* Postage stamps and postal history of Bechuanaland Protectorate

* Postage stamps and postal history of the Cook Islands

* Postage stamps and postal history of India

* Postage stamps and postal history of Niue

Besides postal services, some of which were handled by electronic means, the ministry was involved in a wide spectrum of telephone, wire, telegraph, and international communications ( see Postage stamps and postal history of the People's Republic of China ).

Postage stamps are purchased from a postal administration or other authorized vendor and are used to pay for the costs involved in moving mail as well as other business necessities such as insurance and registration.

Postage stamps have facilitated the delivery of mail since the 1840s.

Postage stamps during this era were the most popular way of paying for mail, but by the end of the 20th century were rapidly being eclipsed by the use of metered postage and bulk mailing by businesses.

In the U. S., the use of postage stamps caught on quickly and became more widespread when on March 3, 1851, the last day of its legislative session, Congress passed the Act of March 3, 1851 ( An Act to reduce and modify the Rates of Postage in the United States ).

* Postage currency postage stamps used as currency rather than as postage

Postage stamps are first issued on a specific date, often referred to as the First day of issue.

Postage stamps are sometimes issued in souvenir sheets or miniature sheets containing one or a small number of stamps.

Postage stamps are often collected for their historical value and geographical aspects and also for the many different subjects depicted on them, ranging from ships, horses, and birds to kings, queens and presidents.

Postage stamp collecting began at the same time that stamps were first issued, and by 1860 thousands of collectors and stamp dealers were appearing around the world as this new study and hobby spread across Europe, European colonies, the United States and other parts of the world.

* Postage stamps – particular countries and / or time periods

** Postage due stamps are special stamps applied by a post office to mail bearing insufficient postage.

Morse was honored on the Postage stamps and postal history of the United States # Famous Americans Series of 1940 | US Famous Americans Series postal issue of 1940.

* Postage stamps and postal history of St. Pierre and Miquelon

* Postage stamps and postal history of Switzerland

< center >~ John Philip Sousa ~</ center >< Center >< font size =" 0 ">< Center > US Postage, Postage stamps and postal history of the United States # Famous Americans Series of 1940 | Issue of 1940 </ Center ></ font > Sousa lived in Sands Point, New York.

* Postage stamp block, an attached group of postage stamps

* Postage stamps of British Somaliland

* May 6 — Postage stamps come into use.

Postage meters are regulated by a country's postal authority ; for example, in the United States, the United States Postal Service specifies the rules for the creation, support, and use of postage meters.

The Model M Postage Meter was authorized on September 1, 1920 and was put into commercial use in Stamford later that year.

Gauss ( aged about 26 ) on East German Postage stamp | stamp produced in 1977.

Postage stamp, USSR, 1973.

The claim that the Scotsman James Chalmers was the inventor of the postage stamp first surfaced in 1881 when the book " The Penny Postage Scheme of 1837 ", written by his son, Patrick Chalmers, was published.

Scott has a separate category and listing for U. S. Airmail Postage.

* Postage due — a stamp showing that the full postage has not been paid, and indicating the amount owed.

* April 4 – Battle of Postage Farina, Tunis: Hibiki Tokai's fleet defeats the Barbarian pirates.

Postage was prepaid and the postmark was applied to the mailed item by means of a inked hand-stamp.

Fewer postmarks are used now than previously, with the advent of meter labels, which indicate the precise date and time of acceptance at the post office, some types of computer vended postage, and computerized postage that people can print from their own PCs ( called PC Postage in the United States, these services were offered by such companies as Stamps. com and Neopost, Inc .).

Postage stamp, Australia, 1932.

* Herman Herst, Jr., Fancy Cancellations on Nineteenth Century United States Postage Stamps ( Shrub Oak, New York 3rd rev.

He was delighted to learn that the Post Office Department is now going to expand this service to deliver mail from Representatives in Congress to their constituents without the use of stamps, names, addresses or even zone numbers.

Isle of Man Post issues its own stamps for use within the island and for sending post off-island.

Martin Coles Harman, owner of the British island of Lundy in the early decades of the 20th century, declared himself King and issued private coinage and postage stamps for local use.

Postal history concentrates on the use of stamps on mail.

With the conveniences stamps offered, their use resulted in greatly increased mailings during the 19th and 20th centuries.

The study of postage stamps and their use is referred to as philately.

In 1835 the Austro-Hungarian subject Lovrenc Košir, who was of Slovenian nationality, suggested the use of " artificially affixed postal tax stamps " using " gepresste papieroblate " which translates as " pressed paper wafers " but although the suggestion was looked at in detail, it was not adopted.

Postmarks have been applied over stamps since the first postage stamps came into use.

By 1850 this had increased fivefold to 350 million and continued to grow rapidly thereafter, until the end of the 20th century when newer methods drastically reduced the use of delivery systems requiring stamps.

Many others, such as India, initiated their use in the 1850s, and by the 1860s most countries had stamps.

For about the first ten years of postage stamp use ( depending on the country ), stamps were issued without perforations.

The use of semi-postal stamps is at the option of the purchaser.

Countries such as Belgium and Switzerland that often use charitable fund-raising design stamps that are desirable for collectors.

* Water-activated stamp — for many years, water-activated stamps were the only type available, so this term entered into use with the advent of self-adhesive stamps.

Some countries authorize the production of postage stamps that have no postal use, but are intended instead solely for collectors.

Sales of stamps to collectors who do not use them for mailing can result in large profits.

Of including the motto " In God We Trust " on money, in 1907 he wrote, " It seems to me eminently unwise to cheapen such a motto by use on coins, just as it would be to cheapen it by use on postage stamps, or in advertisements.

Watermarks were nearly universal on stamps in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but generally fell out of use and are not commonly used on modern U. S. issues, but some countries continue to use them.

Despite their short period of use, almost all of the stamps are cheaply available both used and unused.