Wikipedia:WikiProject Philately

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Portal
Check out the  which is up and running well.

Please help by making suggestion for future Selected article nomination and Stamp of the month nomination sections. These two sections are now set up to rotate between the archived articles with the use of the "Random portal component" template.

Add the portal and all the sub-pages you might be interested in on your watchlist.

Featured articles

 * Postage stamps of Ireland &mdash; promoted 1 August 2007
 * Apollo 15 postal covers incident &mdash; promoted 20 January 2019

Scope
This WikiProject aims primarily to present large numbers of articles relating to philately, postage stamps, postal history and postal systems. To understand the detail of our scope, see category:Philately and look at the sub-categories there. Note that a couple of the sub-categories are currently being reviewed as explained in the To-do box above.

Promoting the project
To promote this project the banner was developed as recommended by the WikiProject Council guide. Please post it on the talk pages of philatelic articles that don't already have it by adding this template:

that produces this project banner.

Please use one of these templates on all postage stamps and postal history articles.

Please use the following template on all revenue stamps articles.

Stubs
Our main aim is the creation of articles about philately. An article doesn't have to be perfect when it is first created. You can just begin with a stub and for that we have our own philately stub which is:


 * philately-stub

There is a suitable alternative for articles that are more relevant to postal systems than philately and this is:


 * postal-stub

New articles
New articles with interesting or unusual facts should be suggested for the Did you know? box on the Main Page.

Bot detected new articles

<!-- {| class="wikitable" !width="20%" align=center|Stamps !width="20%" align=center|Postal history !width="20%" align=center|Philatelists !width="20%" align=center|Misc !width="20%" align=center|Countries
 * Presidential Issue
 * Letter sheet
 * Dorothy Wilding
 * Gutter
 * Guam
 * Bull's Eye
 * Marcophily
 * Philipp von Ferrary
 * Stockbook
 * (pre-1948) Palestine
 * Bluenose
 * Pre-adhesive mail
 * Jeffery Matthews
 * Printed matter
 * Israel
 * Dag Hammarskjöld invert
 * Mobile post office
 * Louis Yvert & Théodule Tellier
 * Timbres mag/L'Écho
 * Palestinian National Authority
 * HMS Glasgow error
 * Official mail
 * Douglas Myall
 * Daguin machine
 * Estonia
 * Chalon head
 * Deutsche Post of the GDR
 * David Feldman
 * Fédération Internationale de Philatélie
 * Germany
 * Lady McLeod
 * Deutsche Bundespost Berlin
 * Edward Denny Bacon
 * Otte Wallish (stamp designer)
 * Mauritius
 * Wilding series
 * Musée de La Poste
 * John Wilson (philatelist)
 * Académie de philatélie
 * Turkey
 * Castle series
 * BEPTOM
 * John Marriott (philatelist)
 * Mobile post office
 * Korea
 * Ceres series (France)
 * London Penny Post
 * Morpeth House
 * Cut to shape
 * Christmas Island
 * Navigation and Commerce issue
 * Eugène Vaillé
 * Plating
 * Cocos (Keeling) Islands
 * The Rare 2d Coil
 * Mahbub Jamal Zahedi
 * Crawford Medal
 * Bangladesh
 * Art Deco stamps
 * Graphite line / phosphor band
 * Tuscany
 * Airmail stamps of Denmark
 * Philatelic exhibition
 * Papua New Guinea
 * Pagsanjan Falls stamp
 * Philatelic expertisation
 * Norfolk Island
 * Marianne et l'Europe
 * Burelage
 * Tannu Tuva
 * Zemstvo
 * Triptych
 * Pitcairn Islands
 * Primitives
 * Clair Aubrey Houston
 * San Marino
 * U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps
 * Tonga
 * U.S. Presidents on U.S. postage stamps
 * Japan
 * Burkina Faso
 * Postal convention states of India
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Papua New Guinea
 * Pagsanjan Falls stamp
 * Philatelic expertisation
 * Norfolk Island
 * Marianne et l'Europe
 * Burelage
 * Tannu Tuva
 * Zemstvo
 * Triptych
 * Pitcairn Islands
 * Primitives
 * Clair Aubrey Houston
 * San Marino
 * U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps
 * Tonga
 * U.S. Presidents on U.S. postage stamps
 * Japan
 * Burkina Faso
 * Postal convention states of India
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Primitives
 * Clair Aubrey Houston
 * San Marino
 * U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps
 * Tonga
 * U.S. Presidents on U.S. postage stamps
 * Japan
 * Burkina Faso
 * Postal convention states of India
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Tonga
 * U.S. Presidents on U.S. postage stamps
 * Japan
 * Burkina Faso
 * Postal convention states of India
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Japan
 * Burkina Faso
 * Postal convention states of India
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Burkina Faso
 * Postal convention states of India
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Postal convention states of India
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Postal convention states of India
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Postal convention states of India
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Far Eastern Republic
 * Far Eastern Republic

