Sign of postage

According to the Federal Law of the Russian Federation “On Postal Communication” (as amended on December 6, 2011, No. 176-FZ), “ state signs of postal payment are postage stamps and other signs applied to postal items and confirming payment for postal services”.

Signs of postage include postage stamps , blocks , stamps , francotypes , labeled envelopes , cards , postcards , etc. Signs of postal payment are put into circulation and withdrawn from circulation, as a rule, by the state and must comply with the Charter of the Universal Postal Union and decisions adopted by its bodies.

Postage stamps are issued by the postal authority and serve to facilitate the payment of fees for postal items. To pay for sending letters, postage stamps are most often used. In addition to stamps for sending simple letters, in many countries there are special stamps:

• for sending printed works, mainly newspapers , newspaper stamps are used ;
• for service packages - service marks ;
• to recover payment by unfunded or underpaid letters - the so-called port-brands;
• for registered letters - custom stamps ;
• for packages ( parcels ) - package (parcel) brands , etc.

For greater convenience, postal departments also issue the following types of postal correspondence with a printed postal payment sign:

• stamp envelopes
• registered stamped envelopes ,
• open (postcard cards) and closed letters ,
• official postal cards ,
• postal orders ,
• parcels , etc.

Signs of postage can also be:

• labels
• shortcuts
• calendar and special cancellations (stamps),
• stamps , etc.

Not all of the listed postage signs exist in all states, and some of them are no longer used.

The appearance of the first sign of the postage dates back to 1653 , when the was handed over to a certain Renoir de Vilaye , probably for rent. He zealously began to introduce new orders in the postal administration and issued the so-called FR. “Billet de port payé” : it was a piece of paper, like a parcel post, on which a special stamp of Renoir de Ville was printed, with the words “port payé, le ... jour de l'an 1653 (1654)” . The price of such a “ticket” was 1 sous , but it is not known whether it was indicated on the mark of the “ticket”; copies of it were not preserved. In the second half of the 18th century, postage stamps were introduced by Henry Bishop (1605–1691) ^[1] , and subsequently by William Dockrey (1635–1716) ^[2] .

Then only in 1819 in the kingdom of Sardinia began to use stamping shells for letters, called Ital. Carta postala bolata (stamped postal paper) and indicating, however, the payment is not for postage, but for permission to send a letter not by mail; they existed until 1836. In 1820, an envelope was invented by paper merchant Brever in Brighton . In 1840, the first postage stamps and stamp envelopes were issued in England ; their appearance was due to the introduction of a uniform cheap rate for letters.

In addition to postal signs, in some places there were also telegraph , tax , stamps ; but for these purposes postage stamps were also often used. So, in England, the dual purpose of the brand was indicated by the inscription English. “Postage & Revenue” (“Postage and stamp duty ”) ^[3] , in Spain - “Correos y Telégrafos” (“Post and telegraph”), etc.

Early Period

Historically, the first postal signs in Russia appeared in the following years:

• 1848 - stamp envelopes,
• 1857 - postage stamps,
• 1872 - forms for open letters (postal cards),
• 1890 - forms for closed letters and parcels.

Soviet period

Modern Russia

The organization of the postal payment system, the publication ( issue ) and distribution of postage signs in modern Russia is the responsibility of the Federal Communications Agency of the Russian Federation. As written in the Regulation on postage stamps and special postal stamps of the Russian Federation, approved by Order of the Ministry of Communications of the Russian Federation No. 115 of May 26, 1994, postal payment signs of Russia should “reflect in their plots the multinational state structure of the Russian Federation, the cultural and historical heritage of the peoples living on its territory, flora and fauna , achievements in all areas of knowledge, the main events of domestic and international life, philately ”, and their publication“ is made taking into account the fullest satisfaction the areas of federal postal services, the population, enterprises and organizations. ”

The direct planning, publication and distribution of postage stamps, export and import of philatelic goods is carried out by the Marka Publishing and Trade Center . Signs of postal payment are printed at the enterprises of Goznak , entered into postal circulation by orders of ITC “Marka”, issued on the basis of approved thematic plans.

According to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation , the manufacture for the purpose of marketing or the sale of obviously fake state signs of postage, the use of obviously fake clichés of franking machines , postmarks or other personal items is punishable by a fine (in the current version - from 10 to 20 minimum wages for citizens, from 20 up to 40 minimum wages for officials, from 200 to 400 minimum wages for legal entities) with the obligatory confiscation of the means of manufacturing fakes .

• Large philatelic dictionary / Under the general. ed. N.I. Vladinets and V.A. Jacobs. - M .: Radio and communications, 1988 .-- 320 p. - ISBN 5-256-00175-2 . [Cm. Signs of postage .]
• Sign of postage - an article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia . (Retrieved July 3, 2011)
• Gross O., Gryzhevsky K. I. The rapid beginning of history // Travels in the world of brands / O. Gross, K. Gryzhevsky; Per. from polish. Yu. M. Sokolov with abbr. - M .: Progress , 1977 .-- 50,000 copies. (Retrieved June 23, 2016) Archived November 11, 2015.
• Obukhov E. Popular philatelic dictionary: reference book. T. 1. Classification of signs of postage. Preparation of originals and stamp printing / Avt.-sost. E. A. Obukhov. - M .: ITC "Marka" , 2009. - 79 p. - (Appendix to the journal. Philately, No. 4, 2009).
• Postage signs // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
• Philatelic Dictionary / Comp. O. Ya. Basin. - M .: Communication, 1968 .-- 164 p. [Cm. Homemade postage stamps .]
• Jacobs V. Signs of postage on the whole things of the USSR 1923-1983: catalog-directory. - M .: ITC "Marka", 2008. - 79 p. - (Addendum to the journal “Philately”, No. 7, 2008). (Retrieved May 5, 2011)
• Jacobs V. Signs of postal payment on the whole things of the USSR 1984-1992: catalog-directory. - M .: ITC "Marka", 2009. - 80 p. - (Appendix to the journal. Philately, No. 5, 2009). (Retrieved May 5, 2011)

• Federal Law “On Postal Communication” on the website of the company “Russian Post” Archived on April 17, 2009.
• Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation