Additional tax – supplementary voluntary or compulsory tax, collected by the state when selling postmarks, adding a surplus with various destinations to the nominal franking value.  Go to additional tax postmarks.

Advertising postal stamps – 1. stamps, usually mechanic ones, which next to the regular indications, regarding the place, the date, etc. also bear advertising inscriptions, they are being used by the postal offices and they represent a cheap advertising method. . 2.  The amount necessary for the franking of a letter or fro charging certain forwarding mail services in cash.

Aero-philately – a branch of philately dealing with collecting and studying postmarks destined for the aviation, air post, aerograms and postal stationery forwarded by airways with various means – balloons, airships, gliders, airplanes-, with the ones recovered following air accidents as well as with commemorative and anniversary pieces, cancellations related to postal air transport, on the occasion inaugural or special flights of aviation rallies, etc.

Aerogram – “a special envelope forwarded by air. The circulated ones bear distinctive signs- stamps, labels, notes which are particular to the air post services. The aerogram is an intermediate postal stationary item – between a postcard and a letter, made up of a single sheet of paper, usually very thin, and of the graphic accomplishment of the issue. The aerogram borrows from the postcard the exact dimensions – with a predetermined space for mail, and from the letter – the possibility of keeping the secrecy of the correspondence by plying and gluing; unlike the letter, the aerogram doesn’t allow for the insertion of any objects, thus assuring the constant, reduced weight of the aerogram, which involves a lower tariff than the one for the air forwarded letters.”

Album sheets – “philatelic accessory made of thin cardboard or thick paper, printed with a discreet ruling (simple or the image of certain postmarks), or with a simple framing destined for the arrangement of the postmarks; it may be used for mounting postmarks constituting an exhibit. “

Auction – an event organized by certain houses specializing in the sale of valuable collections or of rare, high value postmarks. The sale is executed publicly, by special rules, and it has as a result the assignation of the collection or of the pieces to the person offering the highest price.

Block – “a group of postmarks, detached from a sheet, which are not separated one from the other; usually, the marks are identical (value, design, color) but they may also vary from the point of view of the concept, ornaments or place destined for the consignees address, where the other side printed or free- is to be filled in by the consigner.”

Cancellation– the action of annulling by stamping, perforation or printing, the study of all operations subordinated to the interest of stamp collectors (postal pieces and documents, regular or special stamps, special indications and labels, of the “Par avion” or “Registered” type, manual or mechanical franking, “first day” envelopes, printed materials, engravings, vignettes, etc). Prephilatelic letters don’t fit in the paraphilately category, since they are the object of postal history collections, which is a sector of philately, as well as the postal stationery, classic, postclassical and modern postmarks, maximaphily, postcard collecting, which are philately branches as well.

Cancelled postmarks – postmarks which have been cancelled with a stamp. They are also called stamped or used marks, which means that they have been used within the postal circuit. Postmarks may be cancelled ex officio by the postal Administration (without having passed through the postal circuit) for the purpose of selling them in their used status, at the philately offices, in complete series, or they may be used for the completion of philately envelopes. These marks bear the name of pre-cancelled marks.

Collecting the imprints of franking machines – a branch of commately dealing with collecting and studying the impressions made by the franking machines on the postal items, replacing the postmark.

Collection – a group of objects which are somehow related, and share a common element assuring their unity. The systematization of a collection provides it with its scientific, artistic and documentary value.

Color table – philatelic accessory used for the exact identification by comparison of the colors and shades in which the postmarks have been printed.

Commately – a branch of philately dealing with the collection, study and exhibition according to scientific criteria of postal stamps for charity purposes.

Common postal stamps – stamps used recently for the cancellation of postmarks, including the names of the locations and of the data.

Complacency cancellation – cancellation applied upon the request of a collector on a postmark or on postal stationery following to become a collection object.

Declared value letter – the post issues which may be forwarded in an envelope or in another packing, those letters, documents or small objects representing a certain value both for the consignor and for the consignee.  (ex: manuscripts, photographs, jewelry etc.).

