Postage stamp paper is the foundation or substrate

Substrate (printing)

Substrate is a term used in converting process such as printing and Lamination or coating as a more general term to describe the base material onto which e.g. images will be printed and to be laminated as per the packing specification required for the product...

 of the postage stamp to which the ink for the stamp's design is applied to one side and the adhesive is applied to the other. The paper

Paper

Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....

 is not only the foundation of the stamp but it has also been incorporated into the stamp's design, has provided security against fraud and has aided in the automation of the postal delivery system.

Stamp catalog

Stamp catalog

A stamp catalog is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices.The stamp catalog is an essential tool of philately and stamp collecting...

s like Scott's Standard Postage Stamp Catalog

Scott catalogue

The Scott catalogue of postage stamps, published by Scott Publishing Co, a subsidiary of Amos Press, is updated annually and lists all the stamps of the entire world which its editors recognize as issued for postal purposes. It is published in six large volumes and is also produced in...

 (SC) often document the paper the stamp is printed on to describe a stamp's classification. The same stamp design can appear on several kinds of paper. Stamp collectors and philatelists understand that a stamp's paper not only defines a unique stamp but could also mean the difference between an inexpensive stamp from one that is rare and worth more than its common counterpart.

Making an accurate determination of the stamp's paper may require special tools such as a micrometer

Micrometer

A micrometer , sometimes known as a micrometer screw gauge, is a device incorporating a calibrated screw used widely for precise measurement of small distances in mechanical engineering and machining as well as most mechanical trades, along with other metrological instruments such as dial, vernier,...

 to measure the thickness of a stamp, certain fluid chemicals to reveal hidden features, magnifying glass

Magnifying glass

A magnifying glass is a convex lens that is used to produce a magnified image of an object. The lens is usually mounted in a frame with a handle ....

es or loupe

Loupe

A loupe is a simple, small magnification device used to see small details more closely. Unlike a magnifying glass, a loupe does not have an attached handle, and its focusing lens are contained in an opaque cylinder or cone. Loupes are also called hand lenses .- Optics :Three basic types of loupes...

s to see fine details, digital microscope

Digital microscope

A digital microscope is a variation of a traditional optical microscope that uses optics and a charge-coupled device camera to output a digital image to a monitor, sometimes by means of software running on a computer. A digital microscope differs from an optical microscope in that there is no...

s to examine the minutest details of the paper or ultraviolet

Ultraviolet

Ultraviolet light is electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength shorter than that of visible light, but longer than X-rays, in the range 10 nm to 400 nm, and energies from 3 eV to 124 eV...

 light to illuminate the paper to reveal its glowing aspects. Certain paper types may require the services of an expert as the only sure way of knowing the true identity of the stamp's paper.

Paper characteristics

All paper is endowed with certain characteristics by its maker

Papermaking

Papermaking is the process of making paper, a substance which is used universally today for writing and packaging.In papermaking a dilute suspension of fibres in water is drained through a screen, so that a mat of randomly interwoven fibres is laid down. Water is removed from this mat of fibres by...

. Depending on the purpose of the paper, the craftsman will choose specific materials and apply certain manufacturing processes to achieve the design objectives. Characteristics such as composition, weight, color, size, watermark, surface finish, opacity, hardness and strength all have to be established before the papermaker can begin his work.

The making of paper can be broken down into three phases; the preparing of the pulp into a suspension of fibers; the forming of the paper on a mould or an endless wire mesh; and lastly the finishing of the paper's surface and drying. From a philatelic interest, it is the second phase, the forming of the paper that yields the most interesting characteristics.
In the first phase of papermaking the characteristics such as its composition, color and weight is determined. Paper has as its chief component, a mat of cellulose

Cellulose

Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to over ten thousand β linked D-glucose units....

 fibers. Cellulose is the skeleton structure of plant cells and can be separated from the plant for use in paper. Cellulose has several characteristics that make it desirable for paper, the foremost being its strength when formed into a mat or web. When cellulose fibers come in contact with each other in water, a bond is formed. When water is removed from the adjoining fibers, the bond between the fibers strengthens. Pulp

Pulp (paper)

Pulp is a lignocellulosic fibrous material prepared by chemically or mechanically separating cellulose fibres from wood, fibre crops or waste paper. Wood pulp is the most common raw material in papermaking.-History:...