Updated articles
Newer articles at the bottom, please. Feel free to list Philatelic-related articles that have had recent major updates or revisions here.
 * List of people on stamps of the United States - improved referencing

Participants
If you are interested in helping or contributing, please add your username to the list, in alphabetical order, and give a brief description of your activity. Thanks and welcome.

Active participants (in alphabetical order)
 * 1) AndyBoal - GB interest in the main
 * 2) Arno-nl - Russian Empire stamps, postal history and pre-adhesive postmarks.
 * 3) AshLin - Restarted my childhood interest. Indian stamps & spoken articles.
 * 4) Bobdatty – postal stationery and postal history of Cuba most interested in Cuba up to the Castro era.
 * 5) Bleddynefans – substantial contributions on Palestine, some work on the  PNA (though hindered by selfrestriction due to original research problems). I hope to help with a broader range of topics in the future.Bleddynefans (talk) 20:49, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
 * 6) Carriearchdale - United States, first day covers, commemoratives and postal history.
 * 7) CaptainEek do love me a good stamp
 * 8) Dissecting Philately, Mike Pascoe, PhD - Academic anatomist that is expanding their postage stamp interest into other postal history subjects. Experienced Wikipedia editor on board for improving philatelic wiki articles. Much more at Dissecting Philately.
 * 9) DudeWithAFeud - United States, especially poor-coverage 1930s commems.
 * 10) DJCMH - Worldwide stamps. Would like to see the creation of a stamp database for all nations containing basic catalog and technical information about each stamp.
 * 11) Eagleash - Casual, somewhat haphazard, collector. (UK Victorian)
 * 12) Ecphora - Mexico, Turkey, classic stamps and fakes.
 * 13) Gwillhickers - Collect mostly US stamps & postal history. Created six complete (+ -) articles including DYK featured article. Rewrote & built Pony Express article, giving it GA status. Have uploaded 700+ hi res' stamp & other images.
 * 14) Henkle - U.S. First Day Covers, WW II Patriotics and Poster Stamps. Searching for Collector and First Day Cachetmaker biography pages to link to on my website, "https://www.folklib.net/fdc" and making minor additions or corrections to them as needed.
 * 15) Howcom - I am adding bibliographies and further reading references to articles.
 * 16) Jacquesverlaeken - Specialized in cancellations on the Austro-Hungary area, in British Empire to a lesser extent. Has started Galleries in Wikimedia on Postmarks in the current countries of the Austrian empire.
 * 17) Johnsoniensis - contributing to assessment
 * 18) Luístro -- I discovered philately on Brazilian Post's site.
 * 19) Martin Walker Not contributing new material right now, but helping with some of the peripheral work - copyediting, assessing, and I helped set up the assessment scheme.  Interested in GB & NSW, but life has pushed my hobby into the background, I'm afraid! Willing to help in polishing articles for GA, FA.
 * 20) Mike Cline -- Interested in Airmails and airmail postal history, especially as it relates to the development of European air transport in the post WWI era.  Created Airmail stamps of Denmark. I have an extensive personal library of US and European aviation and air transport journals from 1919 to 1940 as well as access to one of the world's largest libraries devoted to aviation--The Air University Library in Montgomery, Alabama.  Former APS, AAMS member.
 * 21) - a French former Wikipedian on a small scale return to help philatelic and postal articles.
 * 22) Philafrenzy - Mostly contributed images to Wikimedia so far but interested in creating or expanding philately articles.
 * 23) - Very narrow fields of interests: Latvian postal history since independence (1918) until today. Riga in deltiological terms (Riga on picture postcards) from the early 1890s to the late 1940s (preferably postally used).
 * 24) Rahman.Safwan - Interested in postal authority of the world. Trying to expend postal authority's article of Wikipedia. Eager to learn about postal system.
 * 25) rzafar Stamps and postal history of Pakistan.
 * 26) Sabaybayin -- Interested in expanding Philippine Philately. I have a large collection of stamps I hope to scan and upload.
 * 27) Snehrashmi — Mostly interested in Indian Philately. Initially Started with Expanding List of postage stamps of India and would like to contribute to Indian Philately. I have a large collection of stamps and First Day Covers & I hope to scan and upload.
 * 28) Stan Shebs - general articles, country accounts, illustrative scans
 * 29) St220 - People on stamps, new issues, general articles
 * 30) SunTunnels — decolonial postal history and topical philately (created Template:Topical stamps)
 * 31) Xwejnusgozo - mostly interested in Malta and Commonwealth stamps, with a special interest in revenues. On Wiki, I mainly edit Malta or fortifications articles, but I also occasionally contribute on philatelic articles, particularly if they are Malta-related. I started many articles about Commonwealth revenues (such as Revenue stamps of Malta).
 * 32) Ww2censor - Wide philatelic interests, maintain the Portal and brought Postage stamps of Ireland to featured article status.