Engraved – ” a stamp or a postmark accomplished by engraving; to be recognized by the finesse of the impression, by the slight relief, which is visible on the back of the marks and by the shine of the inks which have been used for printing.”  “

Engraving – an operation of corrosion (chemical action) or chipping (milling)

Envelope – wrapping material made of paper which is folded according to a special pattern and glued on three sides, so that they might be stamped.

Error – a postmark with different features (image, color, perforation, paper, data, etc) as to the ones of the typical mark repeated constantly on the sheet, at the same spot, on the entire run or on part of it.

Exchange notebook – a notebook with various sizes, with sheets having a particular ruling, making up boxes where, with the help of the glassines, the postmarks destined for philatelic exchanges are to be mounted.

First Day envelope – an envelope which is especially manufactured and which is destined to be franked with one or more values from a certain issue of postmarks (if the series of the issue contains several values, several envelopes may be manufactured). Postmarks are being cancelled by the application of a “first day” stamp, where the date of the stamp corresponds to the day when the postmark issue has been released for the first time. The envelope and the stamp are bearing corresponding inscriptions and they are illustrated with graphic elements related to the postmark issue.

First Day postal stamps – 1. special stamps applied for philatelic purposes, through which postmarks are being cancelled only on the day when they are released for circulation, thus marking the appearance of the respective issue. 2.  current post stamps with place and date, applied on a postmark or on a postmark issue on the first day when it is released for circulation.

Fixed postmarks – postmarks whose design is printed directly on a postal item, in order to indicate the payment of the postal forwarding tax.

Franco – this is an indication suggesting that all transport expenses of a sent postal item have been prepaid by the consignor. In such situations, on the postal items there have been applied stamps or labels with the indication “Franco”.

Franking – the assembly of all adhesive postmarks or of the stamps applied mechanically with the franking machine on the mail, in order to pay for the post transport costs, from the consignor to the consignee, according to the postal tariff, corresponding to the postal issue, distance, manner of circulation (registered, by plane, express, etc).

Glassine – a small, thin paper foil, which is transparent, provided with gum on one side, used by stamp collectors in order to fasten the cancelled postmarks into the albums and of the bags protecting unused postmarks. The marks whose gum has been attacked and then affected by the application and then by the detachment of the glassine, are harder to be accepted for exchange, and a reduction of the exchange or sale quota is always required.

Gum – a name given to the adhesive layer on the back of the postmarks and of the stamps. The marks with incomplete gum, affected by the glassines or deteriorated from other reasons, have a diminished exchange value.

Helio-lithography – a lithography procedure where the printing patterns are obtained by photographic reproduction.

Heliography – a transfer paper printing procedure for the reproduction and multiplication of originals with semi-tones, copper clichés, obtained by photochemical means. The heliography, in the shape of the roto-heliography, using the principle of rotary printing, is largely used for illustrated magazines, illustrated cards, and postmarks. Go to print, others, etc.

Illustrated postcard – ” a postal item made of cardboard of various sizes; one of its sides is printed (with artistic drawings, landscapes, historic and architectural monuments, etc) and on other side, which is destined for the actual correspondence and for the address of the consignee, there is printed the fixed postmark with a nominal value corresponding to the postal tariff in force.”

Intaglio printing – 1.  The photochemical and physical procedures through which copper clichés are executed for printing in heliography. 2. Photomechanical procedure for the engraving of deep printing forms.

Letter – closed post item through which written information may be forwarded. The regular packing of the letter is the envelope.

Lithographed – a printed material obtained following the lithography process in one or more colors. The lithographed postmarks have less bright colors and the printing is less delicate than at the engraved ones.

Lithography – a plain printing procedure using a print pattern (cliché) executed on special chalkstone by the lithography or photo-lithography procedures.
strong>Mark notebook – notebooks containing several different or equivalent value postmarks (the most frequent values which are used for mail franking).

Mark roll – postmarks printed on bands of rolled paper which may be distributed to buyers through specialized automated machines.

Maximum card – an illustrated postcard, franked with a postmark on the illustrated side, and cancelled by a postal place and current date stamp – either special or occasional. The elements of the illustration, of the postmark and of the stamp must correspond to each other perfectly.

Mechanic franking – the franking performed with the franking machine which prints in ink (usually red ink) a sign, a scratch, etc. of a material (wood, metal, stone) by manual, chemical, electric, electronic, photo-mechanical means, for the purpose of obtaining an active surface (which prints) of a printing cliché.

Model – a project of a postmark or of a stamp, performed by the author (graphic artist), usually at a larger scale and reduced afterwards to the desired size.

Nominal value – 1. A value indicated in figures on a postmark, expressed in the currency of the issuing country and which represents the post tax against which the postmark is valid, according to the tariff in force.  2. The price at which the postmark is being sold by the issuing postal administration.

Non-cancelled postmarks – unstamped postmarks which have not been used for franking and thus have not fulfilled the mission for which they had been issued. Synonym: unused marks, unstamped marks.

Occasional envelope – a regular shaped envelope,
usually semi-illustrated,  used for mail, printed on the occasion of a
certain event (anniversary, commemoration, etc.), on which there must be
applied a special stamp, approved by the postal Administration. The
envelope is franked with postmarks with a nominal value corresponding to
the postal tariff in force.

Occasional stamps – stamps used on the occasion of a special event, they are bearing inscriptions, graphic designs in compliance with the celebrated event.  In order to have functional postal features, all occasional stamps must explicitly indicate the city, the date, the post office and the city code.

Odontometer – an instrument invented in 1884 by the stamp collector Dr. Magnus (1820-1912), a pseudonym of Jaques A. Legrand, in order to measure the perforation of postmarks. It is made of cardboard, celluloid or plastics, on which graphic signs are being impressed: black points, separating lines, figures indicating the number of the perforation (from 7 to 16.5), thick lines delimiting the boxes every 2 cm, millimeter divisions for the measuring of the postmark format.

Overprint – an inscription (words, letters, figures, signs) printed in black or in any other color on a postmark, on a sheet or one philatelic unit, with the purpose of modifying its value, its destination or any other elements. The overprints are being used out of various necessities: economic (changes of the postal tariffs, changes of the circulating currency, monetary reforms), political (government change), military (military takeover of a territory, usage of certain stamps by the army), administrative and cultural (celebration of certain sports events).

Pair – an assembly made of two perforated or imperforate postmarks, detached from the sheet, un-separated one from the other, joined vertically or horizontally. Go to tęte-bęche.

Paraphilately – a branch of philately

Payment tax – ” tax paid for letters which are unfranked or insufficiently franked by the consignor; the payment tax is to be paid by the consignee.  “

Perforation – an operation through which a letter, document, etc. is protected for the purpose of being forwarded.

Perforation – ” the jagged (lace-like) perforation on one or all the sides of a mark, obtained following the sheet perforation process; it is destined to ease the detachment of the mark from the foil into which it has been printed, without the intervention of a sharp object.  “

Perforation by indentation – “it weakens the resistance of a paper sheet, in a certain area of the sheet, so that it might be easily detached by hand. It is obtained either by executing, through perforation needles, a certain number of holes, one next to the other, in linear lines, either with a perforation line, made of hardened steel with a sharp toothed blade made of points, lines or a zigzag line.  In the first case, which is called indentation, the perforation is performed in special perforation machines, and in the second case, called piercing, it is executed during the printing. The perforation by indentation may be accomplished in three distinct ways: in line, performed through a linear needle device, perforating the sheet successively on the horizontal and on the vertical; b)  comb-like, made with a needle device in the shape of a comb, which generates an extremely precise indent; c) case-like, which is accomplished through a steel plate device performing the perforation of the entire sheet at the same time.”

Philatelic accessory – an auxiliary object which is necessary for the philatelic activities: album, catalogue, eyeglass, tweezers, odontometer, glassine, etc.

Philatelic album – a philatelic accessory in the shape of a volume or of a notebook destined for keeping, preserving, displaying under esthetical conditions of the philatelic issues. The album may have white or colored pages, with or without designation of the place destined for each postmark by a reproduction of its image.

Philatelic bag – “a philatelic accessory, made of a paper sheet or of plastic materials (usually black), covered in a well stretched transparent foil, where postmarks are to be introduced in order to be protected; they may have the shape of an envelope or of a band system.”

Philatelic catalog – a book where the postmarks issued in a certain country, geographical area, continent or throughout the world are being registered, either chronologically or by thematic criteria.

Philatelic classifier – a philatelic accessory in the shape of a volume, made up of cardboard sheets on which there are horizontal transparent bands made of colorless foil or cellophane, perfectly stretched, unattached in the upper part, used for keeping postmarks. Between the pages of the classifier, thin, transparent foils are usually inserted in order to protect the postmarks.

Philatelic collection – it may include postmarks, foils, postal stationery, “first day” envelopes, prephilatelic correspondence, stamps, maximum cards and any other postal items.

Philatelic envelope – envelopes containing a certain number of Romanian and/or foreign postmarks, new or from the period preceding the occurrence of adhesive postmarks.  The prephilatelic period is concluded in each country at the date when the first postmarks of the respective country have occurred.

Philatelic exchange – the exchange manner used by stamp collectors for the purpose of completing a collection. Catalogs are the basis of philatelic exchanges.

Philatelic exhibition – public manifestation whose purpose is to publicly submit certain philatelic exhibits, collections, etc. for the purpose of outlining the particularities of philatelic activities, as well as to assure a useful experience exchange between advanced and beginner stamp collectors. The transparence is different from the one of the rest of the sheet of paper. The watermark and its position are noticed by looking at the postmark from the front. In case that this examination doesn’t allow for the identification of the watermark, one may lay the postmark on a black surface or in a watermark detector.

Philatelic eyeglass – an optic instrument made of a convergent lens helping to obtain an image larger than the real one for objects, inscriptions, etc. The eyeglass, placed in front of a postmark, magnifies the image, allowing the stamp collectors to notice the details of the design or of the inscriptions as well as certain hidden flaws of the marks, which are hard or impossible to perceive with the eye.

Philatelic franking – franking made up of a group of anniversary postmarks, commemorative postmarks, charity postmarks, etc. which are part of the same issue or from various issues, applied with care and esthetic sensitivity on an envelope. The philatelic franking may include the following: a complete series, different values or just one value from the series, a complete series with one or more values of another series, different values or values coming from several series, a block or a sheet.

Philatelic jury – commission made up of a variable number of members, all recognized philately specialists, charged to determine the classification of certain collections or exhibits submitted within a philately exhibition.

Philately – a discipline with a cultural- educational feature, dealing with the study and collecting of philatelic items, the study of the occasions and circumstances in which they have occurred and have been used, the determination of the printing procedures, the determination of the design, paper, perforation, gum, color, error, varieties, fakes and used stamps characteristics, the study of the documents referring to this activity and the determination of a particular terminology and of the rules governing the philatelic activities.

Porto postmarks – marks of the franking power of a postmark, glued to a letter, on a document or on a postal item, for the purpose of avoiding to reuse the said element. The cancellation usually includes figures and letters representing the date, the name of the city and the number of the post office. The cancellation may be performed manually or mechanically.

Post – “1. Public institution assuring the receipt, transport and distribution of letters, telegrams, mandates and postal packages; the place where the institution is located; mail which is received, sent or distributed in one day or in a given period. 2. Length unit of measure, used in the past, equal to 7000 fathoms, or approximately to 15.6 km. The 1000 fathom unit of measure of approximately 20 km was used as well.  3. The vehicle used in the past for the transport of passengers and of mail – similar to the coach, carriage, post coach. 4. A transport service for curriers, mail and passengers used before the introduction of railways.””

Post card – “an open postal issue, made up of thin cardboard, used in order to communicate certain ideas; it has a printed part, bearing the postmark. Some of them briefly indicate the main elements of the issues:  name, value number, edition, paper quality, color, nominal value, the quotas of the unused and stamped postmarks, expressed in the monetary unit of the country editing the catalogue.”

Postal stamp – ” 1. A current use postal instrument, with a metal, wooden or rubber head, on which the name of the postal units is engraved, fastened to a wooden or plastic support with various lengths – to ease the handling -; in the middle of the head, there are mobile elements forming the necessary elements in order to compose the calendar date-year, month, day, hour.  2. The trace left on the paper by the ink impregnated stamp. The role of the stamp may first consist of the annulment by cancellation of the postmarks, for the purpose of avoiding their reuse to the detriment of the postal services. The postal stamp containing the place and the date is meant to indicate, next to the calendar data, elements such as: the place of separation, the time which has passed ever since the performance of the expedition.”

Postal stationery – a printed material issued by a postal administration (envelope, postcard, revenue stamps) which instead of the stamping with the adhesive postmark, bears the figurine of a fixed mark – as the case may be -, the franking value, supplementary inscriptions and illustrations.

Postcard collecting – a branch of philately dealing with collecting, studying, selecting and exhibiting certain scientific, thematic and artistic criteria of illustrated postcards.

Postmark – “a valuable printed material, of a small size, with a different shape, usually rectangular (sometimes it may be triangular, square, oval, rhomboid or even irregular), printed in one or more colors, provided with or without the adhesive substance, applied directly or printed on postal envelopes, issued or accepted by the postal administration of a state, with the purpose of attesting the payment of the postal taxes corresponding to the transport of the postal issues from the consignor to the consignee. The postmark appeared as a necessity for the simplification of the payment operations for the postal services. The first adhesive postmark in the world – made of two values – was issued on May 6th, 1840, in Great Britain, and its issue is owed to Rowland Hill. In the first three and a half decades since its occurrence, the postmark had the power to circulate only on the territory of the issuing state, and possibly on the territory of other states in case that the said states had concluded a convention for this purpose.  Following the Berna Congress from October 1874, which lead to the foundation of the Universal Postal Union (U.P.U.), an agreement was reached between the states signing the constitution act of the U.P.U., by which the postmark was granted the right to cover the postal circulation taxes on the territory of all member states; this agreement, to which various improvements have been brought in time, is still valid. Regarding the occurrence of the first postmarks in our country, it must be outlined that the postal administration from Moldavia, circulating since 1858 the first postmark issue, precedes other South-Eastern countries. (Greece issued the first postmarks in 1861, the Turkish Empire in 1863, Serbia in 1866, and Bulgaria and Albania – after obtaining their independence, in 1879 and 1913 respectively). Postmarks are monochromatic or polychromatic and they are issued either as isolated values, or as series with several values; they usually include the following elements; the image, the name of the issuing country, the name of the designer, the year of issue, and the value expressed in the monetary unit of the issuing country. Except from their exclusively functional (utilitarian) role – franking the mail – , postmarks also fulfill a cultural role; they have a particular, imagistic language, with an universal character, enabling the communication between people throughout the world.”

Prepayment – 1. Anticipated payment of the taxes which are necessary for the transport of the correspondence and of other postal items. 2. The stamping of a letter of the figurine including the name of the country, the work POST, a framework with the prepayment value and, next to it, a stamp indicating the city and the date and eventually the name of the institution using it. The franking of the prepayment may be marked directly on the envelope or on paper bands which are to be glued to it subsequently. The consignor pays directly to the postal administration the total cost of the items which have been sent.

Prephilatelic postal stamps – stamps applied on the mail before the circulation of the first adhesive postmarks.

Prephilately – a philately branch dealing with collecting and studying postal philatelic materials and documents.

Price list – a printed document enumerating in a chronological order postmarks or other postal or philatelic items, indicating the respective prices determined for each piece. The prices are determined based upon certain criteria chosen by the one performing and issuing the list – postal administration, editor, seller.

Printed material – “1. Postal items, correspondence connected objects, forms for post forwarding, printed materials used by the postal administration.  2. Postal issue with informative contents printed or reproduced through mechanical means; newspapers, newspaper clippings, periodicals, brochures, books, musical notes, drawings, maps, catalogs”

Printed materials – “they are circulating in packages allowing for the verification of the contents during transportation; the maximum accepted weight for printed materials is of  2 Kg. (as an exception, one volume books with a 3 kg weight and 5 kg embossed printed books for sightless people are accepted). The sizes of the transports containing printed materials are similar to the ones which are valid for letters.”

Quartz lamp – a lamp used by philately researchers in order to determine the watermarks and the possible flaws of the postmarks which are not  noticeable with the eye or by other means.

Regular franking – an assembly of postmarks applied on mail items according to the tariff, cancelled on the margins, so that the design and the inscriptions of the postmarks should be visible. It indicates the prepayment of the tax for the transport of a package or of a luggage.