, the collection of individual fibers, may be bleached, especially if the paper is to be dyed a different color or the paper is expected to be white. Since most paper is either printed or written upon, filler

Filler (materials)

Fillers are particles added to material to lower the consumption of more expensive binder material or to better some properties of the mixtured material...

s are added to the pulp to fill the pores of the paper and sizing

Sizing

Sizing or size is any one of numerous specific substances that is applied to or incorporated in other material, especially papers and textiles, to act as a protecting filler or glaze....

 is added to make the fibers water resistant, yet both act as fillers. Unsized paper is blotting paper

Blotting paper

Blotting paper is a highly absorbent type of paper or other material. It is used to absorb an excess of liquid substances from the surface of writing paper or objects. It is also commonly used as a beauty tool to absorb excess oil from the skin.-Manufacture:Blotting paper is made from different...

, making it unsuitable for printing. Fillers and sizing are added to the pulp to absorb the ink quickly, unlike pure cellulose. Fillers can be glues made from animal products, starches from rice or wheat, resins or gums, or minerals such as calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate

Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...

, titanium dioxide

Titanium dioxide

Titanium dioxide, also known as titanium oxide or titania, is the naturally occurring oxide of titanium, chemical formula . When used as a pigment, it is called titanium white, Pigment White 6, or CI 77891. Generally it comes in two different forms, rutile and anatase. It has a wide range of...

 or kaolin. Mineral fillers are the most common as they are very effective as a filler. When all of these ingredients are assembled, they are suspended in water, which may include a color dye, as the furnish to the second phase of papermaking.

The paper is formed in the second stage of papermaking. With handmade paper, the furnish is stored in a vat and the craftsman uses a mould to strain out enough material to form a sheet of paper. The mould determines the dimensions of the finished sheet and its weight, which ultimately establishes the paper’s thickness. The mould is usually a wire mesh that acts as a strainer such that the furnish is separated out of the water. The water drains off, leaving layers upon layers of fibers or a web of paper on the mould. The texture of the paper is determined by the nature of the mould. Wove paper has a uniform texture while laid paper has a fine-lined texture created by wires that are attached to the wire mesh. If a watermark is part of the paper’s design, it is the mould that creates the watermark, in the same way that the fine lines of laid paper are created. A watermark is a deliberate thinning of the paper by the placing of either wires or metal shapes, called bits, onto the wire mesh of the mould. When the mould is removed from the vat, the water drains causing the pulp to be deposited more between the wires or bits relative to the top of the bits or wires. When the dried paper is held up to a light, the thinner paper will appear lighter in contrast to the thicker paper, thus creating a watermark. Numerous countries have used a variety of designs for their watermarks as a means to prevent forgery of stamps, making the watermark of particular philatelic interest.

In comparison, machine-made paper is made on the Fourdrinier machine

Fourdrinier machine

This article contains a glossary section at the end.Most modern papermaking machines are based on the principles of the Fourdrinier Machine. It has been used in some variation since its inception...

 by drawing the furnish out of a vat onto an endless wire mesh. The paper, shortly after being drawn from the vat, is usually pressed with a Dandy roll as the mechanism to imprint a watermark onto the paper. Machine-made paper can produce single sheets of paper or one large continuous web of paper that is collected to form large rolls.

One characteristic of machine-made paper is that it creates a direction or an alignment of the fibers, which directly impacts its strength. This is of particular importance when tearing the paper, as one would do to separate a stamp for use. When the tear is aligned with the direction of the fibers, the paper will tear evenly. When the tear is opposed to the direction of the fibers, the paper will tear unevenly, in a jagged line. Handmade paper disperses the fibers in unpredictable directions and therefore yields a paper with the most overall strength. A paper’s strength had an influence on the separation methods used for a stamp. For example, a stronger paper may have needed a higher number of perforations per inch to best facilitate the separation of the stamps. Similarly, many stamps have two different standards of perforation for its length and width to optimize the ease of separation while minimizing the cost of manufacturing.

In the last stage of papermaking, the paper is finished and dried. The finishing of the paper can include the application of a coating that will produce the best effects when printed upon. The coating is a fine layer of special sizing applied to one or both sides of the paper to fill in all of the pores and to smooth out the surface of the paper. A glossy appearance often is a characteristic of coated paper. Once the coating is applied, the paper making process is complete.

