Postage stamps

Airmail –
for payment of airmail service. While the word or words "airmail" or equivalent is usually printed on the stamp, Scott (the dominant U.S. cataloguing firm) has recognised as airmail stamps some U.S. stamps issued in denominations good for then-current international airmail rates, and showing the silhouette of an aircraft. The other three major catalogs do not give any special status to airmail stamps.
ATM,
stamps dispensed by automatic teller machines (ATMs) whose sheets are paper currency sized and of similar thickness.

carrier's stamp

certified mail stamp

coil stamps –
tear-off stamps issued individually in a vending machine, or purchased in a roll that often comprise 100 stamps

commemorative stamp –
a limited run of stamp designed to commemorate a particular event

computer vended postage –
advanced secure postage that uses Information-Based Indicia (IBI) technology. IBI uses a 2-dimensional bar code (either Datamatrix or PDF417) to encode the Originating Address, Date of Mailing, Postage Amount, and a Digital signature to verify the stamp's authenticity.

customised stamp –
a stamp the picture or image in which can in some way be chosen by the purchaser, either by sending in a photograph or by use of the computer. Some of these are not truly stamps but are technically meter labels.

definitive stamps
issued mainly for the everyday payment of postage. They often have less appealing designs than commemoratives. The same design may be used for many years. Definitive stamps are often the same basic size. The use of the same design over an extended period of time often leads to many unintended varieties. This makes them far more interesting to philatelists than commemoratives.

express mail stamp / special delivery stamp

late fee stamp –
issued to show payment of a fee to allow inclusion of a letter or package in the outgoing dispatch although it has been turned in after the cut-off time

local post stamps –
used on mail in a local post; a postal service that operates only within a limited geographical area, typically a city or a single transportation route. Some local posts have been operated by governments, while others, known as private local posts, have been for-profit companies.

military stamp –
stamps issued specifically for the use of members of a country's armed forces, usually using a special postal system

official mail stamp –
issued for use solely by the government or a government agency or bureau

occupation stamp–
a stamp issued for use by either an occupying army or by the occupying army or authorities for use by the civilian population

perforated stamps –
while this term can be used to refer to the perforations around the edge of a stamp (used to divide the sheet into individual stamps) it is also a technical term for stamps that have additionally been perforated across the middle with letters or a distinctive pattern or monogram known as perfins. These modified stamps are usually purchased by large corporations to guard against theft by their employees.

permanent stamps –
have no face value and is always equal to the letter rate as issued.

personalised –
allow user to add his own personalised picture or photograph

postage due –
a stamp applied showing that the full amount of required postage has not been paid, and indicating the amount of shortage and penalties the recipient will have to pay. (Collectors and philatelists debate whether these should be called stamps, some saying that as they do not pre-pay postage they should be called "labels". The United States Post Office Department issued "parcel post postage due" stamps.

postal tax –
a stamp indicating that a tax (above the regular postage rate) required for sending letters has been paid. This stamp is often mandatory on all mail issued on a particular day or for a few days only.

self-adhesive stamp –
stamps not requiring licking or moisture to be applied to the back to stick. Self-sticking.

semi-postal / charity stamp –
a stamp issued with an additional charge above the amount needed to pay postage, where the extra charge is used for charitable purposes such as the Red Cross. The usage of semi-postal stamps is entirely at the option of the purchaser. Countries (such as Belgium and Switzerland) that make extensive use of this form of charitable fund-raising design such stamps in a way that makes them more desirable for collectors.

test stamp–
a label not valid for postage, used by postal authorities on sample mail to test various sorting and cancelling machines or machines that can detect the absence or presence of a stamp on an envelope. May also be known as "dummy" or "training" stamps.

war tax stamp –
A variation on the postal tax stamp intended to defray the costs of war.

water-activated stamp –
for many years "water-activated" stamps were the only kind so this term only entered into use with the advent of self-adhesive stamps. The adhesive or gum on the back of the stamp must be moistened (usually it is done by licking, thus the stamps are also known as "lick and stick") to affix it to the envelope or package.

stamps used by Military

A military stamp, is a postage stamp used by a military organisation, in time of war, ( British Fores in Egypt) or while ensuring a peace keeping operation. Often the letters will be transported by the army itself until they reach the country of destination. These stamps were widely used during World War II by soldiers wishing to send mail home to their families. The usage of these stamps has been somewhat phased out by the appearance of electronic means of communication.

Printed for the payment of telegam

Telegraph stamps are stamps specially printed for the payment of telegrams. The customer completes a telegraph form before handing it with payment for the clerk to stick and cancel the stamp prior to transmission of the telegram. The majority of telegrams were paid by means of purchasing normal postage stamps

UK is a typical example of the development of telegraph stamps, with private companies such as the Electric Company issuing stamps before nationalisation.

U.S. department of Conservation

Faroe Island, U.S. States

A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp issued to honor or commemorate a place, event or person. Most postal services of the world issue several of these each year, often holding first day of issue ceremonies at locations connected with the subjects. Commemorative stamps are usually used alongside ordinary or regular-issue stamps of the time,

This 1998 stamp of the Faroe Islands marks the 50th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

One of five All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains commemorative stamps issued by the United States Postal Service in August, 1999, this stamps honors the Super Chief but is not associated with any particular event or anniversary.

To collect taxes or fees no various items

A revenue stamp, tax stamp or fiscal stamp is a type of adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees on various items. Many countries of the world have used them, for documents, tobacco products, liquor, drugs, playing cards, hunting licenses and other kinds of things.

Small paper coupons

Trading stamps are small paper coupons given to customers by merchants. These stamps have no value individually, but when a customer saves up a certain number of them, they can be exchanged with the trading stamp company for other merchandise, like in the supermarkets and gasoline stations.

Stamps used to a stack of Chrismas card

Christmas is a popular theme for topical collecting.

The usual usage of Christmas stamps is to quickly apply them to a stack of Christmas cards to go out. Christmas stamps may represent some individuals' largest remaining use of stamps in a year, and it is not unusual to see "leftovers" appear on regular mail during the first months of the new year. The Christmas Philatelic Club was formed in 1969 by Christmas stamp collectors.

The Migratory Bird Conservation

The federal duck stamp
was created through a wetlands conservation program. President Herbert Hoover signed the Migratory Bird Conservation Act in 1929 to authorize the acquisition and preservation of wetlands as waterfowl habitat.

Postage stamps

Friedl forgery of the Red Mercury.
In general philatelic fakes and forgeries refers to labels that look like postage stamps. but aren't. Most have been produced to deceive or defraud. Learning to identify these can be a challenging branch of philately.
“ Stamps are legitimate if they are recognized internationally in practice, even if they are not recognized expressly, as by a treaty or international agreement. This is the same principle of international law that applies to the recognition of nation-states. A nation becomes a nation-state when the international community begins treating it as such."