There are few things worse than becoming interested in a new hobby and not fully understanding the terminology. Here are some common philatelic terms that will stand you in good stead, no matter what you’re collecting, although we’ll deal with the most important one first!
Marcophily is the ‘collecting of postmarks’. Mind you, we used to be called ‘commatologists’ because ‘commatology’ was regarded as the ‘specialised collecting of postmarks’. The term was invented before World War II to describe postmark collecting but is now rarely used. Marcophily is the popular term these days and there seems to be a name for whatever area of philately you’re interested in. Consider ‘philography’, the collecting of autographed first day covers. Also a good word to keep handy when you're trying to impress your friends, because they are almost guaranteed not to know what it means! Then there’s ‘deltiology’ (picture postcard collecting); ‘maximaphily’ (maximum card collecting) and, perhaps one of the more common ones, ‘aerophilately’ which is the collecting, preservation, and study of postal items which are carried by air. Now for some more:
Backstamp: A postmark applied to mail by the receiving post office or by a post office handling the piece while it is in transit. Backstamps are usually on the back of a cover, but they can be on the front. Also described as ‘a postmark applied to the back of a letter on arrival’.
Catalogue Value: The value of a cover as listed in a given catalogue for the most common condition in which the cover is usually collected. Some catalogues list covers at a retail value. In general, a cover’s catalogue value should be regarded as a target price for an item. Some covers are a bargain at double their catalogue value while others may be overpriced at one quarter of their catalogue value. Most catalogues have a minimum price for the most common covers that reflect a current market value. For pictorial and commemorative postmarks of Australia, the only catalogue available that lists them, depicts them and gives a value is Australian PictorMarks. Funny ’bout that.
Cinderella: Stamp-like label that is not a postage stamp. Cinderellas include a wide variety of stamp-like labels, seals and bogus issues, as well as revenue stamps, local post issues and other similar items. There have been a number of postmarks that were considered ‘Cinderellas’ but these have been deleted from Australian PictorMarks.
Commemorative: In general philatelic terms, a stamp issued for a limited time and limited quantity to honour a certain person, event, anniversary or group. For marcophilists, a postmark commemorates a particular event.
Definitives: These are stamps (often also pre-stamped envelopes–PSEs) issued by the postal authorities for daily use and are printed in large quantities for several years. Usually these stamps are smaller than commemoratives. In Australia, the number of times stamp reprints are done is tracked by the ‘koala count’—the number of koalas printed in the selvedge adjacent to stamps down either side of a sheet. A single koala indicates one reprint, two koalas a second reprint and so on. A kangaroo indicates the fifth reprint and it’s not unusual to have a kangaroo symbol and a koala alongside each other.
Error: Stamp with a mistake in colour, perforations, or design. Also … ‘a major mistake in the production of a stamp or postal stationery item’. Printing errors include imperforate (stamps printed in sheets without perforation or other means of separation) or part-perforate varieties, missing or incorrect colours and inversion or doubling of part of the design or overprint. Major errors are usually far scarcer than the normal stamps and are highly valued by collectors. In marcophily, errors can create just as much excitement and are mistakenly dismissed even though pictorial or commemorative postmarks with an error are often just as rare.
Facsimile: Reproduction of a genuine stamp or cover. Such items are usually made with no intent to deceive collectors or postal officials. Catalogue illustrations are facsimiles.
Frama: A general name used for an ‘automatic stamp’. Automatic stamps are produced individually by a machine on demand in a denomination selected by the customer. There normally is no date on the stamp. As of 30 June 2003, framas were withdrawn from use in Australia.
Front: The front of a cover with most or all of the back and side panels torn away or removed. Fronts, while desirable if they bear unusual or uncommon postal markings, are less desirable than an intact cover.
Gutter Pair: Pair of stamps with wide gutter between. The gutter separates the sheets into panes. Gutters often have special markings or graphics and can be really distinctive. For instance, in 1995 the People with Disabilities gutter strip has that wording in Braille and is now highly collectible.
Joint Issue: Two or more stamps issued by different countries to commemorate the same event, topic, place or person. More often than not, pictorially commemorative postmarks from both countries appear on covers bearing the stamps of both countries.
Last Day: The final day of a postal rate, post office operation, use of a particular postmark or similar occurrence; often referred to as Last day of use (LDU).
Maximum Card: A picture postcard with a reproduction of the stamp or related subject from which the stamp was derived. These generally accompany a first day of issue of new stamps. Another way of describing them is … ‘a picture postcard with the vignette of the stamp as the main design’. Modern Australian maximum cards collected by maximaphelists have a pictorial postmark similar to that used on an FDC. This definition is a lulu … A picture postcard, a cancel, and a stamp presenting maximum concordance. The stamp is usually affixed to the picture side of the card and is tied by the cancel. Collectors of maximum cards seek to find or seek to create cards with stamp, cancel and picture in maximum agreement, or concordance. The statutes of the International Federation of Philately (FIP) give specific explanatory notes for the postage stamp, the picture postcard, the cancel, concordance of subject, concordance of place and concordance of … dear me.