Certain postage stamps have been printed on security paper, which is paper that has additional characteristics coated or printed onto the paper to prevent the reuse of the postage stamp and as a means to prevent forgery.

Shrinkage

Shrinkage is a characteristic of paper because of the nature of cellulose fibers. The cellulose fiber is hygroscopic and acts like a sponge when immersed in water. The fibers expand in their width and not in their length. With handmade paper, because there is no direction associated with the fibers, the paper expands and shrinks unevenly in both the length and width of the finished sheet. With machine-made paper, because there is a direction to the fibers, the paper shrinks unevenly, that is, less in its length (in the direction of the fibers) and more in its width (in the direction opposite of the fibers). This characteristic is important to the printer because certain printing techniques required the paper to be dampened prior to printing. As such, when the paper dried, the uneven shrinkage of machine-made paper would produce an image of different proportions than the die that created it.

Watermarks

Watermark

Watermark

A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light , caused by thickness or density variations in the paper...

s are created in the paper by special pieces of bent wire or bits, either attached to the mould or attached to the Dandy roll of machine-made paper. The watermark is inherently created differently by these two methods. In the case of the mould, the watermark is created by the settling of the fibers on the mould, thus creating the intentional thinning of the paper. In the case of the Dandy Roll, the watermark is pressed into the wet pulp. The papermaker closely adjusts the pressure the Dandy Roll exerts on the paper to ensure a proper impression of the watermark design into the paper. Too little pressure and the watermark may not be detectable.

Philatelically, there are several descriptive terms used to categorize watermarks.

• Simple – When the entire watermark design can be seen on each individual stamp.

• Multiple – When the watermark design can be seen several times on a single stamp or portions of several instances of the design are visible on a single stamp. For example, the watermarked stamps of Great Britain and her colonies.

• Sheet – When the watermark design is so large that it covers multiple stamps such that only a portion of the watermark design is on a single stamp. For example, on India's Coat of Arms watermark of 1854

• Paper-makers – When the watermark documents the papermaker's name, the trade name of the paper or in some instances the stamp contractor or printer. These are similar to sheet watermarks. For example, the "Harrison & Sons, London" watermark used for Maldive Islands 1933 issue.

• Stitch – The unintentional watermark that is created by the joining of the endless wire mesh belt used in machine-made papermaking.

• Marginal – When the watermark design appears in the sheet margins. Examples can be found in the many British Commonwealth issues.

• Pattern – When wavy lines, lozenges, diamond mesh and others such that the pattern is repeated evenly over the whole stamp. For example, the lozenges pattern on Germany Empire's 1905-19 issue or circles pattern on the 1920 issue.

• False – When the appearance of a watermark is created by lightly printing on the stamp. For example, the quadrille pattern printed on France's 1892 15c issue.

Lastly, by way of orientation. These designations describe the orientation of the watermark with respect to the stamp's design.

• Normal – When the watermark coincides with the design of the stamp when viewed from the front of the stamp. The watermark will be mirrored when viewed from the back of the stamp.

• Inverted – When the watermark is upside down when viewed from the front of the stamp. That is, when the stamp's printed design is right side up and the watermark design is upside down.

• Reversed – When the watermark is reversed when viewed from the front of the stamp. The watermark will be un-mirrored when viewed from the back. For example, letter watermarks would not be reversed when viewed from the back of the stamp.

• Inverted and reversed – When the watermark is both upside down and reversed when viewed from the front of the stamp.

• Sideways – When the watermark is rotated 90° with respect to the stamp's design.

Watermark detection

Watermark detection can be as simple as holding the stamp up to a light or by placing it face down on a black surface. If this does not reveal the watermark there are fluids, electrical devices and ink pads that may reveal the thinning of the paper;

• A special stamp watermark detecting fluid may be applied to a stamp lying face down in a black plastic tray. As the fluid evaporates the watermark becomes visible and as it does not contain water the fluid may be used on mint stamps without damaging the gum. A drop of benzine can also be used to coax the watermark out of the paper but care should be observed as the inks of photogravure stamps are soluble in benzine and will ruin the stamp.

• There are various mains or battery powered devices available in which the stamp is placed on a metal plate and a clear plastic block is pressed down onto it. A light is then switched on to reveal the watermark.

• With the 'Morley Bright' detector the stamp is placed face down in a unit that contains ink in a sealed sachet that flows into the watermarked area of the stamp under thumb pressure.

• There are color-filtering techniques that neutralize the color of the stamp's design, thus making it easier to see the watermark. There is a device known as the Philatector that electronically employs a set of color filters as a means to detect the watermark.

• If the reverse of a stamp is placed on a black background on a computer scanner and graphics software is used to adjust the color saturation and contrast this may in some cases increase visibility of a watermark.

Flaws and Errors

While the words flaws and errors as synonymous, they are used to distinctly describe either a defect in the stamp's paper or when an incorrect paper was used in the printing of the stamp. Flaws describe faults or defects in the paper of the stamp, typical of handling after manufacturing or less frequently during the manufacturing of the paper. Errors describe an incorrect type of paper used to print a stamp, typically the use of watermarked paper when it was not specified for the issue. While a paper fault represents a damaged or defective stamp that devalues its worth, paper errors have the opposite effect and are sought after by collectors.

Flaws

During the manufacturing of paper, flaws can occur in the web. One such flaw is the pinhole. The term is used to designate a small blemish typically characterized by a small hole in the substance of the paper. Pinholes are typical of very thin paper and can be found by holding the stamp up to light.
A rare flaw in paper is when the watermark bit has been improperly repaired on the Dandy roll. Great Britain's Emblems watermark is composed of two roses, one shamrock and one thistle. A defect was created when the Dandy roll was repaired and instead of a thistle bit, a rose bit was added creating the three roses and a shamrock flaw. This flaw is found on Great Britain's 1862 3d (plate 2), 1865-67 3 d (plate 4), 6 d (plates 5 and 6), 9d (plate 4) and 1s (plate 4).

Another paper flaw is a crease. A crease is when the paper becomes an overlapped fold, which subsequently is printed upon. This kind of crease is more of a printing error as it is a paper flaw. Creased stamps can also occur as a result of handling, where it's clear that the stamp has been folded. While the former example is collected by specialists as printing errors, the later simply devalues the stamp.

Another common handling flaw is a tear. The torn stamp is usually complete but the paper is partially ripped. Tearing a piece off of the stamp, however, is how the Afghan postal clerk cancelled a stamp and so this is not a flaw but evidence that the stamp was probably postally used, especially if the stamp is still on the postal matter.

A stamp can be damaged if it is soaked off of a water-soluble colored paper. For numerous occasions, people send greeting cards in envelopes that are on colored paper. The worst offender is the red envelope. If warm water is used in soaking the stamp from the paper of the envelope, the red dye can and does bleed into the stamp's paper, leaving it tinted red. This is not a stamp variety but simply a damaged stamp. Yellow and blue dyes in colored paper bleed into a stamps too.

A thin is created when a stamp is improperly removed from the paper it was attached. Since paper is created by depositing layers of fibers onto each other to form a web, they can be separated by the layers too. When the paper is finished, the outside layers become the strongest layers. Soaking a stamp in water is the usual way of removing it from the postal matter. Water will dissolve the glue used as the adhesive but it also weakens the bonds of the paper's fibers. Just as the removal of water strengthens the bonding between fibers, adding water weakens them. A failed attempt at removing the stamp from other paper typically results in portion of the stamp's paper being left attached to the postal matter. Thins can be created in a variety of ways and all result in a damaged stamp.

Errors

Errors of paper are created when the incorrect paper is used for the stamp's design rather than a papermaking defect. One example of this is when the watermarked paper intended for use with U.S. revenue stamps was used for the $1 Woodrow Wilson stamp (SC#832). The mistake was made sometime between 1950 and 1951 and some 160,000 to 400,000 copies are estimated to have been printed.

Comparative paper terms

When the paper of the stamp is described, stamp catalogs often use words that are relative, such as thick and thin. This is done to describe the variations of the stamp's paper in a particular issue. Thick may be as much as 0.005 inches and thin as little as 0.001 inches, with medium somewhere in between.

