Stampsandcanada - Glossary - Stamps of Canada - Canadian Stamps - - Definitions et abbreviations

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Definitions

A

Adhesive

A stamp that is gummed.

Aerophilately

Study of airmail.

Airmail Stamp

Issued to prepay the postage of mail carried by air.

B

Block

A group of four or more unseparated stamps, which form a square or rectangle

Booklet

A small book which contains stamps in panes.

C

Cancellation

Oostal marking applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and prevent its re-use.

Cinderella stamp

In philately, a cinderella stamp is "virtually anything resembling a postage stamp, but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration.

Cover

An envelope, postcard, letter-sheet or any other wrapper which has been used to send correspondence by mail.

F

First Day Cover

Abbreviation : FDC

A first day of issue cover or first day cover (FDC) is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use[1] within the country or territory of the stamp-issuing authority. Sometimes the issue is made from a temporary or permanent foreign or overseas office. There will usually be a first day of issue postmark, frequently a pictorial cancellation, indicating the city and date where the item was first issued, and "first day of issue" is often used to refer to this postmark. Depending on the policy of the nation issuing the stamp, official first day postmarks may sometimes be applied to covers weeks or months after the date indicated.

G

Gum

In philately, gum is the substance applied to the back of a stamp to enable it to adhere to a letter or other mailed item.

H

Hinge

In philately stamp hinges or mounts are small, folded, transparent, rectangular pieces of paper coated with a mild gum. They are used by stamp collectors to affix postage stamps onto the pages of a stamp album.

I

Invert

A stamp with one part of its design printed upside down in relation to the rest of the stamp.

M

Margin

The unprinted edging which surrounds or divides a sheet of stamps.

Maximaphily

Maximaphily is a branch of philately involving the study and creation of maximum cards ( postcard with a postage stamp placed on the picture side of the card where the stamp and card match or are in concordance).

O

Overprint

An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added by a post office to the face of a postage stamp after it has been printed.

P

Pair

Two unseparated stamps which are joined either vertically or horizontally as originally issued.

Pane

A formation or group of stamps within a sheet.

Perfin

Stamp that has had initials or a name perforated across it to discourage theft. The name is a contraction of perforated initials or perforated insignia. They are also sometimes called SPIFS (Stamps Perforated with Initials of Firms and Societies).

Perforation Gauge

A device which is used to gauge the number of perforations on a stamp.

Philately

Study of stamps and postal history.

Postage due

Stamp added to an underpaid piece of mail to indicate the extra postage due.

Postage stamp

A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage.

Postmark

A postmark is a postal marking made on a letter, package, postcard or the like indicating the date and time that the item was delivered into the care of the postal service.

Proof

A trial impression stamp which has been taken from an original die or printing plate.

R

Revenue stamp

A revenue stamp, tax stamp or fiscal stamp is a adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees.

S

Semi-Postal

A stamp where all or part of the money generated by its sale is donated to charity.

Separation

Separation is the means by which individual stamps are made easily detachable from each other.

T

Tête-bêche

A stamp which is inverted in relation to the adjoining stamp in a pair.

W

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 in the paper.

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