Stamp Collectors Manual by A. C. Kline, some catalogues, like the Michel catalogue and various one-country catalogues, offer a great deal of information going beyond the basic properties of each stamp type. Another common sort of book is the comprehensive Stamps and Postal History of a single country, the next level of specialization is remarkable both for the level of minutiae and the number of works that have been published. If the stamps is particularly rare, the book may include a census of every single copy known to exist. As might be expected, the audience is small, and the print runs of these books are small too, classic works out of print may be much-sought-after, sometimes even more than the stamps they are describing. In addition to books, there are a number of philatelic journals. The first stamp magazine was the Monthly Intelligencer from Birmingham, England, the journals and newsletters of clubs and societies also have an important role in philatelic literature. Many journals only run for a few numbers and then cease but they contain information found nowhere else. There are also a number of libraries devoted solely to philatelic literature, List of philatelic journals List of philatelic libraries Amrhein, Manfred. Philatelic Literature, A History and A Select Bibliography from 1861 to 1991, san Jose, M. Amrhein, 1992-20064 volumes. Bibliography of general literature in the library of Brian J. Birch. Standish, Wigan, The Author,2011, 315p, standish, Wigan, The Author,2007, 468p. Les Jalons de la Litterature Philateliques au XIXe Siecle = Milestones of the Philatelic Literature of the 19th Century, Monaco, Musée des Timbres et des Monnaies de Monaco,2013 ISBN9789081464192, 512p. Philatelic Literature, Compilation Techniques and Reference Sources, limassol, James Bendon,1991 ISBN 9963-7624-3-3, 293p
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Revenue stamp
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Typically businesses purchase the stamps from the government, and attach them to taxed items as part of putting the items on sale, or in the case of documents, as part of filling out the form. Revenue stamps often look similar to postage stamps, and in some countries. Revenue stamps are used to collect taxes and fees. They are issued by governments, national and local, and by bodies of various kinds. They take many forms and may be gummed and ungummed, perforated or imperforate, printed or embossed, in many countries, they are as detailed in their design as much as banknotes, they are often made from the same type of paper. The high value of revenue stamps means that they may contain security devices to prevent counterfeiting. The Revenue Society has defined revenue stamps as, in the Ottoman empire, Damga resmi was already in use by the sixteenth century. Records of tax revenue from stamps for silk provide evidence of changes in production over time. The use of revenue stamps goes back further than that of postage stamps, Revenue stamps have become less commonly seen in the 21st century, with the rise of computerization and the ability to use numbers to track payments accurately. There are a great many kinds of revenue stamps in the world, both national and local entities have issued them. Governments have sometimes combined the functions of postage and revenue stamps, in the former British Empire, such stamps were often inscribed Postage and Revenue to reflect their dual function. Other countries have simply allowed revenue stamps to be used for postage or vice versa, a revenue stamp authorized subsequently for postal use is known as a postal fiscal. Bhutan, for instance, authorized the use of stamps for postal purposes from 1955 until the first proper postage stamps of the country were issued in 1962. In the Stanley Gibbons catalog, this type of stamp has an F prefix, while revenue stamps often resemble postage stamps, they are not normally intended for use on mail and therefore do not receive a postal cancellation. Some countries such as Great Britain have issued stamps valid for postage and revenue, but this practice is now rare. Many different methods have used to cancel revenue stamps, including pen cancels, inked handstamps, perforating, embossing. From around 1900, United States revenue stamps were required to be mutilated by cutting, after being affixed to documents, a class of office equipment was created to achieve this which became known as stamp mutilators. Revenue stamps were widely collected by philatelists and given the same status as postage stamps in stamp catalogues
40.
Stamp tongs
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Stamp tongs are tweezers used to handle postage stamps. They are used by collectors and philatelists, because they are a reliable way to hold. The jaws of stamp tongs are smooth in contrast to the jaws of the type of tweezers one might use to grasp and pull a thorn. They can also be an efficient way to handle a stack of stamps. Stamp tongs are nearly always made of metal, with lengths ranging from 10–20 cm, the tip is usually thin, so it can slide under a stamp easily, and may come in several different forms. The shovel tip is a broad spatula shape, often bent at an angle, there are also rounded tips available that beginning stamp collectors like to use to avoid damaging their collection
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Perforation gauge
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In philatelic terminology, perforation gauge has two meanings, As a term for classification. The perforation gauge of a stamp specifies the number of holes that appear in a two-centimeter span along its edge. The finest gauge ever used is 18 on stamps of the Malay States in the early 1950s, modern stamp perforations tend to range from 11 to 14. Many stamps are produced with compound perforations i. e. the vertical and horizontal perforations will be of different gauges, many U. S. stamps have been perforated 10½ x 11. As the name for a tool used to measure perforations. Invented in 1866 by Jacques Legrand, the typical perf gauge is a metal or plastic tile on which perforations of gauges ranging from 7 and 7½ to 16, the philatelist places each of these depictions beside a stamp until one is found that exactly matches the stamp’s perforations. Such a gauge is an tool for identifying stamps that present identical images but have been issued with perforations of several different sizes. An extreme example is the U. S. Washington-Franklin Issues, some of which are found with perforations of gauges 8½,10,11,12, postage stamp separation References Sources L. N. Williams, Fundamentals of Philately chap.15 ISBN 0-933580-13-4
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Stamp catalog
