Dictionary of Philatelic Terms

Accessories, Postal: Various products and tools commonly used by the stamp collector, including hinges, mounts, stamp tongs, perforation gauges, stock books and magnifiers. Stamp albums, catalogues and philatelic literature can also be regarded as accessories.

Adhesive: The gum on the back of a stamp or label. Some stamps have been issued with no adhesive. Stamp adhesive be It is pressure-sensitive (self-adhesive).

Admirals: A nickname for a definitive series … those of Canada, 1912-25 (Scott 104-34). These stamps depict King George V in naval uniform.

Aerogram: A postage-paid airletter sheet with gummed flaps written on it that is then folded to form an envelope. Aerograms are customarily carried at less than the airmail letter rate. No enclosures are permitted.

Aerophilately: collecting and concentrating on stamps or covers transported by air.

Albino: A design impression without any colour

Airmail: The movement of mail by air. Many countries have issued postage stamps, stamped envelopes, postal cards and aerograms designed for airmail use.

Album: A binder and pages designed to mount and display stamps or covers. Albums come in many sizes, styles and themes. Approvals: Priced selections of stamps or covers sent to collectors mail. The collector purchases the items he chooses, returning the rest to the approval dealer with payment for the purchased items. mail. The collector purchases the items he chooses, returning the rest to the approval dealer with payment for the purchased items.

Approvals: When a collector is offered a wide range of stamps examine and chose from ahead of a purchase, but it must bought or returned to the dealer in a specified time period.

As is: A term written in auction descriptions, spoken, or written during a retail transaction. It indicates that an item or lot is sold without guarantee or return privilege. Stamps are usually sold "as is" when damaged or possibly not genuine.

Auction: A sale of stamps, covers and other philatelic items where prospective purchasers place bids to obtain the desired items. The highest bidder for each lot makes the purchase.

Authentication mark: A marking, such as initials, placed on the reverse of a stamp examined and certified to be genuine by an expert. Such markings do not detract from the value of the stamps when they represent the endorsement of recognized authorities.

Back print: Printing on the reverse of a stamp. Some stamps have numbers, symbols, advertising or information about the stamp subject printed on the reverse of the stamp.

Backstamp: A postmark applied to mail by the receiving post office or by a post office handling the piece while it is in transit. Backstamps are usually on the back of a cover, but they can be on the front.

Bantams: The nickname of the South African definitive series of 1942-43 (Scott 90-97). Wartime economic measures prompted the manufacture of small stamps to conserve paper.

Batonne: A wove or laid paper with watermark like lines deliberately added in the papermaking process and intended as a guide for handwriting.

Bicolour: Printed in two colours.

Bilingual: Inscribed in two languages. Most Canadian stamps include both English and French text. South African stamps from 1926-49 were printed alternately with English and Afrikaans inscriptions on the same sheet.

Bisect: Describes part of a stamp cut in two for separate use, usually during stamp shortages

Bishop mark: The earliest postmark, introduced by Henry Bishop in England circa 1661. A Bishop mark was used to indicate the month and day that a post office received a letter. It encouraged prompt delivery by letter carriers.

Blind perforation: Intended perforations that are only lightly impressed by the perforating pins, leaving the paper intact but cut or with a faint impression. Some stamps that appear imperforate are not if they have blind perforation.

Block: A unit of four or more unused stamps, including at least two vertical and horizontal stamps. Most commonly, a block refers to a block of four. Blocks often contain more stamps and may be irregularly configured (such as a block of seven consisting of one row of three stamps and one row of four stamps).

Blunt perforation: A stamp with a perforation which is shorter than would usually be expected.

Bluenose: The nickname for Canada Scott 158, the 50¢ issue 1929, picturing the schooner Bluenose.

Bogus: A fictitious stamp-like label created for sale to collectors. Bogus issues include labels for nonexistent countries, nonexistent values appended to regularly issued sets and issues for nations or similar entities without postal systems.

Booklet: A unit of one or more small panes or blocks (known as booklet panes) glued, stitched or stapled together between thin card covers to form a convenient unit for mailers to purchase and carry. The first officially issued booklet was produced by Luxembourg in 1895.

Bourse: A meeting of stamp collectors and/or dealers where stamps and covers are sold or exchanged. A bourse usually has no competitive exhibits of stamps or covers. Almost all public stamp exhibitions include a dealer bourse, though many bourses are held without a corresponding exhibition.

Bull's-Eyes: 1) The nickname for the 1843 first issue of Brazil, Scott 1-3. The similar but smaller issues are called goat's eyes. 2) A bull's-eye cancel refers to a "socked-on-the-nose" postmark with the impression centred directly on the stamp so that the location and date of mailing are shown on the stamp.

Burelage: A design of fine, intricate lines printed on the face of some stamps is part of the stamp design.

Burele: Adjective form for burelage, meaning having a fine network of lines. Some stamps of Queensland have a burele band on the back.

Cachet: In French, cachet means a stamp or a seal. On a cover, the cachet is an added design or text, often corresponding to the design of the postage stamp, the mailed journey of the cover, or some special event. Cachets appear on modern first-day covers, first-flight covers and special-event covers.

Cancelled-to-order: Stamps are "cancelled to order," usually in full sheets, by many governments. The cancels may be printed on the stamps at the same time that the stamp design is printed. A stamp with a cancel and full gum is likely a CTO stamp, as CTOs do not see actual postal use. CTO stamps are sold to stamp dealers at significant discounts from face value. Most catalogues say whether they price CTO stamps or genuinely used stamps.

Cancel: A marking that shows a stamp has been used and is no longer valid as postage. Modern cancels usually include the name of the original mailing location or a nearby sorting facility and the date of mailing. Most cancellations also include a section of lines, bars, text or a design that prints upon the postage stamp to invalidate it. This part of a cancel is called the killer.

Cape Triangles: Common name for the triangular Cape of Good Hope stamps of 1853-64, the first stamps printed in triangular format. The distinctive shape helped illiterate postal clerks distinguish letters originating in the colony from those from other colonies.

Catalogue: A comprehensive book or similar compilation with descriptive information to help identify stamps. Many catalogues include values for the listed items. The auction firm publishes an auction catalogue before a planned sale to notify potential customers of the items offered.

Catalogue value: The value of a stamp as listed in a given catalogue for the most common condition in which the stamp is collected. Some catalogues list stamps at a retail value, though actual dealer prices may vary substantially for reasons of condition, demand or other market factors. Most catalogues have a set minimum value for the most common stamps.

