Aussie Stamps: September 2009

Monday, September 28, 2009

What is a cancel?

Cancels
A cancellation is a mark placed on a stamp by a postal authority to deface the stamp and prevent its re-use. If a collection is built on cancellations, then clear, heavy and readable cancellations are sought after to enhance the collection's value.
Some collectors of cancellations collect every calendar day of the year on a particular stamp issue. Some will collect cancellations from all the different post offices with-in a city or country. Others might collect every example of a cancellation device used in a city.
The majority of cancellations are done by machine. A hand cancel is when a postage stamp is canceled by hand, usually with a rubber or steel stamp.

StampBoards.com Where Philatelists meet

StampBoards.com is a very active forum based Internet stamp collecting site where you can read and write about different topics. It is an excellent board with many forums, where even the beginning collector is treated with respect and will feel at home.

If you post a philatelic question or comment on StampBoards, you will always get a response from other stamp collectors and dealers, who freely share their knowledge. There are forums where you can discuss anything at all to do with stamps, selling/giveaway/trading forums, even humor and recreation forums.

While you can browse the forums without needing to be registered, you do need to register to post. There are certain rules you need to follow once registered. You need to make 20 posts and have been a member for 20 days before you can participate in a few of the forum activities, like accepting some of the freebies members offer from time to time, trading and selling. This ensures that participants in these activities actually belong to the StampBoards community.

While the site is hosted in the US, it is run primarily by Glen Stephens, a very highly respected Australian stamp dealer. Stampboards is very well moderated around the clock by volunteers who come from all over the globe.

Whatever your level of philatelic knowledge, I'm certain you will enjoy StampBoards.

stampboards - the new place to discuss STAMP COLLECTING and PHILATELY!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Koala symbols on Australian definitives

Australian definitives (usually on sale for several years) range from 5c to $20. As a special feature, Koala symbols are printed on the edge of the stamp sheet to identify the number of reprints. One Koala for the first reprint, two for the second, ect. A Kangaroo indicates a fifth reprint.

No Living Australian On Australian Stamps Until 1997

The rule used to be, in Australia, that the image of no living person except the monarch and their family, could be depicted on stamps. That rule changed in 1997, when Australia's most famous cricketer, Sir Donald Bradman, was featured in the 1997 "Australian Legends" issue.

Invisable Ink

Did you know that part of every stamp has invisible phosphorescent ink that Australia Post's sorting machines use to position the stamps for cancellation. The ink can be seen with an ultraviolet light.

Australian Stamp Facts And Innovations

More than 1 billion Postage stamps are produced in Australia each year.
Australian Law states that Australia Post must provide a universal mail service that all Australians can access.
Australia Posts longest mail run visiting isolated communities and outback cattle stations, from Port Augusta to Birdsville, involves a 2600 kilometer, two day plane journey.
2.8 million Australia Post delivery points are in rural areas, the outback or on islands.
In 1990, Australia became the first country in the world to produce Self-adhesive (peel and stick) stamps for ongoing use on a mass scale, directly inspiring other countries to start using self-adhesives for standard postage.
No Commemorative stamps were issued in Australia between 1901 and 1927 because the UPU (Universal Postal System) banned commemorative stamps being used on international mail. The powers that be, concluded that the ban included the use of commemorative stamps for domestic use. The UPU lifted the ban in 1922. In 1927 the opening of the Parliament House in Canberra was commemorated with the first commemorative stamp issued by the Australian Commonwealth.
Australia produced the worlds first commemorative stamp in 1888, with a set labelled "One Hundred Years" In 1997, New South Wales and Victoria issued the world's first charity stamps. Charity stamps are sold at a higher price to benefit a charity.
In 1995, Australia produced it's first holographic stamp, Opals.
The worlds first personalized stamps, Stamps with people's own snapshots on adjoining labels, were introduced in Australia at the Melbourne international philatelic exhibition 2000.
During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Australia was the first country in the world to produce Instant stamps. Every Australian gold medalist had a stamp placed on sale within 48 hours after the medal was won.
In 1957, Australia was the first country in the world to issue Christmas stamps.
Since 1989, Australia Post has been putting the year into all stamp designs they issue. The year on the stamps are so tiny you need a magnifying glass to see them.
Australia's youngest stamp designer, Holly Alvarez from Perth, WA, was five years old when her 1983 Christmas design was chosen during a national competition amongst primary school children.
There are over one million stamp collectors living in Australia

Stamp Collecting Words and What They Mean

AAT: Australian Antarctic Territory
Accessories: Commodities used by stamp collectors to assist with stamp identification and handling.
Acid-free-paper: Paper with a pH greater than 7.0 containing no acidic additives.
Album: A book in which stamps and other philatelic material are mounted.
Appraisal: When a stamp collector seeks out the value of a collection, either for selling or insurance.
Approvals: Selected Philatelic material is sent to a collector, with prices, through the mail. The collector takes what they need and returns the remainder together with payment for items held back.
ATM: A term used by stamp collectors for Automatic teller machines that also dispense stamps.
Average: A standard of condition, not generally considered desirable.
Bisect: A stamp that has been cut in half so that each half can be used at half the face value of the original stamp. A person who collects bisects usually collects the original cover with the cancel covering the cut on the stamp.
Block: An unseperated group of stamps, of at least four, two wide and two high.
Booklet: A small cardboard booklet containing one or more panes of stamps.
Bulls-eye cancellation: A postmark where the city and date have been placed directly on the center of the stamp.
Cachet: A design imprinted on an envelope or postal card that describes the event for which the envelope was mailed. Cachets are commonly used on First Day Covers, covers celebrating a significant anniversary, first flights, stamp exhibitions, and so on.
Canceled to order: Stamps that are cancelled by a postal authority for the philatelic trade, without having been used for postal duty. They are not very highly regarded by collectors.
Cancellation: The ink impression applied to a stamp by a postal authority to render it unusable for re-use.
Centering: Refers to the location of the stamp's design relative to the surrounding margin.
Cinderella Stamp: Cinderella stamps are all stamps that are not government issued postage stamps or postal stationary items.
coils: Single denomination and design stamps that are produced in rolls of 100, 500 or more for use in vending machines.
Commemorative: A stamp that is issued to commemorate an event, an anniversary of an event, or honor a place or person. They usually have an interesting design, are produced in lesser quantities than definitives and are on sale for a limited time.
Cover: An intact envelope or postcard, aerogramme, etc. that has been through the mail with the appropriate postal markings and evidence of postal payment.
Definative: A regular stamp in general use over an extended period.
Face Value: The monetary value of a postage stamp that it will pre-pay as shown on the stamps design.
First-Day Cover: An envelope or postcard with a newly issued stamp affixed that has been cancelled with a First Day of Issue cancellation at a city designated by the postal administration.
To Be Continued

Aussie Stamps