postage stamp

A small, usually adhesive label issued by a government and sold in various denominations to be affixed to items of mail as evidence of the payment of postage.

Background

The postage stamp is a relatively modern invention, first proposed in 1837 when Sir Rowland Hill, an English teacher and tax reformer, published a seminal pamphlet entitled Post Office Reform: Its Importance and Practicability. Among other reforms, Hill's treatise advocated that the English cease basing postal rates on the distance a letter traveled and collecting fees upon delivery. Instead, he argued, they should assess fees based on weight and require prepayment in the form of stamps. Hill's ideas were accepted almost immediately, and the first English adhesive stamp, which featured a portrait of Queen Victoria, was printed in 1840. This stamp, called the "penny black," provided sufficient postage for letters weighing up to .5 ounce (14 grams), regardless of distance. To encourage widespread use of stamps, letters mailed without them were now charged double at the point of delivery. After Britain, Brazil became the next nation to produce postage stamps, issuing stamps made by its currency engraver in 1843. Various cantons in what later became Switzerland also produced stamps in 1843. United States postage stamps (in five and ten cent denominations) were first authorized by Congress in 1847 and came on the market on July 1 of the same year. By 1860, more than 90 countries, colonies, or districts were issuing postage stamps.

Most early stamps were of a single color—the United States, for example, did not produce multicolored stamps until 1869, and they did not become common until the 1920s. The penny black and other early stamps needed to be separated with a scissors; perforated stamps did not appear until 1854 in England and 1857 in the United States. However, though larger stamps are occasionally produced, the penny black's original size, .75 by .875 inch (1.9 by 2.22 centimeters), has remained standard.

Initially, stamps were manufactured by the same businesses that provided a country with currency, or by a country's mint. Yet it soon became apparent that printing stamps is unlike minting money in that the different paper types call for different printing pressures. Consequently, printing stamps became a discrete activity, though one still sometimes carried out by companies that made currency. In ensuing years, methods of producing stamps mirrored the development of modern printing processes. Today, stamp making processes utilize much of the finest printing technology available.

In the United States, the decision to produce a stamp is made by a Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee, which meets regularly in conjunction with staff from the Post Office. The committee is responsible for determining what stamps will be produced, in what denominations, and at what time. Suggestions for stamps come from throughout the country, although the committee itself might recommend a particular design. Most frequently, however, there is a large pool of recommendations with which to work. In some cases, suggestions are accompanied by drawings and pictures which might form the basis for the stamp being considered.

Once the committee decides that a particular stamp will be produced, it commissions an artist to design it or modify a submitted design. It then decides, primarily on the basis of workload, whether the stamp should be produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing or by outside contractors, who have been used much more extensively since the late 1980s. It's possible for a common stamp in great demand (such as an everyday first class mail stamp) to be made by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and by several contractors. Currently, perhaps ten to fifteen American firms are capable of manufacturing stamps that meet Post Office standards.

Specifications for the stamp, such as color, size, design, and even the printing process itself are then drawn up in consultation with the original artist or designer. If the stamp is to be contracted out, a "request for proposal" appears in the Commerce Business Daily, a U.S. government publication which lists contracts available to non-government firms. After the stamp is printed, samples will be sent to the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union in Switzerland, where they are marked as samples (commonly perforated with a word such as "specimen") and then distributed to member nations to help postal workers recognize other countries' legitimate postage.

In addition to requirements for the picture or design on a stamp, other requirements, all of which can be met at a printing plant, are sometimes added to a stamp's specification. The most common one is phosphor tagging, in which an invisible mark that can be read only by a special machine is placed on a stamp. The tagging facilitates the automated sorting of mail.

Other requirements might be for such things as printing the stamp on chalked paper to prevent reuse of a stamp by cleaning or washing off a cancellation. When a canceled stamp printed on chalked paper is wetted, the picture will blur as the cancellation mark is wiped off, cuing postal workers to the fact that the stamp is no longer valid.

Raw Materials

Although stamps were originally printed on sheets of paper that were fed into presses individually, the paper now used comes on a roll. The two kinds of paper most commonly used to print stamps are laid and wove paper, the former with ribbed lines and the latter without. While other nations use both types, the United States presently uses only wove. Either laid or wove paper might feature watermarks, faint designs that result from differences in the pressure applied to various parts of a roll of paper during the production process. Commonly used in other counties, watermarked paper has not been utilized in the United States since 1915.

