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The Michel catalog (MICHEL-Briefmarken-Katalog) is the largest and best-known stamp catalog in the German-speaking world. First published in 1910, it has become an important reference work for philately, with information not available in the English-language Scott catalogue.
The catalog started out as a price list for the dealer Hugo Michel of Apolda. By 1920 it was split into two volumes, for "Europe" and "overseas", and eventually grew to a present-day size of about a dozen volumes covering the entire world, with additional specialized volumes bringing the total to some forty catalogs.
It extensively covers specialized Germany collecting including the complex World War II era stamps of Germany, occupied territories, and provisional stamps.
Unlike Scott, Michel does not issue a complete set of catalogs every year, instead updating only several of the volumes. Michel is also more detailed, with quantities issued, sheet formats, and so forth. Also of significance to some collectors is its coverage of countries and periods omitted by Scott for editorial or political reasons. For instance, US embargoes against Cuba, Iraq, and North Korea are reflected by Scott's failure to show market values for those countries' stamp issues (as late as 2002, Scott did not supply any information at all about North Korean stamps), and Michel is one of few sources for that information.[ citation needed ]
Michel also documents stamps issued apparently with little or no intent of being used to pay postage and stamps issued by regions or areas with dubious political status. Scott excludes many issues that were unlikely to be actually used to pay postage.
There are 15 main catalogues, all issued in German; about 400,000 are printed annually. [1] Their information is also accessible on the Michel internet pages.
The standard Germany catalogue (Michel-Deutschland-Katalog) covers all German stamps issues . A more detailed specialized catalogue is available. For young collectors a simplified "Junior Catalogue" is available. All these catalogues are published on an annual basis.
Called "Europa-Katalog (EK)" these catalogues appear annually and are divided as follows:
Called "Übersee-Katalog (ÜK)" these catalogues appear about every three years. As of 2014 there are 10 issues, some in two volumes. In contrast to the European catalogues the number of stamps printed is not indicated. Not all issues are represented by images.
Aside from Germany, a number of other countries are covered in specialized catalogues that indicate more details such as variations and first day cancellation. Specialized catalogues are available for Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, Great Britain, United States, Croatia, and the United Nations. In addition, other philatelic titles are published. [2]
Recently Michel publishers (Schwaneberger Verlag) has issued some English-language titles, viz.:
Philately is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, 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.
Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth century with the rapid growth of the postal service, as a stream of new stamps was produced by countries that sought to advertise their distinctiveness through their stamps.
A cancellation is a postal marking applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and to prevent its reuse. 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 "postmark" refers specifically to the part that contains the date and posting location, but the term is often used interchangeably with "cancellation" as it may serve that purpose. 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. 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 Company, now a subsidiary of Amos Media, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the world that its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in fourteen large volumes that include twelve 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. The numbering system used by Scott to identify stamps is dominant among stamp collectors in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
A stamped envelope or postal stationery envelope (PSE) is an envelope with a printed or embossed indicium indicating the prepayment of postage. It is a form of postal stationery.
In philately, a pen cancel – symbol ⟨⟩ – is a cancellation of a postage or revenue stamp by the use of a pen, marker or crayon.
A stamp catalog is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices.
A cancelled to order postage stamp, philatelic symbol , is a stamp the issuing postal service has cancelled, but has not traveled through the post, but instead gets handed back to a stamp collector or dealer. They can come from withdrawn stocks of stamps cancelled in sheets and sold as remainders or from new sheets for sale at reduced rates to the stamp trade. Postal services of various countries do this in response to collector demand, or to preclude stamps issued for the collector market being used on mail. Some of the history of CTOs is from stamps being given to collectors on an approval basis, in person or through mailings; the first CTOs began in the late 19th century.
Eastern Rumelia or Eastern Roumelia was an autonomous province (vilayet) in the Ottoman Empire from 1878 to 1908; however, it was under Bulgarian control beginning in 1885. The province is remembered today by philatelists for having issued postage stamps from 1881 on, although a postcard was issued locally for internal use in 1880.
The Far Eastern Republic, sometimes called the Chita Republic, existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of Siberia. It was formed from the Amur, Transbaikal, Kamchatka, Sakhalin, and Primorye regions. In theory, it extended from Lake Baikal to Vladivostok but, in May 1921, the Priamur and Maritime Provinces seceded. Although nominally independent, it was largely controlled by the RSFSR and its main purpose was to be a democratic buffer state between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by Japan during the Russian Civil War to avoid war with Japan. Initially, its capital was Verkhneudinsk, but from October 1920 it was Chita. On 15 November 1922, after the war ended and the Japanese withdrew from Vladivostok, the Far Eastern Republic was annexed by Soviet Russia.
A joint issue is the release of stamps or postal stationery by two or more countries to commemorate the same topic, event or person. Joint issues typically have the same first day of issue and their design is often similar or identical, except for the identification of country and value.
The United Nations Postal Administration (UNPA) is the postal agency of the United Nations. It issues postage stamps and postal stationery, denominated in United States dollars for the office in New York, in Swiss francs for the office in Geneva and in euros for the office in Vienna. As such, UNPA is the only postal authority that issues stamps in three different currencies.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany and philatelically related areas. The main modern providers of service were the Reichspost (1871–1945), the Deutsche Post under Allied control (1945–1949), the Deutsche Post of the GDR (1949–1990), the Deutsche Bundespost (1949–1995), along with the Deutsche Bundespost Berlin (1949–1990), and are now the Deutsche Post AG.
The Vineta Provisional is a German postage stamp made on 13 April 1901 on board the cruiser SMS Vineta. The postal officer had not been supplied with 3 Pfennig Germania stamps, so he bisected his 5 Pfennig stamps and stamped them by hand with a "3 PF" mark. Mail with the Vineta provisional stamp was sent from Pernambuco to Germany on 17 April 1901. Only 600 stamps were issued, making this provisional stamp one of the rarer stamps in German philately.
The Fischer Catalogue of Polish stamps is a yearly publication in catalogue form of postage stamps relating to Poland.
The Ruch catalog of postage stamps of Poland, officially titled Ilustrowany Katalog Znaczków Polskich, contained detailed information on Polish postage stamps, and was published on a yearly basis.
This is a survey of postage stamps and postal history of the German colonies and part of the postage stamps and postal history of Germany, as well as those of the individual countries and territories concerned.
Soviet space exploration history has been well documented on Soviet stamps. These Soviet stamps cover a broad spectrum of subjects related to the Soviet space program. While much of the focus has been placed on the nation's notable "firsts" in space flight, including: Earth orbiting satellite, Sputnik 1; animal in space, the dog Laika on Sputnik 2; human in space and Earth orbit, Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1; first spacewalk, Alexei Leonov on Voskhod 2; woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova on Vostok 6; Moon impact, 1959, and uncrewed landing; space station; and interplanetary probe; numerous stamps have paid tribute to more general astronomical topics as well.