Philately. Philatelists are not only collectors, but also keepers of history Philatelists and famous collections

A. Chekhov, A. Blok and M. Gorky, academicians I. P. Bardin and I. P. Pavlov, commander of the cruiser “Varyag” V. F. Rudnev, US President F. Roosevelt, singer E. Caruso and many others. K. Marx and F. Engels were also interested in postage stamps; Marx's daughter Eleanor was a keen philatelist:

Therefore, I am finishing the letter and adding a few lines for Tussinka... Many stamps are in duplicate. Doublets are exchanged here. I can supply Italian, Swiss, Norwegian and some German brands in large quantities.

The second philatelist known for the largest collection was the Englishman Thomas Tapling (1855-), the third was the Russian collector F. L. Breitfus (-), who lived in St. Petersburg. Another outstanding Russian philatelist was A. K. Faberge, who owned a unique collection of stamps and whole objects of the Russian Empire.

Famous philatelic collections included Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Prince Rainier III of Monaco and others famous people. From time to time, parts of their collections are exhibited in the Honorary Class at world philatelic exhibitions organized by the International Philatelic Federation, which have been held since 1927. Of the Russian philatelists, the Moscow collector L. Ya. Melnikov is recognized as the most titled at these exhibitions; his collection “USSR Air Mail” was repeatedly awarded large gold medals at world philatelic exhibitions.

Philatelic accessories

In the process of creating their collections and working with them, collectors operate with a special set of philatelic accessories and tools.

Philatelic literature

In the process of accumulating and systematizing collection material and designing a collection, philatelists resort to the help of catalogs and other reference and periodical literature. Examples of the latter are the following Soviet publications:

Philatelists in culture

In literature

Images of philatelists are widespread in fiction. Among the many literary works, in which there are philatelic characters, we can mention:

• the novel by Ilf and Petrov “The Twelve Chairs”, one of the main characters of which Ippolit Matveevich Vorobyaninov was known as an avid philatelist;
• a book of philatelic stories by the Czechoslovak writer Frantisek Langer (1888-1965) “Pink Mercury. What the stamps told us,” which describes the life story of Ignaz Kral, a major Czechoslovak philatelist of the 20th century;
• the fantastic story of the brothers A. and B. Strugatsky “The Tale of Friendship and Unfriendship”, the hero of which, the young philatelist Andrei T., conditional forces evil is tempted by "Pink Guiana";
• the fantastic story of the brothers A. and B. Strugatsky “The Second Invasion of the Martians”, in which the hero-narrator Apollo, in all the vicissitudes of life, is consoled by a collection of stamps and in his diary makes the following entry dated June 8: “My stamps, stamps! You alone never irritate me”;
• the fantastic story of the brothers A. and B. Strugatsky “A Billion Years Before the End of the World”: in it the hero named Valentin Weingarten, more than anything else in the world, besides himself, is interested in “the so-called consular fifty-kopeck piece, which, in fact, is not even a fifty-kopeck piece.” there was, but there was some kind of special postage stamp.” To force Weingarten to stop working on a Nobel Prize in biology, an agent of the fantastic Homeostatic Universe offered him “a thick bag... stuffed with magnificent stamps, the total value of which a person who is not a professional philatelist simply cannot imagine.”
• the fantastic novel by B. Strugatsky “The Powerless of This World”, which has a storyline related to philately;
• developing the philatetic storyline of “The Twelve Chairs,” the cryptohistorical work of the Volgograd science fiction writer Sergei Sinyakin “Marks of Our Fate”;
• the story by Sofia Mogilevskaya “Stamp of the Country of Gondelupe” about a first-grader in whose hands was a stamp of an unknown pirate country;
• the fantastic story “Alice's Journey” by Kir Bulychev, which features galactic philatelists from the distant future;
• adventure story “Odyssey of Sidang Stamps” by Gavriil Petrosyan;
• children's story “Mini-football on Maroseyka” by Viktor Sukhanov;
• a book of children's stories “Pink Guiana” by Nikolai Vnukov;
• stories by an Estonian children's writer Holgera Pucca(-) “Villu is a philatelist.”

In fine arts

In cinematography

In cinema, philatelists have repeatedly become characters in films, usually with criminal plots, for example:

Heads of countries

Celebrities

Private individuals

Artists

An excerpt characterizing the Philatelist

“N"est ce pas? [Isn’t that right?],” said the princess, sighing. “So can he drink?”
Lorren thought about it.
– Did he take the medicine?
- Yes.
The doctor looked at the breget.
– Take a glass of boiled water and put in une pincee (with his thin fingers he showed what une pincee means) de cremortartari... [a pinch of cremortartar...]
“Listen, I didn’t drink,” the German doctor said to the adjutant, “so that after the third blow there was nothing left.”
– What a fresh man he was! - said the adjutant. – And who will this wealth go to? – he added in a whisper.
“There will be a okotnik,” the German answered, smiling.
Everyone looked back at the door: it creaked, and the second princess, having made the drink shown by Lorren, took it to the sick man. The German doctor approached Lorren.
- Maybe it will last until tomorrow morning? - asked the German, speaking bad French.
Lorren, pursing his lips, sternly and negatively waved his finger in front of his nose.
“Tonight, not later,” he said quietly, with a decent smile of self-satisfaction in the fact that he clearly knew how to understand and express the patient’s situation, and walked away.