Paper can described as being opaque, semi-translucent and semi-transparent. The opacity

Opacity (optics)

Opacity is the measure of impenetrability to electromagnetic or other kinds of radiation, especially visible light. In radiative transfer, it describes the absorption and scattering of radiation in a medium, such as a plasma, dielectric, shielding material, glass, etc...

 of the stamp describes the ability of light to shine through the paper. If no light shines through the paper, then it is opaque. If some light passes through, in any amount, the paper is semi-translucent. Transparency

Transparency and translucency

In the field of optics, transparency is the physical property of allowing light to pass through a material; translucency only allows light to pass through diffusely. The opposite property is opacity...

 describes the ability to see an object through the paper or when the paper is placed over printed letters the ability to see the printing through the paper. If the stamp's design can be seen through the back of the stamp, then it is semi-transparent.

Another comparative set of terms refers to the paper's hardness. Hard, stout hard, and soft have been used to describe the paper. Experts have described the snap of the stamp when flicked as a means to determine if the stamp was printed on hard or soft paper. A sharper snap implied hard paper because the hardness is a characteristic of the amount or kind of sizing

Sizing

Sizing or size is any one of numerous specific substances that is applied to or incorporated in other material, especially papers and textiles, to act as a protecting filler or glaze....

 used when making the paper.

Porous paper is used to describe paper as absorbent, usually in contrast to less absorbent paper used in the stamps of the same country. Porosity

Porosity

Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0–1, or as a percentage between 0–100%...

 is a characteristic of paper. Wood fibers are hydrophilic or water loving. Sizing is added to paper to create a resistance to water as well as to fill in the gaps between the fibers. Porosity is a measure of how the paper responds to a liquid.

There are several popular stamp collecting terms. On-paper refers to any stamp that is still adhering to another piece of paper. Similarly, off-paper is used to describe a postally used stamp that is no longer adhering to any other kind of paper. Wallpaper is the slang name given to the sheets of stamps that have little or no philatelic or monetary value.

Stamp paper varieties

Philatelically, stamp paper can be partitioned into a few large groups. The first that is typically encountered in the stamp catalogs describes the texture of the paper, such as wove or laid. Many stamps have been printed with these different paper textures. Other groups can be formed as: Colored paper, safety or security paper

Security paper

Security paper is paper which incorporates features which can act to identify or authenticate a document as original or features which demonstrate tamper evidence when fraud is attempted, e.g., to remove or alter print such as amounts or signatures on a cheque...

 and coated paper.

In a stamp catalog, a stamp's paper is usually identified at the beginning of the issue. It will also be identified when the paper changes either within the issue or with the next issue. When colored paper is used for the stamp, the ink colors are listed first and then the paper's color is listed next in italics. Sometimes the paper is described as ordinary, which simply means that the common paper of the period was used. Coated paper is usually not listed but maybe surmised by the printing process used to print the stamp. For example, photogravure

Photogravure

Photogravure is an intaglio printmaking or photo-mechanical process whereby a copper plate is coated with a light-sensitive gelatin tissue which had been exposed to a film positive, and then etched, resulting in a high quality intaglio print that can reproduce the detail and continuous tones of a...

 printing yields the best clarity when printed on coated papers.