Censored mail: A cover bearing a handstamp or label indicating that the envelope has been opened and the contents inspected by a censor.

Centring: The relative position of a stamp design with its margins. Assuming a stamp is undamaged, centring is essential in determining grade and value.

Certified mail: A service of most postal administrations that provides proof of mailing and delivery without indemnity for loss or damage.

Chalky paper: A chalk-surfaced paper for printing stamps. Any attempt to remove the cancel on a used chalky-paper stamp will also remove the design. Immersion of such stamps in water will cause the design to lift off. Touching chalky paper with silver will leave a discernible, pencil-like mark to distinguish chalky paper.

Changeling: A stamp whose colour has been intentionally or unintentionally changed by contact with a chemical or exposure to light.

Charity seals: Stamp-like labels that a charity distributes. They have no postal validity, although they are often affixed to envelopes.

Charity stamp: see Semi postal.

Cinderella: A stamp-like label that is not a postage stamp. Cinderellas include seals, bogus issues, revenue stamps, local post issues, and other similar items.

Classic: An early issue, often with a connotation of rarity, although classic stamps are not necessarily rare. An exceptionally scarce recent item may be referred to as a modern classic.

Cleaning (stamps): Soiled or stained stamps are sometimes cleaned with chemicals or by erasing them. The cleaning is usually done to improve the appearance of a stamp. A cleaned stamp can also mean one from which a cancellation has been removed, making a used stamp appear unused.

Cliché: The individual unit consists of the design of a single stamp combined with others to make up the complete printing plate. Individual designs on modern one-piece printing plates are referred to as subjects.

Coil: Stamps processed in a long single row and prepared for sale in rolls, often for dispensing from stamp-vending and affixing machines. Some coils have a straight edge on two parallel sides and perforations on the remaining two parallel sides. Some coils are back printed with sequence or counting numbers.

Collateral material: Any supportive or explanatory material relating to a given stamp or philatelic topic. The material may be either directly postal (post office news releases, rate schedules, souvenir cards, promotional items) or non-postal (maps, photos of scenes appearing on stamps).

Combination cover: Cover bearing the stamps of more than one country when separate postal charges are paid for each country's transport of a cover. Also, stamps from the same country are cancelled twice on the same cover as a souvenir.

Commemorative: A stamp printed in a limited quantity and available for purchase for a limited time. The design may note an anniversary associated with an individual, a historic event, or a national landmark. See also Definitive.

Compound perforations: Different gauge perforations on different sides of a single stamp. The sides with the other gauge measurements are usually perpendicular.

Condition: The overall appearance and soundness of a stamp or cover. Favourable conditions include fresh, full colour, original gum on unused stamps, etc. Damage such as creases, tears, thinned paper, short perforation teeth, toning and so on negatively affect the condition.

Copyright block: Block of four or more United States stamps with the copyright notice marginal marking of the United States Postal Service. The copyright marking was introduced in 1978 and replaced the Mail Early marking.

Counterfeit: Any stamp, cancellation or cover created for deception or imitation, intended to be accepted by others as genuine. A counterfeit stamp is designed to deceive postal authorities.

Cover: An envelope or piece of postal stationery, usually one that has been mailed. Folded letters that were addressed and mailed without an envelope and the wrappers from mailed parcels are also covers.

Crash cover: A cover salvaged from an airplane, train, ship or other vehicle crash. Such covers often carry a postal mark explaining damage or delay in delivery.

Crease: A noticeable weakening of the paper of a stamp or cover caused by its being folded or bent at some point. Creases substantially lower the stamp's value. Creases mainly affect cover values extending through the attached stamp or a postal marking. Stamp creases are visible in watermark fluid.

Cut square: A neatly trimmed rectangular or square section from a stamped envelope that includes the imprinted postage stamp with ample margin. Collectors prefer to collect stationery as entire pieces rather than cut squares. Some older stationery is available only in cut squares.

Cut-to-shape: A nonrectangular stamp or postal stationery imprint cut to the shape of the design rather than cut square. Cut-to-shape stamps and stationery generally have a lower value than those cut square. One of the world's most valuable stamps, the unique 1856 British Guiana "Penny Magenta" (Scott 13), is a cut-to-shape stamp.

Cylinder: A curved printing plate used on a modern rotary press. The plate has no seams. Cylinders are used to print gravure stamps. See also Sleeve.

Cancellation: A marking intended to show a stamp has been used and is no longer valid as postage. Modern cancels usually include the name of the original mailing location or a nearby sorting facility and the date of mailing. Most cancellations also include a section of lines, bars, text or a design that prints upon the postage stamp to invalidate it. This part of a cancel is called the killer.

CTO: Canceled-to-order. Stamps are "cancelled to order," usually in full sheets, by many governments. The cancels may be printed on the stamps at the same time that the stamp design is printed. A stamp with a cancel and full gum is likely a CTO stamp, as CTOs do not see actual postal use. CTO stamps are sold to stamp dealers at significant discounts from face value. Most catalogues say whether they price CTO stamps or genuinely used stamps.

Charity stamp: A stamp sold at a price greater than postal value, with the additional charge dedicated to a special purpose. Usually recognized by the presence of two (often different) values, separated by a "+" sign, on a single stamp.

Dead country: A former stamp-issuing entity that has ceased issuing its stamps. Also, the old name of an active stamp-issuing entity has been changed, so the old name will no longer be used on stamps.

Definitive: Stamp issued in a large indefinite quantity and for an indefinite period, usually several years or more. Definitive stamp designs typically do not honour a specific time-dated event.

Deltiology: Picture postcard collecting.

Denomination: The face value of a stamp, usually indicated by numerals printed as part of the design. A numerical value is assigned when the letter stamps are issued. An example is the H-rate Hat stamp[U.S.A.] 1998, representing the first-class rate 33¢.

Die: The original engraving of a stamp design, usually recess-engraved in reverse on a small, flat piece of soft steel. In traditional intaglio printing, a transfer roll is made from a die and printing plates are made from impressions of the transfer roll. When more than one die is used to produce an issue, distinctive varieties are often identifiable.

Die cut: A form of separation usually employed on self-adhesive stamps. During processing, an edged tool (die) completely penetrates the stamp paper on all sides of the printed stamp, making the removal of the individual stamps from the liner possible. Die cuts may be straight, shaped in wavy lines to simulate perforation teeth, or take other forms.