Meanwhile, Prince Vasily opened the door to the princess’s room.
The room was dim; only two lamps were burning in front of the images, and there was a good smell of incense and flowers. The entire room was furnished with small furniture: wardrobes, cupboards, and tables. The white covers of a high down bed could be seen from behind the screens. The dog barked.
- Oh, is it you, mon cousin?
She stood up and straightened her hair, which had always, even now, been so unusually smooth, as if it had been made from one piece with her head and covered with varnish.
- What, did something happen? – she asked. “I’m already so scared.”
- Nothing, everything is the same; “I just came to talk to you, Katish, about business,” said the prince, wearily sitting down on the chair from which she had risen. “How did you warm it up, however,” he said, “well, sit here, causons.” [let's talk.]
– I was wondering if something had happened? - said the princess and with her unchanged, stone-stern expression on her face, she sat down opposite the prince, preparing to listen.
“I wanted to sleep, mon cousin, but I can’t.”
- Well, what, my dear? - said Prince Vasily, taking the princess’s hand and bending it downwards according to his habit.
It was clear that this “well, what” referred to many things that, without naming them, they both understood.
The princess, with her incongruously long legs, lean and straight waist, looked directly and dispassionately at the prince with her bulging gray eyes. She shook her head and sighed as she looked at the images. Her gesture could be explained both as an expression of sadness and devotion, and as an expression of fatigue and hope for a quick rest. Prince Vasily explained this gesture as an expression of fatigue.
“But for me,” he said, “do you think it’s easier?” Je suis ereinte, comme un cheval de poste; [I'm as tired as a post horse;] but still I need to talk to you, Katish, and very seriously.
Prince Vasily fell silent, and his cheeks began to twitch nervously, first on one side, then on the other, giving his face an unpleasant expression that had never appeared on Prince Vasily’s face when he was in the living rooms. His eyes were also not the same as always: sometimes they looked brazenly joking, sometimes they looked around in fear.
The princess, holding the dog on her knees with her dry, thin hands, looked carefully into the eyes of Prince Vasily; but it was clear that she would not break the silence with a question, even if she had to remain silent until the morning.
“You see, my dear princess and cousin, Katerina Semyonovna,” continued Prince Vasily, apparently not without an internal struggle as he began to continue his speech, “in moments like now, you need to think about everything.” We need to think about the future, about you... I love you all like my children, you know that.
The princess looked at him just as dimly and motionlessly.
“Finally, we need to think about my family,” Prince Vasily continued, angrily pushing the table away from him and not looking at her, “you know, Katisha, that you, the three Mamontov sisters, and also my wife, we are the only direct heirs of the count.” I know, I know how hard it is for you to talk and think about such things. And it’s not easier for me; but, my friend, I’m in my sixties, I need to be prepared for anything. Do you know that I sent for Pierre, and that the count, directly pointing to his portrait, demanded him to come to him?
Prince Vasily looked questioningly at the princess, but could not understand whether she was understanding what he told her or was just looking at him...
“I never cease to pray to God for one thing, mon cousin,” she answered, “that he would have mercy on him and allow his beautiful soul to leave this world in peace...
“Yes, that’s so,” Prince Vasily continued impatiently, rubbing his bald head and again angrily pulling the table pushed aside towards him, “but finally... finally the thing is, you yourself know that last winter the count wrote a will, according to which he has the entire estate , in addition to the direct heirs and us, he gave it to Pierre.
“You never know how many wills he wrote!” – the princess said calmly. “But he couldn’t bequeath to Pierre.” Pierre is illegal.
“Ma chere,” said Prince Vasily suddenly, pressing the table to himself, perking up and starting to speak quickly, “but what if the letter was written to the sovereign, and the count asks to adopt Pierre?” You see, according to the Count’s merits, his request will be respected...
The princess smiled, the way people smile who think they know the matter more than those they are talking to.
“I’ll tell you more,” continued Prince Vasily, grabbing her hand, “the letter was written, although not sent, and the sovereign knew about it.” The only question is whether it is destroyed or not. If not, then how soon will it all be over,” Prince Vasily sighed, making it clear that he meant by the words everything will end, “and the count’s papers will be opened, the will with the letter will be handed over to the sovereign, and his request will probably be respected. Pierre, as a legitimate son, will receive everything.
– What about our unit? - asked the princess, smiling ironically, as if anything but this could happen.
- Mais, ma pauvre Catiche, c "est clair, comme le jour. [But, my dear Catiche, it is clear as day.] He alone is the rightful heir of everything, and you will not get any of this. You should know, my dear, were the will and the letter written, and were they destroyed? And if for some reason they are forgotten, then you should know where they are and find them, because...
- This was all that was missing! – the princess interrupted him, smiling sardonically and without changing the expression of her eyes. - I am a woman; according to you, we are all stupid; but I know so well that an illegitimate son cannot inherit... Un batard, [Illegitimate,] - she added, hoping with this translation to finally show the prince his groundlessness.
- Don’t you understand, finally, Katish! You are so smart: how do you not understand - if the count wrote a letter to the sovereign in which he asks him to recognize his son as legitimate, it means that Pierre will no longer be Pierre, but Count Bezukhoy, and then he will receive everything in his will? And if the will and the letter are not destroyed, then nothing will remain for you except the consolation that you were virtuous et tout ce qui s"en suit, [and everything that follows from here]. This is true.
– I know that the will has been written; but I also know that it is invalid, and you seem to consider me a complete fool, mon cousin,” said the princess with the expression with which women speak when they believe that they have said something witty and insulting.
“You are my dear Princess Katerina Semyonovna,” Prince Vasily spoke impatiently. “I came to you not to pick a fight with you, but to talk about your own interests as with my dear, good, kind, true relative.” I’m telling you for the tenth time that if a letter to the sovereign and a will in favor of Pierre are in the count’s papers, then you, my dear, and your sisters, are not the heir. If you don’t believe me, then trust people who know: I just spoke with Dmitry Onufriich (he was the house’s lawyer), he said the same thing.
Apparently something suddenly changed in the princess’s thoughts; her thin lips turned pale (the eyes remained the same), and her voice, while she spoke, broke through with such peals that she, apparently, herself did not expect.
“That would be good,” she said. – I didn’t want anything and don’t want anything.
She threw her dog off her lap and straightened the folds of her dress.
“That’s gratitude, that’s gratitude to the people who sacrificed everything for him,” she said. - Wonderful! Very good! I don't need anything, prince.
“Yes, but you are not alone, you have sisters,” answered Prince Vasily.
But the princess did not listen to him.
“Yes, I knew this for a long time, but I forgot that except baseness, deception, envy, intrigue, except ingratitude, the blackest ingratitude, I could expect nothing in this house...
– Do you know or don’t you know where this will is? - asked Prince Vasily with an even greater twitching of his cheeks than before.
– Yes, I was stupid, I still believed in people and loved them and sacrificed myself. And only those who are vile and nasty succeed. I know whose intrigue it is.
The princess wanted to get up, but the prince held her hand. The princess had the appearance of a person who had suddenly become disillusioned with the entire human race; she looked angrily at her interlocutor.
“There is still time, my friend.” You remember, Katisha, that all this happened by accident, in a moment of anger, illness, and then forgotten. It is our duty, my dear, to correct his mistake, to make it easier for him last minutes in order to prevent him from committing this injustice, to prevent him from dying in the thoughts that he made those people unhappy...
“Those people who sacrificed everything for him,” the princess picked up, trying to get up again, but the prince did not let her in, “which he never knew how to appreciate.” No, mon cousin,” she added with a sigh, “I will remember that in this world one cannot expect a reward, that in this world there is neither honor nor justice.” In this world you have to be cunning and evil.
- Well, voyons, [listen,] calm down; I know your beautiful heart.
- No, I have an evil heart.
“I know your heart,” the prince repeated, “I value your friendship and would like you to have the same opinion of me.” Calm down and parlons raison, [let's talk properly] while there is time - maybe a day, maybe an hour; tell me everything you know about the will, and, most importantly, where it is: you must know. We will now take it and show it to the count. He probably already forgot about it and wants to destroy it. You understand that my only desire is to sacredly fulfill his will; I just came here then. I'm only here to help him and you.
– Now I understand everything. I know whose intrigue it is. “I know,” said the princess.
- That’s not the point, my soul.
- This is your protegee, [favorite,] your dear princess Drubetskaya, Anna Mikhailovna, whom I would not want to have as a maid, this vile, disgusting woman.
– Ne perdons point de temps. [Let's not waste time.]
- Ax, don't talk! Last winter she infiltrated here and said such nasty things, such nasty things to the Count about all of us, especially Sophie - I cannot repeat it - that the Count became ill and did not want to see us for two weeks. At this time, I know that he wrote this vile, vile paper; but I thought that this paper meant nothing.
– Nous y voila, [That’s the point.] why didn’t you tell me anything before?
– In the mosaic briefcase that he keeps under his pillow. “Now I know,” said the princess without answering. “Yes, if there is a sin behind me, a great sin, then it is hatred of this scoundrel,” the princess almost shouted, completely changed. - And why is she rubbing herself in here? But I will tell her everything, everything. The time will come!