Inactive participants Lists editors who have not made any philatelic edits during the last nine months (per useractivity tool), who have added their names, or have asked to be added because they are currently inactive.

If you become active again, please move your name to the active participants list above. If you retire from Wikipedia, please remove your name, if you remember.


 * AbstractNihilist
 * AdrianMastronardi
 * Albert
 * Art Lizotte
 * Amvros
 * Bean is a carrot
 * ColinBoylett
 * Dave Taber
 * Eclecticology
 * GandalftheWise
 * George Williams - Retired June 26, 2007
 * Gregorvitch
 * HG
 * Jagadhatri
 * Jchild
 * Jean Fex
 * Johann_Wolfgang
 * John Vandenberg
 * Keesiewonder
 * kermitstan
 * Prashant61
 * Saipan Sam
 * Sir Blofeld
 * StampMan
 * StampOnIt
 * Swollib
 * Tirkfl
 * Wikited
 * Tirkfl
 * Wikited

Country Studies
This is the biggest task currently being undertaken by the project. Our aim is that each stamp-issuing entity, current or historic, should have either a main article or a postal history section within a major article about the entity, that describes both its postal history and its postage stamp issues. In practice, every issuer has a reference in the Category:Compendium of postage stamp issuers which forms the index for the country survey. The compendium references are all micro articles and many are complete in themselves, while others provide summary information and linkage to a main article elsewhere. As described in the To-do Box above, however, relatively few main articles have been written so far, but progress is being made.

Current issuers should have a standalone main article that is xref'd from the country's main article, typically from a "miscellaneous topics" section or from a short postal history section. Alternatively, the postal history section can be expanded to contain all the necessary information. The latter approach should be considered for a small country, a former colony or a country that no longer exists as an independent nation: e.g., Abu Dhabi. Many issuers were foreign powers operating in another country either through a post office abroad or through military occupation; as these issues involve more than one country, it is recommended that they have independent articles and not a section in the article of one country or the other, but they should be xref'd as before.

Entities which made only a small contribution to postal history need only a section in a general article about the entity, assuming that the entity itself has its own article. Otherwise, the reference in the Compendium may be sufficient. Be careful about redirecting historic entities to the present-day countries that replaced them as this can be fraught with difficulty in postal terms. For example, German East Africa had a postal history that was entirely independent of Tanganyika and Tanzania.

A word about article titles. Depending on the actual coverage of the article, titles such as Postage stamps and postal history of X or Postage stamps of X or Postal history of X are generally used. For military occupations, a title such as Postal History of the German Occupation of Poland (1939-1945) could be appropriate, and for peacetime postal services of one country outside its own borders, a title such as Russian post offices in the Turkish Empire. In some cases, none of these will be appropriate and it is then best to stay close to the naming used by major catalogues like Stanley Gibbons Ltd.

A postal history should note key dates and begin with the first introduction of a regular postal service, the introduction of postage stamps, etc. Any significant postage stamps or issues should be discussed, preferably with reference to information in the Gibbons catalogue. Any political or historical events that impacted the postal service should be mentioned. The length and depth of the survey will depend mainly on the country. Please conform to Wikipedia standards and provide suitable linkages as necessary.

Illustrations will help the presentation and should ideally include images of covers, postmarks or stamps that are representative of a period. Common stamps are preferable to rarities as it is important to convey the idea of regular usage. Postmarks connecting a stamp to a specific place and time are a good idea. For examples of country studies completed to date, see Category:Postal history by country.

The definitive index to all postal studies by issuer is the Compendium which contains references to all issuing entities in alphabetic order. These references are micro articles and many of them are complete in themselves, though most will contain a link to a main article elsewhere on the site. This work includes not just a reference to the main issuer in its commonly understood form but also ancillary references such as abbreviations on overprints or alternate names on inscriptions that may be the reader's reason for lookup.