Miniature sheet: A small sheet containing a single stamp, pair, block or set of stamps, with wide, inscribed and/or decorative margins, issued as a commemorative souvenir for collectors. Also known as souvenir sheet.
Mobile Post Office: Portable mail-handling equipment and personnel, generally in trains, trucks, streetcars or buses. Often used at major events in Australia, such as Moomba, etc. ‘Field Post Offices’ are similar but are military in nature and are a post office operating in the field, either on land or at sea. 
On Piece: A stamp on a portion of the original envelope or wrapper showing all or most of the cancel; something less than an entire cover, on which a stamp is to be found. Sometimes there are spectacular ‘finds’ such as the one shown here. Quite rare.
Overprint: Printing added on top of the original design of a stamp, or … any printing over the original design of a stamp. Often used in Australia to commemorate a special event, such as an overseas philatelic exhibition. Also often used to change the monetary value of a stamp.
Pigeon Post: The first official pigeon post was inaugurated during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–72. Messages were carried by pigeons in sealed tubes. In modern times pigeons have been used by armed forces, especially in time of war; also, other unofficial services are in use from time to time, items carried being of a ‘philatelic souvenir’ nature. Various ones used in Australia contain a ‘flimsy’—a small piece of flimsy paper usually bearing writing commemorating the event and often a small postmark.
Postal Stationery: Envelopes, postal cards, and aerogrammes with stamps printed on them. Or, stationery bearing imprinted stamps, as opposed to adhesive stamps. Postal stationery includes postal cards, lettercards, imprinted envelopes, wrappers, aerogrammes, telegraph cards, pre-stamped envelopes (PSEs) etc. Some early postcards had no imprinted stamp.
Pre-Stamped Envelope (PSE): An envelope with the stamp already printed on the envelope. Often used for commemorative purposes. The first ones in Australia were produced in 1978. Full collections either mint or postmarked can be highly valued by collectors, especially if postmarked PSEs have all been postmarked at a single location over the years.
Registered Mail: First-class mail with a numbered receipt, including a valuation of the registered item, for full or limited compensation if the mail is lost. Some countries have issued registered mail stamps. There used to be quite a system in place for registered Australian mail but with the advent of computers and the proliferation of bar codes, those days are (some would say ‘sadly’) gone.
Registration Labels: Adhesive labels indicating the registry number and, usually, city of origin for registered articles sent through the mail. In Australia, there were often ‘purpose printed’ registration labels.
SASE: A self-addressed, stamped envelope. An unused envelope bearing address of sender and return postage which is sent to make answering easy. If you send off a cover to be CdTO (some would say ‘CTOd’ but it is more correctly ‘Cancelled to Order’—I know, I know—picky picky!), it is compulsory to send a SASE, along with a filler or stiffener for return of the covers.
Se-tenant: The best definition I’ve seen for this is ‘different stamps printed alongside each other on the same sheet’ which appeared in Stamp Preview 1, 1977. Very simple. ‘An attached strip, pair or block of stamps that are different in design or value’ says the same thing differently.
Selvage: The border of paper around a sheet or pane of stamps. It used to be that it was ‘the unprinted marginal paper on a sheet or pane of stamps’, but these days, there is often wording or design included in the selvage. Some marcophilists love having a postmark covering selvage, others simply can’t abide it. Horses for courses!
Specialist: A stamp collector who intensively studies and collects the stamps and postal history of a given country or area, or who has otherwise limited his collecting field. ‘Marcophilist’ means much the same thing.
Tete-Beche: French for ‘head to tail.’ Two or more unsevered stamps, one of which is inverted in relation to the other. Such an issue of Australian stamps in 2002 led to a most unusual pictorial postmark.
Thematic: A collection of stamps or covers relating to a specific topic. The topic is expanded by careful inquiry and is presented as a logical story.
Tied: A stamp is said to be tied to a cover when the cancel extends over both the stamp and the envelope paper. Some purists refuse to accept a postmark that doesn’t link a cancellation and the stamp.
Topical: Stamp or cover or pictorial postmark showing a given subject. Examples are flowers, art, birds, elephants or the Sydney Opera House. Similar to ‘thematic’ above.
Want List: A list of needed stamps or covers or pictorial postmarks, identified by catalogue number or some other description, submitted by a collector to a dealer, usually including requirements on condition and price.
Adapted from The Passion and Pitfalls of Pictorial and Commemorative Postmarks–a guide to collecting them.
©2004 Australian PictorMarks®