While such conversations took place in the reception room and in the princess's rooms, the carriage with Pierre (who was sent for) and with Anna Mikhailovna (who found it necessary to go with him) drove into the courtyard of Count Bezukhy. When the wheels of the carriage sounded softly on the straw spread under the windows, Anna Mikhailovna, turning to her companion with comforting words, was convinced that he was sleeping in the corner of the carriage, and woke him up. Having woken up, Pierre followed Anna Mikhailovna out of the carriage and then only thought about the meeting with his dying father that awaited him. He noticed that they drove up not to the front entrance, but to the back entrance. While he was getting off the step, two people in bourgeois clothes hurriedly ran away from the entrance into the shadow of the wall. Pausing, Pierre saw several more similar people in the shadows of the house on both sides. But neither Anna Mikhailovna, nor the footman, nor the coachman, who could not help but see these people, paid no attention to them. Therefore, this is so necessary, Pierre decided to himself and followed Anna Mikhailovna. Anna Mikhailovna walked with hasty steps up the dimly lit narrow stone staircase, calling to Pierre, who was lagging behind her, who, although he did not understand why he had to go to the count at all, and even less why he had to go up the back stairs, but , judging by the confidence and haste of Anna Mikhailovna, he decided to himself that this was necessary. Halfway up the stairs, they were almost knocked down by some people with buckets, who, clattering with their boots, ran towards them. These people pressed against the wall to let Pierre and Anna Mikhailovna through, and did not show the slightest surprise at the sight of them.
– Are there half princesses here? – Anna Mikhailovna asked one of them...
“Here,” the footman answered in a bold, loud voice, as if now everything was possible, “the door is on the left, mother.”
“Maybe the count didn’t call me,” Pierre said as he walked out onto the platform, “I would have gone to my place.”
Anna Mikhailovna stopped to catch up with Pierre.
- Ah, mon ami! - she said with the same gesture as in the morning with her son, touching his hand: - croyez, que je souffre autant, que vous, mais soyez homme. [Believe me, I suffer no less than you, but be a man.]
- Right, I'll go? - asked Pierre, looking affectionately through his glasses at Anna Mikhailovna.
- Ah, mon ami, oubliez les torts qu"on a pu avoir envers vous, pensez que c"est votre pere... peut etre a l"agonie. - She sighed. - Je vous ai tout de suite aime comme mon fils. Fiez vous a moi, Pierre. Je n"oublirai pas vos interets. [Forget, my friend, what was wronged against you. Remember that this is your father... Maybe in agony. I immediately loved you like a son. Trust me, Pierre. I will not forget your interests.]
Pierre did not understand anything; again it seemed to him even more strongly that all this should be so, and he obediently followed Anna Mikhailovna, who was already opening the door.
The door opened into the front and back. An old servant of the princesses sat in the corner and knitted a stocking. Pierre had never been to this half, did not even imagine the existence of such chambers. Anna Mikhailovna asked the girl who was ahead of them, with a decanter on a tray (calling her sweet and darling) about the health of the princesses and dragged Pierre further along the stone corridor. From the corridor, the first door to the left led to the princesses' living rooms. The maid, with the decanter, in a hurry (as everything was done in a hurry at that moment in this house) did not close the door, and Pierre and Anna Mikhailovna, passing by, involuntarily looked into the room where the eldest princess and Prince Vasily. Seeing those passing by, Prince Vasily made an impatient movement and leaned back; The princess jumped up and with a desperate gesture slammed the door with all her might, closing it.
This gesture was so unlike the princess’s usual calmness, the fear expressed on Prince Vasily’s face was so uncharacteristic of his importance that Pierre stopped, questioningly, through his glasses, looked at his leader.
Anna Mikhailovna did not express surprise, she only smiled slightly and sighed, as if showing that she had expected all this.
“Soyez homme, mon ami, c"est moi qui veillerai a vos interets, [Be a man, my friend, I will look after your interests.] - she said in response to his gaze and walked even faster down the corridor.
Pierre did not understand what the matter was, and even less what veiller a vos interets meant, [to look after your interests,] but he understood that all this should be so. They walked through the corridor into a dimly lit hall adjacent to the count's reception room. It was one of those cold and luxurious rooms that Pierre knew from the front porch. But even in this room, in the middle, there was an empty bathtub and water was spilled on the carpet. A servant and a clerk with a censer came out to meet them on tiptoe, not paying attention to them. They entered a reception room familiar to Pierre with two Italian windows, access to the winter garden, with a large bust and a full-length portrait of Catherine. All the same people, in almost the same positions, sat whispering in the waiting room. Everyone fell silent and looked back at Anna Mikhailovna who had entered, with her tear-stained, pale face, and at the fat, big Pierre, who, with his head down, obediently followed her.
Anna Mikhailovna's face expressed the consciousness that the decisive moment had arrived; She, with the manner of a businesslike St. Petersburg lady, entered the room, not letting Pierre go, even bolder than in the morning. She felt that since she was leading the one whom the dying man wanted to see, her reception was guaranteed. Having quickly glanced at everyone who was in the room, and noticing the count's confessor, she, not only bending over, but suddenly becoming smaller in stature, swam up to the confessor with a shallow amble and respectfully accepted the blessing of one, then another clergyman.
“Thank God we made it,” she said to the clergyman, “all of us, my family, were so afraid.” This young man is the count’s son,” she added more quietly. - A terrible moment!
Having uttered these words, she approached the doctor.
“Cher docteur,” she told him, “ce jeune homme est le fils du comte... y a t il de l"espoir? [This young man is the son of a count... Is there hope?]
The doctor silently, with a quick movement, raised his eyes and shoulders upward. Anna Mikhailovna raised her shoulders and eyes with exactly the same movement, almost closing them, sighed and walked away from the doctor to Pierre. She turned especially respectfully and tenderly sadly to Pierre.
“Ayez confiance en Sa misericorde, [Trust in His mercy,”] she told him, showing him a sofa to sit down to wait for her, she silently walked towards the door that everyone was looking at, and following the barely audible sound of this door, disappeared behind it.
Pierre, having decided to obey his leader in everything, went to the sofa that she showed him. As soon as Anna Mikhailovna disappeared, he noticed that the glances of everyone in the room turned to him with more than curiosity and sympathy. He noticed that everyone was whispering, pointing at him with their eyes, as if with fear and even servility. He was shown respect that had never been shown before: a lady unknown to him, who was speaking with the clergy, stood up from her seat and invited him to sit down, the adjutant picked up the glove that Pierre had dropped and handed it to him; the doctors fell silent respectfully as he passed them, and stood aside to give him room. Pierre wanted to sit in another place first, so as not to embarrass the lady; he wanted to lift his glove himself and go around the doctors, who were not standing in the road at all; but he suddenly felt that this would be indecent, he felt that this night he was a person who was obliged to perform some terrible ritual expected by everyone, and that therefore he had to accept services from everyone. He silently accepted the glove from the adjutant, sat down in the lady’s place, placing his large hands on his symmetrically extended knees, in the naive pose of an Egyptian statue, and decided to himself that all this should be exactly like this and that he should do it this evening, so as not to to get lost and not do anything stupid, one should not act according to one’s own considerations, but one must submit oneself completely to the will of those who guided him.

