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Philately (; ) is the study of
postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...
s and
postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and Cover (philately), covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal system ...
. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with
stamp collecting Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study (or combined study and collection) of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth ...
and the study of postage, it is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps. For instance, the stamps being studied may be very rare or reside only in museums.


Etymology

The word "philately" is the English transliteration of the French "", coined by Georges Herpin in 1864. Herpin stated that stamps had been collected and studied for the previous six or seven years and a better name was required for the new hobby than ''timbromanie'' (roughly "stamp mania"), which was disliked.Williams, L.N. & M. ''Fundamentals of Philately''. State College: The American Philatelic Society, 1971, p. 20. The alternative terms "timbromania", "timbrophily", and "timbrology" gradually fell out of use as ''philately'' gained acceptance during the 1860s. Herpin took the
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
root word φιλ(ο)- ''phil(o)-'', meaning "an attraction or affinity for something", and ''ateleia'', meaning "exempt from duties and taxes", to form the
neologism In linguistics, a neologism (; also known as a coinage) is any newly formed word, term, or phrase that has achieved popular or institutional recognition and is becoming accepted into mainstream language. Most definitively, a word can be considered ...
"philatélie".


History


Nineteenth century

As a collection field, philately appeared after the introduction of the postage stamps in 1840, but did not gain large attraction until the mid-1850s. In the U.S., early collectors of stamps were known as "stamp gatherers". The
United States Post Office Department The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, established in 1792. From 1872 to 1971, it was officially in the form of a Cabinet of the Un ...
re-issued stamps in 1875 due to public demand for 'old stamps', including those from before the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
.''A Sharp Eye on collecting US Classics'' (Sharp Photography Publications, 2021) ASIN B091MBTGJ7 (read online) Some authors believe that the first philatelist appeared on the day of the release of the world's first postage stamp, dated to 6 May 1840, when the Liverson, Denby and Lavie London law office sent a letter to
Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
franked with ten uncut Penny Blacks, stamped with the
postmark A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. ...
"LS.6MY6. 1840." In 1992 at an auction in
Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
, this envelope was sold for 690,000
francs The franc is any of various units of currency. One franc is typically divided into 100 centimes. The name is said to derive from the Latin inscription ''francorum rex'' ( King of the Franks) used on early French coins and until the 18th centur ...
. Already in 1846, cases of collecting stamps in large numbers were known in
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. However, without reason for collection, stamps at this time were used for pasting wallpaper. The first philatelist is considered to be a postmaster going by the name Mansen, who lived in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, and in 1855 had sold his collection, which contained almost all the postage stamps issued by that time. The stamp merchant and second-hand book dealer Edard de Laplante bought it, recognizing the definitive collector's worth of the postage stamp. Due to the boom in popularity and news of this transaction, stamp merchants like Laplante began to emerge. Towards the end of the 19th century, stamp collecting reached hundreds of thousands of people of all classes. Some countries had collections of
postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...
s – for example, England,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
,
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
, and
Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...
. In countries which held national collections, museums dedicated to the nation's history with philately were founded, and the first such appeared in Germany, France, and Bulgaria. Allegedly, the first of these museums housed the collection of the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, curated by MP Thomas Tapling and bequeathed to the Museum in 1891. The Museum für Kommunikation Berlin also had an extensive collection of stamps. The largest private collection of the time belonged to Philipp von Ferrary in Paris. As the number of postage stamp issues increased every year, collection became progressively difficult. Therefore, from the early 1880s, "collector experts" appeared, specializing their collection to only one part of the world, a group of nations, or even only one.


