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UNIQUE ELEMENTS OF A STAMP AND LETTER
Below is an example of the unique elements that you should
become familiar with.
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1
COUNTRY OF ISSUANCE |
2
DENOMINATION |
 Stamps
are issued by governments of countries, territories and
geographical areas around the world. There is more than 200
countries that put their names or a shorter version on
stamps. Stamps are part of a nation's identity and through
each stamp you can learn a lot about the particular place,
for example the culture, animals, leaders, structures,
plants etc. |
 The
Postal Services of Countries charge different amounts
according to the weight of a piece of mail, its destination
and how it is delivered. For example, airmail costs more
than mail sent by ship or mail sent locally will be cheaper
than mail sent internationally. The amount charged for the
stamp is printed on it and is called its face value.
Denominations from the different countries introduce you to
the currencies of the world. |
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3 TOPIC |
4
PERFORATIONS |
 The
subject of a stamp can be anything from a famous person,
important events or anything that a specific country may
want to show the rest of the world. The topic might be
sport, but it can be more specific to cover the Olympics or
the Soccer World Cup. You can make up collections of topics
such as fish or ships. What is your favourite thing? Why not
collect it! |
 These
are the rows of holes punched between stamps on a sheet to
make it easier to tear. You might not believe it, but
perforations (called "perfs" for short) are not the same
size. The more experienced collector is aware of the
difference in perfs. They consider identical stamps with
different perfs to be different stamps. Perfs are the amount
of holes per 20mm measured, but you will find a better
example under tools you will need. |
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5
CANCELLATION |
6 POSTMARKS |
 This
is a mark that the post office put on a stamp to prevent it
from being used again to send mail. Over the years different
ways have been developed to cancel stamps. Most of the
cancellations today are made by machine. It might be that
you have a couple of stamps without cancellations on them.
Find out more under stamp types. |
 A
postmark gives the date, place and sometimes the time a
letter passes through a particular post office. You might
also find postmarks that have messages like "Merry
Christmas" or "Seasons Greetings" etc. You can also collect
envelopes with stamps on them, called covers or FDC's (First
Day Covers), for their postmarks. |
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7 COLOUR |
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 The
colour of a stamp is often important for identifying it. It
might look if two stamps are identical with just a minor
colour difference when in actual fact the one is a reissue
years later. All the shades have names you can learn from a
colour guide. |
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