Paper	Image	Description	Stamp Examples
Art	↔	Art paper is a very high gloss coated paper similar to magazine paper. As a super fine calendared paper that is coated with china clay to give it an enameled finish, it is useful for printing fine-screen half-tone blocks.	India India India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...  - Kishangarh Kishangarh Kishangarh is a city and a municipality in Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. It lies 18 miles north-west of Ajmer. It is well connected via Indian Railways and National Highway #8. It is the birth place of the Kishangarh style of painting, which is known for the beautiful depiction...  SC#37 New Zealand New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...  SC#179-181
Batonné	↔	Batonné paper describes it's texture and is similar to laid paper Laid paper Laid paper is a type of paper having a ribbed texture imparted by the manufacturing process. In the 19th century its use diminished as it was largely supplanted by wove paper...  but has far fewer lines, typically spaced about ½ apart. . The spacing of the lines is similar to lined paper, which act as guide lines. Batonné paper may be either wove or laid. When it is formed in laid paper, fine laid lines are visible between the batons. Batonné is from the French meaning baton or staff.	Afghanistan Afghanistan Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...  SC#157-161 Fiji Fiji Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...  SC#6
Bluish	↔	The bluish color of this paper is a result of an unintentional chemical reaction of the constituents of the furnish. Another potential cause may be the presence of prussiate of potassium in the ink or latent in the paper. When the paper was dampened prior to printing, the paper fibers were dyed blue. Other terms are the French word blueté or blue rag paper.	U.S. SC#357 - 366 Great Britain Great Britain Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...  SC#8-17
Cardboard	↔	Cardboard Card stock Card stock, also called cover stock or pasteboard, is a paper stock that is thicker and more durable than normal writing or printing paper, but thinner and more flexible than other forms of paperboard. Card stock is often used for business cards, postcards, playing cards, catalog covers,...  is a thick white paper that is typically not used for postage stamps. The best examples are the quasi-stamps of Russia, when contrary to regulations, were printed on paper intended for paper currency. U.S. plate proofs are also printed on cardboard.	Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...  SC#105-107
Chalky Chalked-surface Chalky paper Chalky paper is a philatelic term for a type of paper coated with a chalky solution for security purposes. The postmark cannot be removed without damaging the surface of the stamp thus discouraging erasure of cancellations and fraudulent reuse of stamps. The paper was first coated with a...	↔	Chalk paper is a type of safety paper that was designed to cause the stamp's design to rub off or smear when an attempt was made to remove the cancellation on the stamp. The paper was coated with a solution containing a suspension of chalk. The British government used chalky paper in many of its colonies. One destructive test of chalk paper is to rub a piece of silver on the paper. A black, pencil-like mark will result if the paper is chalky.	British Honduras British Honduras British Honduras was a British colony that is now the independent nation of Belize.First colonised by Spaniards in the 17th century, the territory on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, became a British crown colony from 1862 until 1964, when it became self-governing. Belize became...  SC# 62-71 (chalky) Mozambique Company Mozambique Company The Mozambique Company, in Portuguese the Companhia de Moçambique, was a royal company in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, that had the concession of the lands that include the present provinces of Manica and Sofala....  SC#4 (chalked-surface)
Colored		Colored paper can be found in any number of colors. Since color is added to the pulp, the color is present throughout the paper. To identify colored paper, examine both sides of the stamp including the perforated edges. There is tinted paper as well as surface-colored stamps (Great Britain's White Backs as an example), where color was applied intentionally after the normal processes of papermaking were finished.	Afghanistan SC#191-195 Hong Kong Hong Kong Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...  SC#89, 94, 96, 102
Double Joined	↔	Rotary printing press Rotary printing press A rotary printing press is a printing press in which the images to be printed are curved around a cylinder. Printing can be done on large number of substrates, including paper, cardboard, and plastic. Substrates can be sheet feed or unwound on a continuous roll through the press to be printed and... es require long continuous rolls to keep the presses operational. When one roll was exhausted, another was joined to the end of the first roll to keep the press fed with paper. Where the two lengths of paper were overlapped, a seam was formed creating a double thickness of paper. Normally, these seams were cut from the sheets but occasionally these double paper stamps slipped the inspector's eye and entered into post office stocks. Up until the 1950s, the Scott's catalog listed them with a unique designation. But because double paper stamps became so common, Scott's stopped listing them with a special designation.	U.S. Rotary press issues
Double (Security) Duplex	↔	Duplex or two-ply paper has two different papers bonded together to form a single finished sheet of paper. The first ply of paper was unsized, therefore very absorbent and would take the cancellation easily. The second ply was sized and much stronger. Charles F Steel patented this double (security) paper to address the U.S. fraud problem in the 1870s. If a person were to attempt to remove the cancellation, the first tissue-like layer of paper that the stamp's design was printed, would rub off thereby destroying the stamp.	U.S. SC#156