Directory markings: Postal indication of failed delivery attempt, stating the reason for failure. Examples are “No Such Number,'' “Address Unknown'' and “Moved.''

Dummy stamp: Officially produced imitation stamp used to train employees or to test automatic stamp-dispensing machines. Dummy stamps are usually blank or carry unique inscriptions, blocks or other distinguishing ornamentation. They are not valid for postage.

Duplicate: An additional copy of a stamp already in a collection. Beginners often consider stamp duplicates that are not because they overlook perforation, watermark or colour varieties.

Embossing: The process of relieving paper by pressing it with a die. Embossed designs are often found on the printed stamps of postal stationery (usually envelopes and wrappers). Selected stamps of certain countries have been embossed.

Entire: An intact piece of postal stationery, in contrast to a cutout of the imprinted stamp. This term is sometimes used with an intact cover or folded letter.

Error: A significant mistake in producing a stamp or postal stationery item. Production errors include imperforate or imperforate-between varieties, missing or incorrect colours, and inversion or doubling of part of the design or overprint.

Significant errors are usually far scarcer than normal varieties of the same stamp and are highly valued by collectors.

Essay: The artwork of a proposed design for a stamp. Some essays are rendered photographically. Others are drawn in pencil or ink or are painted. Most essays are rejected. One becomes the essay for the accepted design.

Etiquette: A gummed label manufactured for application to an envelope to designate a specific mail service. Airmail etiquettes are the most common.

Europa: The "United Europe" theme has been celebrated annually on stamps of Western European nations since 1956. The nations issued the original Europa stamps in the European Coal and Steel Association. Today, European countries that are members of the postal and Telecommunications Association (CEPT) issue Europa stamps.

Expertization: Examining a stamp or cover by an acknowledged expert to determine if it is genuine. As standard procedure, an expert or expertizing body issues a signed certificate, often with an attached photograph, attesting to the item's status.

Exploded: A stamp booklet separated into its various components usually for display purposes. Panes are removed intact: individual stamps are not separated from the pane.

EKU: The cover or piece that documents the earliest date on which a stamp or postal stationery item is known to be used. Discoveries can change an established EKU. The EKU for a classic issue may be after the official issue date. Because of accidental early sales, the EKU for modern stamps is often several days before the official first day.

Extremely Fine[XF]: A stamp where the design is well-centred with margins on all sides almost perfect, more expansive than usual and clear from any perforations.

Face: The front of a stamp; the side bearing the design.

Face value: The value of a stamp as inscribed on its face. For letter-denominated or non-denominated stamps, the understood postal value of the stamp.

Facsimile: A reproduction of a genuine stamp or cover. Such items are usually made without intent to deceive collectors or postal officials. Catalogue illustrations may also be considered facsimiles.

Fake: A stamp, cover or cancel that has been altered or concocted to appeal to a collector. In a broad sense, fakes include repairs, reperforations and re-gummed stamps, painted-in cancels, bogus cancels or counterfeit markings.

Fancy cancel: A general term to describe any pictorial or otherwise unusual obliterating postmark. More specifically, the term describes elaborate handmade pictorial cancels of the 19th century, such as the Waterbury "Running Chicken" of 1869 or the many intricate geometric shapes used in post offices nationwide.

Farley's Follies: During 1933-34, U.S.A Postmaster General James A. Farley supplied a few imperforate sheets of current commemorative issues to Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt and other government officials. The resulting uproar from U.S. collectors forced the government to release 20 issues in generally imperforate and un-gummed sheets for public sale.

Fast colours: Inks resistant to fading.

Field Post Office: A military postal service operating in the field, either on land or at sea. Frequently abbreviated FPO.

Find: A discovery, usually of something that was not known to exist. It can be a single item or a hoard of stamps or covers.

First-day cover: A cover bearing a stamp tied by a cancellation showing the date of the official first day of issue of that stamp.

Fiscal: A revenue stamp or similar label denoting the payment of tax. Fiscals are ordinarily affixed to documents and cancelled by pen, canceler or mutilation. Because of their similarity to postage

stamps and fiscals have occasionally been used legally or illegally to prepay postage. See also Postal fiscal, Revenues.

Flat plate: A flat metal plate used in a printing press, as opposed to a curved or cylindrical plate.

Flaw: A defect in a plate that reproduces as an identifiable variety in the stamp design.

Forerunner: A stamp or postal stationery item used in a given location before issuing regular stamps for that location. Turkish stamps before 1918 cancelled in Palestine are forerunners of Israeli issues. The various European nations' issues regarding the use of Palestine and the subsequent problems surrounding the Palestine Mandate are also discussed.

Forgery: An utterly fraudulent reproduction of a postage stamp. There are two general types of forgeries: those intended to defraud the postal authorities (see also Counterfeit) and those intended to defraud the collectors.

Frama: A general name used for an automatic stamp, derived from the name of the Swiss firm Frama AG, an early producer of such issues. Automatic stamps are produced individually by a machine on demand in a denomination selected by the customer. There is typically no date on the stamp, as there is on a meter stamp.

Frame: The outer portion of a stamp design, often consisting of a line or a group of panels.

Frank: An indication on a cover that postage is prepaid, partially prepaid or that the letter is to be carried free of postage. Franks may be written, hand stamped, imprinted or affixed. Free franking is usually limited to soldiers' mail or selected government correspondence. Postage stamps and postage meter stamps are modern methods of franking a letter.

Freak: An abnormal, usually nonrepetitive occurrence in the production of stamps that results in a variation from the standard stamp but falls short of producing an error. Most paper folds, over inking and perforation shifts are freaks. Those abnormalities

Occurring repetitively are called varieties and may result in significant errors.

Front: The front of a cover with most or all of the back and side panels torn away or removed. Fronts, while desirable if they bear unusual or uncommon postal markings, are less desirable than an intact cover.

Fugitive inks: Printing inks used in stamp production that quickly fade or break up in water or chemicals. Many governments have used fugitive inks to print stamps to counter attempts at forgery or remove cancellations.

FDC: First-day cover. A cover bearing a stamp tied by a cancellation showing the date of the official first day of issue of that stamp.

Franking: An indication on a cover that postage is prepaid, partially prepaid or that the letter is to be carried free of postage. Franks may be written, hand stamped, imprinted or affixed.

Free franking is usually limited to soldiers' mail or selected government correspondence. Postage stamps and postage meter stamps are modern methods of franking a letter.

Gem: Mostly used to describe an extra high quality Stamp of fine centring, boardwalk, no faults of other special features.

Ghost tagging: The appearance of a faint image and the typical inked impression. This is caused by misregistration of the phosphor tagging in relation to the ink. Sometimes, a plate number impression will have an entirely different number from the ink plate, giving the appearance of an error: one dark (normal) number and one light (ghost) number.

Glassine: A thin, semitransparent paper that is moderately resistant to the passage of air and moisture. Envelopes made of glassine are commonly used for temporary stamp storage. Glassine is also used in the manufacture of stamp hinges.

Granite paper: A paper with small coloured fibres added when the paper is made. This paper is used as a deterrent against forgery.

Gravure: A printing process utilizing an intaglio printing plate created by photographic and chemical means rather than by hand engraving. See also Intaglio.

Grill: A pattern of parallel lines (or dots at the points where lines would cross) forming a grid. A grill is usually: 1) the impressed

breaks added to stamps as a security measure or 2) a grill-like cancelling device used on various 19th-century issues.

Gum: The mucilage applied to the backs of adhesive postage stamps, revenue stamps or envelope flaps. Gum is an area of concern for stamp collectors. It may crack and harm the paper of the stamp itself. It may stain or adhere to other stamps or album pages under certain climatic conditions. Many collectors are willing to pay extra for 19th- and some 20th-century stamps with intact, undisturbed original gum.

Gutter: The separating selvage on a sheet of stamps. The gutter is usually discarded during processing. The gutter may be unprinted or bear plate numbers, accounting or control numbers, advertising or other words or markings.

Gutter snipe: One or more stamps are attached to the entire gutter from between panes, plus any amount of an adjoining stamp or stamps. This term is typically used in U.S.A. stamps. Gutter snipes are freaks caused by misregistration of the cutting device or paper fold over.

Handstamp: Cancellation or overprint applied by hand to a cover or a stamp.

Hinge: Stamp hinges are small, rectangular-shaped pieces of glassine paper, usually gummed on one side. Folded with the gummed side out, the hinge mounts stamps. Most modern hinges are peelable. Once dry, they may be easily removed from the stamp, leaving little trace of being applied.

Heavily hinged [HH] When the gum has bee hinged, and the mark which has been left is very large or prominent.

Imperforate: Refers to stamps without perforations or rouletting between the individual stamps in a pane. The earliest stamps were imperforate by design, but after about 1860, most stamps were perforated. Modern imperforates are usually errors or are produced specifically for sale to stamp collectors.

Impression: Any stamped or embossed printing.

Imprinted stamps: Stamp which have been printed directly onto postal items as postcards or envelopes.

Imprimatur: Latin for "let it be printed." The first sheets of stamps from an approved plate are usually checked and retained in a file before a final directive to begin stamp production from a plate.

India paper: A thin, tough, opaque printing paper of high quality used primarily for striking die proofs.

Indicium: The stamp impression of a postage meter or the imprint on postal stationery (as opposed to an adhesive stamp), indicating prepayment and postal validity. Plural: indicia.

Inscription: The letters, words and numbers that are part of a postage stamp design.

Intaglio: Italian for "in recess." The form of printing in which the inked image is produced by that portion of the plate sunk below the surface. Line engraving and Gravure are forms of intaglio printing.

International Reply Coupon: A redeemable certificate issued by member nations of the Universal Postal Union to provide for return postage from recipients in other countries. IRCs are exchangeable for postage at a post office.

Invert: The term is generally used to describe any error where one portion of the design is inverted in relation to the other portion(s). An overprint applied upside down is also an invert.

Inverts: The term is generally used to describe any error where one portion of the design is inverted in relation to the other portion(s). An overprint applied upside down is also an invert.

Inclusion: When a foreign piece of material has been presses into the paper during manufacturing.

Invert: A stamp with one part of its design printed upside down in relation to the rest of the stamp

Key type: A basic stamp design utilized for the issues of two or more postal entities, usually differing in the country name and value inscription. Many of the earlier colonial issues of Britain, France, Spain, Germany and Portugal are key types.

Kiloware: A mixture of miscellaneous postally used stamps on envelope corner paper from various sources. Kiloware is sometimes sold by the kilogram (about 2.2 pounds).

Label: Any stamp-like adhesive that is not a postage or revenue stamp.

Laid paper: is one of the two basic types of stamp printing. Laid paper is distinguished from wove paper by the presence of thin, parallel lines visible when the paper is held to light. The lines are usually a few millimetres apart.

Letterpress: Printing done directly from the inked, raised surface of the printing plate.

Line engraving: Printing from an intaglio plate produced from a hand-engraved die and transfer roll rather than by photographic or chemical means.

Line pair: Coil stamps with a printed line between them. Stamps produced on a flatbed press have a line from the guideline between panes. Stamps produced on a rotary press have a joint line from the space where ink collects between the sections of curved rotary plates.

Liner: Coated paper used as a backing for mint self-adhesive stamps. The liner allows the release of the stamp, which may then be applied with pressure to the envelope paper.

Liner less: An experimental form of self-adhesive coil stamp that requires no liner. The mint stamps are rolled upon each other like adhesive tape.

Lithography: Printing from a flat surface with an ink-receptive design area. The area that is not to print is ink-repellant. The process is based on the principle that an oil-based design surface will attract oily ink.

Locals: Stamps valid within a limited area or a limited postal system. Local post mail requires the addition of nationally or internationally valid stamps for further Service. Locals have been produced both privately and officially.

Machin: The name given to a well-known series of British definitive stamps first issued in 1967. The stamp design depicts a plaster portrait of Queen Elizabeth II created by artist Arnold Machin.

Makeshift booklets: U.S.A. stamp booklets are manufactured using stamps usually issued in individual panes, packaged in generic blue cardboard covers, and dispensed by vending machines.

Marcophily: Postmark collecting.

Margin: 1) The selvage surrounding the stamps in a sheet, often carrying inscriptions of various kinds. 2) The unprinted border area around the stamp design. The collectible grades of stamps are determined by the position of the design in relation to the edge of the stamp as perforated or, in the case of imperforate stamps, as cut from the sheet.

Mat: A hard rubber plate used to apply overprints on postage stamps.

Maximaphily: Maximum card collecting.

