Stamp collecting

The term philately covers the study of postage stamps, stamped envelopes, postmarks, postcards, and other materials relating to postal delivery and also denotes the collecting of these items. The term was coined in 1864 by a Frenchman, Georges Herpin, who invented it from the Greek philos, "love," and ateleia, "that which is tax-free"; the postage stamp permitted the letter to come free of charge to the recipient, rendering it untaxed.

 

The first postage stamps for the prepayment of letter postage were issued in England in 1840. They were the brainchild of Rowland Hill. Postal charges were then determined mainly by the distance traveled (and the weight of the letter), but Hill proved that the main cost of transport was in the handling and sorting of letters rather than in their carriage. Hill proposed a radical change: that all postage be prepaid, and that letters be carried any distance within Great Britain for a fixed rate (which he suggested be a penny for each half-ounce).

 

With the backing of the Exchequer, Hill had two devices made: prepaid envelopes, and adhesive postage stamps. The prepaid envelopes were laughed out of existence owing to their ridiculous designs, but the stamps were an immediate success: a one-penny design in black and a two-penny one in blue, both bearing a profile of Queen Victoria, went on sale to the public on May 1, 1840, and were good for use from May 6. The postage stamp was adopted for use by the semiofficial City Despatch Post of New York City in 1842, and the next year the Brazilian empire and the Swiss cantons of Zürich and Geneva also issued stamps. In 1847 the U.S. government issued stamps of 5- and 10-cent value, bearing pictures of Benjamin Franklin and George Washington, respectively. Austria and various German states followed suit in 1850, after which the remaining countries of the world began to issue stamps.

 

These early stamps were printed on sheets of paper with no provisions for separating them from each other. But in 1848-54 a machine was adapted by the British Post Office to provide stamps with separations in the course of their manufacture, and most stamps are now edged with tiny holes, called perforations, which enable them to be easily separated. Other types of stamps include special-delivery stamps, postage-due stamps, and semipostal stamps; the latter are sold at a premium over their face value, with the overage going to charity. Commemorative stamps are regular postage stamps issued to honour some event, activity, or person of national importance; unlike other regular postage stamps (known as definitives), they are printed only once and are allowed to go out of circulation as their supply is used up. The first commemorative stamp was issued by New South Wales in 1888, on the 100th anniversary of that Australian colony's founding.

 

The first lists of stamps were published in 1861 by Oscar Berger-Levrault in Strasbourg and Alfred Potiquet in Paris. In England, Frederick Booty, J.E. Gray, and Mount Brown all issued catalogs in 1862; Brown's third edition (1866) listed 2,400 varieties, inclusive of what is now termed postal stationery or envelopes, wrappers, and letter sheets, as well as many local issues. The standard modern stamp catalogs (e.g., Yvert and Tellier in France, Michel's in Germany, E. Stanley Gibbons' in Great Britain, and Scott or Minkus in the United States) exclude this latter material, and yet the total number of listings, including minor varieties, reached more than 200,000 by the late 20th century.

 

Stamps issued between 1840 and 1875 are now among the world's most valuable ones because of their rarity and historical significance. The unique one-cent British Guiana magenta of 1856, for instance, was sold in 1970 at auction for $280,000. Other stamps acquire rarity (and hence added value) from printers' errors; a good example is the printing of a 1918 U.S. 24-cent airmail stamp with an airplane pictured upside down.

 

Many famous stamp collections of the past have been dispersed and absorbed by others, while some have been sold at auction, bringing sums comparable to those of major works of art. One of the most famous was that King George V, a famed philatelist. The Thomas K. Tapling collection, bequeathed to the British Museum, may well be the finest in public hands. The Smithsonian Institution collection at Washington, D.C., stresses U.S. stamps. The postal museums of many European capitals have outstanding collections, such as those at Berlin, The Hague, and Stockholm.

 

Clubs or societies of collectors are to be found in most cities of the world, with national and international societies to bind them together. Many of the prominent national societies, such as the Royal Philatelic Society of London and the American Philatelic Society, were formed in the 19th century. The International Philatelic Federation was formed in 1926. Many specialist societies have also sprung up, notably since 1945.