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The Z-Grill (Best known Stamp)

The Benjamin Franklin Z-Grill is a 1-cent postage stamp issued by the United States Postal Service in 1868 depicting Benjamin Franklin. With the embossed "Z-Grill" "waffle" on the back, this is considered the rarest and most valuable US stamp. A "Z-Grill" is a specific pattern of tiny squares embossed into the paper and visible on the back of the stamps.
The purpose of the grills was to permit the canceling ink to be absorbed into the stamp paper, thus preventing those who wanted to from cheating the postal service by washing out cancellation marks. The use of grills was not found to be practical and they were soon discontinued.

This 1868 1 cent "Z-Grill" stamp sold for $935,000 in 1998 to Mystic Stamp Company, a stamp dealer. Siegel Auctions auctioned the stamp as part of the Robert Zoellner collection. Zachary Sundman, the eleven-year-old son of Mystic Stamp Company President Donald Sundman, was the individual responsible for wielding the paddle and doing the actual bidding.

Later, in late October 2005, Sundman traded this Z Grill to financier Bill Gross for a block of four Inverted Jenny stamps worth nearly $3 million. By completing this trade Gross became the owner of the only complete collection of U.S. 19th century stamps.

Both the Z Grills were on display at the National Postal Museum along with the first part of the Benjamin Miller Collection from 27 May 2006 till 1 October 2007.

The British Guiana 1cent magenta (Best known Stamp)

The British Guiana 1¢ magenta is among the rarest of all postage stamps. It was issued in limited numbers in British Guiana (now Guyana) in 1856, and only one specimen is now known to exist. It is imperforate, printed in black on magenta paper, and it features a sailing ship along with the colony's Latin motto "Damus Petimus Que Vicissim" (We give and expect in return) in the middle. Four thin lines frame the ship. The stamp's country of issue and value in small black upper case lettering in turn surround the frame.
The 1¢ magenta was part of a series of three definitive stamps issued in that year and was intended for use on local newspapers. The other two stamps, a 4¢ magenta and 4¢ blue, were intended for postage.Only one copy of the 1¢ stamp is known to exist. It is in used condition and has been cut in an octagonal shape. A signature, in accordance to Dalton's policy, can be seen on the left hand side. Although dirty and heavily postmarked on the upper left hand side, it is nonetheless regarded as priceless.

It was discovered in 1873, by 12-year-old Scottish schoolboy Vernon Vaughan in the Guyanese town of Demerara, amongst his uncle's letters. There was no record of it in his stamp catalogue, so he sold it some weeks later for a few shillings to a local dealer, N.R. McKinnon. After that, the price escalated. It was bought by a succession of collectors before being bought by Philippe la Rénotière von Ferrary in the 1880s for US$750. His massive stamp collection was willed to a Berlin museum.

Following Ferrary's death in 1917, the entire collection was taken by France as war reparations following the end of World War I. Arthur Hind bought it during the series of fourteen auctions in 1922 for over US$36,000 (reportedly outbidding three kings, including King George V), and it was sold by his widow for US$40,000 to a Florida engineer. In 1970, a syndicate of

Pennsylvanian investors, headed by Irwin Weinberg, purchased the stamp for $280,000 and spent much of the decade exhibiting the stamp in a worldwide tour. John E. du Pont bought it for $935,000 in 1980.

The Basel Dove (BEST known Stamp)

The Basel Dove is a notable stamp issued by the Swiss canton of Basel. It was issued on 1 July 1845 with a value of 2 1/2-rappen. At the time each canton was responsible for its own postal service.The stamp, designed by the architect Melchior Berry, featured a white embossed dove carrying a letter in its beak, and was inscribed "STADT POST BASEL". The stamp is printed in black, crimson, and blue, making it the world's first tri-colored stamp. The stamp was not valid for use after 30 September 1854, by which time 41,480 stamps had been printed. Collectors need to be aware that several forgeries have been circulated.
Estimated value Swiss franc (CHF) 18,000, CHF 37,500 on cover

The Jenny Invert (Best known Stamp)

The inverted Jenny (or Jenny Invert) is a United States postage stamp first issued on May 10, 1918 in which the image of the Curtiss JN-4 airplane in the center of the design was accidentally printed upside-down; it is probably the most famous error in American philately. Only 100 of the inverts were ever found, making this error one of the most prized in all philately; an inverted Jenny was sold at a Robert A. Siegel auction in November 2007 for US$977,500. A block of four inverted Jennys was also sold at a Robert A. Siegel auction in October 2005 for US$2.7m. In December of 2007, a mint, never hinged example, meaning one not previously affixed to a stamp album, was sold to an unidentified Wall Street executive for $825,000. The broker of the sale says the buyer is a collector who lost the auction the previous month mentioned above.