Who among us didn’t go to school with a small notebook and exchange stamps with friends during breaks? This is probably familiar to many. After all, a hobby that was fashionable in the past does not lose its popularity today. And now he has supporters all over the world. These are philatelists.

Philately is a hobby that teaches

With the advent of the first postage stamp in England, new area hobby. The name for this new type of collecting - philately - was invented by the French collector Georges Herpin in 1864. Philatelic collectibles include all postal materials and signs issued, printed or affixed during delivery in connection with their receipt and forwarding by the relevant authorities of individual postal enterprises. Almost immediately after the appearance of postage stamps, the first enthusiasts and devotees of the tiny strip of paper appeared. Philatelists are the people thanks to whom unique letters with the first stamps have been preserved.

Philately as a way of life

Collecting postage stamps and interest in this hobby poses certain requirements for collectors. Philatelic knowledge is not only knowledge of the price list or catalogue, but also history, as well as mastery of philatelic terminology. Philately is not only pleasure, but also a great benefit for every collector. A postage stamp is an important educational and cultural factor from which you can learn to understand life, history and changes taking place in your homeland and in other countries. An artistically executed postage stamp is a symbol of the country.

Philatelists are unique people; in a sense, they can be called guardians of history. And their hobby is more than just collecting stamps. It's a way of life. In order to gain knowledge of what is depicted on postal signs, philatelists previously spent a lot of time in libraries and reading rooms; today they successfully work on the Internet: they look for information about the postal signs themselves and what is depicted on them. Yes, this activity is tedious and time-consuming, but extremely important, because this is how history is learned.

What are collectibles?

Absolutely all postal signs are collected by philatelists. Stamps, postcards, forms, postal forms with dates, envelopes and postcards with a printed return address, telegrams, stamp designs, their samples and samples, postage stamps and postmarks. Philately is a hobby of collecting almost everything related to the work of post offices.

At the same time, collectors often encounter fakes. After all modern methods stamps make it possible to almost perfectly forge postal symbols and forms. With this in mind, philatelists have their own experts who scientifically study and issue certificates or guarantees of authenticity. Today, every self-respecting philatelist will not buy a stamp without a guarantee or certificate.

Collaboration and knowledge sharing

Such collectors communicate closely with each other and exchange their exhibits. They meet systematically at meetings in philatelist clubs, at retreats, seminars and exhibitions. Few people know that many events and events, such as sports, are accompanied by philatelic exhibitions. For example, the exhibition organized on the occasion of the Summer Olympic Games in Beijing is widely known. After it, some collectors took away more “gold” than many athletes. Philatelists also present their exhibits at events organized on the occasion of the World and European Football Championships or athletics competitions.

There is also mutual assistance between collectors. They know what interests whom, who collects what in a philatelist’s album - sometimes they will find something for themselves, share something with their friends, other times they will advise where exactly to look for the “loot” of interest.

Without a doubt, today in many homes, bookcases filled with postage stamps are kept on the shelves, as a kind of memory of childhood and youth, of the interests of our parents. It's time to air out these collections and show them to the younger generation.

Philately is not only a hobby, it is an education. Each image placed on the stamp contains some knowledge that inspires deeper knowledge.

The content of the article

PHILATELY, a hobby associated with collecting stamps and studying the history, functioning and use of postal services. Fans of philately consider it both science and creative activity: science because it involves the systematic study and classification of materials, and creative activity because the principles of organizing and displaying a collection reflect the individual taste of the collector.

It is not known exactly how many philatelists there are now on Earth. According to some estimates, there are from 6 to 8 million, according to others - 45 million; the specific figure depends on the method of assessment. In any case, philately is one of the most popular types of collecting in almost all countries of the world. It is also a huge area commercial activities associated with the sale of goods worth many millions of dollars annually. Philately also represents a major source of income for many governments. If, for example, before 1965, the US Postal Department sold approximately $3.5 million worth of stamps annually through its philatelic agency, but now collectors annually buy stamps through local post offices for many times that amount.

ELEMENTS OF PHILATELY

What do philatelists collect? The first postage stamp was issued by the British government in 1840. The purpose of this stamp, which was popularly called "Penny Black", was to serve as a convenient means of pre-paying postage and postage, defining further criteria for the evaluation of issued stamps.

There are two types of regular postage stamps: 1) standard, used for a certain period of time and periodically reprinted as their stock is depleted; 2) commemorative, issued once to commemorate a date associated with a person, place or event, and automatically goes out of circulation after depletion from the original supply. Commemorative stamps tend to be more attractive and varied in appearance, and are especially popular among collectors.

In 1871, a commemorative stamp was issued in Peru to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the discovery. railway between Lima and the coastal port city of Callao Pacific Ocean. The first commemorative stamp in the United States was a stamp issued in 1876 to commemorate the centenary of the establishment of the US Postal Service. No less interesting was the stamp issued in 1893 in honor of Christopher Columbus and the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America.

In Russia, postage stamps were introduced in 1858, the first commemoratives were issued at the beginning of the 19th century. The first Soviet stamp was issued in 1918, three years later in 1921 the first Soviet commemorative stamps appeared.

Regular postage stamps were soon followed by a variety of stamps intended for special postal use. One of them, a registration stamp (first issued in Spain in 1850), indicated an additional payment for guaranteed delivery of mail and especially careful handling of it. Another similar type of stamp was the now common airmail stamp (first introduced by Italy in 1917); Airmail stamps are one of the most popular categories of collectible stamps. Less popular are the types of stamps that indicate prepayment for services such as special handling, special delivery, and package transportation. In some countries, there are special stamps for postage of newspapers. There are stamps, called service stamps, which are used only in the government mail system. Semi-postal stamps are stamps for which an additional fee is charged, above and beyond the cost of postal delivery; An additional fee is charged for some special reason, such as charity. Postal debt stamps, which serve to compensate for incomplete prepayment of services, constitute another group.

Despite such a variety of current postage stamps, some philatelists also collect non-postal objects. Among them are revenue stamps, which are signs used for special financial purposes, for example, for financial transactions with guaranteed payment of taxes; telegraph stamps used to pay for telegraph services; charity signs. Some hobbyists even collect stamps and tapes from postal counting machines.

All these types of philatelic objects are collected in various forms. After single stamps, the most common forms are blocks, sheets, booklets and stamped envelopes.

COLLECTING METHODS.

Regardless of the material that a philatelist collects and studies, he usually follows one of four basic plans.

General. General method collecting represents the first step in philately. Admired by literally everything he sees, the enthusiast collects everything that looks like a postage stamp. For the first few decades after the release of Penny Black, philatelists were able to include in their collections almost every stamp then issued. As the number of stamps issued grew, which now exceeded 200,000, the formation of a complete collection had to be abandoned as an unrealistic goal. The general collection, containing stamps grouped by country and arranged in order of date of issue, became simply a representative collection. For serious philatelists, general collecting is only preparatory stage for more rigorous forms of collecting.

