Stamp Collecting Specialties

A complete worldwide stamp collection would be absolutely enormous, with thousands of volumes. It would also be incredibly expensive to acquire. Many collectors begin as worldwide stamp collectors, but after a while they they tend to get a bit overwhelmed by it all. Many eventually limit the scope of their collections, but their collections may be "deeper" (more in-depth, including varieties, errors and other interesting items). Some collectors limit themselves to the stamps of particular countries, time periods or topics. Other collectors limit
themselves to collecting specific types of stamps.

Some of the more popular stamp collecting specialties include:

• Particular countries and/or time periods

• Definitive stamps - the most frequently used stamps

• Commemorative stamps - issued to commemorate events, anniversaries etc., on sale for a limited time

• Pictorial stamps - often featuring images of a country's scenery, animals, plants or lifestyle (some pictorials are definitives, others are commemoratives)

• Revenue stamps - issued to pay tax in small amounts. Some early stamps had Postage and Revenue printed on them, to indicate that they were acceptable for both uses
  

• Postal stationery - government-issued postal cards, aerograms, air letter sheets, etc.

• Sheetlets - a format now issued regularly by postal administrations. Instead of issuing stamps in large sheets of 40 or more stamps, smaller sheetlets with 16 or 20 stamps are issued with a large selvage area which may incorporate part of the stamp design or theme
  

• Miniature sheets - very similar to Souvenir sheets, minisheets are a form of sheetlet with a single stamp or a few stamps embedded

• Souvenir sheets - stamps printed in a format that look like a sheet with a large picture. Various parts of the picture are actually stamps can be removed and used as postage
  

• Corner blocks or plate blocks - a block of stamps from one of the four corners of a stamp sheet. Collectors usually collect blocks of four stamps, complete with the selvage area which sometimes bears printing details or plate number(s)
  

• Postage due stamps

• Federal Duck Stamps (stamps for duck hunting licenses, mainly U.S., but Canada and New Zealand also have duck stamps

• First day covers (FDCs) - envelopes with stamps attached and canceled on the first day that the stamp was issued. Most modern FDCs bear designs, called "cachets," related to the theme of the stamp issued
  

• PHQ Cards - pictorial postcards issued by the British Post Office (Royal Mail). Each PHQ card shows an enlarged color reproduction of a commemorative stamp
  

• First Day Ceremony Programs - folders or brochures given out to attendees of the First Day Ceremonies of postage stamps, with historical information on the stamp, a list of speakers, and an attached stamp, canceled on the First Day of Issue
  

• Souvenir pages - first day cancelled stamps on a page describing all design, printing and issuing details
  

• Topical stamps (thematic stamps) - many collectors choose to organize their stamp collection on the theme of the stamps, covers, or postmarks. Popular topical themes are animals, dogs, cats, butterflies, birds, flowers, art, sports, Olympics, maps, Disney, scouting, space, ships, Americana, stamps on stamps, famous people, chess, Chinese new year, and many others

• Cinderellas - stamp-like labels that are not valid for postage

• Counterfeit and forged postage stamps. There are several types of collectible fake postage stamps: 1. postal counterfeits produced by criminals for fraudulent use as postage stamps; often scarcer than the stamps which they were intended to represent in part because counterfeits are subject to government seizure and selling them may be illegal. 2. forgeries of rare stamps. 3. reprints produced by government printing offices or private organizations using the plates used to produce the original stamps. 4. faked stamps are common stamps which have been altered to resemble rare stamps such as forged overprints, forged cancellations, chemical alterations of a stamp's color or altered perforations

• Postmarks or postal markings in general

• Vintage stampless covers - common from the period before postage stamps were first issued to prepay postal charges

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.

Commemorative Stamps




The word "commemorate" means to honor or remember an event or person of some historical significance. Originally, commemorative stamps were designed to do exactly that, and often depicted a famous person (sometimes together with the "tools of the trade" or other items somehow connected to him or her) or an historical event. For example, the first commemorative stamps that were issued by the United States honored the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus. The Columbian Exposition stamps featured various scenes - his fleet of sailing ships, Columbus landing, Columbus and Queen Isabella of Spain, etc. They were issued in 1893 in connection with the World's Columbian Exposition (hence their name) - a World's Fair held in Chicago, Illinois.



Many commemoratve stamps today are still issued to honor significant events or people, but their purpose has evolved over time. Many commemoratives now feature topics or themes which may or may not be historically important. For example, many countries issue now commemorative stamps that feature birds, insects, dinosaurs, horses, dogs, cats, film actors and a plethora of thousands of other topics.



Unlike definitive stamps, most commemorative stamps are printed in limited numbers, and although there are some exceptions, most are only printed once so the likelihood of finding varieties is severely diminished (although some do exist). While definitive stamps are sometimes somewhat boring to look at they are "where the money is" and are collected at least in part because of the possibility of finding a scarce and expensive variety. But commemorative stamps, with their often striking designs, are usually collected for their visual appeal.