Accessories: The tools used by
stamp collectors, such as tongs, hinges, albums, etc.
Adhesive: 'Adhesive' is literally the gum on a postage stamp but in the early days of collecting it became a term for a gummed postage stamp itself.
Aerophilately: Stamp collecting
that focuses on stamps or postage relating to airmail.
Album: A book designed to hold
stamps and covers.
Approvals:
Stamps sent by a stamp dealer to a collector for examination.
Approvals must either be bought or returned to the dealer
within a specified time. (See Also: "Packet")
Artistamps: A class of 'collectables' that are NOT
postage stamps, bogus stamps or fake stamps. Usually made
by artists as a form of self expression
much like any art work. Often they exhibit qualities of postage stamps like a denomination, a
country name (often of a non-existing place) and really fall outside the realm of philately.
Auction: A
sale at which philatelic material is sold to the highest
bidder.
Backstamp:
A postmark applied, usually but not always, on back (thus the term 'backstamp') of
incoming mail in transit to show date and time of
receipt at a receiving post office; in Britain, a plain diamond shape backstamp for statistical purposes.
Bar code: A series of vertical
full bars and half bars representing the USPS ZIP Code
or other national postal code information printed on a mail piece to facilitate automated
processing by bar code reader equipment.
Black Jack: The nickname for the
very popular U.S. two-cent black Andrew Jackson stamp, which
was issued in various forms between 1863 and 1875.
Board of Governors (B.O.G.): As the
governing body of the United States Postal Service (USPS), the Board is
comparable to a board of directors of a private corporation.
The Board includes nine governors who are appointed by the
president with the advice and consent of the Senate. The
nine governors select a Postmaster General, who becomes a
member of the Board, and those 10 select a Deputy Postmaster
General, who also serves on the Board. The Board directs and
controls the expenditures and reviews the practices and
policies of the Postal Service. (See Also: "
Postal Regulatory Commission")
Professional artists who may wish to be considered for a design assignment should request
a copy of the Creating U.S. Postage Stamps brochure from the following address:
U.S. Postal Service
Stamp Development
ATTN: Stamp Design
1735 North Lynn Street, Suite 5013
Arlington, VA 22209-6432
And see the USPS/History Channel
video about Steve Buchanan's c.1970 Motorcycle stamp design process. (Or read the
transcript
if you can't see videos.)
The Members of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
(12 Members as of July 2009):
BAILAR, BENJAMIN F.
Former Postmaster General; Postal History Stamp Collector
BRICK, CARY R.
Retired U.S. Congressional Staff; Adjunct Professor of Government and History
DE VARONA, DONNA
TV Sports Commentator; Olympic Swimming Champion; Select Director of the Board, U.S. Soccer Foundation
FIRSTENBERG, JEAN PICKER, **CHAIRPERSON
President Emerita, American Film Institute
GATES, JR., DR. HENRY LOUIS
Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African-American Research Harvard University
HARRIS, SYLVIA
Information Design Strategist & Graphic Designer
HELFAND, JESSICA
Graphic Designer; Author; Senior Critic, Yale School of Art; Partner, Winterhouse Studio
HEYMAN, I. MICHAEL, **VICE CHAIRPERSON
Chancellor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley; Secretary Emeritus, Smithsonian Institution
Classification
Reform: On July 1, 1996, the United States Postal Service
adjusted the domestic mail classification system to
establish a simple, more consistent rate structure and to
keep its products in line with the changing needs of the
marketplace.
Compound
Perforations: Different gauge perforations on
different (normally adjacent) sides of a single stamp.
Condition: Condition is the most
important characteristic in determining the value of a
stamp. It refers to the state of a stamp regarding such
details as centering, color and gum.
Dry Printing: Begun as an experiment in 1953, this type
of printing results in a whiter paper, a higher sheen on the
surface, a thicker and stiffer feel and designs that stand
out more clearly than on more standard "wet" printings.
Duplicates: Extra copies of stamps
that can be sold or traded. Duplicates should be examined
carefully for color and perforation variations.
"Oddities are examples that don’t fit in the other two categories above. Test stamps, for instance, were printed to test dispensing machines. They were never meant for public distribution. There are a couple of other examples, such as stamps on which no design has been printed or where the perforations were made for one format, say for coils (rolls of stamps), but then the stamps were actually used in booklets, so it looks like a misperforation but it really isn’t. It’s not a freak; it’s an oddity."
