Postage Due Stamps


Postage Due stamps are sometimes neglected by stamp collectors. Their designs are usually not very exciting and some consider them a boring philatelic item to collect. The fact that they are almost always located in the back of the stamp album (and thus are one of the types of stamps known as "back of the book stamps" or "bob stamps") doesn't help create demand for them - sometimes they are totally overlooked.

But many vintage postage due stamps are beautifully engraved with harmonious designs, and some are quite valuable and rare. Cover collectors find them very collectible when they're properly used on cover.

So don't overlook the charms of postage due stamps. Collecting them can be an interesting philatelic sub-specialty, but even if you don't specialize in them, they'll round out your country collection.

Revenue Stamps


Revenue stamps, sometimes called tax stamps or fiscal stamps, are adhesive labels that can be very similar in appearance to postage stamps. But instead of being used to indicate payment for mailing an item, revenue stamps are used to indicate the payment of taxes or fees. Revenues have been used by many countries throughout the world, including the United States, Canada and Great Britain. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes - some are the size and shape of a regular postage stamp, while others are very large rectangles; still others are very long but narrow strips.

Revenue stamps have been used to collect taxes or fees on wines, beer, playing cards, hunting licenses, cigars, cigarettes, drugs, the recording of documents, stock certificates and many other types of items. They are normally affixed to the item being taxed.

Some revenues have cancellations, often the signature or initials of the person collecting the fee along with the date. But some cancellations are hand stamped and others are simply punch marks.

The use of revenue stamps is much less common now than it was in the 19th and 20th centuries. But they are extremely popular with certain stamp collectors, and they make for a colorful, intriguing and challenging specialty collection. Prices for revenue stamps range from the minimum catalog value to very expensive.

Collecting Back of the Book Stamps

Page through any stamp catalog and you'll find listings for many different kinds of collectible postage stamps. These types of stamps include commemorative stamps and definitive stamps, but they also include "back-of-the-book" stamps or "BOB stamps," called that because they're listed after regular postage stamps in Scott stamp catalogs.

Depending on the country, back of the book stamps can include semipostal stamps that pay postage but also have a surcharge to raise money for charities, airmail stamps, postage due stamps, parcel post stamps, special delivery stamps, registration stamps, postal tax stamps, official stamps, newspaper stamps, military stamps, war tax stamps, revenue stamps, occupation stamps and more. All serve a special purpose, and all provide an added dimension to the scope of your stamp collection.

What Are Semipostal Stamps?

Semipostal stamps are used by various countries to raise money for charitable or humanitarian causes. First used a little more than a century ago, the price of a semi-postal stamp includes payment for the item being mailed (i.e., the postage charge) and an additional surcharge that is collected by the postal authority and then directed toward charities for their use.

Although there are a couple of additional types of stamps that also raise funds for non-postal purposes (for example, war tax stamps and postal tax stamps that are required to be purchased), the postal customer's use of semipostal stamps is always strictly voluntary.

A few countries - notably Switzerland with its long-running annual Pro Juventute semipostal series - issue new semipostal stamps every year, or at least close to it. But most countries only issue them every once in a while, usually when a particularly good cause such as the need for earthquake disaster relief arises. And sadly, it was 1998 before the United States ever issued its first semipostal stamp - the Breast Cancer Awareness Stamp, US Scott # B1.

In most country stamp albums, semipostal stamps (which are also called semi-postal stamps, charity stamps or welfare stamps) are located in the Back of the Book stamp section of album pages, generally just before airmail stamps.

What kinds of stamps are there?

There are several different types of stamps—for example, commemorative, definitive (sometimes called "regular" stamps), and special stamps. There are also several different formats for stamps, such as sheets, booklets, and coils. Stamps may be the conventional adhesive type ("lick-and-stick") or self-adhesive ("no-lick, peel-and-stick").

Definitive stamps are the most common. Generally small in size, they are printed in huge quantities (the same stamp is printed often in the billions), and often more than once. They often feature the head of an important person (such as a dead President) or some other symbol that is identified with the issuing country, like its coat of arms.

Commemorative stamps, are generally larger and more colorful than definitives, are printed in smaller quantities and are typically printed only once. They honor people, events, or subjects of importance to the issuing country's life and culture.

Special stamps—Christmas and Love, Holiday stamps (such as Christmas, New Years, Hanukkah, etc.), international rate, Priority Mail, Express Mail—usually are on sale for only a limited period of time.

Back of the Book stamps - airmail or air post stamps, semi-postal or charity stamps, postage dues, parcel post, registered mail stamps, revenue stamps and others. Called Back of the Book stamps or BOB stamps due to their typical location in most stamp albums.