The Manufacturing
Process

At the printing plant, the process begins with the delivery of paper for stamps, with the glue already applied to the back. Two printing processes are most often used in making stamps, the intaglio process (which includes the gravure process), and the offset process. It is not unusual, however, for a particular stamp's specifications to call for the use of both methods.

Intaglio, perhaps the oldest means of producing stamps, is also the most time-consuming. However, because this method creates stamps with more distinct images, the process has not been pushed aside by newer, faster, and less expensive methods. Intaglio involves engraving, scratching, or etching an image onto a printing plate, which in turn transfers that image onto paper. In one well-known intaglio process, called gravure, the image is first transferred onto the plate photographically, and then etched into the plate. This section, however, will focus on an engraving process.

Creating the master die

• The engraving method of intaglio begins with the creation of a "master die" in which the design of the stamp is engraved, in reverse. The design is in the lowered portion of the die—the raised portion of the die will not be reproduced in the final product. This is an exacting hand process, in which the engraver is carefully cutting a mirror image of the original drawing for the stamp. It might be several weeks before the engraver is satisfied that he or she has created the perfect duplicate.
• After the die has been completed, it is heated to harden the engraved image. In the next step, the hardened intaglio is transferred to a transfer roll, which consists of soft steel wrapped around a rod-shaped carrier, or mandrel, and which resembles a shortened rolling pin. The transfer roll is machine-pressed against the master die, and rocked back and forth until the master die has created a relief impression on the transfer roll. At this point, the relief is a positive impression (no longer in reverse). The process is repeated until the desired number of reliefs has been created on the transfer roll.

Preparing the printing plate

• Like the master die, the transfer roll is hardened by heating. It is then pressed against a printing plate, leaving another relief, again in reverse, on the printing plate. If there are several reliefs on a transfer roll, all can be passed to the printing plate. Several printing plates can be made from the same transfer roll if the decision is made to use more than one machine to produce a particular stamp. The impression on the plate is in the form of grooves rather than a raised image.
• Once the plate is ready for use, it is fastened into the printing press and coated with ink. Inking is done automatically by several processes including spraying ink through small jets or moving an ink-covered roller across a plate. The plate is then wiped by a blade called the doctor blade, leaving ink only in the grooves.
• The plate then presses against the paper, leaving a positive impression of the reverse image that was originally copied onto the master die.
• If more than one color is involved, separate colors are handled by a process known as selective inking. A particular color of ink is applied by a piece of hard rubber that comes in contact with only the section of the stamp that is to receive that color. After the ink is applied in one area, another piece of rubber, with another color for another area, is used to ink another portion of the plate.

Offset lithography

• The offset method of printing is less expensive than intaglio and can also produce very fine results, and it is a common choice for many stamps. In this method, a picture or design is first made photochemically on an aluminum plate. Once attached to the printing press, the plate is alternately bathed in ink and water: the photochemical image gets ink, while the non-image parts are dampened with water, which acts as a repellent to the ink and ensures that only the image will be transferred to the paper. Next, the plate presses against a rubber "blanket," which carries a reverse image of the final picture. In turn, the rubber blanket contacts the paper, producing the final positive image.

Perforation

• Perforations can be made either during the printing process by an adjacent machine or, less commonly, by a separate machine afterwards. In the first method, the sheet of paper is passed through a machine which uses little pins to punch the perforation holes through the paper in a horizontal and vertical grid. After pushing through the paper, the pins meet a matching metal indentation on the other side. After being perforated, the stamps move out of the press. In the other method of producing perforations, called rouletting, a wheel similar to a pizza cutter but with pins is rolled across one side of the stamped paper after it has been removed from the printing press, laying down a row of holes. Though originally a hand-operation, this method of perforation is now automated.

Quality Control

Stamps are inspected at every stage of the printing process, by the people who are running the stamps and by inspectors whose only responsibility is to observe the process and remove errors before the stamps proceed to the next step.

Printing machines are hugely complex, and errors in the printing process are a fact of life. Misfed paper, clogged inking apparatus, variations in pressure, changes in ink quality, incorrectly adjusted mechanisms, and a host of other problems can be minimized but not always eliminated. Even changes in the humidity of the pressroom can affect the press and the paper enough to produce less-than-perfect results.

