List of types of postage

The list contains types of postage stamps that are or have been used for prepayment or postage payment for postal services by private individuals, companies, authorities and institutions and can therefore appear on postal items ( letters , parcels , postcards , small parcels , printed matter , etc.). For a better overview, the different types are sorted into five groups, which result from the function of the stamps. Many types of postage stamps were introduced in the late 19th or early 20th century and were only used in one or a few countries. Most types of postage stamps fell victim to rationalization measures at the postal administrations, so that, with a few exceptions, only the types shown in bold are in use today.

genus	First known edition date and time. country	Further spread	comment	Picture example
Stamps that are used for prepayment for postal transport
Free or definitive stamp	May 6, 1840 Great Britain	worldwide	Special forms are machine brands and personalized brands
Special or commemorative stamp	1888 New South Wales	worldwide
Foreign brand	1880 Peru	Greece , Guatemala , Colombia , Turkey	Obligatory for international mail, to be paid in "hard" metal currency in some countries (Greece, Guatemala), with a discount in Turkey. Italy introduced special foreign express stamps with French lettering.
Car package brand	January 1, 1949 Finland	only Finland	for parcels and parcels that are transported by Postbuses
Visiting card brand	December 21, 1951 Monaco	only Monaco	especially small stamps for small-format letters for sending business cards
Badge	July 1854 Spain	almost worldwide	Use by authorities only
Service counter	January 1, 1903 German Empire	for the state of Prussia , 1905 also for Baden , 1963 in Thailand	Like postage stamps, the stamps were stuck on all service items for 12 months; the amount to be paid annually as an advance payment to the post office was determined from the consumption.
Express stamp	October 1, 1885 USA	Albania , Ecuador , Italy and Colonies, Cuba , Mexico , San Marino , Soviet Union , Spain and Colonies	for franking express letters
Registered stamp	Victoria December 1, 1854	Canada , many Latin American states	to cover the registration fee
Money stamp	1865 Colombia	only Colombia	for insured letters that should be delivered to the recipient (normally the recipient had to collect items from the post office)
Airmail stamps (including zeppelin stamps and balloon stamps )	May 20, 1917 Italy	worldwide	for franking airmail, now largely replaced by postage and special stamps
Life insurance stamp , also life insurance badge	1891 New Zealand	New Zealand only	for programs of the state life insurance company
Parcel brand	1884 Italy	45 countries worldwide	Franking of parcels or parcel cards
Phonopost stamp	1939 Argentina	only Argentina	for messages that were spoken on records (spoken letters )
Post ferry brand	October 1, 1907 Denmark	only Denmark	for the carriage of mail on ferries
Postcard stamp	1889 Orange Free State	New Zealand
Pneumatic tube stamp	1913 Italy	only Italy	for pneumatic tube deliveries
Return receipt stamp	1894 Chile	Montenegro , Panama	for franking a return receipt ; Chile also issued a money receipt confirmation stamp in 1897, which was used to frank return receipts for items of value
Sunday delivery stamp	1925 Bulgaria	only Bulgaria	Additional fee for mail to be delivered on Sundays
Soldier's brand , also military brand	1901 France	Italy, Sweden , Vietnam	Use only by military personnel, war invalids and their relatives in peacetime by the civilian postal service; In times of war, military post stamps and field post approval stamps were used
Late stamp	January 1855 Victoria (Australia)	Colombia, Antioquia , Bolivar , Ecuador , Panama , Uruguay	for an additional fee for the delivery of mail outside of counter hours
Charity stamp or charity stamp	1897 New South Wales	almost worldwide	Postage stamp with a non-postal surcharge, benefiting charities, disaster victims, etc. Also referred to by post as an additional mark .
Newspaper brand	1851 Austrian Empire	USA, German Empire, Turkey and other countries	for newspapers and printed matter
Delivery mark	1935 Dominican Republic	Czechoslovakia , Slovak State	Advance payment of the fee for delivery exclusively to the named addressee ("personally"), also jokingly called love stamps
Officially required stamps, the proceeds of which will not benefit the Post
Royalty free stamp	1869 Spain	Italy, Romania	to identify postage paid items, e.g. B. by members of parliament or charitable organizations
Field post or military post approval stamp	November 1, 1941 Finland	German Empire , Iran , Italy, Croatia , Malta	A number of stamps were issued to soldiers each month to limit the amount of (free) field mail
Courier service brand	1956 GDR	only GDR	for courier services between authorities, state-owned companies, party services, etc.
Military post stamps , including field post stamps	1900 British India for the Seymour expedition to China	British military post in Egypt and Salonika, German military posts in World War I and II, Czechoslovak army in Siberia, Indian guard units and UN troops in Korea, Congo and Gaza, Belgium	Military and field post work independently of the civil post. Field post letters were usually free of charge, but in the cases mentioned, fees had to be paid, sometimes only for special services such as registered mail. Some of the military posts could also be used by civilians.
Package fee stamp	July 1, 1928 Italy	Trieste Zone A	mandatory fee for parcels and letters carried by private courier services
Postcard tax stamp	1904 Persia	Romania (1932)	Tax on picture postcards
Exchange control mark	1922 Soviet Union	Republic of the Far East	Control of postage stamp exchanges; one stamp had to be stuck on the consignment to the exchange partner abroad, another one had to be enclosed, which he had to stick on the return consignment. The exchange control stamps of the GDR were not stamps and are therefore not listed in catalogs, but fulfilled the same function.
Newspaper cancellation mark	1853 Austrian Empire	France	Tax on newspapers, but the payment of the tax also allowed free mail
Compulsory surcharge mark	1874 Spain	55 countries worldwide	Tax on mail, including special war tax stamps , mostly only mandatory in domestic traffic
Stamps that are used to collect postage from the recipient
Court notification mark	1898 Austria	only for Galicia , from 1909 also in Russia	Delivery fee for couriers of court documents
Parcel postage stamp	1912 USA	USA only	Package fee to be paid by the recipient
Postage stamp	January 1, 1859 France	almost worldwide	indicates the (postage) to be paid by the recipient
Forced control Portomarke (also: compulsory charity Portomarke)	1925 Portugal	Portugal and its colonies, Yugoslavia , in Romania war tax postage stamps	Additional postage if there are no compulsory surcharge stamps
Stamps for other postal services
Fire box insurance brand	February 1, 1921 Netherlands	Dutch East Indies	Insurance fee for the carriage of mail in sealed "fire boxes" on the deck of ships. The stamps were used for about two years on shipping routes after the First World War because of the mine hazard.
Revenue stamp	March 21, 1923 Denmark	only Denmark	Fee for filling out forms, locating addresses, etc.
Money transfer stamp	1888 Ceylon	only Ceylon
Postal order stamp	1884 Netherlands	El Salvador , Italy, San Marino, Spain	not used for franking postal orders , but for control purposes of payment
Postal order stamp , also postal order postage stamp	1908 France	Monaco , Andorra	to offset unredeemed postal orders
Post package offset stamp	1923 Netherlands	only Netherlands	internal billing of parcel fees paid
Postal savings stamp	1916 Spain	USA, Soviet Union, Italy	to save small amounts, also used as postage if there are no stamps
Postal insurance stamp	1935 Mexico	Italy	additional insurance fee for postal items
Sea post stamp	1875 Mexico	only Mexico	Fee for mail delivery on non-Mexican ships
Submarine brand	1916 German Empire	Spanish Republic	the stamps combined postage and insurance amount
Offset mark	October 1, 1907 Denmark	Uruguay , Italian Eritrea , Italian Libya	to offset fees paid for bulk mailings such as printed matter or newspapers
Postage insurance stamp	1865 Colombia	Colombian departments of Cundinamarca , Santander and Tolima	Proof of payment of a special insurance fee and sealing of a letter of value
Non-postal stamps that appear on postal items in exceptional cases
Railway package brand	May 1, 1879 Belgium	Belgian Congo	In Belgium, parcels were generally transported by rail
Token token	1915 Russia		Postage stamps printed on cardboard that were also franked
Stamp or fiscal stamp	1854 Austria	many countries with brand deficiency, especially extensive in Venezuela	franking tolerated or permitted in some countries in the event of a brand defect
Telegraph brand	1861 British India	about 60 countries worldwide	for telegrams, in Belgium also for express mail, in the case of a bad brand, also approved for postage
Railway administration newspaper package brand	1928 Belgium	only Belgium	Use for newspaper packages

literature

• Ullrich Häger: Large encyclopedia of philately . Bertelsmann, Gütersloh 1973, ISBN 3-570-03229-9 .
• J. Nováček: The reference book for the stamp collector . Dausien, Hanau / M. 1984, p. 70-93 .
• James Mackay: Guinness Book of Postage Stamps . 2nd Edition. Ullstein, Frankfurt / M., Berlin, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-550-07695-9 , pp. 84-118 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Controversial, Peru issued a 5 centimos stamp as early as 1871, which is referred to as the first commemorative stamp in some catalogs. According to J. Mackay, p. 97, the connection between a depicted locomotive and the Lima – Callao railway line, which was opened 20 years earlier, is coincidental, as documented documents show.
2. ↑ JG Winters: The Postal Commission Stamps of Ceylon 1888-1890 . 48 p., Ceylon Study Group of Great Britain 2009, ISBN 978-0-9528149-3-1
3. ↑ In the first few years after its introduction, the use of stamps for franking letters was generally tolerated in Austria. See: Michel catalog Europe, p. 981, Schwaneberger-Verlag 1957.

Web links

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