Maximum card: A picture postcard, a cancel, and a stamp presenting maximum concordance. The stamp is usually affixed to the picture side of the card and is tied by the cancel. Collectors of maximum cards seek to find or create cards with stamps, cancel them, and picture them in maximum agreement or concordance. The International Federation of Philately (FIP) statutes give specific explanatory notes for the postage stamp, the picture postcard, the cancel, concordance of subject, concordance of place and concordance of time.

Meter: The mechanical or digital device that creates a valid denominated postage imprint known as a meter stamp. Postage is prepaid to the regulating postal authority. Meters were authorized by the UPU in 1920. They are used today by volume mailers to cut the cost of franking mail.

Miniature sheet: A smaller-than-normal pane of stamps issued only in that form or in addition to complete panes. A miniature sheet usually has no marginal markings or text saying that the sheet was issued in conjunction with or to commemorate an event.

Mint: A stamp in the same state as issued by a post office: unused, undamaged and with full original gum (if issued with gum). Over time, handling, light and atmospheric conditions may affect the mint state of stamps.

Mirror image: An offset negative or reverse impression.

Mixed postage: The franking on a cover bearing the stamps of two or more stamp-issuing entities, properly used.

Mixture: A large group of stamps understood to contain duplication. A mixture is said to be unpicked or picked. A picked mixture may have had stamps removed by a collector or dealer.

Mount: Acetate holders are clear on the front and have some adhesive on the back. Collectors use mounts to affix stamps or covers to album or exhibit pages.

Multicolor: More than two colours.

Multiple: An unseparated unit of stamps including at least two stamps but fewer than the number in an entire pane.

Native paper: Crude, handmade paper produced locally, as opposed to finer, machine-made paper.

Never hinged: A stamp without hinge marks. A never-hinged (NH) stamp usually has original gum, but this is not always true.

New issue service: A dealer service automatically supplies subscribers with new issues on a country, area, or topic. The issues provided are determined by a prearranged standing order that defines the quantity and types of stamp issues.

Newspaper stamps: Stamps issued specifically to prepay mailing rates for newspapers, periodicals, and printed matter.

Nondenominated: A stamp with no numerical inscription designating the face value. The value of some non-denominated stamps is marked by a designated letter. Others may have a service inscription that indicates the rate the stamp fulfills.

NH: Never Hinged. A stamp without hinge marks. A never-hinged (NH) stamp usually has original gum, but this is not always the case.

Obliteration: 1) A cancellation intended solely to deface a stamp-also called a killer. 2) An overprint intended to deface a portion of the design of a stamp, such as the face of a deposed ruler.

Obsolete: A stamp no longer available from post offices, although possibly still valid.

Off-centre: A stamp design that is not centred in relation to the stamp's edges. Generally, off-centre stamps are less desirable than nearly centred in relation to the edges. Significantly off-center stamps may be added to collections as production freaks.

Offices abroad: At various times, many nations have maintained post offices in other countries, usually because of the unreliability of the local postal system.

In China and the Turkish Empire, many foreign nations maintained their postal systems as part of their extraterritorial powers. Usually, these offices used special stationery and stamps. Most consisted of overprints on the regular issues of the nation's maintaining the offices.

Official: Stamp or stationery issued solely for government departments and officials. In many countries, such items may be available to collectors in unused condition from the postal authority.

Offset: 1) A printing process transfers an inked image from a plate to a roller. The roller then applies the ink to the paper. 2) Transferring part of a stamp design or an overprint from one sheet to the back of another before the ink has dried (also called set off). Such impressions are in reverse (see Mirror image). They are different from stamps printed on both sides.

OHMS: Abbreviation for On His (or Her) Majesty's Service. Used in perfins, overprints or franks to indicate Official use in the British Commonwealth.

Omnibus issue: An issue released by several postal entities to celebrate a common theme. Omnibus issues may or may not share a key-type design.

Overprint: Printing a added to a stamp after production to indicate a change in value or function or the commemorate an event.

On paper: Stamps (usually postally used) affixed to portions of the original envelope or wrapper. Often used to describe stamps before soaking.

On piece: A stamp on a portion of the original envelope or wrapper showing all or most of the cancel. Stamps on pieces are usually saved that way.

Original gum (OG): The adhesive coating on a mint or unused stamp or envelope flap applied by a postal authority or security printer, usually before the item was issued. Upon request of stamp collectors, postal authorities have sometimes offered to add gum to items first issued un-gummed.

Overprint: Any printing over the original completed design of a stamp. An overprint that changes the value of a stamp is also called a surcharge.

Oxidation: Darkening of the ink on certain stamps caused by contact with air or light. Some inks used to print stamps, especially oranges, may turn brown or black in time.

Packet: 1) A presorted selection of all-different stamps, a common and economical way to begin a general collection; 2) a ship operating regularly and contracted by a government or post office to carry mail.

Pair: Two unseparated stamps.

Pane: The unit into which a full press sheet is divided before sale at post offices. What a post office customer may refer to as a "sheet of stamps" is more appropriately called a pane.

Par Avion: A French phrase meaning "By Air" appears on airmail etiquettes of most countries, along with a similar phrase in the predominant language of the country of origin.

Parcel post stamps: Special stamps were created to pay parcel post fees.

Part-perforate: A stamp with all perforations missing on one or more sides but with at least one side perforated.

Paste-up: The ends of rolls of coiled stamps joined together with glue or tape.

Peluce paper: A strong, thin paper occasionally used in stamp printing. Peluce paper is translucent and resembles a slightly dark, thin onion-skin paper.

Pen cancelled: Stamps cancelled with an ink pen or marker pen rather than a handstamp or machine cancel. Many early stamps were routinely cancelled by pen. A pen cancel may also indicate that a stamp was used as a fiscal. Modern stamps may be pen cancelled if a sorting clerk or delivery carrier notices a cancelling machine has missed a stamp.

Perfins: Stamps perforated through the face with identifying initials, designs or holes in coded positions. A business or government office normally uses perfins to discourage employee pilferage or misuse of stamps. Perfins may be either privately or officially produced.

Perforation: Punching out holes between stamps to make separation easy. 1) Comb perforation-three sides of a stamp are perforated at once, repeated in rows. 2) Harrow perforation- the entire sheet or unit of stamps is perforated in one operation. 3) Line perforation holes are punched one row at a time. The uneven crossing of perforation lines and irregular corners distinguishes line perforations. Comb and harrow perforations usually show the alignment of holes at the corners. Some forms of perforation may be difficult to discern.