"Collectors will reach for this must-have volume to identify major production errors, defects, fakes, and oddities in U.S. postage stamps.
This hobby standard contains the most comprehensive and up-to-date information available on these collectible stamps that can be worth
up to thousands of dollars. Issues produced from 1857 to 2002 are covered in detail. Listings contain quantities known, fakes and forgery
warnings, condition, defects, variations, and photographs and are organised according to the type of error. Each error is thoroughly defined
to help collectors expand their knowledge of the hobby. A special section on freaks, oddities, and other unusual stamps explains the
collectibility and value of foldovers, miscuts, colour shifts, gutter pairs, gutter snipes, open creases, and blank stamps." (from Amazon.com)
Exploded: A stamp booklet is said
to be "exploded" when it has been separated into its various
components for show.
Express Mail:
The U.S. Postal Service's premium delivery service, providing
guaranteed overnight delivery for documents and packages
weighing up to 70 pounds. Both domestic and international
services are offered.
External First-Class
Measurement System (EXFC): A test conducted by an
independent accounting firm whereby First-Class Mail service
is measured from the customer's perspective (from point of
deposit to point of delivery or door to door).
First Day Cover (FDC): An envelope
with a new stamp and cancellation showing the date the stamp
was issued.
First Day Ceremony
Program: A program (a souviner document) given to those who attend first
day of issue stamp ceremonies. It contains the actual stamp
affixed and postmarked, a list of participants, and
information on the stamp subject.
First-Class Mail: A USPS
term for a class of mail
including letters, postcards and postal cards,
all matter wholly or partially in writing or typewriting, and all
matter sealed or otherwise closed against inspection.
Foreign Entry: When original
transfers are erased incompletely
from a printing plate, they can
appear with new transfers of a different design which are
subsequently entered onto the plate.
Franks: Written, hand-stamped, or
imprinted markings on the face of the cover indicating that
it is carried free of postage. Franking is usually limited
to official government correspondence.
Freak: An abnormal variety of
a stamp occurring because of paper fold, over-inking,
perforation shift, etc., as opposed to a continually
appearing variety or a major error.
From What Philately Teaches, John Luff c.1899, "One of the nightmares of every government
is the fear that its securities will be counterfeited or tampered with. I have several
times mentioned precautions against such abuses in the shape of fine engraving (e.g.
'Secret Marks'; aj), watermarks, enameled paper, sensitive inks, etc. ..." (and Grills)
Imperforate: Indicates stamps
without perforations or separating holes. They usually are
separated by scissors and often collected in pairs.
Intaglio: (Italian for 'in recess'; aka: 'Line-Engraving' )
The earlist used method for printing postage stamps {ie. the 'Penny-Black'} in which a
hand engraved master die is transfered to a printing
plate from which the design on a stamp is
made by ink from that portion of the plate sunk below the surface (recessed).
"An expensive, slow process requiring upwards of ten tons of pressure to extract the ink from its recesses on the plate or cylinder and on to the stamp paper.
(Czeslaw) Slania,
Engraver to the Swedish Court, has been used wherever possible, as he is the acknowledged world leader."{4}
Another form of the Intaglio process is 'Photogravure' {q.v.}.
Intelpost:
"Since the 1960s the United States Post Office (and its successor the United States Postal
Service) had attempted to develop economically feasible electronic mail.
..which it called INTELPOST (International Electronic Post). Plans to begin the service
were announced in March 1978 ... However, (at first, the) regulatory delays in the US prevented the USPS
from using the American satellites.. (so) ..service was first offered to the public in
June 1980 between Canada and the United Kingdom. Originating locations in the US,
Washington, DC and New York City, directed messages to Toronto where a switching
arrangement allowed transmission by satellite to London. (Linn's 2/2/81) ...
"INTELPOST was a high-speed facsimile (FAX) service ... (and) ... seemed ideal for
images and non-Western characters. (and) .. By 1983 there were five service centers in
the US: Washington, DC, New York City, San Francisco, Chicago, and Houston. Acceptance
points were located in Argentina, Canada, France, the Federal Republic of Germany,
Hong Kong, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom with other nations considering the
service. (Japan in 1981)
"However, in April 1984, the House Committee on Government Operations reported that
INTELPOST was a complete failure due to the large amount of money spent ($6 million) and
the low number of pages transmitted (less than 12 thousand). ..
