A Glossary of Terms for the Collector of United States Stamps

"C" Press - webfed, three-color, intaglio press used exclusively to print coils and booklet panes from seamless cylindrical sleeves.  Used at the BEP from 1982 to 1996.

CAM - see Contract Air Mail.

CDS - see Circular Date Stamp.

CIPEX - see Centenary International Philatelic Exhibition.

COD - see Collect on Delivery.

"CS" - marginal marking indicating that a plate has been chromium plated.  Found on Georgia Bicentennial Issue (Scott 726).

CSAC - see Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee.

*Cachet - 1.) any text or graphic privately applied to an envelope for a commemorative purpose.  Such markings are frequently found on First Day Covers and Event Covers.  2) any advertisement, censor marking or commercial handstamp applied to a cover.

Canadian Banknote Corp. - subcontractor to Stamp Venturers.  Example: 1993 29¢ Thomas Jefferson definitive  postage stamp (Scott 2185).

Cancel - see Cancellation.

*Cancellation - any postal marking applied to a stamp to prevent its reuse.  Cancellation is not synonymous with postmark, although the two terms are frequently confused by using them interchangeably.  Cancellations have been applied by handstamps, machine, and pen or marker.

Cancelling Machines - machines that cancel stamps and postmark envelopes in a single operation.  Many different makes and models of cancelling machines have been used by post offices.

Carpenter, Jos. R. - printer of 19th century revenue stamps.

Carrier Service - the pick up of mail by an official letter carrier from collection boxes and residences along his route, and the delivery of that mail to the local post office, or directly to an addressee in the same city.  Sometimes carrier service included delivery of mail from the post office to an addressee.  The fee for this service (prior to the elimination of the fee on June 30, 1863 and establishment of free city delivery) was either 1¢ or 2¢.  Special Carrier Stamps were issued to pay for this service.  Prior to July l, 1863 the payment of regular postage only paid for transportation of mail between post offices.

Carrier Stamps - stamps that paid for carrier service.  Carrier Stamps used nationally were issued beginning in 1851 and are called Official Issues or general issues (Scott LO).  Other carrier stamps were used locally in Baltimore, Boston, Charleston, Cincinnati, Louisville, New York, and Philadelphia. (Scott LB).  They were issued by or under the authority of the local postmaster.  They are called semi-official issues, and were issued as early as 1842.

Catapult Mail - mail carried by air, for a fee, from a ship at sea to land.  This obsolete service was intended to shorten the length of time it took mail to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Centenary International Philatelic Exhibition - one in a series of once-per-decade international stamp shows hosted in the U.S.  Held in New York City in 1947.  A stamp and souvenir sheet were issued in conjunction with this show.  (Scott 947 & 948)

Censored Mail - a cover which has had its contents examined by civilian or military censors, and which bears a marking evidencing such examination.

Center Line Block - a block of stamps from the very center of a sheet - a block on which two guidelines intersect each other.

Ceremony Programs - programs issued in conjunction with First Day events.  They were formerly individualized for each new issue.  More recently generic programs have been used.

Certificate of Authenticity - a certificate from a recognized authority attesting to the genuineness of a philatelic item.  Also see expertization.

Certificate of Mailing - service for a fee that provides evidence of mailing.  Certificates of Mailing were first made available in 1915.

Certified Mail - service for a fee that provides a mailing receipt and maintenance by the USPS of a delivery record.  Certified Mail requires the signature of the recipient.

Certified Mail Stamp - a stamp issued in 1955 to pay the fee for Certified Mail.  Scott FA1.

Chads - the bits of paper removed in the perforating process.

*Champions of Liberty - series of commemorative  postage stamps (late 1950s to early '60s) honoring foreign nationals who sought freedom in their homelands.  Example: Scott 1125

Changeling - a stamp whose color has been changed as the result of a chemical reaction.

Charity Stamp - see Semi-postal.

China Clay Paper - a paper with a high mineral content, used to print a small quantity of the earliest Washington-Franklin stamps of 1908-09.  Example: Scott 331b.

China Clipper - name of the seaplane, depicted on the three "China-Clipper" air mail stamps of 1935 and 1937 (Scott C20-22), and the 1985 Air Mail Postal Card, Scott UXC22.  The China Clipper carried mail across the Pacific to and from San Francisco, with inaugural service to Manila on November 22, 1935.  This route was known as FAM 14.