Selective. The second collecting plan is selective, associated with a large number restrictions set by the collector himself. Based own experience he may conclude that he has a predilection for a certain type of brands or for brands of certain countries or groups of countries. With this focus, the collector is able to create a collection that is complete rather than merely representative. Favorite countries for this type of collecting are the United States of America, Great Britain, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Switzerland, the Vatican and some African states, especially Ghana. Popular country groups include the British Commonwealth of Nations, countries occupied by Japan during World War II, and the minor German states before their unification. Stamps issued by the UN are also common collectibles. Selective collections of special types of stamps are generally limited to the categories already mentioned, in particular airmail stamps and postal debt stamps.

Specialized. The third plan, specialized collecting, is limited only by the ingenuity and capabilities of the collector. Specialized collectors focus their attention on one aspect of philately or one philatelic issue and develop it intensively. There are virtually no restrictions on the choice of collectibles, but the collector must delve into many subtleties. technical problems: color shades, types of perforation, changes in the type and thickness of paper and glue, features of the printing process and types of cancellations. For example, one specialized collector may seek to assemble a collection that would reflect the history of relations between Russia and Japan, another may attempt to illustrate the functioning of the Turkish postal system in Palestine during the era Ottoman Empire. A third collector may concentrate his attention on a single issue, perhaps the first in any country, and try to collect all the stamps of a sheet; by noting their minute differences, the collector can recreate the original printing plate with all its defects, corrections and other imperfections.

Thematic. The fourth collecting plan is probably the newest. Thematic collecting is associated with the formation of a collection of materials selected and systematized by a specific object, and not by country of issue or type of postal service provided. The most popular themes for this type of collecting are religion, art, sports, railway transport, birds, flowers, cards and animals. This type of collecting encourages careful development of a collection. For example, a collector might try to compile a thematic collection of prominent biologists, including envelopes canceled in the subjects' home countries, and accompany it with stamps showing the subjects of biological research.

ACQUISITION OF STANDS.

Beginning collectors can collect stamps from letters sent to them by acquaintances traveling abroad, or purchase stamps through local post offices, philatelic agencies or post offices. Apart from informal purchases or exchanges among collectors, the best source for obtaining most stamps is to purchase them from a specialty store. The philatelic trade is well organized around the world, for example by dealers represented by the American Stamp Dealers Association or (in the UK) the Society of Philatelic Dealers. Most significant philatelic objects, some of which are not inferior in price the best works art are sold at auctions. In Europe, the first philatelic auction took place in Paris in 1866. In 1991, there were already 244 philatelic auction companies operating in the world, most of them were located in Germany, Switzerland, England and the USA. Recently, you can take part in many auctions in absentia, using the capabilities of the Internet.

CATALOGS.

One of the most remarkable achievements of philately was the compilation of catalogs containing every stamp ever issued. Few hobbies can boast such literature. From simple pamphlets in the 1860s to the voluminous publications of today, consisting of 2,500 pages or more, catalogs have always been and remain the main guide for philatelists. Catalogs provide collectors with essential identifying information and relative value estimates of items. Most catalogs also contain historical and other information.

UK philatelists prefer to use the Stanley Gibbons catalog because of its reasonable price and detailed list of stamps. First published as a 16-page pamphlet in 1865, this general catalog is now published in three large volumes. In the US, the first and still most popular is Scott's catalogue. First published in 1867, it is still produced today by a special department of a large magazine publishing company. The numbering system developed for Scott's catalog has been adopted as standard for virtually all American philatelic literature and trade. A second and newer catalog that uses a different numbering system is the Minkus New World-Wide Catalog. First released in 1954, it gained considerable popularity due to its extensive commentary on the artwork and history of the stamps.

In continental Europe, the Swiss catalog Zumstein, the German Michel and the French Yvert are the most authoritative. Most publishers also compile specialized catalogs for individual countries or groups of countries, which in this regard are more detailed than general catalogs.

OTHER LITERATURE.

The first stamp magazine, The Monthly Advertiser, appeared in England between 1862 and 1864. The first American magazine, The Stamp Collectors Review, was first published in 1864. The American Philatelic Magazine ( The American Journal of Philately (1968) was the first serious publication at the level of scientific journalism. Contemporary British publications include the popular magazine The Stamp Lover and the scholarly London Philatelist, the organ of the Royal Philatelic Society. In the USA, its analogue is the magazine Collectors Club Philatelist, published by the New York Collectors Club. American Philatelist, the magazine of the American Philatelic Society, has been published continuously since 1887.

ALBUMS.

Albums for storing stamps were first published by Justin Lallier in Paris in 1862. In principle, they differed little from those that are used now. The printed album contains pages with printed country names and space for stamps, arranged in the desired order. Illustrations from the showcase issues are strategically placed throughout the book to provide a framework for organizing the placement of stamps. The quality of printed albums varies from inexpensive paperback editions for teenagers, to "world" albums capable of holding 100,000 stamps, to serial albums of 30 or more books, covering almost all major series.

Envelopes and notepaper are more difficult to store than adhesive stamps, but can be placed in albums containing clear folders for storing collectibles; they can also be attached to pages with fastening strips of paper and photo corners.

The blank album is the tool philatelists use to transform stamp collecting from mere collecting into an art. An album is typically a loose-leaf book that is completely blank or contains barely printed corners to facilitate the placement of stamps. Working from a blank album, the collector can systematize the arrangement of stamps to his liking and make inscriptions and decorations. The collector strives to arrange his material in such a way that it seems to tell a certain story. Almost all exhibits at competitive shows are placed on blank album pages.

HANDLING OF STANDS.