Enameled	↔	This paper is similar to chalky paper but appears slightly greyish. When held up to a light, rather than a uniform appearance, enameled paper is distinctly mottled.	Angola Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...  SC#26 Mozambique Company Mozambique Company The Mozambique Company, in Portuguese the Companhia de Moçambique, was a royal company in the Portuguese colony of Mozambique, that had the concession of the lands that include the present provinces of Manica and Sofala....  SC# 4, 6-9
Goldbeaters skin	↔	Goldbeaters skin was a tough paper that was made transparent with resin Resin Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...  or collodium. The stamp's design was printed in reverse on the back of the paper and the adhesive was applied over the design. When the stamp was applied to the letter, the stamp's design appeared through the paper correctly. This paper can also be referred to as resinized paper.	Prussia Prussia Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...  SC #21-22
Glazed		Glazed paper is given a glossy finish by glazing with friction of applied heat versus a glossy finish created by a coating. It is synomous with surfaced-paper.	El Salvador El Salvador El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...  SC#336-348 India India India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...  SC#9-10 (Blue glazed paper)
Granite		Granite paper has colored (typically red and/or blue) silk fibers added to the furnish. Another name for granite paper was silurian paper as it only contained blue fibers and the paper was bluish-gray.	Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....  SC#60-68 U.S. SC#1252, 1326
Native	↔	Native paper describes the paper local to the region the stamps were originally printed on. The composition of the furnish was of local materials. European paper typically replaced native papers.	Japan Japan Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...  SC# Nepal Nepal Nepal , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked sovereign state located in South Asia. It is located in the Himalayas and bordered to the north by the People's Republic of China, and to the south, east, and west by the Republic of India...  SC#7 Tibet Tibet Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...  SC#1
Laid Laid paper Laid paper is a type of paper having a ribbed texture imparted by the manufacturing process. In the 19th century its use diminished as it was largely supplanted by wove paper...		When laid paper is held up to a light, its texture can be seen as light and dark lines. The lines are not a result of the printing but is a result of the paper making process. When the stamp's design is printed on laid paper, the lines can be either vertical or horizontal.	Bulgaria Bulgaria Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...  SC#1-27 Horizontal Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...  SC#55-71 Vertical
Oblong quadrille	↔	The texture of oblong quadrille results from wires on the paper mould that form a rectanglular pattern. This texture is similar to quadrille and laid as it is formed in the same manner.	Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...  - Guadalajara Guadalajara Guadalajara may refer to:In Mexico:*Guadalajara, Jalisco, the capital of the state of Jalisco and second largest city in Mexico**Guadalajara Metropolitan Area*University of Guadalajara, a public university in Guadalajara, Jalisco...  SC# 38-41 Colombia Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...  - Tolima SC# 74-75
Palimpsest		The term palimpsest Palimpsest A palimpsest is a manuscript page from a scroll or book from which the text has been scraped off and which can be used again. The word "palimpsest" comes through Latin palimpsēstus from Ancient Greek παλίμψηστος originally compounded from πάλιν and ψάω literally meaning “scraped... actually is defined as parchment Parchment Parchment is a thin material made from calfskin, sheepskin or goatskin, often split. Its most common use was as a material for writing on, for documents, notes, or the pages of a book, codex or manuscript. It is distinct from leather in that parchment is limed but not tanned; therefore, it is very...  or velum Vellum Vellum is mammal skin prepared for writing or printing on, to produce single pages, scrolls, codices or books. It is generally smooth and durable, although there are great variations depending on preparation, the quality of the skin and the type of animal used...  that has been reused to the extent that the previous writing can still be faintly seen. Philatelically, paper that was originally designed to be used for another purpose and then used for printing of stamps is also categorized as palimpsest. The most famous are from Latvia, when after World War I World War I World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918... , the Latvian government printed stamps on the back of German military maps. Later, Latvia printed stamps on the backs of unfinished banknotes of the Bolshevists and the government of Colonel Bermondt-Avalov.	Latvia Latvia Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...  SC#1 and 68-69 Mexico Mexico The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...  SC#195-211
Pelure		Thin, often brittle, semi-transparent paper and can be either wove or laid and is rendered semi-tranparent by the resins used in the manufacturing of the paper. Stamps printed on pelure paper sometimes do not survive wholly intact because of their brittle nature. Pelure is easily identified because of its transparency. Pelure is a French word meaning skin or peel, like that of a banana, which is why sometimes this paper is compared to onionskin paper.	Latvia Latvia Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...  SC#9-56 Colombia Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...  SC#303-313 Russia Russia Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...  SC#181a
