Philately

philately is art to collect them and revenue stamps, and to study them. The collector and the amateur of stamps are philatelists. This word is allotted to George Herpin in the review The Collector of postage stamps . It was created starting from the words philosophies (friend) and ateleia (discharged tax). As it is seen, the word "philately", thus composed, was appropriate particularly for the collection of the revenue stamps. However, like this term was largely used to indicate the collection of the postage stamps, of most spread much, one took the practice to resort, for the collection of tax, with the more precise name of tax philately, although this one is actually a pleonasm.
Let us note finally that the word "philately" was preferred with that of "timbrology" because of its best adaptation, because of its Greek roots, with an international employment. This last term remains however still in the title of oldest of the current French philatelic reviews The Echo of the timbrology.

The material of presentation

To present a collection:

• The album is a whole of printed pages on which the stamps collected are presented. The pages of stamps were formerly separated by transparent layers intended to protect those. But they generally disappeared from the current albums by country, where are fixed, within the frameworks intended to receive the stamps, of small transparent envelopes intended to receive them.
• hinges are small supports with double face which make it possible to stick the stamps on the pages of album and being able to turn over them to observe the back. They have been gradually forsaken for a few decades because of the traces which they leave with the back stamps. They are currently generally replaced by small transparent individual envelopes.

• The sorter is a work on the pages of which are stuck transparent bands under which, the collector slips the stamps. This work is used to classify, to preserve the stamps while waiting for their final arrangement.
• The exposure. The collector can take part in it within the framework of an association of philatelists. It then presents a part of its collection according to a country, a topic or a format of its choice or imposed for the contest...

The equipment of handling

The philatelist uses certain instruments:

• a grip (them tweezers) to seize the stamps without damaging it , them teeth or .
• one magnifying glass to examine the details of the stamp and to locate possible varieties.
• one odontometer to measure serration, i.e. the number of holes of separation between two stamps.

The material of documentation

• catalogues who count the emitted stamps and the dimensions give some, generally by country or groups of country. The principal editors are: Cérès (), Dallay (), Domfil (), Facit (), Michel (), Scott (The United States), Stanley Gibbons (), Yvert and Tellier ().
  There are also catalogues for the various categories ofobliterations.
• The management of a collection can be facilitated by the use of software on CD-Romanian.
• Various works general or specialized of documentation on the stamps, them books of stamps, obliterations and philately.
• Articles of the philatelic reviews such as for example in France the Echo of the timbrology and Stamps magazine.
• Internet sites of philatelic associations, such as for example the site of the French Federation of philatelic associations (FFAP), or that of the French Company of tax philately (HTTP://sfpf.free.Fr).

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