Glossary of Philatelic Terms

C
Commemorative Issue: A Commemorative Stamp is a stamp issued to mark a person, special event or anniversary - which is usually only on sale for a limited period of time. A commemorative stamp-issuing programme is compiled each year and between 12 and 15 commemorative issues are produced per year. Their themes and issue dates often coincide with a particular event such as National Heritage Day, National Marine Day, World Post Day, etc. undefined:

D
Definitive Issue:

F
First Day Cover: A First Day Cover is a cover usually issued by a Post Office on the day of a new stamp issue. Most are cancelled by a specially-designed canceller. Forever Stamps: Forever&reg; Stamps are first-class stamps issued by the United States Postal Service. What makes them special is that they are non-denominational, which means you can buy them at the current first-class postage rate, and they remain valid even if that rate rises in the future.

G
Gravure Printing: The image to be printed consists of depressions or recesses on the surface of the printing plate. The process is the reverse of relief printing, in which the image is raised from the surface of the plate. The printer forms the image by cutting into the plate by hand or by using acids or other chemicals to etch the plate along the lines of the desired image. The printer then covers the plate with ink and wipes the ink from the higher surface, leaving the depressions, or intaglio areas, filled with ink. Paper pressed to the plate then absorbs ink from the depressed areas. Varying the depth of the depressions provides tonal gradations in the printed image.

The gravure process requires careful preparation, but it produces good printing quality and colour, even on less expensive paper. It is used for long runs of magazines and catalogs and colour supplements for newspapers. The process was originally developed for high-quality picture reproduction. It is also used to make art prints. Gutter Strip:

M
Maxicard: Also known as Maximum Cards. Microprint: Microprinting is the production of recognizable patterns or characters in a printed medium at a scale that requires magnification to read with the naked eye. To the unaided eye, the text may appear as a solid line. Attempts to reproduce by methods of photocopy, image scanning, or pantograph typically translate as a dotted or solid line, unless the reproduction method can identify and recreate patterns to such scale. Microprint is predominantly used as an anti-counterfeiting technique, due to its inability to be easily reproduced by widespread digital methods. Minisheet:

O
Offset Lithography:

Offset Intaglio:

P
Perforations:

Photogravure Printing:

Postcard:

Pressure Sensitive: See Self-Adhesive

S
Self-Adhesive:

Se-tenant: A group of two or more stamps that differ in colour, value, or design but are printed together on the same sheet and are collected without separating the stamps. The stamps can be joined horizontally, vertically or as a block. Souvenir Sheet:

Syncopated:

T
Tête-bêche: From French tête "head" and bêche, reduced from béchevet "placed with the head of one against the foot of the other". A pair (or Block or Strip) of postage stamps printed - purposely or in error - so that one is inverted in relation to the other either horizontally or vertically.