Christmas Seal - privately produced fund raising label intended for use on mail during the Christmas season.  Scott WX.

Chrome Stain - a printing variety on a stamp that is the result of chrome plating stripping off a printing plate.  see CS

Cigarette Tube Stamps - revenue stamps used the pay a tax on cigarette paper.  Scott RH.

Cinderella - a nickname frequently used for fantasy labels with no postal validity.

*Circular Date Stamp - circular postmark, which generally contains the city and state of mailing as well as the date and time the postmark was applied.

Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee - advisory committee to the Postmaster General, formed in 1957 to recommend new postage stamp issues.

Clay Paper - see China Clay Paper.

Clipper - generic name for the planes flown by Pan American on its trans-oceanic routes.  see also China Clipper.

Closed Transit Dispatches - closed bags of international mail that pass through an intermediate country without being opened.

Closing of the Mail - the time after which mail will no longer be accepted by a local post office for dispatch by a specific train or ship.  see Supplementary Mail.

Coated Paper - paper that has a smooth surface when viewed under magnification.  The "hills and valleys" visible on uncoated paper will either be filled in or have rounded edges.  Coated paper has a range of smoothness.  See Uncoated Papers and Prephosphored Papers.

Coil Core - see Core.

Coil Counting Number - see Counting Number.

Coil Leader - see Leader.

Coil Line Pair- see Joint Line Pair.

Coil Paste-up - see Paste-up Pair.

*Coil Plate Numbers - 1.) numbers that appear at regular intervals at the bottom of modern coil stamps.  2.) numbers used on coil stamp platesprior to 1981.  These numbers were normally trimmed off the sheet as a part of the production process and did not normally reach the public.  see also: Partial Plate Numbers.

*Coil Stamps - stamps produced in a long strip, either vertically or horizontally.  Some were once issued imperforate.  More commonly coil stamps have been issued with perforations, die cuts or roulettes between the stamps.  Coil stamps have been produced by the BEP and by private printers under contract to the Post Office.  Coil stamps were once produced by private manufacturers from imperforate sheets provided by the Post Office.  Coil stamps are sold by The Postal Service in rolls of 100, 3,000 and 10,000.  Historically they have also been sold in rolls of 500.

"Coil Stamps" - a marginal marking found on certain flat plate sheets.  These sheets have increased spacing between the 10th and 11th vertical rows.  These sheets were intended to become coil stamps, but some became coil waste.  This marginal inscription was trimmed off the sheet during coil production, but remained on the panes sold as coil waste.

*Coil Waste - sheet stamps created from leftover pieces that were intended to become coil stamps, but that were too short for coil stamp production.  Coil waste was released in sheet format as an economy measure.  Example: Scott 578.

*Collateral material - material that is not intrinsically philatelic but that is related to philatelic material, and that enhances appreciation for and understanding of philatelic material.  Examples: photographs and maps

Collect on Delivery - service for a fee in which the post office collects money from a mail recipient and forwards the money to the sender.

Color Changeling - see Changeling.

Color Registration Markings - marginal markings of various sizes and shapes, in each color used to print a stamp.  When these colored markings are properly aligned with one another, it indicates that the color alignment (registration) on the entire sheet is correct.

Color Trials - see Trial Color Proofs.

Columbia Postal Supply Co. - major manufacturer of cancelling machines in use from the 1900s to the 1950s.

*Columbians - nickname for the first commemorative series of postage stamps, issued in 1893 to commemorate Christopher Columbus and the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago.  Stamped envelopes were also issued.  Scott 230-245 & U348-351.

*Commemorative - a stamp, generally larger in size than a definitive, on sale in limited quantities for a limited period of time, honoring a person, place, event, etc.

Commemorative Panel - a product of the USPS, sold in conjunction with each commemorative postage stamp.  Each panel has the commemorative stamp affixed and contains background information and illustrations.

*Commercial Cover - a cover of commercial (as opposed to philatelic) origin.

Complete Matched Set - a set of plate blocks representing every number and pane position possible for a given stamp.

*Compound Perforation - two different gauges (sizes) of perforations used on the same stamp.  Most frequently one gauge is used for the vertical perforations, and another for the horizontal perforations.  Example: Scott 857, the Printing Tercentenary Issue.  see also Perforation and Perforation Gauge.

Computer Generated Postage - postage generated by a private computer.

