Postage stamp
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A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage. It is affixed to the face or address-side of mail to indicate that postage has been paid, and is then processed by the postal system, where a postmark or cancellation mark is applied to prevent reuse. Stamps feature the issuing nation's name (except the United Kingdom), a denomination, and often illustrations symbolizing national traditions and values. They are prized by collectors for their beauty and historical significance, and their study is called philately.
Quick Facts
- Inventor
- Sir Rowland Hill
- First stamp
- Penny Black
- First issuing country
- United Kingdom
- Notable feature
- United Kingdom remains the only country to omit its name on stamps
Facts from the source article.
Origins and the Birth of the Adhesive Stamp
Under that legislation, Congress established a rate structure hinging entirely on what was called the "distance zone"—how far a letter traveled from the post office where it entered the system to its ultimate destination. Larger letters attracted double or triple rates, and shipments requiring ocean transport, such as mail bound for Hawaii, carried an extra per-letter ship fee rather than a weight-based charge. That year the United States issued its very first postage stamps, marking the transition from manual notation to a standardized adhesive system.
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Postage stamp (CC BY-SA 4.0).
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