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.
History
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 (the monarch's head is used as identification).
Stamps were not officially perforated until January 1854,
[Why has a Postage Stamp a Perforated Edge? - A.M. Encyclopedia - Volume Two - page 1415] except in the parliamentary session of 1851,
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.
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.
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.
- 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.
- Booklet stamp – stamps produced and issued in booklet format.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.) 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.
- 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
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. 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 "" subscription service, which performs the same function for businesses.
First day covers
thumb|First day cover from Abu DhabiOn 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
thumb|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
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
Some countries produce stamps intended primarily for collectors rather than for postal use. 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
Themed lists
