Leisure and Hobbies

Today, everything has become specialized. Even stamp collecting, once the province largely of youthful amateurs, has grown into a worldwide auction and investment business. But the romantic lure of stamp collecting remains for thousands whose interest in philately is purely esthetic joy, intriguing detective work and a love of history.

Still, even the amateur (which comes from the Latin and indicated one who pursued his object for the love of doing, rather than monetary gain) has to employ the same terminology as the professional. For him or her, here’s the lingo of the trade.

Airmails - As the name suggests, these stamps were used to distinguish mail sent by air from that sent by truck or train. Now that the vast majority of mail is sent (at least part way) by air, they’re no longer issued. Hence, since their demise in the 1970s, they have some value as collectibles.

Approvals - Selections of stamps dealers offer to collectors ‘for approval’.

Authentication Mark - A mark that indicates an expert has examined and validated the stamp.

Block - A group of unseparated stamps. These can be valuable since they will have complete watermark designs and other design features that a single stamp would have only part of.

Centering - The position of a design on the stamp’s face relative to the margins. Since the manufacturing process may be imperfect, this can affect the value of a stamp.

Cover - The envelope, packaging, etc to which a stamp has been affixed.

Definitive - A regular issue of a stamp, produced at a specific rate of postage.

Denomination - The face value of a stamp. Collectibles will, naturally, vary from this by a wide margin in most cases. When they don’t, they are often used merely for interesting postage to enhance a letter or postcard.

Entire - An intact cover (envelope, packaging, etc).

Essay - The proposed design of a stamp, not yet issued.

Expertizing - The process of examination by an expert, such as the American Philatelic Expertizing Service.

First Day Cover - An envelope or packaging to which the stamp is affixed and that bears a cancellation mark from the first day of issue.

Frame - The margins outside the area of the design of a stamp.

Freak - A stamp that has been incorrectly manufactured, whether from inking errors, perforation mistakes or other flaws.

Gutter - The selvage between the panes of a sheet of stamps. (See Selvage)

Hinge - Small, gummed rectangles of paper used to adhere stamps into an album by a narrow strip.

Imperforate - Unperforated stamps. These can be valuable collectibles, but counterfeiting these is a common practice.

Invert - Stamps printed with multiple colors in which one of the colored designs has been printed upside down. These can be valuable collectibles, such as the 1918 U.S. 24-cent Jenny.

Mint - A stamp in pristine condition, usually never used for postage. It has no hinge marks, the original adhesive is intact, and has no tears or marks.

NH - Never Hinged. The term refers to a stamp that has never been mounted by use of a hinge, the small adhesive mounts often used to adhere stamps into an album.

On Paper - Stamps that have been used for postage, typically still adhered to the cover (envelope, packaging, etc.).

OG - Original Gum. The original adhesive on the back of a stamp. How much remains, or has been damaged, can influence the value of a collectible stamp.

One Penny Black - The world’s first postage stamp, issued by Great Britain in 1840. Prior to that time recipients of mail often paid the postage, rather than the sender.

Pane - A sheet of unseparated stamps.

Perfins - Stamps with perforated initials, used as a design element or anti-counterfeiting method.

Philately - The collection and study of stamps and related paraphernalia.

Proofs - As in coins, the trial stamps used to test a design and manufacturing process.

Selvage - The plain margin area around a sheet of stamps.

Tagging - The use of phosphorescent dyes in stamp making. Machines can read the dye by use of an ultraviolet light and detect the face value and other elements.

Variety - A deviation from the standard issue. Differing watermarks, incorrect inks and other factors can produce a variety.

Watermark - An embedded design, used for anti-counterfeiting and to add esthetic value.