Stamped envelope
A stamped envelope or postal stationery envelope (PSE) is an envelope with a printed or
United Kingdom
The Sherborn Collection in the British Library Philatelic Collections is an important collection of 1841-85 Queen Victoria embossed 1d pink stamped envelopes. The collection was formed by C. Davis Sherborn and donated to the British Museum in 1913.[1]
United States
In August 1852, an Act of the US Congress authorized the Postmaster General to provide "suitable letter envelopes with such watermarks or other guards against counterfeits... with the addition of the value or denomination of the postage stamps so printed or impressed thereon...." The first result was the 1853 Nesbitt issues of stamped envelopes, which was named after the private contractor who produced them for the government.[2] When the different envelope sizes, knives, colors, dies to print the indicia, and denominations are combined, there are literally thousands of different stamped envelopes produced for the US.[3]
Collecting
Collectors of stamped envelopes use a catalog to know what has been issued.
Siegfried Ascher was the first to try to comprehensively document all countries' postal stationery including stamped envelopes.[4] This was followed some 40 years later by the Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog. Though now out of date, it is still frequently cited since it covers all countries and no other comprehensive catalog has been attempted since. The H&G catalog, as it is known, describes stamped envelopes by the envelope size, the depicted indicia and its valuations, some corner cards, while sometimes disregarding envelope color.
The
British postal stationery to 1970 has been comprehensively documented[5] and Edifil is a Spanish company that has comprehensive listings for stamped envelopes of Spain, Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico.
Australian Postal Stationery is covered by a catalogue from Brusden White. The 'Australian Commonwealth Specialists' Catalogue: Postal Stationery including Australian Territories' was first issued in 2013. In 2018 a fully revised 2nd edition was released. Fully illustrated, it is the most comprehensive reference work for these Australian issues.[6]
Most stamped envelopes are collected as entires. In the 19th century the practice was to collect
In collecting entires, a single indicium may appear on many different sizes of envelopes. Some countries have issued the same indicium on different paper types: laid and wove. Likewise it is common for the same indicium to be embossed onto paper of several different colors. Finally, two envelopes of the same size can have a different flap size indicating that they were cut from a different knife. Rarely, an uncatalogued color, or displaced surcharge, or albino indicium, or inside-out folding of the envelope may appear, in which case you have found something of value. All of these attributes relate to mint or unused envelopes. When you add a postmark from a used envelope to the mix, the collecting possibilities explode. What was formerly in fashion, collecting only mint examples, has changed because many collectors seem to find used PSE collections more interesting.[7]
Some postal stationery envelopes contain a
See also
References
- ^ The Sherborn Collection. British Library, 29 January 2012.
- ^ OCLC 50290906
- ^ ISBN 978-0-9800112-8-9.
- ^ Ascher, Dr Siegfried, Grosser Ganzsachen-Katalog (1925) in German.
- ^ Huggins, A.K. British Postal Stationery, A Priced Handbook of the Postal Stationery of Great Britain, Great Britain Philatelic Society (1970).
- ^ "Home". brusden-white.com.au.
- ^ ISBN 0-947604-07-3
Further reading
- Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog, 19 volumes covering the whole world. Out of print, but worth looking for.
- Huggins, A.K.; British Postal Stationery, A Priced Handbook of the Postal Stationery of Great Britain, Great Britain Philatelic Society, 1970
- BartelsCatalogue of U.S. Stamped Envelopes, Century Edition, 1954
- Cutting Knife Handbook by United Postal Stationery Society, 1999. Envelope knives illustrated.