Reimbursement – “a postal manner of transmitting an object to a consignee who must pay for the value; the post office cashes the amount from the consignor and pays it to the consignee.  “

Run– 1. The number of copies in which a book, magazine, postmark, series of postmarks or postal stationery items are being printed. The run is determined by the needs for the franking of the correspondence. 2. The hourly regular production of a printing machine, expressed in the number of sheets printed on one side.

Semi-illustrated postcard – a postal stationery item circulated by a postal administration, which is printed on the same side, next to the fixed postmark, with spaces reserved for the consignee and consignor addresses and for an illustration, corresponding or not as a theme to the fixed mark.

Series – the assembly of postmarks forming a certain issue.

Sheet-block – an assembly made up of various postmarks, printed on small paper sheets, bearing ornaments and inscriptions on the margins (border). Postmarks may be taken out of blocks and they may be used separately.

Stamp – to place, to apply a stamp.

Stamped postmarks – postmarks which have fulfilled their mission within the postal circuit, being cancelled with a manual or mechanic stamp by a postal office or by a postal Administration. Go to cancelled postmarks.

Stamping – the act of stamping and its result. The application of a stamp on a document, providing it with validity, on stamps in order to indicate their origin, on mail for registration, localization and authentication, (ship, train, plane). The post stamps also indicate the name of the postal office and the short name of the county.

Stampography – a discipline dealing with the collecting, study, classification, presentation of post stamps by chronological or scientific criteria.

Strip – a group or a unit of postmarks – more than two –detached on a sheet, connected to one another in a vertical or horizontal position.

Subscriber – person who has made a subscription, a person who is benefiting from a philately subscription.

Tax – the payment made to a certain postal administration by individuals or by legal entities, in exchange of which it provides certain services.

Tęte-bęche – a French expression meaning “upside-down head”, which has entered the philatelic language to determine pairs of postmarks – horizontal or vertical – located on a sheet in a reversed position as to the other, rotated by 180ş.

Thematic – all the elements or the main theme of a postmark, of a postmark collection, of certain postal stationery items, of maximum cards, etc.

Thematic philately – a postmark collection gathered according to the subject illustrated by theme, as well as according to the information provided by philatelic or postal documents or by their study.

Theme – the main idea at the basis of postmark issues

Triptych – a philatelic unit made up of three distinct pieces.

Tweezers – an indispensable philately accessory. It serves for the handling of postmarks, thus protecting them against deterioration by bending, tearing, soiling, etc. The tweezers must have flat and perfectly neat ends so as not to scratch the postmark.

Unmatched – one or more marks which are isolated from the series that they belong to.

Unused – Go to unused postmarks.

Unused postmarks – postmarks which have not entered the postal circuit, having intact image, gum and paper.

Used – a stamp or a postmark which, by being used to frank the correspondence, has fulfilled its mission and bears a sign of the annulment of its nominal value (stamp).

Usual postmarks – marks which are issued for the purpose of filling the postal needs. They usually have a longer term of validity and are printed in large numbers, either in one edition or in successive editions, according to the requirements.

Vignette – 1. A small size design, with or without nominal value, attached to a postmark, usually equal as size to the postmark, which continues, completes or adds from the graphic or the artistic point of view to the theme reproduced by a postmark. 2. Adhesive labels issued by a postal administration to commemorate or celebrate special events. The vignettes isolated from the postmarks lose their philatelic value.

Want-list – the list executed by a collector, including pieces ordered by him in order to complete a collection.

Watermark – a distinctive sign or inscription consisting of a drawing, figures, letters, lines, made by the mass of the paper or printed on it, with various other postal indications, generated through the application of adhesive postmarks or of the mechanical stamping.

Watermark detector – 1. A small glass or ceramic black bath, where one places the benzine on the surface of which the postmark is to be placed facing upwards, so that through the different soaking of the paper, the watermark should be outlined against the black background. 2. An optical device with colored filters helping to identify the watermark.

Withdrawal from circulation – a measure following which postmarks of a certain issue are losing their franking capacity. The withdrawal from the circulation may be made for various reasons: a change of the post tariff, termination of the stocks for most of the values, the change of the government, discovery of contents flaws on the postmarks, etc.