Although stamps are just fragile pieces of paper, if handled carefully they can last for centuries. The most important tool for a philatelist is tweezers, specially made for working with stamps. New acquisitions and duplicates are stored in storage albums with transparent pockets into which stamps are inserted.

Stamps must be protected from direct sunlight, high temperature and humidity. Under no circumstances should they be glued with adhesive tape or non-specialized glue. If they are attached using strips of paper, they must be used to secure them firmly. minimal amount moisture. If they are placed in a transparent pocket, then it should be large enough so that the edges of the stamp are not damaged, and nothing would obstruct the access of air, which prevents the glue from sticking.

THE APPEARANCE OF PHILATELY

First stamps. Although postal systems already existed during the Babylonian Empire, and postal historians believed great luck, when postal items dating back to the 14th century were found, postage stamps and philately were innovations of the 19th century.

In England, the educator Rowland Hill laid the foundations for both of these subjects in 1837 with the publication of a pamphlet entitled Postal Service Reform: Its Importance and Feasibility. The key points of Hill's program were prepayment of postal services and the constancy of domestic rates based on the weight of correspondence, regardless of the distance it was sent. Previously, postal payments were determined by the distance the letter was sent and the number of sheets of paper inserted into the envelope. Hill has convincingly shown that it was the difficulty of handling correspondence in the post office, rather than the distance it was sent, that accounted for most of the cost of postal services. He also concluded that when rates were reduced to more reasonable levels, the volume of mail would increase, offsetting the cost of postage. To facilitate processing, he came up with a prepayment system to replace the previous rule that postage was paid for by the addressee.

Hill proposed two innovations: first, a type of prepaid envelope and, second, an adhesive postage stamp. The first, called the Mulready envelope (after its designer William Mulready), very quickly fell into disuse due to appearance, which caused a lot of controversy among contemporaries. The second, a stark black stamp featuring the young Queen Victoria, was received with enthusiasm from its first day of issue on May 1, 1840, and its first day of use on May 2, 1840.
About two years later, the postage stamp was accepted into circulation by a private postal service in New York. Brazil and two Swiss cantons, Zurich and Geneva, were the next to use stamps, followed by all civilized countries of the world.

In the United States, the first two stamps, a 5-cent Benjamin Franklin stamp and a 10-cent George Washington stamp, were issued on July 1, 1847.

The first years of philately. People living in Europe in the 1840s soon began to pay attention to stamps, which improved the previously monotonous appearance of their letters. As early as 1842, according to Punch magazine, “extremely idle English aristocratic women” began collecting stamps to cover the walls of their rooms. Collecting stamps for strictly philatelic purposes came into fashion about ten years later. Miss Adelaide Lucy Fenton wrote notes on stamps for early philatelic publications under a pseudonym.
In 1864, the Frenchman Georges Herpin coined the word "philately" (from the Greek words philos, meaning "love", and ateleia, meaning exemption or receipt of payment, which is what a postage stamp actually is). A year later, Erpen organized the world's first philatelic society. In 1869 the Philatelic Society of London (now the Royal Philatelic Society) was created.
Some early collectors began writing about stamps and related issues. J.B. Moons of Brussels published some of the first practical catalogues. In the USA, a certain William P. Brown began selling stamps in City Hall Park in New York already in 1860, attaching goods to the walls of his stall. In 1863, a young Englishman, J. Walter Scott, came to New York with a stamp collection, his only possession. He sold it to Brown. He subsequently continued his philatelic career, among other things, organizing the first stamp auction in the United States and creating his famous catalog. His contemporary, the Englishman Edward Stanley Gibbons, bought a suitcase full of triangular stamps from the Cape of Good Hope for £5 from two sailors and set about creating the philatelic firm that still bears his name. Nowadays, this company has several hundred employees, publishes magazines and catalogs, and hires artists to design British stamps.

Classic stamps. Many of the most famous and valuable stamps were issued between 1840 and 1875. Some of the first such classic issues were the trial temporary stamps issued in the United States by enterprising postmasters in the eastern cities of the country and St. Louis before the federal government took care of issuing its own stamps in 1847. Also in 1847, the British colony on the island of Mauritius Indian Ocean issued a set of two stamps featuring Queen Victoria's profile and the words "Post Office" instead of "Post Paid" on all subsequent issues. In 1969, a pair of Post Office stamps and an envelope sold for $380,000.

Another famous British colonial issue is the 1848 Bermuda "Perot" stamp. William B. Perot, postmaster of the city of Hamilton, stamped a round postmark in the form of a postage stamp on sheets of paper and wrote down the value by hand. Also round were the stamps of British Guiana, published in 1850 and entering into legal force after the postmasters inscribed their initials on them. In 1856, this colony also issued 1-cent red stamps; The only copy of those stamps has survived. It is marred by cut corners and ugly lettering, but is considered the most valuable stamp in the world. In 1980 it was sold at auction for $935,000.
The first triangular stamps came from the British African colony of the Cape of Good Hope in 1853. According to legend, this unusual shape was chosen to help illiterate postal workers distinguish local letters from foreign ones.

After the establishment of the Confederate States of America various cities in the south of the country so-called temporary stamps were issued. Many of them have a very unsightly appearance, but are highly valued these days.

Despite the novelty of the craft of stamp making, errors from the classical period are not as numerous as one might expect. Among the most famous are the 15-, 24-, and 30-cent reverse-image pieces from the 1869 American Painting Issue. In Sweden, some copies of the first state stamp of 1855, valued at 3 ore, were accidentally printed in yellow instead of bluish-green. This error is one of modern philatelic rarities.

FAMOUS COLLECTORS AND COLLECTIONS.

