Facit catalog

Last updated March 31, 2019

The Facit catalog is a specialized postage stamp catalog for the countries of Scandinavia.^[1] First published in 1947, it is the most detailed and complete catalog available for philatelists interested in the stamps of Denmark, Faroes, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Greenland, Åland, and the Danish West Indies. Although published in Sweden, the language of the catalog is now English.

A stamp catalog is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices.

Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties. The term Scandinavia in local usage covers the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. The majority national languages of these three, belong to the Scandinavian dialect continuum, and are mutually intelligible North Germanic languages. In English usage, Scandinavia also sometimes refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula, or to the broader region including Finland and Iceland, which is always known locally as the Nordic countries.

Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Nordic country and the southernmost of the Scandinavian nations. Denmark lies southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and is bordered to the south by Germany. The Kingdom of Denmark also comprises two autonomous constituent countries in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Denmark proper consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 named islands, with the largest being Zealand, Funen and the North Jutlandic Island. The islands are characterised by flat, arable land and sandy coasts, low elevation and a temperate climate. Denmark has a total area of 42,924 km² (16,573 sq mi), land area of 42,394 km² (16,368 sq mi), and the total area including Greenland and the Faroe Islands is 2,210,579 km² (853,509 sq mi), and a population of 5.8 million.

Catalog content is developed by a committee of 20 leading philatelists. Beginning with the 2007 catalog, and following a trend among catalog publishers, images of the stamps are printed in color.

Specific recent versions of the catalog include:

FACIT 2007 Special (2007) - includes all countries, and a handbook section with informative articles
FACIT Postal VII (2004) - postal history and postmarks of Sweden
FACIT Sverige 2005 (2005) - nonspecialized catalog for Sweden only
FACIT Special Classic (2018) - includes all countries with varieties and specialties up to 1951.

Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is attributed to Robson Lowe, a professional philatelist, stamp dealer and stamp auctioneer, who made the first organised study of the subject in the 1930s and described philatelists as "students of science", but postal historians as "students of humanity". More precisely, philatelists describe postal history as the study of rates, routes, markings, and means.

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. Modern postmarks are often applied simultaneously with the cancellation or killer that marks the postage stamp(s) as having been used, and the two terms are often used interchangeably, if incorrectly. Postmarks may be applied by hand or by machines, using methods such as rollers or inkjets, while digital postmarks are a recent innovation. The local post Hawai'i Post had a rubber-stamp postmark, parts of which were hand-painted. At Hideaway Island, Vanuatu, the Underwater Post Office has an embossed postmark.

The catalogs are published by Facit Förlag AB, located in Västerås, Sweden.

Västerås is a city in central Sweden, located on the shore of Lake Mälaren in the province Västmanland, some 100 kilometres west of Stockholm. The city had a population of 119,372 inhabitants in 2016, out of the municipal total of 150,000 (2017). Västerås is the seat of Västerås Municipality, the capital of Västmanland County and an episcopal see.

Related Research Articles

Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. It also refers to the collection, appreciation and research activities on stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps. For instance, the stamps being studied may be very rare, or reside only in museums.

A cancellation is a postal marking applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and prevent its re-use. Cancellations come in a huge variety of designs, shapes, sizes and colors. Modern cancellations commonly include the date and post office location where the stamps were mailed, in addition to lines or bars designed to cover the stamp itself. The term "postal marking" sometimes is used to refer specifically to the part that contains the date and posting location, although the term often is used interchangeably with "cancellation." The portion of a cancellation that is designed to deface the stamp and does not contain writing is also called the "obliteration" or killer. Some stamps are issued pre-cancelled with a printed or stamped cancellation and do not need to have a cancellation added. Cancellations can affect the value of stamps to collectors, positively or negatively. The cancellations of some countries have been extensively studied by philatelists and many stamp collectors and postal history collectors collect cancellations in addition to the stamps themselves.

Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history.