Several of the most spectacular errors of the past occurred because presses were manually fed; in other words, individual sheets of paper were inserted into the press by hand. If a sheet of paper required an impression from a second press (to add a second color), and the sheet was turned accidentally, the resulting stamps featured misplaced blotches of color. This type of error does not occur today because presses are roll-fed: rather than being fed into a press sheet by sheet, paper is fed in from a continuous roll.

Most errors are detected, and the flawed stamps destroyed, under tight security controls in the printing plant. Enough errors slip through, however, to make the collecting of "error stamps" an interesting specialty for some stamp collectors.

The Future

One twentieth-century innovation that has significantly diminished the use of stamps is the postage meter. Developed in New Zealand in 1902, meters were introduced in the United States twelve years later. In addition to their use by the federal Post Office, meters are now leased by private companies that send out large amounts of mail. These meters allow companies to post and mail letters without using stamps. Particularly popular with businesses that send out bulk mailings, meters now "stamp" over one half of the mail posted in the United States. However, individuals continue to use postage stamps, which remain not only functional but popular, as can be seen in the excitement generated by such recent stamps as those commemorating World War II, Elvis Presley, and Princess Grace of Monaco.

Where To Learn More

Books

Lewis, Brenda Ralph. Stamps! A Young Collector's Guide. Lodestar Books, 1991.

Olcheski, Bill. Beginning Stamp Collecting. Henry Z.Walck, 1991.

Scott 1993 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue. Vol. 1:Basic Stamp Information, pp. 20A-26A. Scott Publishing Co., 1992.

Periodicals

Healey, Barth. "Tactical Technology Fights Counterfeiters." New York Times. May 16, 1993, p. N22.

Patota, Anne. "Coil Stamp Provides Test for Pre-Phosphored Paper." Stamps. May 16, 1987, p. 458.

Schiff, Jacques C., Jr. "Much to Learn about Printing." Stamps. July 4, 1992, p. 10.

"Computer Enhances National Guard Color." Stamps. November 8, 1986, p. 418.

"Postage Stamp Design: Creating Art Works the Size of Your Thumb." Stamps. November 5, 1988, p. 217.

[Article by: Lawrence H. Berlow]

Small piece of pre-gummed paper that, when affixed to an item of mail, indicates that postage costs have been prepaid. The postage stamp originated in Britain in 1840 as part of the reform of the postal system instigated by Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879), who is also credited with the design of the first stamp, the Penny Black, which was first sold in London on 1 May 1840 (it was not officially valid until 6 May, although examples of premature use are known). This design

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Government-issued stamps encapsulate the history and culture of the region.

The Islamic states of the Middle East had operated elaborate postal messenger systems since the seventh century, but it was Great Britain in 1840 that issued the world's first postage stamp. It depicted Queen Victoria. Postage stamps quickly spread, with the Ottoman Empire issuing its first stamp in 1863, followed by Egypt in 1866, Persia in 1868, Afghanistan
in 1871, the Hijaz (now part of Saudi Arabia) in 1916, and Yemen in 1926. Elsewhere, British, French, and Italian colonial officials in the Middle East designed the first stamps for their jurisdictions.

Early Middle Eastern stamps, like Islamic coins before them, observed conservative Islamic tradition by rarely portraying human figures. Arabesque designs, calligraphy, or a crescent and star served as symbols instead. In 1876, Persia broke with tradition by showing its ruler on a stamp; the Ottomans did the same in 1913. Egypt, Iraq, and Transjordan followed during the 1920s; then Afghanistan, Syria, and Lebanon during the 1940s. Saudi Arabia, more isolated and conservative, waited until the 1960s.

Rulers appeared variously in traditional dress, in Western coat and tie, or in military uniform. Turkey's Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who secularized Turkey after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire by, among other things, outlawing Muslim head-wear, wore civilian dress on his stamps from 1926 on, but many soldiers-turned-president preferred military uniforms. After coming to power in 1979, Iraq's President Saddam Hussein appeared variously on stamps in coat and tie, army uniform, and Arab kafiyya. Some rulers promoted a cult of the leader on their stamps, with the hero towering above the masses he claimed to embody. Syria's Hafiz al-Asad, Egypt's Anwar al-Sadat, and Iraq's Saddam saturated stamps with their own portraits. Egypt's president Gamal Abdel Nasser was more reticent, and Husni Mubarak followed Nasser's rather than Sadat's example in this regard.