Twentieth century

Philately as one of the most popular types of collecting continued to develop in the 20th century. Along with the " Scott", "
Stanley Gibbons The Stanley Gibbons Group plc is a company quoted on the London Stock Exchange specialising in the retailing of collectable postage stamps and similar products. The group is incorporated in London. The company is a major stamp dealer and phila ...
", and " Yvert et Tellier" catalogs, the " Zumstein" (first published in Switzerland, 1909), and the "Michel" (first published in Germany, 1910) catalogs began publication. In 1934, the idea to celebrate an annual Postage Stamp Day was suggested by Hans von Rudolphi, a German philatelist. The idea was adopted rapidly in Germany, and gained later adoption in other countries. Stamp Day is a memorial day established by the postal administration of a country and annually celebrated, which is designed to attract public attention to, popularize the use of, and expand the reach of postal correspondence, and contribute to the development of philately. In 1968,
Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...
dedicated a postage stamp for Stamp Day with an image of G. Sciltian's "El filatelista". In 1926, the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP) was founded, where international philatelic exhibitions have been regularly organized since 1929. The first World Philatelic Exhibition in Prague was held between August and September 1962; in 1976, the FIP brought together national societies from 57 countries, which held over 100 exhibitions, and in 1987, over 60 countries entered the FIP. Since the middle of the 20th century, philately has become the most widespread field of amateur collecting, which was facilitated by: * significantly expanded postal exchanges between countries, * many countries' post offices issuing: ** Cinderella stamps, ** commemorative emissions, ** multicolor series of stamps devoted to history, the most important events of our time, art, fauna, flora, sports, etc. .; ** individual stamps, sheets (a sheet with one or more printed stamps and inscription on the margins) and items intended specifically for philatelists; * widespread sale of collection signs of postage (including commissioned ones), albums, stockbooks and other items of philately; * publication of stamp catalogs; * national and international exhibitions organized by philatelic societies, domestic and international exchanges, philately
propaganda Propaganda is communication that is primarily used to influence or persuade an audience to further an agenda, which may not be objective and may be selectively presenting facts to encourage a particular synthesis or perception, or using loaded l ...
through specialized magazines and other
periodicals Periodical literature (singularly called a periodical publication or simply a periodical) consists of Publication, published works that appear in new releases on a regular schedule (''issues'' or ''numbers'', often numerically divided into annu ...
. Philately magazines, at this time, were published as far east as Poland, and as far west as North America. In Canada
''Canadian Stamp News''
was established in 1976 as an off-shoot t
''Canadian Coin News''
which was launched about a decade earlier. Philately was largely advanced by the USSR and nations within its sphere of influence, and the United States, France, the UK, and Austria. The
British Library Philatelic Collections The British Library Philatelic Collections is the national Philately, philatelic collection of the United Kingdom with over 8 million items from around the world. It was established in 1891 as part of the British Museum Library, later to b ...
and the postal museums in
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, and
Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...
had unique national philately collections at that time, and among the famous private collections are those of the Royal Philatelic Collection, F. Ferrari (Austria), M. Burrus (Switzerland), A. Lichtenstein, A. Hind, J. Boker (U.S.), and H. Kanai (
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
). In the mid-1970s, national philately organizations and associations existed in most countries, and 150–200 million people were involved in philately.


Twenty-first century

From 28 August to 1 September 2004, the World Stamp Championship was held for the first time in the history of world philately in Singapore.


Types

Traditional philately is the study of the technical aspects of stamp production and stamp identification, including: * The stamp design process * The paper used (wove, laid and including watermarks) * The method of printing (engraving, typography) * The gum * The method of separation (perforation, rouletting) * Any overprints on the stamp * Any security markings, underprints or perforated initials (" perfins") * The study of philatelic fakes and forgeries