Phosphored-coated	↔	Luminesence is the characteristic of the mineral zinc orthosilicate, which glows a yellowish-green when illuminated with shortwave ultraviolet light. The U.S first issue that used phosphored-coated paper was the Flag over Yosemite definitive coil in 1989.	U.S. SC#2280
Quadrille		Quadrille describes the texture of this paper, where the laid lines form small squares about 1/8 of an inch. This texture is similar to laid and oblong quadrille because they are formed by the mould in the same manner. There have been instances when the quadrille pattern was lightly printed onto the paper after it was made.	Fiji Fiji Fiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island...  SC#1-5 (paper) France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...  SC#103 (printed)
Ribbed Repp	↔	Ribbed paper or Repp paper describes the texture created by papermaking rollers that have fine corrugations cut into them. Ribbed paper can be confused with paper with heavy laid lines as their appearance when held to a light is similar. One way to determine if the paper is ribbed is to run your finger over the surface of the stamp, since ribbing is not a watermark but a texturing of the surface of the stamp.	Afghanistan Afghanistan Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...  SC#146-153 Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...  SC#81-92
Safety or Security Security paper Security paper is paper which incorporates features which can act to identify or authenticate a document as original or features which demonstrate tamper evidence when fraud is attempted, e.g., to remove or alter print such as amounts or signatures on a cheque...	See Security paper gallery below	This is the large goup of paper that describes the many varieties of paper used to prevent the reuse of a postage stamp. Included in this group are: Double paper, e.g. invented by C F Steel Paper with colored dots Chalk paper Burelage or network paper Bank check paper	Venezuela Venezuela Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...  SC#293-304 (Bank check paper) El Salvador El Salvador El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...  SC#414-421 (Paper with colored dots) Danzig SC#117-125 (Network paper) Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...  SC#1-2 (Burelage) Ceylon SC#207-218 (Chalky)
Silk	↔	When short uncolored silk fibers are added to the furnish, the paper is designated as silk paper. Silk paper is often confused with silk-thread paper (next entry). Silk paper was used for some U.S. revenue stamps.
Silk thread		John Dickinson patented silk-thread paper in 1830 for bank notes and later adapted the technology for stamps. Dickinson paper is the trade name for this paper and was used by Switzerland and Bavaria. Passing paper is a particular type silk thread paper that was manufactured in Pasing Pasing Pasing is a district in the city of Munich, Germany and part of the borough Pasing-Obermenzing.-Overview:Pasing is located west of the Munich city centre, at the north-western edge of the city's innermost traffic zone. The district is mainly residential; there is a large concentration of shops,... , Bavaria Bavaria Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...  and used in Bavaria's stamps between 1849 and 1868.	Bavaria Bavaria Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...  SC#2-14 Great Britain SC#5-7 Switzerland Switzerland Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....  SC#14-31
Silkote		Silkote is the trade name given to the paper that had optical brighteners added to the furnish. It was an experimental issue that was tested in the Westbrook substation in Maine, U.S. during the Christmas of 1954.	U.S. SC#1033a
Taggant	↔	An experimental paper where a luminescent additive was added to the furnish to facilitate the automation of the facing and canceling operation.	U.S. SC#2115b
Toned	↔	Paper that is off-white or with a brownish or buffish tinge is called toned paper.	Cook Islands Cook Islands The Cook Islands is a self-governing parliamentary democracy in the South Pacific Ocean in free association with New Zealand...  SC#1-4 Romania Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...  SC#166-172
Watermark Watermark A watermark is a recognizable image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light , caused by thickness or density variations in the paper... ed		A watermark is created in the paper by the mould or the Dandy roll and can be letters or designs.	India India India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...  SC#19-25
Wove Wove paper Wove paper is a writing paper with a uniform surface, not ribbed or watermarked.The papermaking mould's wires run parallel to each other to produce laid paper, but they are woven together into a fine wire mesh for wove paper...		The texture of wove paper has no discernable pattern when the paper is held up to a light. The paper is formed on a mould, unlike laid paper, that does not have wires attached to it and so the pulp forms an even web of fibers.	Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people... SC#99-108

Security paper gallery

Examples of different security paper used on postage stamps.

Books

• Standard Catalog of U.S. Stamps, 2003, 6th Edition Krause - Minkus ISBN 0-87349-473-3
• Stephen R Datz, Official Stamp Collector's Bible 2003 ISBN 0-609-80884-2
• Rodney A Juell and Steven J Rod, Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting 2006 ISBN 1-886513-98-8
• Josep Asunción, The Complete Book of Papermaking (Lark Books, 2001) ISBN 1-57990-456-4
• Arnold Grummer, Complete Guide to Easy Papermaking (Krause Publications, 1999) ISBN 0-87341-710-0

Websites

• How a Postage Stamp is Made
• Calvet M Hahn, The Topic is Paper 2002
• Tullis Russel Coaters - Postage Stamp Paper