Stamp collecting

Ask most people what the first stamp ever issued in the World was and most will answer the Queen Victoria great British Penny Black. Go onto most general knowledge based websites, same answer. This is actually only half true and depends on how you define the question, as the Queen Victoria 2d Blue was issued on the same day. The 6 May 1840 was where it all started for stamp collectors. Again this is only a half truth. If you have large pockets you can actually find earlier posted stamps.

To implement them a public competition was National Philatelic Society, NPS , UK Philately, Stamps and stamp collecting collector organised by the Treasury (the governing body of the Post Office) asking the public for ideas. Some 2,600 letters were received, a few with examples of the method of prepayment proposed, some sent anonymously. These are now known as Treasury Competition entries or essays, though many socalled were never submitted to the competition.

Admiral Lord Nelson and his
The Royal Philatelic Society London, philately, stamps, post, postal, stamp collecting, postmark, postal history, expert valuation
Stamps, stamp collecting collectors philately in the UK and GB, mail, postage, postal, ABPS, NPS

Hill's report on the competition used some of the suggestions submitted to reiterate his ideas for prepayment, the "stamps" to be in four forms: lettersheets, history of Economie envelopes, adhesive labels and stationery handed in by the public to be stamped to order. The last was not to be introduced immediately due to difficulties with the die

Stamps are graded according to the following conditions:

UM	Unmounted Mint	As issued by the Post Office with good gum and all perforations complete.
MM	Mounted Mint	As above but with hinge marks on the reverse.
AVM	Average Mint	UM or MM stamps which have small defects, ie gum crease, perf faults, heavy hinge marks, disturbed gum etc. These are still very collectable stamps.
DEFM	Defective Mint	Stamps with heavy creasing, thins, missing perforations etc.
Many unused Victorian stamps do not necessarily have original gum. Where they do this is stated in the description.
VFU	Very Fine Used	Stamps with circular postmarks (or equivalent on earlier issues) - undamaged.
FU	Fine Used	Stamps with circular date stamp which are not quite so fine as above or commercially used light wavy lines.
AVU	Average Used	Stamps with cancellations as above but with small defects or stamps with heavier parcel/circular postmarks. Same as good used.
DEFU	Defective Used	Any of the above grades but with small defects, small thins, tears, creases, clipped perfs.
AVUM	Average Unmounted Mint	As UM but with faults - Philatelic Traders Society
AVMM	Average Mounted Mint	As MM but with faults.
FDC	First Day Cover	These covers are normally illustrated (unless otherwise stated) and have a set of stamps postmarked on the day of issue.
PACK	Presentation Pack	These are the official Post Office presentation packs containing the mint set of stamps on a black card together with a printed description of the stamps etc.

GB Stamps Compare & Save
Whatever your philatelic wants are: Great Britain & Worldwide stamps - www.rushstamps.co.uk