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A stamp catalog is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices. The stamp catalog is a tool of philately and stamp collecting. Stamp catalogs are part of philatelic literature, the first stamp catalog was published in France by Oscar Berger-Levrault on 17 September 1861 and the first illustrated catalog by Alfred Potiquet in December 1861. The first catalogs in Great Britain were published in 1862 by Frederick Booty, Mount Brown, the first in the United States was The Stamp Collectors Manual by A. C. Kline, also 1862. Older catalogs are still used by collectors as they may contain information not found in current catalogs. Originally catalogs were just dealers price lists, though today that is rarely the case, over time, as philately developed, catalogs tended to accumulate additional supporting details about the stamps, such as dates of issue, color variations, and so forth. As their use by collectors became widespread, the catalogs came to define what was and was not a legitimate stamp, in recent years, the Internet has become a common resource for information about stamps. Some catalogs have a version while others are available only on-line. For publishers that are not dealers, the prices are estimated by data from dealers, many countries have their own national catalogs, typically put out by a leading publisher or dealer in that country. Postal administrations may themselves put out catalogs, although tend to be aimed at less-experienced collectors
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Stockbook
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Stockbooks are storage books used by stamp collectors for storage of postage stamps placed in pockets, on pages, for easy viewing. Other philatelic items, such as blocks, miniature sheets, covers, lettersheets. Stockbooks consist of a number of pages, made up with horizontal pockets of manilla paper, glassine paper or clear film. Collectors can insert stamps side by side in a row or can overlap stamps when individual viewing is not necessary, the pages, usually double-sided, are bound into book form. The most popular sizes comprise between 4 and 32 double-sided pages with each page interleaved with a glassine, or clear, some collectors require more flexibility than a bound stockbook allows, because moving individual stamps from page to page can be time consuming and may cause damage. Several manufacturers produce individual stock pages that can be inserted into loose-leaf folders, stock pages are usually sold in packages of multiple sheets of 5 or 10 to a packet. Stock pages are made from plastic or thick card, in either case they have clear pockets on one or both sides. These pockets are attached on three sides with the top side being open to insert the stamps, on some sheets the pockets are attached to the page on one side only, that is the bottom side. The sides are left unattached so that the pocket can be lifted open to place a stamp or a philatelic item and this arrangement reduces the chance of damage, since unlike in a three-side-attached stock page the stamps are not inserted or pushed into a pocket. As more stamps are acquired they can easily be rearranged, there is no need to use stamp hinges. Large gaps need not exist, as may happen with an album that has fixed spaces for each particular stamp. There is no space for writing notes - some collectors do their write-up on a piece of paper, stamps are not affixed so they can fall out, or become dislodged, if dropped or bumped hard. Stockbooks are less suitable for display since the stamps can fall out or be mishandled, philately Stamp album Stamp collecting Tools - Stockbooks, Stockpages and Stockcards Junior Philatelists on the Internet
44.
Stamp hinge
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In philately, stamp hinges, or mounts, are small, folded, transparent, rectangular pieces of paper coated with a mild gum. They are used by collectors to affix postage stamps onto the pages of a stamp album. The short end is moistened and affixed to the stamp, the end is likewise affixed to the page. The hinge keeps the stamp on the page while still allowing it to be lifted to examine the back, for instance to see the watermark or expert marks. The best stamp hinges are also designed to be “peelable”, meaning that the stamp may be removed from the page, and the hinge from the stamp, without any damage to either. Not all makes of hinge have this property, and the backs of many stamps have “hinge remnants” and this is especially common for mint stamps, where the stamp’s own gum adheres tightly to the hinge. Some old stamps may actually have multiple hinge remnants layered on top of each other, conversely, careless removal of a hinge may take away a layer of the stamp’s paper, resulting in a type of stamp thin known as a hinge thin. The thinner paper will be noticeable when the stamp is held up to the light and is considered a fault in a stamp. Even with the use of peelable hinges and care to minimize the moisture used, while this was formerly a matter of indifference, since about the middle of the 20th century many collectors have come to prefer “unhinged stamps” showing no trace of hinging. In some cases, the differential is 2-to-1 or more. Collectors preferring unhinged stamps typically use pocket-like or sleeve-like hingeless mount, nevertheless, stamp hinges remain popular as a mounting method. Since the time that unhinged stamps became popular, considerable numbers of old stamps with intact gum have appeared on the market, raising suspicion that many of these have been regummed
45.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
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Royal Philatelic Society London
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The Royal Philatelic Society London is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as The Philatelic Society, permission to use the prefix Royal was granted by King Edward VII in November 1906. The current patron is Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, every September, at a special meeting of the Society, part of the Royal Philatelic Collection is displayed by its Keeper. Queen Elizabeth is not known to be a philatelist herself, the Royal, as it is known, has members in dozens of countries, with the highest numbers of members in the United Kingdom and the United States. Members are in two classes, Fellows and Members, Fellows are elected from among Members based on service to the Royal. The Society publishes a journal, The London Philatelist, which includes articles, book reviews, society news, advertisements, the principal objects of the Society are,1. To promote, encourage and contribute to the advancement of the science and practice of philately, to establish and maintain a library and collections of stamps, designs, proofs, essays and other articles of interest relating to any of the objects of the Society. The society awards the Crawford Medal for the most valuable and original contribution to the study, the Lee Medal for the best paper dealing with any aspect of philately given by one Fellow or Member during the relevant period. The Tapling Medal for the best paper written by a Fellow or Member, president - Frank Walton RDP List of presidents of the Royal Philatelic Society London Royal Philatelic Society London Meeting Handouts Collection Butler, A. Ronald. The Royal Philatelic Society, London, 1869-1969, ISBN 0-900631-00-7,192 pages Worms, Baron Percy de. The Royal Philatelic Society, London,1869 - April 10,1919, London, Royal Philatelic Society London,1919,128 pages Official website