The first stamps of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, Persia, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen bore inscriptions in only Arabic script. Although they were not French colonies, they soon added French, long the main language of world diplomacy. All later switched to English as their second language on stamps - except Afghanistan, which kept French, and Turkey, whose adoption of the Latin alphabet in 1928 made its Turkish-only stamps partly accessible to Westerners. French colonial possessions used French, and British possessions English. French Algeria and Italian Libya used no Arabic on their stamps until independence (1962 and 1951, respectively). Hebrew has been the main language on Israel's stamps since independence in 1948, with English and Arabic as secondary languages.

European colonial stamps presented romanticized and orientalist colonial picturesque themes - pre-Islamic ruins, old mosques, colorful landscapes, and folk scenes. European officials first selected the pyramids and sphinx as symbols for Egyptian stamps, but many Egyptians came to identify, at least partially, with these pre-Islamic symbols. Egypt often commemorates ancient pharaonic treasures on stamps; folk costumes are also shown as part of a proud national heritage. Even so, stamps with such themes are often issued with Western tourists and collectors in mind.

Revolutions drastically changed stamp designs. "The people" - symbolic soldiers, peasants, workers, professionals, and women in both traditional and Western dress - celebrate liberation, modernization, and the drive for economic development. Stamps advertise such things as petroleum pipelines, factories, and broadcasting stations. Socialist countries commemorated land reform, the spread of health-care, and five-year plans. In addition to such symbols of material and social progress, Israel also depicts themes from biblical history, Jewish history, and Zionism.

The stamps of Israel and the Arab states also reflect their respective versions of the Arab - Israel conflict. Stamps commemorate the war dead, advertise the latest aircraft, and boast of specific victories. Most Arab countries have issued stamps deploring the Dayr Yasin massacre (as they describe the event) of 1948, mourn the plight of Palestinian refugees, and celebrate Palestinian resistance to Israel. Since Israel's occupation of East Jerusalem in 1967, the Dome of the Rock (in the Haram alSharif) has often appeared on stamps as a symbol of Arab and Islamic claims to Jerusalem. The stamps of Arab countries that depict maps omit the name Israel, showing only the borders and sometimes the name of pre-1948 Palestine. With its borders still unsettled and controversial, Israel's stamp designers make it a practice to avoid showing national maps.

During the 1950s and 1960s, pan-Arab themes tended to overshadow symbols of local territorial patriotism. Beginning in the 1970s, Islamic themes became popular - mosques, Qurʾans, hegira dates, and crescents - on stamps honoring the prophet Muhammad's birthday, the Islamic New Year, and the hajj. Islamic themes stand out above all on the stamps of the Islamic Republic of Iran since the 1979 revolution, depicting deceased Shiʿite holy men, martyrs killed in the jihad (holy struggle) against Iraq, and anti-American symbols.

Bibliography

Hazard, Harry W. "Islamic Philately as an Ancillary Discipline." In The World of Islam: Studies in Honour of Philip K.Hitti, edited by James Kritzeck and R. B. Winder. New York: St. Martin's Press; London: Macmillan, 1959.

Reid, Donald Malcolm. "The Postage Stamp: A Window on Saddam Hussein's Iraq." Middle East Journal 47 (1993): 77 - 89.

Reid, Donald Malcolm. "The Symbolism of Postage Stamps: A Source for the Historian." Journal of Contemporary History 19 (1984): 223 - 249.

Scott 2003 Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, 9 vols. Available from http://www.scottonline.com.

— DONALD MALCOLM REID

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009)

A postage stamp is adhesive paper evidence of a fee paid for postal services. Usually a small rectangle attached to an envelope, the stamp signifies the person sending it has fully or partly paid for delivery. Postage stamps are the most popular way of paying for retail mail; alternatives include postal stationery such as prepaid-postage envelopes, post cards, lettercards, aerogrammes and newspaper wrappers in addition to printed postal impressions and postage meters. The study of postage stamps is called philately. Stamp collecting is a hobby.

