Philately

History of the word

Years 1800 at the beginning of the XXe century, the collection of folds, envelope, postal print and postage stamps (as from 1843) named the timbrology.

This word is allotted to Georges Herpin in the review the Collector of postage stamps of the November 15th 1864. It was created starting from the words Greek S philosophies (friendly) and ateleia (the exemption of tax). In Greece, it is the word telos (tax) which is used, in particular in the title of the review Philotélia of Stephanos Macrymichalos. “Timbromanie” is considered to be pejorative by same Herpin.

The word “philately” was preferred with that of “timbrology” because of its best adaptation, because of its Greek roots, with an international employment. This last term remains however still in the title of oldest of the French philatelic reviews still published the Echo of the timbrology , created in 1887.

The material of presentation

To present a collection:

the album is a whole of printed pages on which the stamps collected are presented. The pages of stamps were formerly separated by transparent layers intended to protect those. They generally disappeared from the current albums.
the Charnière S are small supports with double face which make it possible to stick the stamps on the pages of album and being able to turn over them to observe the back. They have been gradually forsaken for a few decades because of the traces which they leave with the back stamps. They are currently generally replaced by small transparent individual envelopes.
the sorter is a work on the pages of which are stuck transparent bands under which, the collector slips the stamps. This work is used to classify, to preserve the stamps while waiting for their final arrangement.
the exposure. The collector can take part in it within the framework of an association of philatelists. It then presents part of its collection according to a country, a topic or a format of its choice or imposed for the contest…

The material of handling

The philatelist uses certain instruments:

a grip (the Tweezers) to seize the stamps without damaging the Paper, the teeth or the Gum.
a Magnifying glass to examine the details of the stamp and to locate possible varieties.
a Odontomètre to measure the Serration, i.e. the number of teeth to the two centimetres. (On the inventor of this instrument, cf Doctor Jacques Legrand)
a lamp UV which makes it possible to detect the varieties of paper, fluorescence or phosphorescence.
an electric signoscope optical apparatus used to detect the filigrees, marks being in the body of paper, or repairs.

The material of documentation

A catalogs which count the emitted stamps and give the dimensions of them, generally by country or groups of country. The principal editors are: Cérès (France), Dallay (France), Darnell (Canada), Domfil (Spain), Facit (Sweden), Michel (Germany), Scott (the United States), Stanley Gibbons (Great Britain), Yvert and Tellier (France), Zumstein (Swiss). Associations of traders also publish catalogs nationals, such those of Belgium and of Switzerland.

There exist also catalogs specialized, in particular in set of themes, or for the various categories of Oblitération S.

The management of a collection can be facilitated by the use of software on CD-ROM.

Various general works of documentation on the stamps and philately, the ones general, the others specialized on subjects more delimited such as the books of stamps, or obliterations.

Articles of the philatelic reviews.

Internet sites of philatelic associations.

Where to find the stamps

There exists several way of acquiring a stamp:

postal service for the recent stamps,
merchants of stamps on sale at price Nets or at the time of sales on offers (which often have of a store and a service by correspondence),
exchanges between friends or members of an association,
purses of sales or exchanges,
sites of purchase-sale on Internet.

External bonds

“impostors of the post office” in search of the truth: Counterfeit, imitation and fraud, a virtual exposure of museum to Bibliothèque and Canada Files.

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