I recently ordered some items from Sweden. The weight was 2.6 Kg (5.75 pounds) and the postage was high (about USD $60 or 467 Kroner), so I asked the seller to use nice, high value Swedish stamps as postage. When the parcel arrived, I was surprised to see no stamps, no meter and no Postage Paid...

Hinges Stamp hinges are round-cornered oblong pieces of tough, thin paper, gummed on one side and designed for the neat mounting of stamps in the album. They were invented as long ago as the 1860s. The careful use of good-quality hinges, which peel easily when required, leaving little or no

Hotel Stamps Local stamps formerly issued by the managements of certain hotels at European health resorts to cover a fee charged for carrying guests' mail to and from the nearest post office, which was often some miles distant. There are three groups: the Swiss, the Hungarian-cum- Roumainian, and...

Line Engraving The early line-engraved stamps were produced by the process invented by Jacob Perkins of the British firm of Perkins, Bacon & Petch, and consisted of hand engraving with a steel tool known as a burin on softened steel. The 'mother' or original die was then hardened, and a softened...

Letterpress Alternative and preferable name for typography or 'surface' printing. In stamp production it implies that normal typesetting methods of printing and machinery are employed. Line and, more rarely, half-tone blocks, are thus printed on ordinary letterpress platens or rotaries and...

Litho., Lithography Plane surface printing method based upon the antipathy of oil (or grease) and water. A specially prepared limestone or soapstone was formerly used. Upon this the design was drawn in reverse direct, with a greasy ink; or transferred thereon by means of special transfers. In...

Photo-Engraving Is the photo-mechanical process of producing line and half-tone blocks, used for what the philatelist calls the 'surface' or 'typographic' methods of print production (neither of which definitions are exact or descriptive of the means employed). Briefly the process consists of...

Photo-Gravure This modern stamp printing process consists of photographing the artist's finished drawing on to process film and printing down on to sensitised carbon tissue which is transferred to a copper plate (or cylinder for rotogravure), and etched. It is distinct from photo-mechanical...

Line Block An unscreened photo-mechanical printing block, normally of zinc (zinco), which is used as a 'master' for the requisite number of 'electros' or 'stereos' from which stamps are printed by the letterpress, typographic, or surface method. For short runs, the original zinco may be used, and...

Gum Staining Inter-action between an inferior gum, or one containing chemical and dye impurities, and the inherent substances in the paper base or even in the ink used for printing, often give rise to unsightly stains, which adversely affect the appearance and intrinsic value of the affected...

Do You Like Tapioca? Really? Well, you've been absorbing it, and as far as I have noted none of you have particularly objected to it, on the score of taste, and you generally pay regular dough to secure on the backs of your mint stamps. Some of you hold it in such high esteem as to...

Airmail-Special Delivery 16=A2 FDR Design The late President Franklin D. Roosevelt was proud of the fact that he had sketched the design of the 16=A2 blue, Airmail-Special Delivery stamp, issued in 1934 (Scott's No. CE1). The stamp, as we all know, features the Great Seal of the United States. ...

(US) Services Not Keen for Overprints George R. Wren, WOJG, USA, writes that the 6=A2 airmail overprinted envelopes are slowly being adopted by servicemen who have been accustomed to the 6=A2 orange envelopes and want to be certain that their mail gets back to the home folks in a hurry. There is...

The 2006 Canada Specialized (Unitrade) Catalogue is out now. They have listened to collectors' suggestions and the new extra features this year make it most interesting. Here are some highlights: =B7 each stamp now includes the method of printing and designer (where available)

In Post Sweden's recent poll for the best Swedish stamp of the year, the Greta Garbo stamp was the winner. I also agree that it was a fine stamp. http://www.postmuseum.posten.se/utstallningar/img/greta_10kr.jpg Blair

In Post Sweden's recent poll for the best Swedish stamp of the year, the Greta Garbo stamp was the winner. I also agree that it was a fine stamp. http://www.postmuseum.posten.se/utstallningar/img/greta_10kr.jpg Blair

In Post Sweden's recent poll for the best Swedish stamp of the year, the Greta Garbo stamp was the winner. I also agree that it was a fine stamp. http://www.postmuseum.posten.se/utstallningar/img/greta_10kr.jpg Blair

This is a quick reminder to all posters that putting (RCSD) at the beginning of your subject line will increase the chances of people reading your message. This was suggested because of the spam, off-topic, ads, cross-posts and non-philatelic messages that were coming into RCSD.

Alfred H. Caspary Dies Alfred H. Caspary, who, in my opinion, assembled the finest collection ever put together of classic stamps of the world, passed away peacefully January 7th, (1955) his age about 77. He consistently avoided publicity so his name will be unfamiliar to most collectors, but to...

A while ago, I wrote in this group about Cyprus, its changeover to the Euro and any effect on its stamps.. Well I can now report that the government of Cyprus decided to issue dual currency stamps to ease the transition for residents. As an example, I offer links to the June 2008 Olympics set. ...