Contents 1 History 2 Postage stamp design 3 Types of stamps 4 Dispensing 4.1 IBI stamps 5 First day covers 6 Souvenir or miniature sheets 7 Collecting 7.1 Philatelic abuse 8 Famous stamps 9 See also 9.1 Themed lists 10 References 11 External links

History

The Penny Black, the world's first postage stamp

Although James Chalmers and Lovrenc Košir lay claim to the concept of the postage stamp, postage stamps were first introduced in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on May 1, 1840, as part of postal reforms promoted by Rowland Hill. With its introduction the postage fee was to be paid by the sender and not the recipient, though sending mail prepaid was not a requirement. The first stamp, the penny black, put on sale on May 1st, was valid from May 6, 1840; two days later came the two pence blue. Both show an engraving of the young Queen Victoria and were a success though refinements like perforations were instituted later. At the time, there was no reason to include the United Kingdom's name on the stamp, and the UK remains the only country not to identify itself by name on the stamps^[1][2] (the monarch's head is used as identification).

Stamps were not officially perforated until January 1854,^[3] except in the parliamentary session of 1851,^[3] when stamps perforated by Mr. Archer were issued at the House of Commons. In 1853, the Government paid Mr. Archer £4,000 for the patent.^[3]

Other countries followed with their own stamps: the Canton of Zürich in Switzerland issued the Zurich 4 and 6 rappen on March 1, 1843. Although the Penny Black could send a letter less than half an ounce anywhere within the United Kingdom, the Swiss continued to calculate mail rates on distance. Brazil issued the Bull's Eye stamps on August 1, 1843. Using the same printer as for the Penny Black, Brazil opted for an abstract design instead of a portrait of Emperor Pedro II so that his image would be not be disfigured by the postmark. In 1845 some postmasters in the United States issued their own stamps, but the first official stamps came in 1847, with 5 and 10 cent stamps depicting Benjamin Franklin and George Washington. A few other countries issued stamps in the late 1840s. Many more, such as India, started in the 1850s and by the 1860s most countries had stamps.

Following the introduction of the stamp in the UK the number of letters increased from 82 million in 1839 to 170 million in 1841. Today 21 billion items are delivered by post every year in the United Kingdom.^{[citation needed]}

Postage stamp design

Main article: Postage stamp design

Stamps have been issued in shapes besides rectangle, including circular, triangular and pentagonal. Sierra Leone and Tonga issued stamps in the shapes of fruit; Bhutan issued one with its national anthem on a playable record. Stamps have been made of embossed foil (sometimes of gold); Switzerland made a stamp partly of lace and one of wood; the United States produced one of plastic, and the German Democratic Republic issued a stamp of synthetic chemicals. In the Netherlands a stamp was made of silver foil. On paper, stamps have been produced by a variety of printing techniques such as lithography, line engraving, photogravure, intaglio and web offset printing.

Types of stamps

1897

Stamp issued by France uses an unusual panoramic format where the stamp is of normal height but is very wide.

Overrun Countries series featuring flags of countries occupied during World War II.

