Different types of Philately

Are you interested in Philately? Well, every philatelist is free to collect whatever he wants, thus different philately branches emerged. No matter whether you are a professional collector or just an amateur, this article will help you discover different types of philately for you to see different ways to enlarge your collection.

So here are new ideas for your collection!

Revenue stamp, Tax stamp, Duty stamp, or Fiscal stamp

The international trading tax stamp is a kind of revenue stamps that were used in the Soviet Union for taxation of the trade-in stamps

Revenue stamps are a type of fiscal stamps and are used to pay duties (taxes) for transactions related to documents, business papers, and the provision of administrative or judicial services.

Excise stamps are a type of fiscal stamps used to pay excise duty on certain types of goods, for example, wine and tobacco.

Stamps of court fees - a type of fiscal stamp for payment of court fees. Produced in some countries.

Charity stamp - type of non-postage stamps, vignette. Funds from the sale of vignettes usually go to charity - social assistance to orphans, war veterans, disabled people affected by natural disasters, including starving people, to fight some types of mass diseases (such as tuberculosis, malaria).

World Philately or Global Philately

Do you like to search and collect all the stamps of the world? This means you’re a global philatelist! 

But being a global philatelist is almost mission impossible: sometimes the prices can be too high; you need to spend a lot of time on the collection and study the relevant information; some stamps are very difficult to find etc. So, these enthusiasts have to redefine the limits of their collection. They can focus on a specific historical period or geographical area, combining multiple countries.

Thematic Philately 

As the name suggests, this type of philately refers to collecting stamps by theme. And these themes can be totally different: animals, trades, politicians, flags, plants, cars, trains - whatever. The Collector chooses the theme according to his tastes and desires. Originally this activity was called “Constructive Philately”.

Sir Winston Churchill and St. Paul’s Cathedral in the wartime, Hong Kong

Maximaphilia

This branch is the link between philately and cartophilia. It’s a question of studying postcards with illustration, stamp, and obliteration having the same theme (for example, the allegorical symbol Marianne). These three elements together form a document called “Map-maximum”. Some specific rules are governing this practice: in particular, the card must have been issued before the postage stamp. Maximaphily must comply with the rules dictated by the International Philately Federation.

Istanbul - Alger - Paris postage

Aerophilately

This discipline consists of collecting stamps related to air transport. The Cercle Aérophilatélique Français (FFAP), an association created in 1957, specializes in the airmail history. The themes related to this philately branch can be different. Aerophilately includes the flight study of the aviation pioneers who played a significant role in the history of aviation or even crashed air couriers.

Us Airmail stamp

Errinophilia

An errinophile collects non-postal vignettes: they are commemorative, touristic, advertising vignettes, etc. The military and political propaganda can also be seen after the emergence of many vignettes, especially during World War I and II. Vignettes differ from stamps because they cannot postage mail.