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Stamp collecting terms & definitions

Stamp collecting for beginners

Stanley Gibbons - home of stamp collecting

History of New Zealand stamps

General Philatelic Information

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Types of Stamp Collecting

In philatelics along with general/definitive stamp collecting there are a wide range of more specialised categories:

• Postage Stamps: of a particular country and/or time specific
• Airmail Stamps: any stamps related to airmail, often higher value stamps with special postage rates
• Commemorative Stamps: stamps to commemorate events, anniversaries, etc., on sale for a limited time.
• Topical Stamps: many collectors choose to organise their philatelic collection on the theme of the stamps, covers, or postmarks. Popular topical themes are animals, dogs, cats, butterflies, birds, flowers, art, sports etc....
• Postage Dues: special stamps applied by a post office to mail bearing insufficient postage. Issued in a range of denominations to make up the different amounts due.
• Postal Fiscals or Revenue Stamps: issued to pay a range of government taxes & fines
• Postal Stationary: mostly govt. issued postcards, aerograms, lettercards etc.. often with imprinted stamps
• Cinderellas: stamp like labels not valid for postage often from exhibitions or from organisations etc...
• First Day Covers (fdcs): envelopes with stamps attached and canceled on the first day that the stamp was issued mostly with various cachets/designs related to the topic of the cover.
• Stamp Sheets: full or part sheets of stamps or the popular mini sheets
• Stamp Blocks: technically part sheets but usually of 2 or 4 stamps with sheet edge (selvage), often from the corner of the sheet which includes sheet no's
• Coil strips: Pairs or more of stamps from rolls, premium ones showing the plate number or a coil line pair which shows the seam between the edges of the plate.
• Postmarks & Postal Markings: range of postmarks from various post offices in general or from a specific country or countries