Stalin and Mao Zedong on Chinese Postage stamp, 1950

• Airmail – for payment of airmail service. While "airmail" or equivalent is usually printed on the stamp, Scott has recognised US airmail stamps showing the silhouette of an aircraft. Other major catalogs do not give special status to airmail stamps.
• ATM stamps are dispensed by machine whose sheets are paper currency sized and of similar thickness.^[4]
• Carrier's stamp
• Certified mail stamp
• Coil stamps – tear-off stamps issued individually in a vending machine, or purchased in a roll
• Commemorative stamp – a limited run of stamps to commemorate an event
• Computer vended postage – advanced secure postage that uses information-based indicia (IBI) technology. IBI uses a two-dimensional bar code (Datamatrix or PDF417) to encode the originating address, date of mailing, postage and a digital signature to verify the stamp. ^[5]
• Customised stamp – a stamp on which the image can be chosen by the purchaser by sending in a photograph or by use of the computer. Some are not true stamps but technically meter labels.
• definitive – stamps for everyday postage. They often have less appealing designs than commemoratives. The same design may be used for many years. The use of the same design over an extended period may lead to unintended varieties. This may make them more interesting to philatelists than commemoratives. Definitive stamps are often the same size for different denominations.
• Express mail stamp / special delivery stamp
• Late fee stamp – issued to show payment of a fee to allow inclusion of a letter or package in the outgoing dispatch although it has been turned in after the cut-off time
• Local post stamps – used on mail in a local post; a postal service that operates only within a limited geographical area, typically a city or a single transportation route. Some local posts have been operated by governments, while others, known as private local posts, have been for-profit companies.
• Military stamp – stamps for a country's armed forces, usually using a special postal system
• Official mail stamp – issued for use by the government or a government agency
• Occupation stamp – a stamp for use by an occupying army or by the occupying army or authorities for use by civilians
• Non-denominated postage – postage stamp that remains valid even after the price has risen. Also known as a permanent or forever stamp.
• Perforated stamps – while this term usually refers to perforations around a stamp to divide a sheet into individual stamps, it can also be used for stamps perforated across the middle with letters or a pattern or monogram, which are known as perfins. These modified stamps are usually purchased by corporations to guard against theft by employees.
• personalised – allow user to add his own picture
• Postage due – a stamp showing that the full postage has not been paid, and indicating the amount to pay. Collectors and philatelists debate whether these should be called stamps, some saying that as they do not pre-pay postage they should be called labels.^{[citation needed]}) The United States Post Office Department issued "parcel post postage due" stamps.
• Postal tax – a stamp indicating that a tax above the postage rate required for sending letters has been paid. This is often mandatory on mail issued on a particular day or for a few days.
• Self-adhesive stamp – stamps not requiring moisture to stick. Self-sticking.
• Semi-postal / charity stamp – a stamp with an additional charge for charity. The use of semi-postal stamps is at the option of the purchaser. Countries such as Belgium and Switzerland that use charitable fund-raising a lot design stamps more desirable for collectors.
• Test stamp – a label not valid for postage, used by postal authorities to test sorting and cancelling machines or machines that can detect a stamp on an envelope. May also be known as dummy or training stamps.
• War tax stamp – A variation on the postal tax stamp to defray the cost of war.
• Water-activated stamp – for many years water-activated stamps were the only kind so this term entered into use with the advent of self-adhesive stamps. The adhesive or gum on the stamp must be moistened (usually by licking, thus the stamps are also known as "lick and stick").

Dispensing

The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page.

There have been numerous developments in how stamps are dispensed and sold. Usually, they can be purchased over the counter or from machines, as books or loose stamps. They are traditionally made as a perforated sheet gummed on the reverse, but self-adhesive stamps are commonplace. In some countries the stamps dispensed by machines are referred to as "variable value stamps".

IBI stamps

In the United States, Information Based Indicia (IBI) allowed newer ways to sell stamps. IBI is an encrypted two-dimensional bar code that makes counterfeiting more difficult and easier to detect. Each IBI is unique. The IBI contains security data elements as point of origin and the sender. The IBI is human- and machine-readable.

Prior to IBI, postage vault devices were used to print stamps by computer. The postage vault device is a tamper-resistant security device to disable postage equipment when tampered with. The postage vault can store and keep track of money in the postage vault. You can think of this as prepaying for the right to print postage from your personal computer. The Internet is used to reset or replenish funds in the vault.

In March 2001, the United States Postal Service authorized Neopost Online and Northrop Grumman Corporation to test a self-service stamp vending system that allows the consumer to select a purchase and swipe a credit card to order. The system authorizes the order, prints the stamp sheet and dispenses them. The ability to request, authorize, print and dispense a stamp using the Internet makes these the world's first browser-based stamps.^[6] This is the first instance where IBI was utilized on adhesive labels. The product from this self-service system is named Neopost web-enabled stamps. The stamps were available from March 2001 through August 2003 in fixed values.

In 2002 the USPS authorized Stamps.com to issue NetStamps. NetStamps utilizes IBI technology and can be printed from personal computers with postal vaults. In 2004 USPS introduced automated postal centers (APC). These kiosks provided non-denominated ($0.01 to $99.99) stamps. The intent is to reduce labor at postal counters. Personal pictures paired with IBI technology provide a personalized stamp. These require a number of days to produce.

The push towards IBI aids the USPS in finding venues to sell stamps. It reduces maintenance of machines to sell stamps. The USPS still relies on consigning stamps to retailers and banks via automatic teller machines (ATMs). They must be the same size and thickness as currency to be dispensed by the ATM.

Royal Mail in the United Kingdom has launched a print-your-own-postage service to purchase IBI-style codes online, and print them on address stickers or envelopes, in lieu of first-class stamps. This was the first time a stamp had not featured an image of the monarch. It joins the "SmartStamp" subscription service, which performs the same function for businesses.

First day covers

Main article: First day of issue

First day cover from Abu Dhabi

On the first day of issue a set of stamps can be purchased attached to an envelope with a commemorative postmark. Known as a First Day Cover, it can also be assembled from the component parts by stamp collectors, who are the most frequent users. These envelopes usually bear a commemorative cachet of the subject for which the stamp was created.