Perforation gauge: A scale printed or designed on metal, transparent or opaque plastic, cardboard or other material to measure the number of perforation holes or teeth within 2 centimetres.

Permit: Franking by imprinting a number and additional information that identifies a mailer's prepaid postage account, eliminating the need to affix and cancel stamps on large mailings. The mailer must obtain a document (permit) authorizing this procedure.

Phantom Philately: The collection of bogus stamps. The name is derived from Frederick Melville's book Phantom Philately, one pioneer work on bogus issues.

Philatelic cover: An envelope, postal card or other item franked and mailed by a stamp collector to create a collectible object. It may or may not have carried a personal or business message. A nonphilatelic cover usually carries business or personal correspondence and has had its stamps applied by a non-collector. Some stamps are known only on collector-created covers. It is impossible to say whether some covers are philatelically inspired or not. See also Used and Postally used.

Philately: The collection and study of postage stamps, postal stationery and postal history.

Phosphor: A chemical substance that produces selected stamps to activate machines that automatically cancel mail. The machines react to the phosphor under ultraviolet light. In 1959, Great Britain began to print phosphor lines on some of its stamps. See also Tagging.

Photogravure: A modern stamp-printing process that is a form of intaglio printing. Plates are made photographically and chemically rather than by hand engraving a die and transferring it to a plate. The ink in this process rests in the design depressions. The surface of the printing plate is wiped clean. The paper is forced into the depressions and picks up the ink in a manner much like the line-engraved printing process.

Pictorial: Stamp bearing a picture of some sort, other than a portrait or coat of arms.

Plate: The basic printing unit on the press used to produce stamps. Early stamps were printed from flat plates. Curved or cylindrical plates are used for most modern stamps. See also Cylinder and Sleeve.

Plate block: A block of stamps from the corner or side of a pane, including the selvage bearing the number(s) of the plate(s) used to print the sheet from which the pane was separated. Some stamp production methods, like booklet production, usually cut off plate numbers. In Canada/United States, plate number blocks are collected usually as blocks of four to 20 stamps, depending on the press used to print the stamps. When each stamp in a pane is a different design, the entire pane is collected as the plate block.

Plate number: Numerals or an alphanumeric combination identifying the printing plate used to print postage stamp images. In the United States, plate numbers on sheet stamps often appear on corner or side margin paper. Plate numbers on coil stamps were commonly trimmed off until about 1980; the number appears on stamps at specific intervals. Booklet plate numbers are often found on the selvage attached to the pane.

Plating: The reconstruction of a stamp pane by collecting blocks and individual stamps representing various positions. This is possible for many older issues, but most modern issues are too uniform to make the identification of individual positions possible.

Plebiscite issue: A stamp issue promoting a popular vote. After World War I, several disputed areas were placed under temporary League of Nations administration, pending plebiscites to determine which nation the populace wished to join. Special issues note the upcoming vote in several of these areas: Allenstein, Carinthia, Eastern Silesia, Marienwerder, and Schleswig.

PNC: 1) A plate number coil stamp, a stamp from a coil inscribed with a plate number. The abbreviations PNC3 and PNC5 identify strips of three or five coil stamps with the PNC located in the center position of the strip. 2) A philatelic-numismatic combination: a cover

bearing a stamp and containing a coin, medal or token. The coin and stamp are usually related in such cases; often, the cover is cancelled on the first day of use of the coin.

Pneumatic post: Letter distribution through pressurized air tubes. Pneumatic posts existed in many large European cities, and unique stamps and stationery were often produced for the Service.

Postage dues: Stamps or markings indicating insufficient postage have been affixed to the mailing piece. Postage dues are usually affixed at the office of delivery. The additional postage is collected from the addressee.

Postal card: A government-produced postcard bearing a stamp imprint in the upper-right corner representing prepayment of postage.

Postal fiscal: Revenue or fiscal stamps used postally.

Postal history: The study of postal markings, rates and routes, or anything to do with the history of the posts.

Postal stationery: Stationery bearing imprinted stamps, as opposed to adhesive stamps. Postal stationery includes postal cards, letter cards, stamped envelopes, wrappers, aerograms, telegraph cards, postal savings forms and similar government-produced items. The cost to the mailer is often the price of postage plus an additional charge for the stationery item.

Postally used: A stamp or cover that has seen legitimate postal use, as opposed to one that has been cancelled-to-order or favour-cancelled. The term "postally used" suggests that an item exists because it was used to carry a personal or business communication without the sender thinking of creating an item to be collected.

Postcard: A small card with a picture on one side and a space for a written message on the other. Postcards have no imprinted stamp, so the mailer must also purchase postage to mail the postcard. See also Postal card.

Postmark: Any official postal marking. The term is usually used specifically for cancellations bearing the name of a post office of origin and mailing date.

Precancel: Stamp with a special overprint cancellation to bypass normal cancelling. The Precancel sometimes designates a specific mail-handling service, such as "Presorted First-Class." Other precancels may include the city and state of the issuing post office. Precanceled stamps are used by volume mailers who hold a permit to use them. U.S. precancels fall into two categories: 1) Locals have the mark or text applied by a town or city post office; 2) Bureaus have the mark or text applied by the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing. See also Service inscribed.

Pre-stamp covers: Folded letters or their outer enclosures were used before adhesive postage stamps or postal stationery were introduced.

Prestige booklet: A stamp booklet with oversized panes, descriptive information and stamp issues commemorating a unique topic.

Prestige booklets often include panes with no stamps that instead bear labels or additional information, along with panes bearing stamps.

Printer's waste: Misprinted, mis-perforated or mis-gummed stamps are often created during stamp production. The printer's waste is supposed to be destroyed, but such material enters the philatelic market through carelessness and theft.

Printing: The process of imprinting designs on paper from an inked surface.

Processing: Steps that finish a printed stamp sheet. Processing includes perforation, trimming, dividing the sheet into individual panes, and packaging for distribution.

Pro Juventus: Latin, meaning for the benefit of youth. Switzerland has issued Pro Juventus semipostals nearly every year since 1913.

Proofs: Trial impressions from a die or printing plate before stamp production. Proofs are made to examine a die or plate for defects or to compare the results of using different inks.

Provisional: A temporary postage stamp is issued to meet postal demands until a new or regular stock of stamps can be obtained.

Plate number block: A block of stamps from the corner or side of a pane, including the selvage bearing the number(s) of the plate(s) used to print the sheet from which the pane was separated.

Some stamp production methods, like booklet production, usually cut off plate numbers.

Press sheet: A complete unit of stamps as printed. Stamps are usually printed in large sheets and are separated into two or more panes before shipment to post offices.

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Receiving mark: A postmark or other postal marking applied by the receiving, rather than the originating, post office. See also Backstamp.

Redrawn: A stamp design that has been slightly altered yet maintains the original design.

Re-engraved: A stamp with an altered design due to a change made to a transfer roll or printing plate before a later printing, distinguishing it from the original die.

Regional: Stamp sold or valid in a specific area of a stamp-issuing entity. Great Britain has issued stamps for the regions of Guernsey, Jersey, Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Regionals are usually sold only in a given area but are often valid for postage throughout a country.

Registered mail: First-class mail with a numbered receipt, including a valuation of the registered item, for full or limited compensation if the mail is lost. Some countries have issued registered mail stamps. Registered mail is signed by each postal employee who handles it.

Registration labels: Adhesive labels indicating the registry number and, often, the city of origin for registered articles sent through the mail.

Re-gummed: A stamp-bearing adhesive from an unauthorized source.

Reissue: An official reprinting of a stamp from an obsolete or discontinued issue. Reissues are valid for postage. See also Reprint.

Remainders: Stocks of stamps remain unsold at the time that an issue is declared obsolete by a post office. Some countries have sold remainders to the stamp trade at substantial discounts from face value. The countries usually mark the stamps with a distinctive cancel. Uncanceled remainders usually cannot be distinguished from stamps sold over the counter before the issue was invalidated.

Repaired stamp: A damaged stamp that has been repaired in some way to reinforce it or to make it resemble an undamaged stamp.

Replica: A reproduction of a stamp or cover. In the 19th century, replica stamps were sold as stamp album space fillers. Replica stamps are often printed on a sheet containing several designs in one colour. Replicas can sometimes deceive either a postal clerk or a collectors.

Reprint: A stamp printed from the original plate after the issue has ceased to be postally valid. Official reprints are sometimes made for presentation purposes or official collections. They are often distinguishable in some way from the originals: different colours, perforations, paper or gum. On the other hand, private reprints are usually produced strictly for sale to collectors and often closely resemble the original stamps. Private reprints generally sell for less than original copies. Reprints are not valid for postage. See also Reissue.

Retouch: The repair of a damaged plate or die, often producing a minor but detectable difference in the design of the printed stamps.

Revenues: Stamps representing the prepayment or payment of various taxes. Revenues are affixed to official documents and merchandise. Some stamps, including many issues of the British Commonwealth, are inscribed "Postage and Revenue" and were available for either use. Such issues are usually worth less fiscally cancelled than postally used. In some cases, revenues have been used provisionally as postage stamps.

Rocket mail: Mail flown in a rocket, even if only a short distance. Many rocket mail experiments have been conducted since 1931. Unique labels, cachets or cancels usually note that mail was carried on a rocket.

Rotary plate: A curved or cylindrical printing plate used on a press that rotates the plate to make continuous impressions. Flat plates make single impressions.

Rouletting: Piercing the paper between stamps to make their separation more convenient.

No paper is removed from the sheet, as it is perforating. Rouletting is created by a dash, sawtooth, or wavy line.

Rural Free Delivery: The system for free home delivery of mail in rural areas of the United States began just before the turn of the 20th century.

Rust: A brown mold resembling the rust in iron. Rust affects stamp paper and gum in tropical regions.

SASE: A self-addressed, stamped envelope. An unused envelope bearing the address of the sender and sufficient return postage. Enclosed with correspondence to make answering easy.

Self-adhesive: Stamp gum that adheres to envelope paper by applying pressure alone. Most self-adhesive stamps are sold on a coated paper release liner. See also Liner, Liner-less, Water-activated adhesive.

Selvage: The marginal paper on a sheet or pane of stamps. Selvage may be unprinted or may contain printer's markings or other information.

Semi-postal: A stamp sold at a price greater than postal value, with the additional charge dedicated to a special purpose. Usually recognized by the presence of two (often different) values, separated by a "+" sign, on a single stamp.

Series: A group of stamps with a similar design or theme issued over some time. A series may be planned or may evolve.

Service inscribed: A stamp with wording as part of the initial printed design that identifies the mail-handling Service for which the stamp is intended, such as "Presorted First-Class." See also Precancel.

Set: Stamps sharing common design elements, often issued at one time and usually collected as a group.

Se-tenant: French for "joined together." Two or more unseparated stamps of different designs, colours, denominations or types.

Shade: The minor variation commonly found in any basic colour. Shades may be accorded catalogue status when they are very distinctive.

Sheet: A complete unit of stamps as printed. Stamps are usually printed in large sheets and are separated into two or more panes before shipment to post offices.

Short set: An incomplete set of stamps, usually lacking either the high value or one or more key values.

Sleeper: Stamp or other collectible item that seems underpriced and may have good investment potential.

Sleeve: 1) A seamless cylindrical printing plate used in rotary intaglio printing. 2) A flat transparent holder, often specifically for protecting and storing a cover.

Soaking: Remove stamps from envelope paper. Most stamps may be safely washed in water. However, fugitive inks will run in water and

Souvenir card: A philatelic card, not valid for postage, issued in conjunction with some special event. The souvenir card often illustrates the design of a postage stamp.

Souvenir sheet: A small sheet of stamps, including one value or a set of stamps. A souvenir sheet usually has a wide margin and an inscription describing an event being commemorated. Stamps on a souvenir sheet may be perforated or imperforate.

Space filler: A stamp in poor condition fills the designated space in a stamp album until a better copy can be found.

Special delivery: A service providing expedited delivery of mail. Called Express by some nations.

Special printing: Reissue of a current or recent design stamp, often with distinctive colour, paper or perforations.

Specialist: A stamp collector who intensively studies and collects the stamps and postal history of a given country, area, or period or has otherwise limited his collecting field.

Special stamps: Regular postage stamps issued outside the traditional definitions of commemorative and definitive stamps. In

the United States, holidays such as Contemporary Christmas, Traditional Christmas, Hanukkah and the like are considered unique stamps. They are printed substantially more than commemorative stamps and sometimes return to the press for additional printings. Love stamps are also regarded as special stamps.

Specimen: Stamp or stationery item distributed to Universal Postal Union members for identification purposes and to the philatelic press and trade for publicity purposes. Specimens are overprinted or punched with the word "SPECIMEN" or its equivalent or are overprinted or punched to make them different from the issued stamps. Specimens of scarce stamps tend to be less valuable than the actual stamps. Specimens of relatively common stamps are more valuable.

Speculative issue: A stamp or issue released primarily for sale to collectors rather than to meet any legitimate postal need.

Splice: The repair of a break in a roll of stamp paper or the joining of two rolls of paper for continuous printing. Stamps printed over a splice are usually removed and destroyed before the regular stamps are issued.

Stamp: An officially issued postage label, often adhesive, attesting that payment has been rendered for mail delivery. Initially used as a verb, meaning to imprint or impress, as in, to stamp a design.

Stampless cover: A folded sheet or envelope carried as mail without a postage stamp. This term usually refers to covers predating the requirement that stamps be affixed to all letters (in the United States, 1856).

Stock book: A specially manufactured blank book containing rows of pockets on each page to hold stamps.

Straight edge: Flat-plate or rotary-plate stamps from the margins of panes where the sheets were cut apart. Straight-edge stamps have no perforations on one or two adjacent sides. Sometimes, straight-edge stamps show a guideline.

Strip: Three or more unseparated stamps in a row, vertically or horizontally.

Surcharge: An overprint that changes or restates the denomination of a stamp or postal stationery item.

Surtax: The portion of a semi-postal stamp purchase price exceeding the postage value. The surtax is designated for donation to a charity or some other purpose.

Sweatbox: A closed box containing dampened spongelike material, over which stuck-together unused stamps are placed on a grill. Humidity softens the gum, allowing separation of stamps. Sometimes, the sweatbox may help remove a postally used stamp from envelope paper.

T: Abbreviation for the French "Taxe." Hand stamped on a stamp, the T indicates the stamp's use as postage due. Hand stamped on a cover, it shows that postage due has been charged. Several countries have used regular stamps with a perforated initial T as postage dues.

Tagging: Phosphor material on stamps used to activate automatic mail-handling equipment. This may be lines, bars, letters, part of the design area or the entire stamp surface. The tagging may also permeate the stamp paper. Some stamps are issued both with and without tagging. Catalogues describe them as tagged or untagged.

Teeth: The protruding points along the outer edge of a perforated postage stamp when removed from the pane.

Telegraph stamp: Label used for the prepayment of telegraph fees. Telegraph stamps resemble postage stamps.

Tete-Beche: French for "head to tail." Two or more unsevered stamps, one of which is inverted in relation to the other.

Thematic: A collection of stamps or covers relating to a specific topic. The topic is expanded by careful inquiry and is presented as a logical story. See also Topical.

Tied: A stamp is said to be tied to a cover when the cancel extends over both the stamp and the envelope paper. Stamps can also be tied by the aging of the mucilage or glue that holds them to the paper.

Tong: A tweezer-like tool with rounded, polished tips that handle stamps. Tongs prevent stamps from being soiled by dirt, oil or perspiration.

Topical: 1) Stamp or cover showing a given subject. Examples are flowers, art, birds, elephants or ships.. 2) The collection of stamps by the topic depicted on them rather than by country of origin. See also Thematic.

Transit mark: A postal marking applied by a post office between the originating and receiving post offices. It can be on the front or back of a cover, card or wrapper.

Triptych: A se-tenant strip of three related stamps forming one overall design. See United States Scott 1629-31, the 1976 Spirit of 76 issue.

Type: A basic design of a stamp or a set. Catalogues use type numbers or letters to save space. Catalogues show a typical design of one kind rather than every stamp with that design or a similar design.

Underprint: A fine printing underlying the design of a stamp, most often used to deter counterfeiting.

Un-gummed: A stamp without gum. Un-gummed stamps are either issued without gum or uncanceled gummed stamps that have had their gum soaked off. Many countries in tropical climates have issued stamps without gum.

Unhinged: A stamp without hinge marks, but not necessarily with original gum.

Universal Postal Union: An international organization formed in Bern, Switzerland, in 1874 to regulate and standardize postal usage and facilitate mail movement between member nations. Today, most nations belong to the UPU.

Unused: An uncanceled stamp that has not been used but has a hinge mark or some other characteristic or defect that keeps it from being considered a mint stamp. Uncanceled stamps without gum may have been used and missed being cancelled, or they may have lost their gum by accident.

Used: A stamp or stationery item that has been cancelled by a postal authority to prevent its reuse in the mail. Generally, a used stamp is any stamp with a cancel or a precanceled stamp without gum. See also Postally Used and Philatelic Cover.

UPU: Universal Postal Union. An international organization was formed in Bern, Switzerland, in 1874 to regulate and standardize postal usage and facilitate mail movement between member nations. Today, most nations belong to the UPU.

Variety: A variation from the standard form of a stamp. Varieties include different watermarks, inverts, imperforates, missing colours, wrong colours and significant colour shifts.

Vignette: The central part of a stamp design, usually surrounded by a border. In some cases, the vignette shades off gradually into the surrounding area.

Want list: A list of needed stamps or covers, identified by catalogue number or some other description, submitted by a collector to a dealer, usually including requirements on condition and price.

Water-activated adhesive: Stamp gum designed to adhere to envelope paper only if the gum is moistened.

Watermark: A deliberate thinning of paper during its manufacture to produce a semitranslucent pattern. Watermarks frequently appear on the paper used in stamp printing or envelope manufacturing.

Web: A continuous roll of paper used in stamp printing.

Wove paper: A paper showing a few

differences in texture and thickness when held to light. In the production of wove paper, the pulp is pressed against a very fine netting, producing a virtually uniform texture. Wove paper is the most commonly used paper in stamp production.

Wrapper: A flat sheet or strip open at both ends that can be folded and sealed around a newspaper or periodical. Wrappers can have an imprinted stamp or have a stamp attached.

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Zemstvo: A local stamp issued by Russian municipal

Zeppelins: The stamps issued for, or in honour of, zeppelin flights. Cacheted covers carried on such flights are Zeppelin covers.

ZIP code: The U.S. numerical post code used to speed and mechanize mail handling and delivery. The letters stand for the Zoning Improvement Plan.