Diversification

Expanding range of activity: * Thematic philately, also known as topical philately, is the study of what is depicted on individual stamps. There are hundreds of popular subjects, such as birds, and ships, poets, presidents, monarchs, maps, aircraft, spacecraft, sports, and insects on stamps. Stamps depicted on stamps also constitute a topical area of collecting. Interesting aspects of topical philately include design mistakes and alterations; for instance, the recent editing out of cigarettes from the pictures used for United States stamps, and the stories of how particular images came to be used. *
Postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and Cover (philately), covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal system ...
studies the postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems both before and after the introduction of the adhesive stamps. It includes the study of
postmark A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. ...
s,
post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
s, postal authorities, postal rates and regulations and the process by which letters are moved from sender to recipient, including routes and choice of conveyance. A classic example is the Pony Express, which was the fastest way to send letters across the United States during the few months that it operated. Covers that can be proven to have been sent by the Pony Express are highly prized by collectors. * Aerophilately is the branch of postal history that specializes in the study of
airmail Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be th ...
. Philatelists have observed the development of mail transport by air from its beginning, and all aspects of airmail services have been extensively studied and documented by specialists. * Astrophilately is the branch of postal history that specializes in the study of stamps and postmarked envelopes that are connected to outer space. *
Postal stationery A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or Newspaper wrapper, wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage ...
includes stamped envelopes, postal cards,
letter sheet In Philately, philatelic terminology a letter sheet, often written lettersheet, is a sheet of paper that can be folded, usually sealed (most often with sealing wax in the 18th and 19th centuries), and mailed without the use of an envelope, or i ...
s, aérogrammes (airletter sheets) and wrappers, most of which have an embossed or imprinted stamp or indicia indicating the prepayment of postage. * Erinnophilia is the study of objects (cinderella stamps) that look like stamps, but are not postage stamps. Examples include Easter Seals, Christmas Seals, propaganda labels, and so forth. * Philatelic literature documents the results of the philatelic study and includes thousands of books and periodicals. * Revenue philately is the study of stamps used to collect taxes or fees on such things as legal documents, court fees, receipts, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses and newspapers. * Maximaphily is the study of Maximum Cards. Maximum Cards can be defined as a picture postcard with a postage stamp on the same theme and cancellation, with a maximum concordance between all three. * Letterlocking includes "the process of folding and securing of letter substrates to become their own envelopes" or to create a form of "tamper-evident locking mechanism."


Tools

Philately uses several tools, including
stamp tongs Stamp tongs are tweezers used to handle postage stamps. They are used by stamp collectors and philatelists, because they are a reliable way to hold and move stamps without damaging or getting skin oils on them. The jaws of stamp tongs are smoot ...
(a specialized form of tweezers) to safely handle the stamps, a strong magnifying glass and a perforation gauge (odontometer) to measure the perforation gauge of the stamp. The identification of
watermark A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light (or when viewed by reflected light, atop a dark background), caused by thickness or density variations i ...
s is equally important and may be done with the naked eye by turning the stamp over or holding it up to the light. If this fails then ''watermark fluid'' may be used, which "wets" the stamp to reveal the mark. Other common tools include
stamp catalog A stamp catalog (or stamp catalogue) is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices. The stamp catalog is an essential tool of philately and stamp collecting. Stamp catalogs are part of philatelic literature. Similar catal ...
s, stamp stock books and stamp hinges.


Organizations

Philatelic organizations sprang up soon after people started collecting and studying stamps. They include local, national and international clubs and societies where collectors come together to share the various aspects of their hobby. The world's oldest philatelic society is the Royal Philatelic Society London, which was founded on 10 April 1869, as the Philatelic Society. In North America, the major national societies include the American Philatelic Society; the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada; and the Mexico-Elmhurst Philatelic Society, International. Local clubs and societies have been established in many cities of the world. The International Philatelic Federation was formed in 1926 which is originally based in Zürich, Switzerland but is now known to be the world federation for philately.


See also

* List of notable postage stamps * List of philatelic topics * List of philatelists * List of philatelic awards *
Numismatics Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals, and related objects. Specialists, known as numismatists, are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but the discipline also inclu ...
– the study and collection of coinage and currency


References


Further reading

* Sefi, A.J. ''An Introduction to Advanced Philately, with special reference to typical methods of stamp production''. London: Rowley & Rowley, 1926 (2nd edition 1932) (Electronic facsimile edition Royal Philatelic Society London 2010). *Sutton, R.J. & K.W. Anthony. ''The Stamp Collector's Encyclopaedia''. 6th edition. London: Stanley Paul, 1966. * Williams, L.N. & M. ''Fundamentals of Philately''. State College: The American Philatelic Society, 1971.


External links


Can Plastic Films Damage My Stamps? Translated from an article by Ib Krarup Rasmussen published in Dansk Filatelistisk Tidsskrift Number 4, 2008.Stamps and Plastics – the Good and the Bad by Roger Rhoads, 2009.1948 Olympic Stamp - UK Parliament Living Heritage
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