Stamps Terminology

Section is Stamps;

Term

Definition

Adhesive

The substance on the back of a stamp that allows it to attach to an envelope or postcard.

Airmail Stamp

A stamp that prepayed the postal rates for air transport.

Album

Used by collectors to store stamps, usually in some ordered format.

Block

A series of attached stamps at least two high and two wide.

Booklet Pane

A section of stamps from a stamp booklet. This is a whole section (or page), untorn but unattached to the full booklet.

Cancellation

A mark used by the post office to indicate that a stamp has paid for services and cannot be reused. Some cancellations are blobs or blotches while others can have significant meaning.

Average
Fancy	Postmarked with some form of decorative design.
First Day	A cancellation used on a stamp on it's first day in circulation.
Heavy
Light
Pre-cancelled	Stamps issued with printed cancellations on them. Many are issued on commemorative envelopes.

Centering

The position of the design of a stamp between the edges. A perfectly centered stamp will have equal spaces between the perforations (or edges) and the border of the design.

S	Superb	The design is very nearly perfectly centered within the perforations.
XF	Extremely fine	The design can be slightly off one direction, but still very nicely centered, almost perfect.
VF	Very fine	The design can be further off from center, but still well away from the edge and very attractive.
F-VF	Fine to very fine	The design is closer to the edge, but still well away. This is the most widely collected centering, good enough to be attractive, but not sky high in price.
F	Fine	The determination of fine is that the design can be very close to the edge, but it cannot be cut by the perforations.
AVG	Average	If the design is cut into by the perforations at all then the stamp is average.

Coil

Stamps are sometimes sold in coils. These stamps usually have two imperforate (straight) edges. These straight edges are usually on the top and the bottom of the stamp.

Coil Pair

A pair of coil stamps still together. Many collectors like to collect pairs from a coil.

Commemoratives

Stamps that are issued for a limited time and are in honor or celebration of specific people or events.

Condition

The condition of a stamp is determined by a variety of factors. It can be cancelled or uncancelled, has adhesive or not, been hinged or not, physical condition of the stamp, centering, etc.

Cover

An envelope with a postage stamp affixed.

Curved Plate

A cylindrical plate used in rotary style printing presses. Due to the method of printing, images are slightly distorted.

Definitives

These are usually smaller sized stamps that are printed in large quantities. They are often a single color and are made available for an indefinite period of time.

Denomination

The monetary value that a stamp will pay for in delivering a package or letter. Its face value.

Face Value

The amount of money that a stamp costs where purchased new. The demonination.

Facing

Vertical bars read by automated equipment that can identify, orient and separates different classes of mail.

FIPEX

Fifth International Philatelic Exhibition. The Fifth International Philatelic Exhibition was in New York City on April 28 through May 5, 1956.

First Day Cover

A cover (envelope) with a stamp affixed that is cancelled on the first day it was issued. Many of these have special cancellations related to the stamp.

Flat Plate

A metal plate used in printing presses.

Gum

A term for the adhesive on the back of a stamp that attaches the stamp to an envelope or package.

Gum Breakers

Breaks in the gumming on stamps that reduce the amount of curling a sheet has when printed on a rotary press. There are three kinds of Gum Breakers - Type I the breaks are 5.5mm apart, Type II the breaks are 22mm and on Type III they are 12mm apart.

Gutter Block

A block of stamps separated by a gutter.

Gutter Margin

Gutter margin is a margin dividing a sheet of stamps into separate panes.

Gutter Pair

A pair of stamps separated by a gutter.

Hinge

A small piece of gummed paper that is used to affix a stamp to a stamp album without using the stamps adhesive to do so. This allows for stamps to be more easily removed if necessary. Using hinges on mint stamps does some damage to the gum on the stamp.

Imperforate

A stamp that has no perforations (the small holes between stamps that allow for easy separation of the stamps).

Line Pair

A coil pair in which a line is shown through the perforations. A guide line pair has deliberate lines in the plate and are generally very clear. A joint line pair is caused from the seam in the cylindrical plate when printing and are less distinct.

Meta Series

This is my term for a stamp series that spans many years and many variations. More a like a theme than a series, such as Love or Statehood stamps.

Mint

A stamp that is in the same condition as it was when first printed. This means, among other things, that it has never been hinged and has all of it gum.

Overprint

Printing on a stamp that was not part of the original design. Overprints may occur when there is not enough time to print new stamps for whatever purpose the stamp is needed. In these cases existing stamps are overstamped. Precancelled stamps are also an example of an overprint.

Pane

A full sheet of stamps.

Perforations

The small holes punched between stamps that allows them to be separated easily. Perforations come in styles and in differing widths and may vary even for the same stamp design.

Philately

The hobby of stamp collecting and the study of stamps.

Plate Block

A block of stamps that includes a plate number on the selvage which identifies the plate used during printing.

Postage Due

A type of stamp that indicates there was not enough postage to deliver the letter. The receiver then pays the additional postage shown.

Postal Stationary

Some form of letter or postcard that has postage payment pre-marked on it and therefore does not require a stamp.

Postmark

A mark indicating from where the letter was sent. Usually used as part of the cancellation.

Precancelled

Precancelled letters are primarily used for bulk mailers in order to reduce processing time.

Prexies

A nickname given to the Presidential defiinitives series issued 1938-1954.

Selvage

The margin of a pane of stamps. This may include plate numbers and other markings. Individual stamps or blocks may have selvage attached also.

Semi-postal

Postage stamps are sold for more than their postage value in order to raise funds for a charity.

Se-tenant

Two or more stamps that are attached but are of different designs.

Souvenir Sheet

Sheets of stamps that are issued primarily for collecting purposes. These will usually have some form of decorative border and additional information included.

Special

Specials are usually similar to definitives but are issued for special occasions or themes. The Love stamps and the Christmas stamps are examples.

Thematic

Stamps that share a similar design and theme such as national parks, animals, space exploration, etc. These are sometimes issued on the same page or souvenir sheets together.

Tongs

Tweezers usually with a flat smooth gripping service that are used to handle stamps so that finger grease and prints don't mar them.

Topical

Stamps that share a similar design and theme such as national parks, animals, space exploration, etc. These are sometimes issued on the same page or souvenir sheets together.

UV Light

A black light that is used to view tagging that has been applied to certain stamps. Lights with a wavelength 254 nm can be used for tagging on stamps from the United States, Canada, Israel, Great Britain, etc. Lights with a wavelength of 366nm should be used on stamps of China, France, Mexico, etc.

Vignette

The area of a stamp on which the main design is located.

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Terminology