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.
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage. Then the stamp is affixed to the face or address-side of any item of mail—an envelope or other postal cover —which they wish to send. The item is then processed by the postal system, where a postmark or cancellation mark—in modern usage indicating date and point of origin of mailing—is applied to the stamp and its left and right sides to prevent its reuse. Next the item is delivered to its addressee.
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.
In philately, the term cover pertains to the outside of an envelope or package with an address, typically with postage stamps that have been cancelled and is a term generally used among stamp and postal history collectors. The term does not include the contents of the letter or package, although they may add interest to the item if still present. Cover collecting plays an important role in postal history as many covers bear stamps, postmarks and other markings along with names and addresses all of which help to place a cover at a given time and place in history.
Regis College is a private, non-profit university founded in 1927 by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston. The university is located in Weston, Massachusetts, 12 miles outside of Boston, and offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional studies degree and certificate programs via on campus, fully online, and hybrid formats. Regis provides an academically rigorous education within the schools of nursing, arts and sciences, business and communication, and health sciences. Inspired by the social justice values of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Boston, Regis engages with service initiatives within the local community and around the world.
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.
A postal museum is a museum dedicated to the display of objects relating to the postal service. A subcategory of postal museums are philatelic museums, which focus on philately and postage stamps.
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.
Lawrence Lewis Shenfield was an advertising executive who was instrumental in promoting the development of radio broadcasting during its golden age of the 1920s and 1930s. Larry lined up sponsors to help further the popularity of such stars as Orson Welles and Dinah Shore. After his retirement, Larry developed a second career as a prominent philatelist internationally recognized in the field of postal history. His careful studies of the postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States are relied upon by stamp collectors and experts in philately to the present day.
The United States Stamp Society (USSS) is the largest philatelic organization dedicated to the research and study of United States postage and revenue stamps. The Society is a non-profit collector-based organization with a world-wide membership of over 1700. The USSS is Affiliate #150 of the American Philatelic Society (APS). Since 1930 the Society has encouraged philatelic study through voluntary membership in specialized committees, including those for specific stamp issues like the Washington-Franklins, the Prexies or the Liberty Series, and areas of U.S. philately such as Plate Numbers, Marginal Markings, Private Vending and Affixing Perforations, Booklets and Panes, and Luminescence. Research is made available through published books, research papers and articles in the monthly journal, The United States Specialist.
The postal history of Monaco can be traced to the principality's first postmark in 1704. Stampless covers are known with both manuscript and handstamp postmarks for Monaco and Fort d'Hercule ; as the principality was once much larger, postmarks of the communes of Menton and Roquebrune prior to their 1848 secession might also be included. Monaco used Sardinian stamps from 1851 until 1860, when by the Treaty of Turin, Sardinia ceded to France the surrounding county of Nice and relinquished its protectorate over Monaco; French stamps with Monaco or Monte-Carlo postmarks were used thereafter. Two forms of cancellation are known for the French period. With the first, the postmark is on the cover away from the stamps; an obliterator with an identifying post office number 4222, or later 2387, inside a diamond of ink dots cancelled the actual stamps. The second applied the postmark directly on the stamps, as both a date stamp and cancel. All of these postal forerunners, particularly usages of Sardinian stamps with Monaco cancels, are far more valuable than the same stamps postally used in the issuing countries.
The postal history of the Pitcairn Islands began with letters being sent without postage stamps, as none were available on Pitcairn. In 1921, the United Kingdom and New Zealand formally agreed upon a system to handle post from the island, but this arrangement was ended in 1926. In 1927, stamps from New Zealand were introduced. To improve the revenue generation of the colony, the British government established an official post office on the island in 1940. The opening of this post office saw the issuance of the first set of Pitcairn Islands stamps.
Franklin Richard Bruns Jr. (1912–1979) of Maryland, United States, was a student of philately and served it in numerous ways, including writing a syndicated stamp collector newspaper column and serving as curator at the Smithsonian Institution.
The National Philatelic Museum, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was a short-lived, not-for-profit organization that was intended to create awareness of, and offer courses on, philately.
Leo August, of New Jersey, was an American philatelist who, as a stamp dealer and publisher, created interest and awareness in the collecting of first day covers through the introduction in 1939 of "ArtCraft" engraved illustrated envelopes for use as first day covers. He also established the landmark line of "White Ace" stamp albums. ArtCraft became one of the world's most popular cachets.
The first postage stamps of Bhutan were issued in 1962, the same year that the first motorable road was opened. Before that there was a mail delivery system in place for official mail using mail runners, and between 1955 and 1962 revenue stamps were accepted as payment for internal mail. With the opening up of Bhutan in the early 1960s, a formal postal system was introduced.
The British Library Philatelic Collections is the national philatelic collection of the United Kingdom with over 8 million items from around the world. It was established in 1891 as part of the British Museum Library, later to become the British Library, with the collection of Thomas Tapling. In addition to bequests and continuing donations, the library received consistent deposits by the Crown Agency and has become a primary research collection for British Empire and international history. The collections contain a wide range of artefacts in addition to postage stamps, from newspaper stamps to a press used to print the first British postage stamps.
Philip Thomas Saunders FRPSL was a British banker and philatelist. He started in banking before the First World War but his career was interrupted by service in the Royal Flying Corps during the conflict. Returning to banking after the war, he published a history of Stuckey's Bank in 1928, working for banks that ultimately became today's National Westminster, before retiring in 1959.
Arthur Linz FAIC, FRPSL, was an American industrial chemist who specialized in the chemistry of molybdenum and its compounds. He was also a noted philatelist who formed leading collections of the stamps and postal history of Finland, Peru, and Turkey, and wrote extensively about his collecting interests. He formed the majority of the Bernard Payton collection of Peruvian stamps and postal history in the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and his collection of Turkish stamps included a block of tête-bêche "tughra" stamps of the Ottoman Empire that has been described as "arguably the most important Tughra item".
Alfredo Frohlich is an American venture capitalist and philatelist who has won numerous medals at philatelic exhibitions for his postal history collections of Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. He is an accredited philatelic judge and has been a fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London since 2010. In 2021 he received the Luff Award of the American Philatelic Society.