Souvenir or miniature sheets

Main article: Miniature sheet

1987 Faroe Islands miniature sheet, in which the stamps form a part of the larger image.

Postage stamps are sometimes issued in souvenir sheets or miniature sheets containing one or a small number of stamps. Souvenir sheets typically include additional artwork or information printed on the selvage, the border surrounding the stamps. Sometimes the stamps make up a greater picture. Some countries, and some issues, are produced as individual stamps as well as sheets.

Collecting

Main article: Stamp collecting

See also: Philately

Stamp collecting is a popular hobby. Collecting is not the same as philately, which is the study of stamps. A philatelist often does, but need not, collect the objects of study, nor is it necessary to closely study what one collects. Many casual collectors enjoy accumulating stamps without worrying about the tiny details. The creation of a large or comprehensive collection, however, may require some philatelic knowledge.

Stamp collectors are an important source of revenue for some small countries who create limited runs of elaborate stamps designed mainly to be bought by stamp collectors. The stamps produced by these countries far exceed the postal needs of the countries.

The hundreds of countries, each producing scores of different stamps each year, resulted in 400,000 types of stamp by 2000. Annual world output averages about 10,000 types.

Philatelic abuse

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

Some countries produce stamps intended primarily for collectors rather than for postal use.^[which?] This contributes to the countries' revenues. This practice is condoned by collectors for places such as Liechtenstein and Pitcairn Islands that have conservative stamp policies. Abuses, however, are generally condemned. Among the most notable abusers have been Nicholas F. Seebeck and the component states of the United Arab Emirates. Seebeck operated in the 1890s as agent of Hamilton Bank Note Company and approached Latin American countries with an offer to produce their entire postage stamp needs free. In return he would have exclusive rights to market stamps to collectors. Each year a new issue was produced but it expired at the end of the year; this assured Seebeck of a continuing supply of remainders. In the 1960s printers such as the Barody Stamp Company contracted to produce stamps for the separate Emirates and other countries. These abuses combined with the sparse population of the desert states earned them the reputation of "sand dune" countries.

Some collectors have taken to philatelic investment. Rare stamps are among the most portable of tangible investments, and are easy to store.

Famous stamps

See also: List of notable postage stamps

• Basel Dove
• British Guiana 1c magenta
• Cottonreels
• Gronchi Rosa
• Hawaiian Missionaries
• Inverted Head 4 Annas of India
• Inverted Jenny
• Mauritius "Post Office"
• Penny Black
• Perot provisional
• Scinde Dawk
• Treskilling Yellow
• Uganda Cowries

See also

Philately portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stamp

• List of entities that have issued postage stamps
• List of philatelic bureaus
• List of stamp catalogues
• Philatelic fakes and forgeries
• Revenue stamp
• Sheet of stamps
• Timeline of postal history

Themed lists

• List of birds on stamps
• List of bonsai on stamps
• List of fish on stamps
• List of martial arts on stamps (external link)
• List of people on stamps
• List of psychologists on postage stamps
• List of ships on stamps
• List of United States airmail stamps

References

1. ^ Garfield, Simon (2009). The Error World: An Affair with Stamps. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 118. ISBN 0151013969. http://books.google.com/books?id=EBI4brLkz7AC&pg=PA118. 
2. ^ O'Donnell, Kevin; Winger, Larry (1997). Internet for Scientists. CRC Press. pp. 19. ISBN 9057022222. http://books.google.com/books?id=xXf068I5-tUC&pg=PA19. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Why has a Postage Stamp a Perforated Edge? - A.M. Encyclopedia - Volume Two - page 1415
4. ^ Freepatentsonline: United States Patent 5503436 . Retrieved 10 June 2007.
5. ^ USPS.com
6. ^ "Introduction to Neopost Web-Enables Stamps". Cvpcollector.tripod.com. http://cvpcollector.tripod.com/id10.html. Retrieved 2009-04-12. 

External links

• Philatelic Dictionary en-de-fr
• Philatelic Terms
• Stamp Collecting News — Provides updates on new stamp issues from around the world
• U.S. Postal rates through the years
• History of postage stamps and collecting of stamps
• American Philatelic Society
• British North American Philatelic Society
• UK Philately
• British Postal Museum & Archive

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