"And, personal electronic communication (e-mail etc.) soon developed to the point that INTELPOST
became obsolete and unnecessary.
"According to the USPS Postal Bulletin (PB 21954) dated 09/11/97: "Effective October 15, 1997, originating and destinating INTELPOST service will no longer be offered." But, according to a list of treaties and other international agreements in force on January 1, 2002, twenty-nine countries still had agreements with the USA regarding INTELPOST (list compiled by Treaty Affairs Staff, Office of the Legal Advisor, Department of State).
"On 03/18/04, the Postal Bulletin (PB 22124) stated: "Effective March 18, 2004, the Postal Operations Manual (POM) is revised to reflect that INTELPOST (International Electronic Post) service is no longer available." INTELPOST had gone the way of the domestic electronic attempts of mail transmission.",
Mailer's Postmark Permit:
Section PO23.3.1 of the USPS Domestic Mail Manual gives the rules for securing a
mailer's postmark permit, which is free:
"A mailer must request authorization to preprint rate markings on precanceled stamps or to use a precancel postmark on adhesive stamps, postal cards, and stamped envelopes. The applicant must submit a specimen mailpiece showing the preprinting method or the proposed precancel postmark."
Overprint:
Additional printing on a stamp that was not part of the
original design.
Optical Character Reader
(OCR): An automated mail processing machine that
optically scans letter mail, locates the address and
translates the address information into a bar code
representation of the ZIP+4 delivery point bar code.
And from
What Philately Teaches, John Luff, c.1899, "Having considered the design and the methods of preparing plates and printing stamps the next thing to attract our attention is the paper. We here show you some photographs of paper. ..."
Par Avion: French for mail
transported "by air." Usually printed on an envelope or on a label attached to
any mailing piece.
Perfin: ('perforated initials')
(aka 'SPIFS' meaning "Stamps Perforated for Individuals or Firms" in Europe) Are pin hole markings applied by businesses, governments ...
as branding marks to deter theft or misuse.
Perforation Guage:
A tool used to measure the number of perforations in two (2) centimeters and used to help idenfity varieties of what appear to be the same stamp.
Perforations:
In general, the lines of small holes cut out between rows of stamps that
make them easy to separate and can be measured with a 'perforation guage'. The pointed 'teeth' on the edge of seperated stamps are often mistakenly called 'perfs'.
Stamps with 'cuts' to provide seperation are said to be 'rouletted' or "die cut".{q.v.}
Plate Number Coils (PNC):
For most coil stamp rolls beginning with (Scott catalogue) #1891, a small
plate number appears at varying intervals in the roll near the design of the stamp.
Similar in collecting to a plate block.
Plate Varieties: A kind of minor
variety due to imperfections
in the printing plates, producing one or several stamps that are different from the rest
in their sheet. Also called constant varieties, they were not too rare when stamps
were printed with the engraving (a.k.a.Intaglio) method,
which was commonly used in past times. One way to hunt for plate varieties involves
inspecting several full sheets of the same stamp, searching for marks present in some,
but not all, of the specimens, that repeat exactly in the same positions in the rest of
the sheets, or at least in some of them.{cite} Plating: An advanced philatelic technique which
"involves the examination of a particular stamp and determining from which position on the
printing plate it originated. This is done by noticing characteristics
which are unique to that particular position." (from
Plating US 3cent Stamps : 1851-1857,
by Dr. Charles J. Di Como (who also notes: "The pioneering work of Dr. Carroll Chase has
probably made the 3¢ 1851 stamp the most studied stamp of all time. The specialization of
'plating' originated with this stamp."
Post Office Express (POE): A postal
retail unit located within an independent business to serve
consumer needs related to merchandise and postal products
and services.
Precancels: Stamps
cancelled by a proper authorityprior to their use on mail. There are two basic U.S. types: 'Non-Bureau' (aka: local issues and 'Bureau Precancels'.{q.v.}
And from What Philately Teaches, John Luff, c.1899, "... In a general way we may divide
stamp printing into two classes: printing from metal plates and printing from stone,
or lithography. The first class contains two grand sub-divisions. ..."
Priority Mail: Priority Mail, a USPS term for a class of mail providing
two to three day delivery service.
Processing and Distribution Center (P&DC): A USPS term for a large mail
sorting and dispatching plant that serves as a hub for mail
originating from post offices, collection boxes and customer
mailboxes, and large-volume mailers in a designated service area.