The Mauritius Post office (Best known Stamp)

The rarest postage stamps in the world, and are of legendary status in the world of philately. Two stamps were issued, an orange-red one penny (1d) and a deep blue two pence (2d).The stamps, as well as the subsequent issues, are highly prized by collectors because of their rarity, their early dates and their primitive character as local products. Surviving stamps are mainly in the hands of private collectors but some are on public display in the British Library in London, including the envelope of an original invitation to the Governor's ball complete with stamp. Another place where they can be seen is at the Blue Penny Museum in Mauritius. The two stamps also can be seen at the Museum for Communication (Museum für Kommunikation) in Berlin and in the Postal Museum of Sweden in Stockholm.

The Mauritius "Post Office" stamps were unknown to the philatelic world until 1864 when Mme. Borchard, the wife of a Bordeaux merchant, found copies of the one and two pence stamps in her husband's correspondence. She traded them to another collector. Through a series of sales, the stamps ultimately were acquired by the famous collector Ferrary, and were sold in auction in 1921.
Over the years, the stamps became legendary in the philatelic world and sold for increasing and ultimately astronomical prices. Mauritius "Post Office" stamps and covers have been prize items in collections of famous stamp collectors, including Arthur Hind, Alfred F. Lichtenstein, and Alfred H. Caspary, among other philatelic luminaries. The greatest of all Mauritius collections, that of Hiroyuki Kanai, included unused copies of both the One Penny and Two Pence "Post Office" stamps, the "Bordeaux" cover with both the one penny and two pence stamps which has been called "la pièce de résistance de toute la philatélie" or "the greatest item in all philately", and numerous reconstructed sheets of the subsequent issues. Kanai’s collection was sold by the auctioneer David Feldman in 1993, the Bordeaux cover going for the equivalent of about $4 million

The Penny Black, (Best Known Stamp)

Adhesive postage stamp of a public postal system, was issued by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on 1 May 1840, for use from 6 May of that year. Although all London post offices received official issues of the new stamps, other offices throughout the United Kingdom did not, and continued to accept postage payments in cash only for some time. Post offices in some other localities, such as those in the city of Bath, began offering the stamp unofficially after 2 May.

The Penny Black is readily available on the collectors' market today, a used stamp in poor condition can cost as little as £10 ($20). However, because of its significance, this stamp in fine condition is in demand by collectors and therefore not cheap; in 2000, a used stamp cost about £110 (around US$200), an unused example about £1,600 (around US$3,000) with prices steadily rising. By contrast, a used Penny Red was £1.50 ($3).

The Treskilling (Best known Stamp)

The "Treskilling" Yellow, or 3 skilling banco error of color.

postage stamp of Sweden, and the most valuable stamp in the world.
In 1855, Sweden issued its first postage stamps, a set of five depicting the Swedish coat of arms, with denominations ranging from 3 to 24 skillings banco. The 3-skilling banco value was normally printed in a blue-green color, while the 8-skilling was printed in a yellowish orange shade. It is not known exactly what went wrong, but the most likely explanation is that a cliché of the 8-skilling printing plate (which consisted of 100 clichés assembled into a 10 x 10 array) was damaged or broken, and mistakenly replaced with a 3-skilling cliché. The number of stamps printed in the wrong color is unknown.

After changing hands several times, Sigmund Friedl sold it to Philipp von Ferrary in 1894, who had at that time the largest known stamp collection in the world, and paid the breathtaking sum of 4,000 gulden. As time passed, and no other "yellows" surfaced despite energetic searching, it became clear that the stamp was not only rare, but quite possibly the only surviving example.

When Ferrary's collection was auctioned in the 1920s, Swedish Baron Eric Leijonhufvud acquired the Yellow, then Claes A. Tamm bought it in 1926 for £1,500 (GBP) in order to complete his collection of Sweden. In 1937, King Carol II of Romania purchased it from London auction house H. R. Harmer for £5,000, and in 1950 it went to Rene Berlingen for an unknown sum.

In the 1970s, the Swedish Postal Museum caused controversy by declaring the stamp to be a forgery but after examination by two different commissions, it was agreed that it was a genuine error.

In 1984 the stamp made headlines when it was sold by David Feldman for 977,500 Swiss francs. A 1990 sale realized over one million US dollars, then in 1996 it sold again for 2,500,000 Swiss francs. Each time it has been sold it has set world records.

Scott " Revenue Stamp Surcharge"

A small excerpt from 1910s Bolivia; each stamp includes the Scott number, design, denomination, color, unused and used prices, and additional annotations as needed. As the "1917" appearing before "1913" suggests, related stamps are sometimes grouped logically rather than numbered strictly chronologically.

