Usually referred to as Greeting Stamps, personalized stamps are different from private stamps. Private stamps were created during the global wave of privatizations. Private stamps were created for regional and/or city-deliveries.

Personalized stamps were created to compete against the private postal companies. It was issued by the postal agencies upon the request of an individual. Personalized stamps could show designs or images of popular celebrities of one’s choice. It can also depict events, holidays or even family celebrations. Popular celebrities like the Beatles, Shirley Temple, Tom Hanks, Marilyn Monroe, and Babe Ruth are popular images used in creating personalized stamps. Other celebrities popularly featured in personalized stamps are Michelle Pfeiffer, Leonard DiCaprio, Sharon Stone and Tom Cruise.

Popular TV series and movies such as Titanic and Star Wars are also commonly depicted in personalized stamps. Events and family celebrations such as a new born baby or wedding are also popularly depicted in personalized stamps. Holiday photos or, your pet’s photo can be used for creating personalized stamps.

Personalized stamps allow individuals to be expressive and creative with the stamp designs. However, personalized stamps have restrictions too. When creating personalized stamps you have to follow the general layout guide of the issuing postal entity. The Canadian personalized stamps issued in 2001 are popular illustrative examples of personalized stamps.

During the early appearances of personalized stamps the creation of such stamps was limited to a small number of stamp dealers and stamp publishers. Over the years, the creation of personalized stamps was open to the general public. But the production of personalized stamps has a restriction. The buyer of personalized stamps should purchase a minimum number of stamps determined by the postal agency since most stamps are usually printed in panes of 10, or sheet of 25 stamps.