Jargons

Hi hi hello, welcome back. In this entry, we shall talk about the jargons that we like to use in the hobby. There are many jargons and terms out there but I have selected these few because they get thrown around a lot in the hobby. I will sort them into alphabetical order and also include illustrations from my collection to help new collectors better understand these philatelic jargons.

Aerogramme: A piece of gummed and folded air letter. Senders write their messages on them and then fold them up, ready to be sent by air. Attaching another written letter was unusually not allowed as they will be considered as normal mail articles with the added weight.

An aerogramme with pre-paid postage and a self-applied stamp.

Airmail: Mail sent by an air transport. In the past, special airmail stamps had to be used for an article to be posted by air. Anything else, it was sent either by sea or by rail.

Airmail sent via the German Zeppelin “Hindenburg”, affixed with airmail stamps.

Block: A single block consists a minimum of 4 adjoining stamps, which is then known as a block of 4.

A block of 4.

Booklet: Pane of stamps in booklet form for easy keeping.

A booklet of stamps.

Cachet: A specially designed postal marking to signify a special occasion.

A Chinese New Year cachet with two Koi fish.

Cancellation: To indicate that a valid stamp has been used. Stamps can be cancelled by either a postmark, a slogan, a cachet, a pen or a cancellation machine with different cancellation designs.

A Straits Settlement stamp cancelled by a B172 obliterator hand stamp.

Cinderella: Things that look like stamps but are not. They are labels printed to bring awareness to a subject or celebrate an event. There is no face value on these labels thus they cannot be postally used. Like the fairytale, Cinderella’s party dress and pumpkin carriage are not real.

A Cinderella. A souvenir label printed by China Post to celebrate the most popular stamp in 1995. 

Commemoratives: Stamps that are issued to commemorate curtain events or people of a country. 

A set of Chinese stamps to commemorate the Silk Road.

Crease: Folded marks on a stamp. Some have obvious fold lines while others are harder to spot. One way to tell, is by holding it against a light source and looking at the gum side of the stamp.

Crease line on a stamp, viewed from both front and back.

C.T.O.: Cancelled-To-Order. Stamps that are pre-cancelled by a postal service upon production. They are normally sold to stamp collectors at a lower price instead of being postally used.

A sheet of Mongolian stamps pre-cancelled by a post office.

Definitives: Stamps that are issued for everyday postal use. They are sets of stamps that are issued in several denominations from the lowest to the highest. Depending on each country’s postal administration, new definitives are issued once every few years.

A set of Hong Kong definitive stamps.

Error: Stamps that are erroneously produced by a printing company and are not valid for postage. Common stamp errors include colour, design, face value, spelling, orientation and misaligned perforation/borders. They are usually caught early in the production line and destroyed but some of them survived and are circulating in the market.

Colour error on a strip of stamps. Gradual disappearance of orange on fish.

Fiscal stamps: Stamps that were not used postally, but rather, a means to collect tax. They are also known as tax/revenue/duties stamps.

A couple of revenue stamps from Singapore.

Franking/Franked mail: Mail used by business entities. Instead of stocking up on thousands of stamps with different denominations, companies may apply for a franking licence from a postal administration for a fee. Franked mail in Singapore are usually stamped with red label. The desired postage fee can be keyed into a franking machine which is then mass printed on business covers.

Franked mail with company licence ID “NC280258”.

F.D.C.: First Day Cover, also known as Commercial Covers. A themed envelope issued by a postal administration, affixed with stamps that are issued on their first day. These stamps are pre-cancelled with a specially designed postmark known as a “cachet”.

A United Kingdom FDC to commemorate the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

F.U.: Fine Used. Refers to a stamp that has been postally used but is lightly cancelled, thereby not destroying the face of the stamp.

An example of a pair of fine used stamps.

G.P.O.: General Post Office. A postal headquarters where mail is processed, sorted and then sent to their final delivery centres.

The GPO in Singapore. Image source: SingPost 

Gum: An adhesive layer at the back of a stamp.

Gums are reflective, one way to tell if a stamp has gum is by holding it against a light source.

Gutter pair: A pair of similar stamps separated by a gutter. 

A gutter (middle row) is a piece of paper that separates a pair of stamps.

Imperf stamps: Short for the word “Imperforated”. These are stamps that have no perforated edges. In the past, making perforations on stamp sheets was a hassle, so people had to cut them up one at a time with a pair of scissors. These days, modern imperf stamps are meant to be collectables.

An imperforated stamp from the Republic of Guinea.

Kiloware: Unsorted used stamps sold by the bulk (in kilograms) to collectors.

Kilos worth of stamps.
Image source: Stampboards forum, by user old-man-emu

Maxi-Card: Short for Maximum Postcard. A postcard which has all 3 things belonging to the same theme - the picture on the postcard, the stamp, and the postmark. Hence, it can be said that the postcard has reached its maximum in theme consistency.

A maxi-card commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing.

M.H. or M.M.: Mint Hinged or Mounted Mint. Refers to a stamp that has never been used but is currently being hinged or has a hinged mark at the back.

A couple of stamps with hinged marks.

M.N.H. or U.M.: Mint Not Hinged or Unmounted Mint. Refers to a fresh stamp that has never been used before and has no hinged mark at the back.

Front and back of a set of mint stamps that has no hinge marks.

M.S.: Miniature/Mini Sheet. Stamps that come in sheetlet form, generally higher in face value as compared to single stamps. 

A miniature sheet from Taiwan.

N.V.I.: No Value Indicator. Stamps that do not bear a fixed denomination as its face value but changes according to prevailing postage rates. The postage class is often indicated on such stamps. It is a means for postal services to reduce cost by avoiding printing large quantities of low-value stamps to replace the old ones.

USA’s Forever stamps and Singapore’s 1st Local stamps are examples of NVIs.  

Overprint: A new text, design or numeral printed over an existing stamp, making it into a new stamp. If the overprint changes the face value of the stamp, then it is also known as a “Surcharge” stamp.

A pair of stamps with hand seal overprint during the Japanese Occupation. 

Perfins: Short for “Perforated Initials”. These are stamps used by business companies. In the past, one could exchange postage stamps for money at a post office. So, to prevent employees from pilfering, they came up with the idea of perforating their stamps with the company’s initials. Post offices rejected any individuals who tried to cash out using those stamps.

A Perfin stamp with the initials “CBI”, which belonged to the Chartered Bank of India. Today, it is known as Standard Chartered.

Postage due: A mail that has insufficient postage fee and requires the recipient to bear the remaining difference. Otherwise, it will be returned to the sender.

An underpaid mail with a 10 cents postage due stamp.

Postmark: A postal marking that denotes when and where a stamp was cancelled.

A postmark on a stamp.

Private Cover: Similar to the First Day Cover, the only difference is that, the artwork of a private cover is designed by an individual and not commissioned as an official artwork by a postal administration.

A privately done cover for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. 

Registered mail: Unlike normal mail, a registered mail requires the acknowledgment of the recipient through their signature. Either the letter “R” or the entire word “Registered” is normally found on the cover.

A registered cover sent from Singapore to Holland by air.

Semi-postal stamps: Also known as charity stamps, these are surcharged stamps which people have to pay in addition to its face value. The additional surcharged fee is then donated to a national cause. Such stamps were very common in World War 2.

A mini-pane of Covid-19 stamps from Kyrgyzstan with a 50 som surcharge as charity.

Se-tenant: Originally a French word meaning “hold together”, these are stamps that are joined together to form a word, a sentence or a whole picture.

A se-tenant set of stamps forming an image of a satellite dish.

Self-adhesive: Stamps that are like stickers which you can peel off the back and stick it on a cover. Can be conveniently found at kiosk machines in Singapore.

Self-adhesive machine labels issued in 2020, the year of The Rat.

Slogan: Special messages commonly found beside a postmark. They are either advertisements or awareness campaigns by the government.

A cover with 2 slogans.

Socked in the nose: Postmark that is perfectly applied dead centre on a stamp.

A stamp remembering the physicist, Niels Bohr, with a postmark directly at the centre.

Tax mail: Prominent letter “T” hand stamped on envelope to indicate underpaid postage. Remaining fee usually bore by addressee.

A “T” postal marking on cover. The postman had to collect a postage due of 5 cents from the addressee.

Thematic/Topical: Collection of a theme/topic such as birds, trains, musical instruments etc. Due to the huge magnitude of some themes, some collectors may choose to narrow it down by collecting only sub-themes such as penguins, steam trains, guitars etc.

A thematic collection about Astronomy, narrowing it down to a sub-theme of Halley’s Comet.

Thinning: Uneven layer of paper on a stamp due to forceful peeling from envelopes which could leave some residual paper of the stamp still stuck onto it.

A stamp with multiple thin areas.

Toning: Yellow or brown stains on a stamp, usually caused by handling stamps with bare hands or prolonged exposure to humidity due to poor storage.

A stamp with toned gum back.

Traffic lights: Colour registration dots which you can find on a stamp’s tab. They are an indication of the colours used for printing the stamp and can come in different shapes and sizes.

The 4 coloured dots that make up the colours of these stamps. They somewhat resemble a traffic light.

U.P.U.: Universal Postal Union. An agency within the United Nations that provides guidelines and regulations to all postal administrations of nations that are members of the UN.

Logo of the Universal Postal Union. Image source: UPU

Variety/flaw: Stamps that have a minor misprint that results as a flaw. It is not a noticeable major error, so these stamps are still valid for postage.

An arrow points to a flaw on the right stamp, a green blemish that shouldn’t be there.

Watermark: A design on a stamp that acts as a security feature against forgery.

Faint watermark on the back of a stamp. This watermark is known as “Multiple Script CA”. Photo is heavily edited to bring up the watermark’s contrast.

A clear picture of what the watermark looks like. Compare it with the picture above.