Postal services long existed in China since 4000 BC. Millennium later, Egypt and Assyria had their postal services.
Knowing the postal services history is the best weapon in collecting stamps. Stamps are elements used since writing evolved.
Philately, the study of stamps, teaches us that postage stamps have different components that are taken as a whole.
Postage stamps are printed using a process called "intaglio printing," which involves engraving an image or design into a metal plate. Read about the steps involved in the stamp printing process.
A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is issued regularly in a particular country. It is usually issued to meet the regular, everyday postal needs of a country's citizens and businesses.
How stamps are printed has changed through time as postmasters have found it cumbersome and time consuming to tear off the delicate sheet stamps.
Stamps that have major, consistent, and unintentional deviation from the normal stamps are considered errors.
Most stamp tongs available in the market are made out of metal. Standard stamp tweezers has a length of 4 to 8 inches (or about 10 to 20 cm).
The first stamp catalogue was made by a French bookseller and philatelist named Oscar Berger-Levrault in September 1861.
The Penny Black is the moniker of the world’s first adhesive stamp used in public postal system. The idea of an adhesive stamp indicates that a letter has been paid.
You have come to the right place as we have gathered the who, what, when, who, and other possible queries you want to be answered about United States postal stamps.
Your family and friends will feel love is in the air with your wedding postal stamps even before they open your wedding invite.
If you want to become a young stamp collector, this awesome stamp collecting guide is just for you. And remember, this pastime is not only for kids.
Long time ago when women still wore petticoats, ladies gazes out to the sea in hopes of reuniting with their lovers from across the shores.
Learn the correct way to mount your unused stamps without damaging them. Stamp mounts are small transparent sleeves or envelopes that are used to hold stamps in place in order to protect them from damage.
This is probably the best advice non-collectors can get after inheriting their grandparents old stamp collection. Here are some tips that you need to know on how to sell a stamp collection.
As vanguards of postal frauds, the heroic story of stamp cancellations unfolds in the 1840s when the first Penny Black stamps were released in Great Britain.
When a postage stamp has been cancelled, it means that it has already been defaced and it can not be reused. Collecting used stamps is another way to enjoy philately.
When philately was first introduced, stamp collectors once thought that collecting stamps from around the world was the only way to go.
Philatelists send mail to each other just for the sake of exchanging postage stamps. The envelopes they use are carefully applied with postage stamps and cancellation marks.