There is also a quick reference in three parts: List of entities that have issued postage stamps (A - E), List of entities that have issued postage stamps (F - L), and List of entities that have issued postage stamps (M - Z); plus List of postal services abroad which can be used to determine progress to date.

See also category:Postal organisations for authorities such as the Royal Mail or Deutsche Post.

Stamp issue articles
Many issues of stamps justify closer attention than is appropriate for the general survey: e.g., the Empire issue of Italy; the Prexies of USA; and the Yacht issue of the German Colonies. These articles should be in much greater depth with content primarily aimed at philatelists. They should be indexed via category:Postage stamps.

Stamp articles
Some famous postage stamps such as the Penny Black, Inverted Jenny, etc. have justified creation of their own individual articles. Please see: category:Postage stamps.

Most individual stamps do not justify construction of a main article but some may be worthy of mention in articles about their issuers. The most practical approach to this would be to include a separate sub-section about the individual stamp in the main article about its issuer or in an article about its own general issue (see above), if appropriate. However, there are several redlinks on the List of postage stamps that likely are notable enough to justify a standalone article.

Infobox
An infobox template, Infobox postage stamp (copyable mark-up, below), is available for use in articles about notable stamps.

Topical lists
WP has great potential as an aid for topical collectors, as in List of people on stamps and Ships on stamps.

Membership Banner
The project membership banner is displayed below. Please take a copy of this and display it on your user page.

Use the code Philately member to insert it.

Userbox
These two Userboxs are available for use on your Userpage by adding the code shown below.

The only other template currently in use is the active project banner at the top of this page and the discussion page.

Barnstar

 *  message ~ —awarded to editors who've made significant contributions to Philately-related articles.

Assessment scheme
Article assessment is now being carried out using the Wikipedia 1.0 grading scheme for quality and importance ranking.

For:
 * Assessment department
 * Quality assessment and quality scale
 * Importance assessment and importance scale
 * Request an assessment
 * Assessment log

The key pages are:
 * Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Philately articles by quality (lists all tagged philately articles)
 * Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Philately articles by quality log (records changes, helps track talk page vandalism)
 * Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Philately articles by quality statistics (overall statistics for philately articles)
 * Category:Philately articles by quality
 * Category:Philately articles by importance

Resources

 * For online access to U.S. Postal Bulletin from 1880-2013 and U.S. Postal Laws and Regulations see The Postal Bulletin

Stamp images
Note: Always confirm the copyright status of any stamp images, preferably before you upload. Freely licensed stamps can be uploaded to the commons but check the commons Public Domain stamp templates page first. If a stamp will be used in a stamp article and is still in copyright it may be uploaded to the en wiki under a fair use claim, so long as it meet all the on-free content criteria and has a fully filled out fair use rationale. We have a dedicated stamp fair-use template Stamp rationale you can use but please read the template instructions before use.


 * US National Postal Museum has a large library of US stamps and also quite a few worldwide stamps on display. Most are mint and in decent quality though not very large resolution they are quite usable. Some covers are also available. Some are public domain and some are still copyright.


 * Sandafayre's Stamp Library has many worldwide stamp images of varying quality. Some are public domain and some are still copyright.


 * SnapDargon has many worldwide first issues, stamp booklets and commemorative sheets images of varying quality. Some are public domain and some are still copyright.


 * Colnect is an online stamp catalogue with a large number of image though the quality is variable.

Misc

 * Cleanup listing


 * Category:Philately articles needing attention

Requested articles
Revenue stamps articles
 * Many countries/entities still do not have a dedicated article about their revenue stamps.

Notable or iconic stamp issues
 * Kangaroo and Map stamps (Australia, 1913–1946)
 * Perot Provisionals (Bermuda, 1848–1861)
 * Cape of Good Hope triangular stamps (Cape of Good Hope, 1853–1864)
 * In addition, many existing articles about notable stamps need a rewrite, eg. for British stamps: Penny Black, Penny Red, Two Penny Blue, Penny Lilac, Jubilee Issue etc all need more references and can be greatly expanded.

Tools

 * Main tool page: Dispenser Main Page


 * Reflinks - Edits bare references - adds title/dates etc. to bare references
 * Checklinks - Edit and repair external links
 * Dab solver - Quickly resolve ambiguous links.
 * Peer reviewer - Provides hints and suggestion to improving articles.

APS Chapter
APA Writers Unit #30 is a chapter of the American Philatelic Society.