Registered Mail: First class mail with a numbered receipt,
including a valuation of the registered item. This guarantees customers will get their
money back if an item is lost in the mail.
Reissue: An official reprinting of
a stamp that was no longer being printed.
Replicas: Reproductions of stamps
sold during the early days of collecting. Usually printed in
one color on a sheet containing a number of different
designs. Replicas were never intended to deceive either the
post office or the collector.
Reprint: A stamp printed from the
original plate after the issue is no longer valid for
postage. Official reprints are sometimes made for
presentation purposes, official collections, etc., and are
often distinguished in some way from the "real" ones.
Revenue Stamps: Stamps issued as
proof of payment of certain taxes but not valid for postage.
Rural Free Delivery (RFD): Began in
1896 as an experiment in West Virginia, RFD brought daily
mail delivery to farmers and others living outside urban
areas.
Scrambled Indicia®: A patented
process that conceals encoded text or graphics within the
visible design. These hidden images can only be viewed
through a special lens, the Stamp Decoder™, available from
the U.S. Postal Service.
Se-tenant:
An attached pair, strip or block of stamps that differ in
design, value or surcharge.
From What Philately Teaches, John Luff c.1899, "One of the nightmares of every government
is the fear that its securities will be counterfeited or tampered with. I have several
times mentioned precautions against such abuses in the shape of fine engraving (e.g.
'Secret Marks'; aj), watermarks, enameled paper, sensitive inks, etc. ..." - See Also:Grill.
Standard Mail:
New USPS name for the merger of third-class mail and fourth-class
mail as one class under Classification Reform implementation
of July 1, 1996.
Sweatbox: A closed box with
a grill over which stuck together unused stamps are placed.
A wet, sponge-like material under the grill creates humidity
so the stamps can be separated without removing the gum.
Tongs: A tweezer-like tool with
rounded or flattened tips used to handle stamps.
Topicals or Thematics: Indicates a group of
stamps with the same theme—space travel, for example.
Transfer Cylinder:
In printing with the photogravure process,
the cylinder has recesses (cells) chemically etched on its
surface that fills with ink as it passes through the ink trough,
a doctor blade then scraps the excess ink off the surface, leaving the ink in the cells,
which is then transferred onto the paper; one cylinder for each of the primary colors
(red, blue & yellow) and black can produce all visable colors. (a.k.a. the 'four color process')
{5,
6}
Transfer Roller: The steel roller, used in
intaglio printing,
which is pressed onto an engraved (recessed) master die to create 'releif' (raised) impressions around
the roller which is then used to "enter" the stamp image onto the printing plate.
(See Also: "Double Transfer", "Foreign Entry")
Located in Washington, D.C., USA, the 'BEP' "printed most U.S. stamps since 1894."{3}
But this "came to an end in 2005 when the BEP ceased stamp production". (via BEP email c.200909)
An event/FDC cover for the inaugruation of the USPS.
Universtal Postal Union (UPU): The worldwide governing body in Switzerland, and now a agency in the United Nations, that regulates international mail movement.
Now 191 members with Montenegro, any country member of the United Nations may become a member of the UPU once approved by at least two-thirds of the member countries of the UPU. (UPU Data c.2006)
Universal Service: The United States Postal
Service's mandate and commitment to the nation to provide
mail delivery service at uniform and reasonable rates to
everyone, everywhere, six days a week (though this is currently; ca.2009, in review).
Unused: The condition of a stamp
that has no cancellation or other sign of use on the front surface. It may, however,
have been affixed to something and had to be soaked off or as in having been hinged on an album page.
Want List: A list of philatelic material sought by a
collector.
Watermark: A design pressed into
stamp paper during its manufacture. Detecting these designs (see links) can help
determine the "variety" or "type" of an otherwise identical
issue.
Zoning Improvement Plan (ZIP):
Established in 1963, a system of five-digit codes or ZIP
codes that identifies the individual United States post office or
metropolitan area delivery station associated with every
mailing address. This system was later expanded to ZIP+4,
which includes more defined delivery areas.
Bureau Precancels: (aka: 'Bureau Prints')
U.S. stamps printed and precanceled at the
to distinguish many U.S. 'non-bureau' from 'bureau' issues. - ed.)
Circular Date Stamp: Often, though not always, used as the 
,
Stephen 
Freak: An abnormal 
Liner: The backing paper for
Perforation Guage
Perforations
Rouletting:
