| Terminology | Definition |
| Acknowledgment of receipt stamps | A special stamp showing the fee paid to show receipt of a letter or other postal matter. |
| Adhesive | Stamp to be affixed to postal matter, as opposed to one embossed or printed directly on an envelope, postal card, or letter sheet. |
| Aerogramme | An item of postal stationery consisting of a single sheet to be folded into an envelope, sealed, and then sent at a rate less than the airpost letter rate. Postage is usually, but not always, imprinted. |
| Air post stamps | Stamps specifically issued to carry mail by air transport. |
| Air post official stamps | Stamps, which utilize air transport, used for carrying mail doing government business. |
| Air post parcel post stamps | Stamps used for movement of parcel post items via air transport. |
| Air post postal tax stamps | A postal tax paid when using air post service. |
| Air post registration stamps | Stamps specifically issued to cover the rate for both registry and air post. |
| Backstamp | Marking applied to the back of an envelope, showing date and place of arrival. |
| Barred | Manner of defacing foreign stamps with printed bar-like parallel lines to show they are no longer valid for postage. This has been a government practice of some countries where remainders are sold to dealers at less than face value. |
| Bicolored | Stamps printed in two colors. |
| Bilingual | Stamps with their inscription and value printed in two languages. This procedure is or was used in countries with two official languages, i.e., Canada, Belgium, and South Africa. |
| Bisect | Stamp cut in half so that each part may be used separately to prepay postage. This procedure normally is used in emergency situations when stamps of lower denomination are not available. |
| Blind Perforation | Perforations that have been only lightly impressed by the perforating pins, leaving the paper intact, but cut. Blind perfs may appear to be imperforate, but some impression is visible on the paper. Blind perfs are minor varieties carrying little, if any, premium over normally perforated copies. |
| Block | Unsevered unit of four or more stamps, at least two across and two deeps. |
| Booklet pane | A booklet pane is a configuration of stamps designed to be enclosed in cardboard for ease of storage and use. The panes may be printed from special plates or made from regular sheets of stamps. Panes from booklets issued by many countries contain stamps that have one or more straight edges (without perforations). |
| Cachet | A design generally applied to the face of an envelope to commemorate an event, such as the first day of issue of a stamp. |
| Canceled to order (C.T.O.) | Stamps canceled in quantities (without being used as "postage") for sale to collectors. |
| Cancellation | A mark placed on a stamp to prevent its reuse. |
| Catalogue | Stamp catalogs are reference works, which list in some logical sequence, as well as describe and usually include some reference as to current market value, stamps of a particularly grouping. Such groupings may be individual countries, geographic regions, specific time periods (by country or region), or a specific topic such as mushrooms pictured on stamps. |
| Cleaned | Describing a stamp from which the cancellation has been removed, either for reuse as postage or for sale within philately as an unused stamp. |
| Cliche | A single stereotype of a stamp design. |
| Commemorative | A stamp issued to honor a particular person, place, or event and which is available for purchase for a specific period of time. Definitive stamps may also honor a person, place, or event, but normally are available for purchase for a much-extended time. In the early days of postage stamps, commemorative stamps were more easily distinguishable from definitive stamps. Today, the line of demarcation is much finer. |
| Coil stamp | Coil stamps are available in rolls, or coils, for ease of storage and use. Automated application equipment is available to accept such rolls for high-speed stamp application. U.S. coil stamps have perforations only on two parallel sides--horizontal or vertical--while coil stamps of some other countries are fully perforated on all four sides. |
| Date of issue | The first day a stamp officially is placed on sale is its date of issue. |
| Definitive | A postage or airmail issue with a much more extended printing run than a commemorative, which normally has a limited quantity issued. Also known as "regular stamps" or "ordinaries." |
| Demonetized | Stamps declared invalid for postage by government decree. |
| Design | The printed central part of the stamp within the frame, when there is one. Stamps of the same design may have different inscriptions, country names, denominations, paper, ink color, or perforation measurement. |
| Die | A small flat piece of soft steel on which the design is recess-engraved in reverse. After completion of the engraving, the die is hardened to withstand subsequent operations. Reproductions are taken from the die to form the plate for printing stamps. |
| Double impression | A stamp with two distinct, overlapping impressions from the printing plate. This is not to be confused with "Double Transfer." |
| Double paper | Experimental paper made by pasting two sheets together. Also, the overlap produced when splicing two paper rolls on a rotary press. |
| Double Transfer | Duplication of all or part of the design of a stamp caused by the changing of registration between the relief and the plate during the rolling of the original entry (transfer). This variety is constant. |
| Dry printing | A refinement of engraved stamp using thicker, stiffer paper, special inks and greater pressure to force the paper into the recessed plates. on dry-printed stamps, which have whiter paper and high surface sheen, the design stands out sharply. |
| Duplex cancellation | A cancellation in two parts: the date stamp and the canceling device. |
| Duty plate | One of two plates used in producing bicolored stamps. The duty plate prints the country name and value, or value only. The head plate, or key plate, prints the remainder of the design. |
| Early impression | A stamp produced while the plate is still new. |
| EFO | An acronym, "EFO" is the brief form of "Errors, Freaks, and Oddities." Errors refer to missing colors, inverted colors, and imperforate items, which should be perforated. Freaks and oddities are a more fluid area dealing with color shifts, paper folds that result in interesting ink placements, partial perforations, perforation shifts, ink smears, and others. |
| Electrotype | A method of producing replicas of a die through the Electro-deposit of copper on a mold made from such a die. |
| Embossed stamps | Stamps in full or partial relief, with or without color. |
| Encased postage stamps | Stamps enclosed in special casings for use during coin shortages. |
| Engraved stamps | Stamps printed from metal plates into which a design is cut or etched. |
| Engraver's proof | A trial printing from an engraving used to observe how the finished stamp would look. |
| Entire | A whole stamped envelope, letter sheet, or wrapper used or unused. |
| Error | A stamps with an unintentional mistake in design, color, perforation, or printing. |
| Essay | A proposed design, a designer's model, or an incomplete engraving. Its design differs in some way, great or small, from the issued item. |
| Expertizing | The examination of a philatelic item by an acknowledged expert to determine whether it is genuine, or something less that completely authentic. |
| Face-different | Of the many ways of differentiating and categorizing postage stamps, "face-different" is the easiest. Face-different refers to a visual difference in the design of a one stamp compared to another. Or, it can be a case of a different color ink used (one stamp in red and another in green, without regard to the design of the stamp). It also may refer to obvious changes in type style used or the placement of type in a stamp design. |
| Face value | The denomination for which a stamp pays postage. |
| Facsimile | An imitation of a stamp represented as such. |
| Fakes | Stamps made to resemble more valuable varieties by altering perforations, "cleaning" cancellations, adding cancellations, and so on. |
| First day cover | Use of a certain stamp (on cover) or postal stationery item on the first day of sale at a place officially designated for such sale or so postmarked. |
| First flight cover | An envelope with a cancellation showing the date and starting point of a new air mail route and carried on that route. |
| Fiscal | A revenue stamp or a postage stamp with revenue cancellation. |
| Flat plate | Stamps printed on a flat-bed press as opposed to those printed with curved plates on a rotary press. |
| Frame | The stamp's border, as distinct from its design. |
| Goldbeater's skin | A tough, transparent paper. |
| Granite paper | Paper containing visible fibers. |
| Grid cancellation | A cancellation usually consisting of crisscrossed lines, often within an oval. |
| Grill | A pattern of small dots impressed into the paper to break the stamp's surface and absorb canceling ink, thereby preventing "cleaning." |
| Grilled gum | When applying gum, a light grilling process is sometimes used to prevent curling. This resembles a faint grill of vertical and horizontal ribs covering the entire back of the stamp. |
| Guide dots | Dots on the plate or transfer roll used as a guide in the spacing and alignment of stamps. |
| Guide Lines | Horizontal or vertical colored lines between stamps, extending partially or completely across a sheet. These lines served as guides for perforating machine operators to indicate the point of separation of a sheet into panes. A block of stamps divided by any of the guidelines is known as a "line block" or "guide line block." |
| Gum | The adhesive applied to the back of a postage stamp to ensure it will adhere to an envelope or package. |
| Gum breaker bars | Colorless marks placed across the backs of some rotary press stamps during manufacture to inhibit curling. |
| Gutters | Spaces between the panes on a sheet of stamps. |
| Gutter Pair | A set of two stamps connected by a central label with or without printing on it -- which is not itself valid for postage that separates panes of stamps. Gutter pairs or gutter blocks must contain complete stamps on both sides of the gutter, including perforation teeth (unless the item is imperforate). |
| Handstamped | A stamp or cover which is canceled by hand, rather than by a machine. The term also refers to a printing method. |
| Harrow perforation | Perforations produced by a harrow machine, which completes an entire sheet or pane in one operation. |
| Hatching | Close, fine lines for shading a stamp design. |
| Hinge | A small piece of gummed paper used to mount stamp in an album. Currently available hinges normally are "peelable," they are designed to be removed easily from stamp or album page with a minimum danger of damage to either. |
| Horizontal pair, imperforate between | A pair of stamps that is fully perforated at the top, sides and bottom but has no perforations between the stamps. |
| Horizontal pair, imperforate vertically | A pair of stamps that is fully perforated horizontally but has no vertical perforations. |
| Hyphen hole | A type of perforation consisting of small rectangular holes resembling hyphens. |
| Imperforate | A stamp issued without perforation or rouletting. They must be separated by scissors or other cutting tool. Usually collected in pairs or other multiples to prove their authenticity. Abbreviated as "imperf." |
| Impression | The actual printed design of a stamp. |
| Imprint | An inscription on a stamp below its design or in the sheet margin, usually the name or initials of any or all of the following: printer, designer, and engraver. |
| India paper | A soft, thin wove paper used principally for proof impressions. |
| Inscription | The name of the country, denomination, etc., inscribed on a stamp. |
| Insured letter stamps | Stamps which pay the rate for insuring the contents of the mailed item in the event of loss of damage. |
| Intaglio | Engraved. This method of printing results in the ink "setting up" above the surface of the paper and may be detectable by touch. |
| Invert | A stamp on which the center is printed upside down relative to the frame. The term also may apply to an overprint or surcharge printed upside down relative to the design of the stamp. |
| Joint line pair | On rotary coils of the United States, a line of color (not a guide line) between the stamps where the curved rotary plates meet or join the press. This line is not evident on some later coils being produced with a different form of plate. |
| Jubilee | A special anniversary, normally one divisible by 25. |
| Key plate | Used in conjunction with a duty plate, the key plate (also known as a "head plate") prints the stamp's primary design. Stamps from such a process normally are common designs for a series of a mother country's colonies. |
| Killer | A heavy cancellation covering most of the stamp. |
| Knife | The cutting edge of the machine which cuts out the envelope blank. Also, the size and shape of the die-cut papers from which the envelopes are folded. |
| Late fee stamp | Stamp indicating payment of a special fee for forwarding a letter after the regular mail has been closed. |
| Letter sheet | A sheet of paper, bearing a printed stamp, which folds to enclose the written message while the stamp and address remain on the outside. |
| Line pair | A pair of stamps showing the guideline or joint line between them. When referring to coil stamps, they are known as "joint line pairs." |
| Lithography | A flat-surface printing method where the design is drawn, photographed, or transferred to a stone or metal plate in an oil-based (greasy) ink and fixed with acid. only the greasy ink image will transfer in the printing process. |
| Locals | Stamps issued either by governments or private posts for use in restricted areas. The Scott Catalogue prefix for local stamps is "L." |
| Lozenge roulette | A roulette with cuts in the shape of little crosses, diamonds, or lozenges with open outer corners (also called "Diamond Roulette" and "Perce en Losanges"). |
| Luminescent stamps | Stamps coated or "tagged" with a colorless phosphorescent material, printed on fluorescent paper, or with fluorescent ink. Used with automatic canceling machines, the coated stamps speed up mail processing and distribution. |
| Margin | The unprinted area of a stamp between the edge of the design and the edge of the paper. Today, even stamp margins have become a major consideration in determining the grade of a stamp. |
| Marginal inscription | Inscriptions printed on the margin of a sheet. |
| Meter stamp | A design printed directly on an envelope or card (or on moistened tape for application to a cover or parcel) by a postage meter, indicating that postage has been paid. |
| Military stamps | Stamps issued for use by a country's military personnel. |
| Military air post stamps | Air post stamps issued for use by a country's military personnel. |
| Military parcel post stamps | Parcel post stamps issued for use by a country's military personnel. |
| Miniature sheets | A small sheet consisting of one or several stamps, a sheet which is of considerably smaller dimensions than a normal post office pane. |
| Minkus | Major publisher of postage stamp catalogs and albums. The Minkus catalog numbers are used in this presentation to facilitate stamp identification. |
| Newspaper stamps | Used for prepayment or postal charges on newspapers mailed in bulk. |
| Obliteration | Another term for cancellation. |
| Obsolete | Stamps no longer for sale at the post office. |
| Occupation Stamps | Stamps issued from a country under enemy occupation. Other stamps issued by an occupying nation have been designated for air post, official, postage due, postal tax, semi-postal, and special delivery use. |
| Official Stamps | Stamps issued for the free use of government officials. |
| Offset (image) | A reverse impression from the face of a wet sheet of stamps onto the back of another sheet. |
| Offset (printing) | A modern version of lithography, where the image is transferred (offset) from a printing plate onto a blanket and thence onto paper. The printing plate has a positive image, and the blanket image is negative. |
| On cover | A stamp on its original envelope or wrapper. |
| Original gum | Gum that originally was part of the stamp. |
| Overprint | Any word, inscription, or device placed on a stamp to alter its use or locality, or to serve a special purpose. |
| Packet cancellation ("paquebot") | A cancellation or marking applied to mail carried by ship. |
| Pair | Two unseparated stamps. |
| Pane | The part of the original sheet that is issued for sale. A pane may be the same as an entire sheet, where the plate is small; or it may be a half, quarter, or some other fraction of a sheet where the plate is large. |
| Parcel post stamps | Postage issued for use on parcel post items. |
| Parcel post authorized delivery stamps | Stamps issued by a government and used to pay a fee in addition to normal postage for private delivery of a parcel. |
| Part perforate | A stamp with unintentional incomplete perforations, q.v., one issued perforate on four sides which one or more sides without perforations. |
| Perfins (perforated initials) | Stamps with small punched holes forming initials, numbers, or designs. |
| Perforations | Holes punched in stamp margins to facilitate separation. |
| Perforation gauge | A device for measuring the number of perforations of a length of two centimeters. |
| Philatelist | One who collects postage stamps is known as a "philatelist." |
| Philately | The hobby of stamp collecting has the elegant name "philately." The word is derived from French words meaning "a lover of small pieces of paper." |
| Photogravure | In this printing process, the principles of photography are applied to a sensitized metal plate or cylinder. The design is transferred through a halftone screen, breaking the reproduction into tiny dots. After chemical treatment, the dots form depressions of varying depths, depending on the degrees of shade in the design. Ink is lifted out of the depressions in the plate when the paper is pressed against the plate. |
| Precancel | A type of stamp which receives its cancellation prior to actually being placed on the letter or parcel for which it is paying postage. This approach speeds up the mail-handling process. Special permits are required for the use of precanceled stamps in the United States. |
| Railroad postmark | A cancellation or postal marking made in a mail car, usually while the mail is in transit. |
| Registration stamps | Stamps used to cover the fee for registering a letter or parcel, normally the most secure method of using the postal system. |
| Reissue | An official printing of a stamp after it has been withdrawn from sale. This term usually applied to fresh printings of such stamps, which can be distinguished from those of the original issue. |
| Relief | Normal reproduction of the design on the die, in reverse. A defective relief, caused by a minute piece of foreign material lodging on the die, may occur during the rocking-in process, or from other causes. If a damaged relief is continued in-use, it will transfer a repeating defect to the plate. |
| Remainders | Government-held stocks of stamps on hand after an issue has been withdrawn from sale. |
| Repaired | A stamp mended to improve its appearance or add to its value. |
| Reprints | Stamps printed from original plates, usually after the issue is obsolete, but not intended for use as postage. |
| Reproductions | Made from a new plate to imitate the original issue. |
| Revenue stamps | Stamps used to collect non-postage taxes. |
| Roulette | A method of stamp separation where cuts are made in the paper but no paper is removed. |
| Rotary press printing | Stamps printed from curved plates on a rotary-type press where the paper is fed from a continuous roll. |
| Safety paper | Special paper used to retard the cleaning of cancellations. |
| Sample | An overprint sometimes used on stamps instead of the word "specimen." |
| Secret marks | Small marks placed on the original stamp dies for identification. |
| Semi-postal special delivery stamps | Stamps issued for the dual purpose of paying the fee for special delivery and raising funds for a special purpose or cause. |
| Semi-postal stamps | Stamps issued for the dual purpose of paying postage and raising funds for a special purpose or cause. |
| Service indicator | Inscription included in the design of an U.S. stamp to indicate the category of postal service to be rendered. The term usually is applied only to modern U.S. stamps, with the 7.9-cent Drum stamp of the Americana series considered the first with such an inscription. The Drum stamp was issued for bulk rate mailings. one feature that sets the "service indicator" stamp apart from other stamps with the class of postal service imprinted on them, q.v. "Airmail," is that the service indicator stamp does not normally receive an additional cancellation when used for the indicated service. |
| Set | A number of stamps belonging to a particular issue or series. |
| Se-tenant | An unsevered pair of stamps which differ in value, design, or surcharge. |
| Souvenir sheet | A small pane, legitimate for postage, that includes one or more postage stamps and with additional printing or illustrations beyond the borders of the stamp (i.e., in the selvage). The postage stamps shown on souvenir sheets may or may not be perforated. |
| Surcharge | An overprint that changes the face value of the stamp. Normally, the change decreases the value to reduce chances of counterfeiting. Surcharges become necessary when a specific stamp value is unavailable, or when the currency changes. |
| Tagging | Tagging is the application of a colorless luminescent ink that reflects a specific color when a short-wave ultraviolet light is shined on it. Such reflectance triggers automated, high-speed canceling equipment that eliminates or at least greatly reduces human intervention in the process. |
| Teeth | The projections between perforation holes. |
| Tete-beche | A pair of unseparated stamps, one of which is printed upside down in relation to the other. |
| Tongs | Metal tweezers for handling stamps quickly and easily without damage. |
| Transfer | Impression entered on the plate by the transfer roll. A relief transfer is made when entering the design of the die onto the transfer roll. |
| Transfer Roll | Medium used to transfer the stamp design from the die to the plate. A blank roll of soft steel is placed under the bearers of a transfer pres. The hardened die is placed on the bed of the press and the face of the roll is pressed onto the die. The bed is rocked back and forth under increasing pressure until the soft steel of the roll is forced into every line of the die. The resulting impression is a "relief" or "relief transfer." |
| Triple Transfer | Similar to a double transfer, this situation shows evidence of a third entry onto the plate. |
| Unused | Stamps which are neither canceled nor otherwise defaced, although the term does not necessarily imply mint condition. |
| Unwatermarked | Showing no watermark. |
| Variety | A stamp that differs from the normal. |
| Varnish bars | Lines or bars of colorless varnish applied to the face of a stamp to discourage cleaning. |
| Vertical pair, imperforate between | A pair of stamps that is fully perforated at the top, side and bottom but has no perforations between the stamps. |
| Vertical pair, imperforate horizontally | A pair of stamps that is fully perforated vertically, but without horizontal perforations. |
| War tax stamp | Issued in wartime to collect tax on letters. |
| Watermark | A design, mark, or inscription worked into the paper during manufacture. |
| Wet printing | The use of paper with a moisture content of 15 to 35 percent. |
| Zigzag roulette | Roulette in which cuts are made to produce sharp points along the edge of the stamps. |
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