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Maximaphily is a branch of
philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is pos ...
involving the study and creation of maximum cards. It is one of eleven classifications of philately recognised by the
Fédération Internationale de Philatélie The Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP) was founded on 18 June 1926, and is the world federation for philately based in Zürich, Switzerland. Aims The primary aims of the FIP are: *To promote stamp collecting and philately. *To ma ...
(FIP) and therefore has its own FIP Commission. The FIP Maximaphily Commission holds a biennial conference on the subject, most recently in Seoul in 2014.


Maximum card

In
philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is pos ...
a maximum card (also known as a maxi-card, or maxicard) is a
postcard A postcard or post card is a piece of thick paper or thin cardboard, typically rectangular, intended for writing and mailing without an envelope. Non-rectangular shapes may also be used but are rare. There are novelty exceptions, such as wood ...
with a
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), who then affix the stamp to the ...
placed on the picture side of the card where the stamp and card match or are in maximum ''concordance'' (similarity). The cancellation or postmark is usually related to the image on the front of the card and the stamp. Not every country issues maximum cards (e.g. USA did very few) and some who do (e.g.. Germany) have only a limited number of releases every year whereas others issue maximum cards for every stamp (e.g. Australia).


History

Maximaphily did not become organised until after the Second World War. Before then maximum cards were created as novelties, often by tourists. Maximaphily is closely associated with thematic or topical stamp collecting and many thematic collections are enhanced with appropriate maximum cards.


Elements

A maximum card (maxicard, maxi-card, MC) is made up of three elements: the postcard, the stamp and the postmark. The object of maximaphily is to obtain a card where the stamp and picture are in close concordance, ideally with an appropriate cancellation, too. If all three elements are concordant, then that card truly is a maximum oncordancecard (hence the name maximaphily). Preferably, the image on the postcard should not be simply an enlargement of the image on the stamp. There are exceptions. For example: a work of art, like a painting (not a detail of it), is often shown in its entirety, both on the postcard and on the stamp of the maxicard.


Competitions

Maximaphily displays have become popular at competitive philatelic exhibitions and special rules have been developed by the FIP to assist in judging the entries.


See also

*
PHQ card PHQ cards are postcards issued by the British Post Office depicting the designs of their commemorative stamps. They are generally available to buy in main post offices about two weeks prior to the release of each new set of stamps. Descripti ...


References


Further reading

* Brana, René et al. ''Catalogue des Cartes-Maximum de France: 1901-2007''. Amiens: Yvert & Tellier, 2008 1118p. * Cardoso, Eurico Carlos Esteves Lage. ''Manual do Coleccionador de Postais-Máximos''. Lisbon: The Author, 1984 78p. * Cardoso, Eurico Carlos Esteves Lage. ''O fascinio da maximafilia = La fascination de la maximaphilie = Fascination of Maximaphily''. Lisbon: The Author, 1984 {{ISBN, 972965641X 154p. * Knight, Jesse F. ''How To Create Maximum Cards''. 1996 23p. * Les Maximaphiles Français. ''Les Cartes-Maximum de France: des origines à 1988''. Saint-Maur-des-Fossés: les Maximaphiles français, 1989 465p. * Rangos, Nicos. ''What is Maximaphily?'', FIP Maximaphily Commission, 200
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External links


FIP maximaphily regulationsYe Choh San. ''Malaysia Maximaphily''Asia Pacific MaximaphilyMaximum cards of bridgesMalaysia Maximum cards by Ye Choh SanMy maxi cards collectionPostcrossing Blog: maximum cardsMaximaphily, traditional and non-traditional
Facebook group Philatelic terminology he:גלוית מרב#מקסימפיליה