The Scott Catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Co, a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the entire world which its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in eight large volumes that include six volumes containing all the countries of the world that have ever issued postage stamps, the United States Specialized Catalog, and the 1840-1940 Classic Specialized Catalogue. It is also produced in non-printable CD and DVD editions. The numbering system used by Scott to identify stamps is dominant among stamp collectors in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

A definitive stamp is a postage stamp that is part of the regular issue of a country's stamps, available for sale by the post office for an extended period of time and designed to serve the everyday postal needs of the country. The term is used in contrast to a "provisional stamp", one that is issued for a temporary period until regular stamps are available, or a "commemorative stamp", a stamp "issued to honor a person or mark a special event" available only for a limited time. Commonly, a definitive issue or series includes stamps in a range of denominations sufficient to cover current postal rates. An "issue" generally means a set that is put on sale all at the same time, while a "series" is spread out over several years, but the terms are not precise. Additional stamps in a series may be produced as needed by changes in postal rates but some values may be permanently available, regardless of prevailing rates, for instance 1c or 1p and $1 or £1.

In philately, a cinderella stamp is "virtually anything resembling a postage stamp, but not issued for postal purposes by a government postal administration..." The term excludes imprinted stamps on postal stationery.

Czesław Słania was a Polish postage stamp and banknote engraver. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, Słania was the most prolific of all stamp engravers, with over 1000 stamps to his credit. His 1000th engraved stamp, based on the 17th-century painting "Great Deeds by Swedish Kings" by David Klöcker Ehrenstrahl (2000), is in the Guinness Book as the largest engraved stamp ever issued.

The postage stamps and postal history of Israel is a survey of the postage stamps issued by the state of Israel, and its postal history, since independence was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. The first postage stamps were issued two days later on May 16, 1948. Pre-1948 postal history is discussed in postage stamps and postal history of Palestine.

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Estonia. The stamps of Estonia are issued by the postal administration Eesti Post which is the country's only provider of universal postal services.

The postal history of Turkey and its predecessor state, the Ottoman Empire, dates to the 18th century when foreign countries maintained courier services through their consular offices in the Empire. Although delayed in the development of its own postal service, in 1863 the Ottoman Empire became the second independent country in Asia to issue adhesive postage stamps, and in 1875, it became a founding member of the General Postal Union, soon to become the Universal Postal Union. The Ottoman Empire became the Republic of Turkey in 1923, and in the following years, its postal service became more modernized and efficient and its postage stamps expertly designed and manufactured.

Postage stamps and postal history of Tannu Tuva

The People's Republic of Tannu Tuva issued postage stamps between 1926 and 1936. They were popular with stamp collectors in the Western world in the mid-twentieth century because of the obscurity and exoticism of Tannu Tuva and the stamps' quirky, colorful designs. The validity of many stamps purportedly issued by Tannu Tuva has been questioned by philatelists.

August Dietz was a philatelist, editor and publisher, who specialized in the study of mail and postal history of the Confederate States of America.

Robert Granville Stone, was an American philatelic scholar who devoted over fifty years to the study of certain specific segments of philately.

Patricia A. (Trish) Kaufmann of Lincoln, Delaware, is an expert on the postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States of America (CSA), and has written hundreds of articles on the subject; she is known as a diligent researcher who brings postal history to life. She is also a speaker on the subject.

The Confederate Stamp Alliance is a philatelic organization dedicated to the collection and study of postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States of America (CSA). It is an affiliate of the American Philatelic Society.

Postage stamps and postal history of Norway

The postal system of Norway dates from 1647, when Christian IV of Denmark-Norway granted a concession to a private company who established the Postvesenet. The Postvesenet primarily provided a way for various parts of the country to communicate with the central government in Christiania. Although Norway came under rule of the Swedish king in 1815, the postal service remained independent of the Swedish post, and continued to gradually established routes throughout the country.

This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Greenland.

References

↑ http://blog.stamplibrary.org/2019/01/09/resource-of-the-month-facit-specialized-scandinavian-catalog/

External links

English homepage of Facit Förlag AB

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[1] ttp://blog.stamplibrary.org/2019/01/09/resource-of-the-month-facit-specialized-scandinavian-catalog/