Stamp Collecting
About Stamps
| |
A Window on ... Stamp Collecting About Stamps |
| | |||||||||||
 | The First Stamps The first postage stamp was issued in Great Britain on 6 May 1840. It was called the Penny Black, for the simple reason that it cost a penny and was black in colour. The idea for a postage stamp was suggested by a schoolteacher called Rowland Hill who felt that we needed a simple and efficient postal service that everyone could use. Before this time, letters were sent privately but it was expensive to do this. The cost of each letter depended on the number of sheets it contained and how far it had to travel. The person receiving the letter had to pay for the postage, so if they didn't want the letter they just refused to pay. Some people wrote in a code on the outside of the letter when they sent it so that the person receiving the letter knew what it was about without having to open it. If they didn't open the letter they could still refuse to pay for it. When the Penny Black system was introduced, every letter had to have a stamp that was paid for before the letter was sent, just like we do today. Gradually the idea became popular and by 1860 almost all the world's nations had their own postal system and were using postage stamps. Although many people used the stamps for their letters, others began to collect them as souvenirs, attracted by their colours and designs. From these early beginnings, the hobby of stamp collecting grew so that today there are millions of collectors all around the world.
|
|||||||||||
| All About a StampFor such a small piece of paper, we can learn many things from a stamp. Most stamps have:
This is the first thing you notice about a stamp and it tells which type of stamp it is, definitive, commemorative or special.
This is the cost of the original stamp. It is shown in the currency of the country. The face value does not necessarily show what a stamp is worth to a collector. Some rare stamps with very little face value are worth thousands of pounds. Others are worth less than their face value.
Country names
Year of issue
Postmarks
Perforations
|
|||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||
|
| ||||||||||||
Definitive stamps
These are issued to mark a special event or an anniversary for example, the Olympic Games or the 50th Anniversary of the end of World War II. The stamp usually has a brief written explanation of the event, for example Atlanta 1996 or Battle of Britain. 
These are theme stamps that are special to the country where they are issued. They are usually larger than the ordinary stamps and shows scenes of wildlife, transport, pictures of buildings and sometimes famous people. Like the commemorative stamps they might have a brief description of the picture. 
The postmark is a mark used by the post office to show that the stamp has been used. It is always on the front of the envelope and sometimes part of it is found on the corner of a stamp. It shows where and when the letter was posted. If you want to collect postmarks that are intact, you should try to collect ones that are clear. You will need to keep the envelope as well. Some multipacks contain stamps without postmarks.
