A Few Terms I Need More Information On

I know what a watermark is, but do all the stamps in a certain have them? Or is it only on certain ones in that run of stamps?

Overprint. I see that on stamps, but not sure why it was done, or how it changes the postal value of that stamp?

Thanks

Kevin, watermarks were/are manufactured into the paper to give it a certain security. Not all stamps are printed on watermarked paper. Just a simple answer to your question.
Overprinting is basically done to change something on the stamp. Sometimes to change the value in case of a rate increase, or if a certain value is no longer necessary or if they are short of certain values. Or sometimes to change the reason for issuing the stamp, like when a monarch dies


Peter

Overprints change the use of a stamp. Surcharges change the value of a stamp.

Overprint is a very broad term for a physical process of any printing typically added later to a stamp to change it from the original.

With such a wide variety of overprints, each one has its own back-story for why it was created or needed.

There are then additional terms which describe cetain types of overprints:
A surcharge is a specific type of overprint which changes the value.
I can see a strong argument for a precancel to be a specific type of overprint due to its process and intent (but I get push-back on this).
Some countries overprinted their normal stamps to change the prupose making short runs of their first airmail and special delivery stamps.
An overpint might also be a black border to change a stamp into a morning stamp.

Much the way "pesticide" is a broad word and then we have fungicide, herbicide, insecticide, rodenticide, etc

There is also a SCF Glossary location in the upper left of every page https://www.stampcommunity.org/dictionary/

Additionally, there is an Illustrated Glossary on Stamp Smarter located here https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/G...aryHome.html
Don

Thank you for the more detailed explanations on Watermarks. I knew what they were, but most definitions do not fully explain how they work, and when you may find them.

Overprints I am still a bit confused because the definitions are vague as to why they may have been used and why they may have been used.

The ones I have seen as of late, I assume were due to the World War, or change in country associations. Many were on Germain stamps in and around wartime.

Last week I saw a link online to an article in a stamp magazine about overprints, but it was no longer there, so this was my next stop to ask more questions.

Again thanks, everyone.

"Overprint" is a very general term; there are dozens of reasons for them from simple ones such as a need for a currently unavailable face value to complex reasons like a total change in the country governing an area because of war.

British stamps overprinted for use by the East Africa Forces of the British army in the occupied Italian colony of Somalia.



British stamps overprinted for use at British postal agencies in the French protectorate in Morocco.



A Dutch stamp overprinted to solve a shortage in another value.


or to use up existing stamps


British stamp overprinted as temporary measure until Ireland became a Free State and issued its own stamps.

The Netherlands stamps are surcharged, not overprinted.

I think we've been around this definitional minefield before. "Overprint" can encompass " surcharge", as the French " surcharge" encompasses "overprint".

There was a printing on an existing stamp. Whether it changed the value or not is irrelevant. They were overprinted. As to what exactly constitutes a surcharge, I refer to GeoffHa's post.

The King George the fifth stamps were overprinted by The Irish free state as an interim measure until they had designed and printed their own stamps.But they are still overprints. I agree overprints are any printing other than a cancellation,done after the stamp was first made, whether it changes the value or some other detail. Ther were some south american stamps that had more than 2 overprints, I don't know what country they are from as I can't identify the stamp it underneath the different overprints! Stanley gibbons publish a book titled: Philatelic terms illustrated. I find it a very useful book, I have a colection based on trying to have stamps and philatelic material illustrating English and American terms used in stamp circles. Scott and Stanley Gibbons albums explain quite a lot in the front of their catalogues.

I think also San Marino overprinted overprinted stamps.

And yes, Philatelic Terms Illustrated would be a good book, especially if you are European (still some different language between Europe and America, even when both are native English).

Memel (Michel # 164/6)

Overprint and precancel.

The "Kans'' overprint, a short-lived experiment in 1929 in Kansas and Nebraska used as a measure of preventing losses from post office burglaries.
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibit...ka-overprint

This series was not supposed to be precanceled, according to a 4/30/1929 postal bulletin, but "during Christmas rush, towns which had no users of precancel permits were authorized to precancel through the busy season as a time saver."
- from the APS handbook on Kansas-Nebraska Overprints by Schoen, DeVoss, and Harvey.

Perhaps in Europe they do not differentiate. In the U.S., we do. And for a beginning collector, it might well be easier to remember it this way since it defines the particular way each was used. Which is more a accurate, less generic description.