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Indicia (philately)

Marking on a mail piece showing that postage has been prepaid

Marking on a mail piece showing that postage has been prepaid

A handstamp indicium from German East Africa indicating prepayment of postage. A scarcity of postage stamps in WWI caused postal authorities to handstamp "Frankiert mit 7½ H" (plus a seal from the director of posts) on envelopes brought in by the public.

In philately, indicia are markings on a mail piece (as opposed to an adhesive stamp) showing that postage has been prepaid by the sender. Indicia is the plural of the Latin word indicium, meaning distinguishing marks, signs or identifying marks. The term imprinted stamp is used more or less interchangeably, but some indicia are not imprinted stamps. One example is the handstamp, which can be seen in a photo on this page.

Forms of indicia

Indicia can take a number of forms, including printed designs or handstamps where a stamp would normally be that indicate the pre-payment of postage. Imprinted stamps on postal stationery are indicia.

The term also refers to a meter stamp impression or the part thereof that indicates the value or postal rate.

References

References

  1. "Miller, Rick; ''The language of cover collecting'' in Linns.com Refresher Course section".
  2. Room, Adrian., ed. ''The Cassell Dictionary of Word Histories''. London: Cassell & Co., 1999, p.306.
  3. "Wunderly, Kathleen; ''Foreign words spice up stamp collecting'' in Linns.com Refresher Course section".
  4. Carlton, R. Scott. ''The International Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Philately''. Iola WI: Krause Publications, 1997, p.117. {{ISBN. 0-87341-448-9.
  5. Mackay, James. ''Philatelic Terms Illustrated''. 4th edition. London: Stanley Gibbons, 2003, p.71. {{ISBN. 0-85259-557-3.
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