The Scott numbering system is copyrighted, and the company regularly acts against anyone who uses it without permission in any way other than to publish price lists.

Scott Publishing Co also produces a related volume which more comprehensively lists all United States Postage Stamps and Postal History. It is generally known as the "Scott Specialized" and is regarded by many as the definitive single volume reference to USA postage stamps. The catalogue provides more detail than Volume One, with particular emphasis on varieties and errors. A new edition of the catalogue is produced annually with a particular edition year date generally indicating production in the middle of the previous year. Biannual Valuing Supplements are also issued in the Spring and Fall.

The best-known Stamp Catalogue

The Michel catalog (MICHEL-Briefmarken-Katalog) is the largest and best-known stamp catalog in the German-speaking world. First published in 1910, it has become an important reference work for philately, with information not available in the English-language Scott catalog.
MICHEL online .



Cover of the 1996 Europa West volume

Michel page describing 1995 Iraq issues not mentioned in the Scott catalog

Descriptive Catalogue of the American & Foreign Postage Stamps

The first Scott catalogue was a 21-page pamphlet with the title Descriptive Catalogue of American and Foreign Postage Stamps, Issued from 1840 to Date, Splendidly Illustrated with Colored Engravings and Containing the Current Value of each Variety. It was published in September 1868 by J.W. Scott, an early stamp dealer in New York, and purported to list all the stamps of the world, with prices for each. A notice inside does caution the reader that "it is simply impossible for any one to always have every stamp" in stock. The original catalog has been reprinted.

Cover of the first Scott catalog, 1868

Covers of the 2002 edition featured art on stamps.

Michael, Scott, Stanley Gibbons, Yvert

Stamp catalogues are the primary tool used by serious collectors to organize their collections, and for the identification and valuation of stamps. Most stamp shops have stamp catalogues available for purchase. There are hundreds of different catalogues, most specialized to particular countries or periods. Several major catalogues have worldwide coverage:

Collections, family, friends

The starting point for many new collectors is to ask family and friends to save stamps from their incoming mail. Although the stamps received by major businesses, and those kept by elderly relatives, may be of international and historical interest, the stamps received from family members are often of the definitive sort.

Definitives seem mundane but, considering their variety of colours, watermarks, paper differences, perforations and printing errors, they can fill many pages in a collection. Introducing either variety or specific focus to a collection can require the purchasing of stamps, either from a dealer or online.

Large numbers of relatively recent stamps, often still attached to fragments or envelopes, may be obtained cheaply and easily. Rare and old stamps can also be easily obtained via similar channels, with costs extending far beyond the means of all but a tiny minority of collectors.

Stamps, Equipments, Collecting

The easiest and cheapest method to store stamps is placing them in glassine envelopes and storing them in a box free from humidity, light, and heat. This obviously will be of no help when trying to go through the stamps for display or other purpose. Placing stamps in stamp albums helps in easy display of the stamp collection. Stamps can be displayed as per the wish of the collector, by country, topic, or even size, such that the ultimate display is pleasing to the eyes.

Archival stockbook with clear plastic pockets for the stamps: one of the safest means of stamp storage

Clockwise: hinge-mounted stamp, stamp about to be hinge-mounted, stamp damaged by a hinge, stamp hinges

Stamp tongs with rounded tips, to prevent damage from skin oils and rough handling.

The tools and items of collecting all fit neatly on a desk blotter.

Magnifying glass

Different countries Miniature stamps

The stamps on the sheet may be perforated in the usual way, or imperforate. The margins or selvage of the sheet may have additional printing, ranging from a simple statement of the occasion being commemorated, up to a full picture of which the stamp(s) are just a small part.














Celebrate the Century souvenir sheet issued by the United States.
Fifteen stamps are depicted with perforations running
to the edge of the sheetlet.










A miniature sheet from France, in which each stamp is
featured twice, once in the main picture and once at the
bottom in a more traditional display.













A miniature sheet from the Republic of China
(Taiwan), in which the stamps form a part of the larger image.

The Souvenir sheet

A souvenir sheet or miniature sheet is a small group of postage stamps still attached to the sheet on which they were printed. They may be either regular issues that just happen to be printed in small groups (typical of many early stamps), or special issues often commemorating some event, such as a national anniversary, philatelic exhibition, or government program.

This US souvenir sheet of 1936, issued for the TIPEX exhibition, consists of four contemporary commemoratives, imperforate.

Postage stamps & related objects

Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects, such as covers (envelopes or packages with stamps on them). It is one of the world's most popular hobbies, with estimates of the number of collectors ranging up to 20 million in the United States alone.

A stamp album page with different Machin stamps and spaces for missing stamps