Classic and other valuable brands often take center stage in famous collections. Perhaps one of the most magnificent was the collection of Philippe la Renotiere von Ferrari, an Austro-Italian aristocrat with seemingly limitless financial resources. Ferrari was born in 1848 and began collecting stamps at the age of 10. He hired a special person to manage the collection, who sometimes bought $10,000 worth of stamps a week, and kept this collection in two rooms of his large Parisian mansion. Among his treasures was a unique 1 cent British Guiana red stamp. Ferrari died in 1917 and bequeathed his collection to the Reich Post Museum in Berlin. The French government confiscated the collection and sold it in a series of auctions between 1921 and 1925 for the then unimaginable sum of $2 million.

Ferrari's achievements were disputed in the mid-20th century. Maurice Bury, a tobacco manufacturer from Alsace. The Bury collection is believed to be worth $5 million.

In the United States, textile manufacturer Arthur Hind assembled a collection that was sold for almost $1 million during the Great Depression. It also included a British Guiana one-cent red stamp, which was subsequently sold to a still unknown collector for a sum in excess of $45,000. Colonel Edward G. R. Greene, son of the extraordinarily wealthy Getty Greene, focused his attention on such exotic objects as the 24- 1918 US Airmail Cent Stamps Reversed, now selling for approximately $7,500 each. Alfred G. Caspari's unsystematic collection of stamps from around the world was sold for almost $3 million in the late 1950s.

The finest collection of stamps from Great Britain and its colonies was collected by King George V; it now belongs to Queen Elizabeth II. President Franklin D. Roosevelt also became famous as a philatelist, but his collection was not outstanding and souvenir hunters paid exclusively high prices for ordinary stamps from it simply because they were once in the presidential collection.

MODERN PHILATELY

The activities of these collectors, who were repeatedly mentioned in the press, had little influence on the inclinations of the ordinary collector. Modern philately is not focused on collecting extremely rare and expensive stamps. The interests of the modern collector are primarily directed towards moderately priced stamps, which are available through the usual trading network and information media, to the ever-increasing volume of new stamp issues, which first attract him to this type of hobby, and then often lead him to abandon the general method of collecting.

Some philatelists, of course, promote stamp collecting as a means of investing money. They refer to previous increases in their value and predict similar increases in the future for those collectors who are able to intensively buy stamps and then wait for the right moment to sell them. The value of stamps has indeed increased, but the actual prices achieved at auction for some popular classic stamps have disappointed the expectations of those who are inclined to equate philatelic rarities with money. The age of a brand in itself does not create its value. The ever-changing popularity of certain countries or issues, the condition of brands, and the harsh laws of supply and demand are more important indicators. However, a true collector who remains faithful to his hobby for twenty years or more and systematically adds to his collection rarely experiences monetary losses when summing up the final assessment and often ends up winning.

Interest in philately as a means of investing money is increasingly accompanied by attention to the cultural side of this hobby. The postage stamp as a work of art is a subject of collector's study and government concern. Postal authorities in many countries, including the US and UK, form panels of public experts to select aesthetically sound stamps. These groups consist of artists, historians, printers and philatelists. The history of mail is now recognized as a branch of the history of communications and even general history. By analyzing envelopes and postage stamps, the philatelist studies subjects such as the operation of express horse mail in the American West and the transportation of letters during Civil War. Museum exhibitions are also of great interest. There are excellent philatelic collections at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. and the Royal Philatelic Society in London, as well as in dozens of other cities.

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The meaning of the word philatelist

philatelist in the crossword dictionary

philatelist

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov

philatelist

(te), philatelist, m. Collector involved in philately.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I.Ozhegov, N.Yu.Shvedova.

philatelist

[te], -a, m. A person who is engaged in philately. Oh well. philatelist, -i. And adj. philatelic, -aya, -oe.

New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

philatelist

m. One who deals with philately.

Philatelist

Philatelist- a collector of postage stamps and other signs of postage, guided by the principles of philately when creating his collection. At the same time, the philatelist does not just collect stamps as such, but researches, within the framework of the chosen philatelic direction, a set of postage marks and other philatelic materials, studies the history and development of mail, designs and arranges his collection for participation in philatelic exhibitions.

Examples of the use of the word philatelist in literature.

Whatever you collect, it will arouse interest, and it doesn’t matter whether you are interested in numismatics or bonistics, loteristics or phylumenia, philatelist you or a bibliophile.

There is something flawed in numismatists, philatelists, avid travelers, lovers of cacti and aquarium fish.

It was the famous stamp maker Lenya from the twenty-ninth school, about whose visit the beginner philatelist I didn’t dare to dream.

To kill the father in the soul - philatelist, who, at the cost of endless humiliation, bought, no, begged for the ridiculous right on a Saturday evening, armed with a magnifying glass and tweezers, once again happy to be convinced of the complete, unchanging, wonderful preservation of the teeth, all of them.

Zozulya has been hunting for this brand since his student years, he saw it only twice in reality and a hundred times in sweet dreams philatelist, and now here it lies in the book, priceless, desired!

Every day he demonstrates the ability to switch off from worries, rushing to either Soccer game, or in a circle philatelists, or to his favorite pub, where with the greatest pleasure he forgets about everything that bothered him a few hours ago.

Professor du Couvrier collected notebooks and notebooks with stamps pasted into a large old briefcase, teaching Ko, as if he hoped to make her philatelist.

The sale of stamps should have generated significant revenue, since philatelists Until now, Norway has been considered a model country in terms of the correctness of stamp issue, and indeed, Norway has never resorted to issuing speculative stamps.

Classmates, neighbors, a few neat and tidy philatelists- that's all.

And as soon as the Employer paused—a significant pause before formulating the most delicate thing—Telman Ivanovich suddenly said: “My father was philatelist.

The last thing came from Uncle Celestine, an inveterate amateur photographer, philatelist and an avid consumer of detective and gothic literature, epitomized for him by the writings of Arthur Conan Doyle and Edgar Allan Poe.