Stamps: types of stamps, collectible rare items

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Since the middle of the 19th century, stamps have become one of the collectibles. Types of stamps have always reflected the social and political life of states, as well as the history of world mail.

So different brands

At first it was a vertical rectangle. Then it became horizontal, and the image was located in an oval (philatelists know such stamps as "bull's eyes", they were produced in Brazil). Following them, British Guiana, India, Romania, Afghanistan, Russia began to make round stamps. A little later, England and North America invented a square stamp with a base on top. Triangular, hexagonal (Belgium), octagonal (Turkey) stamps are also known.

For all the time of existence there was the most diverse form of the brand. Types of stamps reflect the imagination of a person:

• geometric shapes: squares, rhombuses, triangles, trapezoids, irregular geometric shapes, circles;
• shape: cut diamond, geographic borders of states, eagle, oil rig, sportsman;
• shape of various fruits: cola, banana.

These are just a few examples of what the stamp might have taken.

Postmark

The first postage stamp appeared in London in 1840. It was an image of Queen Victoria on a black background worth one penny. "Penny Black" - this is the name of this invention of Roland Hill, later an employee of the postal department in England. This stamp served as a sign of postage.

Industry and trade in Europe developed at that time at a rapid pace and demanded speed from the postal service. The volume of mail transfers was large, and the postal service fees were high. Therefore, only rich people could use the mail service. Correspondence was paid by the recipient.

Hill's mother was a longtime postal worker, so he was aware of these shortcomings. And then a wonderful idea came to his mind: the delivery of a letter should be made cheaper, and the sender should pay for it, who will receive a small receipt for paying for the service. The receipt is affixed to the letter and canceled with a stamp preventing its reuse.

This is how postage stamps were born.

Good investment

From its inception to the present day, postage stamps remain one of the most popular areas for collecting. They are produced in large quantities, you can buy them without problems. Specialized shops offer postage stamps, prices for which range from tens of rubles to several hundred thousand dollars. Therefore, we can confidently consider such a purchase a profitable investment, a way to save money.

In addition, an indicator of the culture of the people is the collection of items such as stamps. Types of brands, for example, unite people interested in a certain era, serve as a source of information for them, shape their aesthetic tastes.

A valuable marriage

Philately is a very profitable hobby. Followers of this type of collecting have the opportunity to constantly get expensive stamps, the value of which is growing every year. Such specimens are usually the highlight of the collection. Famous collectors always have expensive postage stamps, the prices of which are explained by the fact that some kind of marriage was allowed during printing. This greatly increases their value.

Now the top 10 is world famous, which includes the most expensive brands.

Most Valuable Items

Location	Brand name	USD value	Uniqueness
1	"Holy Grail"	2,970,000	Denomination 1 cent, only two such stamps are known.
2	"Sicilian color error"	2,720,000	Two such stamps are known, the value of which is due to a color error. This stamp was issued in 1859 (out of seven yellow ones, one is blue).
3	"Three-skilling Yellow"	2,300,000	3 Swedish banco skills are printed in yellow-orange like 8 banco skills and should be blue-green.
4	"Baden color error"	2,000,000	Issued in 1851 in Baden. The denomination of the stamp is 9 kreuzers. Should have been mauve, but was printed with a blue-green sheet that was printed on 6 kreuzer stamps.
5	"Blue Mauritius"	1 150 000	Issued in 1847, denomination of two pence. Six such specimens are known.
6	"The whole country is red"	1 150 000	Chinese stamp from 1968, unreleased, auctioned by China Guardian in 2012.
7	"Pink Mauritius"	1 070 000	Mauritius island stamp. Marriage in color (actually it is orange) and in the inscription (should be the words "Post Paid" / fee paid /, and on it "Post Office" / post office /).
8	"Inverted Jennie"	977 500	The face value is 24 cents. The Curtis-Jenny aircraft was printed upside down.
9	"British Guiana"	935 000	Nominal value 1 cent. It has an octagonal shape. Unique handwritten signature of Postmaster E. White.
10	"Tiflis Unique"	763 600	Issued in Russia in 1857. The first Russian brand. Five copies known.

