Expressions Only Philatelists Know (What Are Some Of Yours?)

Tombstone I think of India "Paid." Also, when I collected early China there was a "tombstone" handstamp that was prominent. Ok, US tombstone.

Redwoodrandy - very interesting covers


Misperf
Comb perf
Line perf

salt mine

Oh wow those are really interesting. I especially like that last stamp with the skull & crossbones inscribed on a tombstone, you won't see that in an everyday stamp mixture.

I had never heard the term before with reference to philately, thanks very much Randy.

The Fort Wayne tombstone precancel:

A Bavarian tombstone cancel

In Germany Tombstone cancels are now as Steigbugel > Stirrup cancels.

floor sweepings
fluffy perfs
line comb
Mihons
inverted watermark
crystal mounts
lightly mounted
standing order
gutter pairs
traffic light gutters
plate number coil
salting a collection
sand dunes
wallpaper
stamperia crapperia
(ok THAT one I just made up! :-)



--Jim
stampguyaps177-681

I didn't know about "Mihons" as a philatelic thing. Being a fan (and collector) of Japanese pop music, when I see the word "mihon," the first thing that comes to mind is promotional CDs.

I'm curious about Mihons as well, guess I must have missed something. Anybody cares to explain?

Mihon is a Japanese word meaning 'sample' or 'specimen'. For our purposes here, it's a Japanese stamp that is overprinted with the word mihon (using the hiragana syllabary). The Japanese postal administration used these overprinted stamps for promotional and educational purposes, sending them with informational circulars to philatelic organizations and publications and apparently also to every public school in Japan. (Google is your friend. )

Here's an example:

Thank you, Erilaz

German stamps overprinted MUSTER, and spanish-speaking countries with stamps overprinted MUESTRA, all indicate they are specimens not valid for postal duty.

Many collectors, myself included, tend to like these not always easy to find "stamps". Then there are people who seek out "specimen" stamps used, on-cover. It's fun trying to guess if the sender was a philatelist or someone illegally trying to escape paying for postal service!

--Jim
stampguyaps177-681

I once described a woman I know as a 're-perf' (she's had a fair bit of plastic surgery), but no one knew what I was on about.

Stitt-Dibden

That's brave, steevh !