What is Philately?

Philately is often confused for stamp collecting but actually refers to the study of stamps. A philatelist may or may not collect stamps. This did emerge primarily because of the interest in stamp collecting. As people began to collect and study stamps, Philately began to emerge as its own movement. Philately is a science and therefore uses many the tools and methods of a science. There are many forms of philately that focus on different aspects of stamps but the original form, known as traditional philately focused on the making of stamps and the identification of stamps.

Traditional philately looked at questions surrounding the process of designing or the manufacturing of stamps. These questions would include:

• Is this stamp genuine or a forgery?
• Are there unique watermarks, security markings, initials, or other identifiers?
• Who, what, when where, why and how was this stamp designed and minted?
• What type of paper or other media did they use?
• Was the stamp engraved, pressed, printed or created by another method?
• Did glue, gum, wax, or another type of adhesive attach the stamp?
• Does the stamp contain over prints, under prints, or errors?
• Did perforated edges or another process separate the stamps?

Other types of philately emerged as people became drawn to other aspects of stamps. Some philatelists study things that have similarities to stamps but are not stamps such as propaganda labels or Easter seals.

Some philatelists were drawn to the study of stamps that were used to raise or collect taxes and how they were used. Not every type of stamp is related to postage. There are tax stamps that are attached to different products such as imported items, tires, tea, coffee, tobacco or alcohol.

Postal history became its own area of study. Some decided to study articles that already contained postage markings such as stationary, post cards, or envelopes with postage designed into them. Some philatelists only study things related to airmail. Some may only look at one postal type such as the study of the pony express or UPS. Some may not even study stamps or postage but instead study the writings about philately including magazines, books or websites.

As you can see, there are so many aspects to stamps and stamp collecting, that it would be rare for one person to study all of them. Most philatelists will only study one or two areas that they find truly fascinating. What about stamps fascinates you?

Photo Credits: Lamerie

Originally posted 2010-07-22 20:29:25.

This post involves:

airmail, forgery, perforated edges, philatelist, philatelists, philately, post cards, postal history, security markings, tax stamps, traditional philately

... and focuses on:

Philately, Stamp Collecting

Posted by Collectible Stamp on January 9, 2012 in Philately, Stamp Collecting.