Good investment

Investing in stamps is safe, secure andprofitable. They are always in demand. Especially if the copy falls into the category of rare. Rare stamps are those copies that exist in a certain amount. The fewer of them, the higher the price for such a brand will be, respectively.

Such uniqueness is most often explained by an oversight of printers. A sheet of the wrong color will fall, and now a rare stamp is ready. Or the image will be printed upside down. Or the largest size. Or there are no teeth along the edges.

Here are the most famous rare stamps:

• "Perm stamp". Issued in St. Petersburg in 1879 on paper with a honeycomb watermark. And then an incident happened. Redeemed in Perm, it became the basis of the myth, according to which the city became the birthplace of the brand. Only two such specimens are known today.
• "Tiflis stamp". Issued in 1857 in Tiflis, printed on yellowish-white paper in strips of five pieces. Three copies known;
• "British black penny". Issued in 1840 in Britain. The very first stamp.
• "Saint Mauritius". Issued in 1847, has an error in the inscription.
• "The Holy Grail". The rarity is explained by the fact that only two specimens are known.

The cost of these stamps does not decrease over time, which means that buying a rarity of philately, a person makes a profitable investment. Any piece can become a collector's dream.

Precious stamps

The price of any brand is quite conditional. Its face valueoften equal to several rubles, pence, dollars. What makes it valuable is a certain circumstance or the desire of a person to acquire it.

The same brand can fall into different categories depending on how you look at it. The rare items named in the previous section will be included in the valuable category, since any collector is willing to pay any amount to get such a copy for himself.

World's Most Valuable Stamps Could Be in the Next Top 10:

1. "Aspidka", USSR, 1931.
2. "Baden color error", Baden, 1852.
3. "Basel Dove", Switzerland, 1845, single stamp.
4. "British Guiana", Guyana, 1856, one stamp known.
5. "Be a Hero!", USSR, 1941.
6. Bull's Eye, Brazil, 1843.
7. "Bull's heads", Principality of Moldavia, 1858.
8. "Hawaiian Missionaries", Hawaiian Principality, 1852.
9. "Blue Alexandria", USA, 1846, the only copy in the world.
10. "Blue and Pink Mauritius", Mauritius, 1847, valued at $15 million.

Expensive hobby

Among the great variety of stamps, collectible ones stand out. Such specimens are sometimes valued at a very large amount, which can buy several mansions. As a rule, these are very rare and expensive brands, already mentioned above.

Therefore, if you decide to start collecting and want to buy something for yourselfvaluable, then you need to understand that it costs a lot of money.

Buying collectible stamps, you will also enter the circle of very famous people, communication with whom is always interesting. Therefore, collecting can be called an intellectual hobby.

Collections of Soviet philatelists

Philately in the USSR was very popular. There are numerous private collections that are currently for sale. In general, the stamps of the Soviet Union are expensive, but since the demand is less than the number of collections themselves, their price is low.

The cost of stamps of the USSR today is as follows: everything that was issued in the second half of the twentieth century costs an average of 5 rubles per copy, and the stamp must be in perfect condition and without any stamps; earlier ones cost 10-20 rubles.

Low prices are due to the fact that the material for the collections is freely available by mail, the circulation of stamps is large.

Stamps are usually resold in albums of several hundred pieces. The price of such a purchase is not very high, the album is intended for a different purpose: to introduce the owner to the world of collecting, to appreciate this hobby.

The most expensive brand of the USSR is the so-called "Carton". This is a souvenir sheet for each participant of the First All-Union Exhibition of Philately. Four stamps are printed on the sheet, some have the inscription "To the Best Striker". These sheets became valuable after one of them was sold at an auction in New York for $766,000.

This is interesting

In 1840, the world learned about the invention of the stamp. Since then, there have been numerous types of stamps, but they have one thing in common - this is a sign of postage. Philatelist means "lover of postage marks".

Such signs worth 10, 20, 30 kopecks appeared in Russia in 1858, later postcards came into circulation, that is, letters that were not sealed. The first Soviet stamp tells about an agricultural exhibition.

A distinctive rule of all stamps of all peoples is not to depict still living people on them. But this rule does not apply to the philately of the Soviet Union.