Computer Vended Postage - stamps dispensed by a vending machine on which the face value of the postage is imprinted at the time of sale.  Also see Denominated Postal cards.

Concession Rate - see Convention Rate.

Constant Variety - a plate variety that appears on a plate and on every sheet printed from it.  All sheets printed from a plate will show the variety from the time the trait is entered on the plate until the time it is removed from the plate.  Obviously sheets printed from the same plate before the trait appeared on the plate, or after it was removed, will not exhibit the constant variety.

Consular Service Fee Stamp - a revenue stamp paying a fee (not a tax) for certain documents issued by American diplomats at consular offices in foreign countries.  Scott RK.

Continental Bank Note Co. - holder of the contract to print postage stamps from 1873 to 1879 (Scott 156-179).

Contract Air Mail - the system of carrying air mail over established routes, by private contractors, as opposed to air mail carried by government employed pilots.

Contract Station - a postal facility run by a private individual or firm; frequently operated in a private business.

Control Number - see Counting Number.

Control Perfin - a perforation made by an affixing machine through the face of a Schermack or Mailometer coil.  see Perfin.

Convention Rate - a special postal rate, less than the standard UPU rate, negotiated between the US and a foreign country.  Also called Treaty Rate.

*Convertible Booklet - a small pane of modern self adhesive  postage stamps, sold flat, but designed to be folded into booklet form when the peelable strip(s) is removed.  These booklets do not have separate covers.  The backing paper serves as the cover.  The complete unfolded convertible booklet is considered to be a booklet pane, and the liner paper to which the stamps are attached is the booklet cover.

Copyright Block - a margin block of stamps containing a copyright notice.  Copyright notices first appeared in 1978.

Cordials, Wines, etc. Stamps - revenue stamps paying the federal tax on wines.  Issued from 1914-1954.  Scott RE.

Core - a strip of brown kraft paper attached to the innermost (last) stamp on a roll of coil stamps.

Cork Cancel - a 19th century cancelling device, made out of cork, usually carved with an image, produced by or at the direction of a local postmaster.

*Corner Card - the printed address of a sender in the upper left corner of an envelope.

Corrosion Stain - a printing variety resulting from corrosion on a metal plate.

Cotton Order Stamps - stamps produced by the BEP as part of a subsidy program that enabled low income families to purchase good made with cotton.

Cottrell Press - see Huck-Cottrell Presses.

Counting Number - 1.) a number printed on the back of the liner of some self-adhesive coil stamps.  This number is an accounting device.  2.) number printed in the trimmed off margin of some earlier coils.  This number aided BEP employees who cut the web of coil stamps into specified lengths (100, 500, or 3,000 stamps), spliced together by a piece of kraft paper.  After such splicing the web was cut and processed into individual coil rolls.  See also: leader and core.

Covel Coils - privately perforated Second Bureau Issue coil stamps made by the Covel Manufacturing Company of Benton Harbor, Michigan using a Rossback perforator.

*Cover(s) - 1.) any intact envelope, postal card, wrapper or similar mailed item.  2.) the printed pieces of cardboard used for the front and back of traditional booklets.  The Scott number identifying such booklet covers begins with BC.

Cracked Plate - a crack in a printing plate that shows up on the corresponding stamps.  Cracks can be progressive, that is, they can get worse with time and use.

Crash Cover - a cover rescued from the crash site of the plane in which it was being flown.  Such covers generally have some postal marking explaining their delay and possibly damaged condition.

Cross Gutter Block - a block of stamps containing the intersection of the vertical and horizontal gutters.

Curvature Crack - see Gripper Crack.

Customs Fee Stamps - revenue stamps used to pay certain customs fees (not duties).  Scott RL.

*Cut Cancel - a cancellation that slices into the stamp paper.  Most commonly found on revenue stamps.  Stamps with cut cancellations are generally considered less desirable.

*Cut Square - a section of postal stationery, cut from the entire, which contains the stamp-like indicium.  Cut squares are considered less desirable than entires.  While cut squares from stamped envelopes are considered collectible, cut squares from postal cards are not.

Cut-to-shape - the stamp-like indicium from a stamped envelope that has been cut from the entire and trimmed to the size of the indicium.  A cut-to-shape piece is generally less desirable than a cut square.

Cylinder - 1.) the drum-like part of a rotary printing press, also called a mandrel, to which curved printing plates are attached.  2.) the seamless curved plate used on a press to print gravure stamps.