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 Originally Posted by Bob F.
For reasons lost in the mists of time, the UK is the only country not required to put the country of origin on its stamps intended for overseas use.
If you notice, none of our stamps have ever had the country name printed on them. It's because we invented the things. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamp_design.
Cheers
Mike
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I'm not too sure about the British inventing postage stamps. That article goes on to say the "First official adhesive postage stamp".
I have been through the Deutches Museum in Munich, at the time my wife was interested in paper and it's origins. That museum has an unbelievablely excellent (maybe had as this was 21 years ago) section on the invention and manufacture of paper. Included somewhere among the history was a reference to postage stamps being printed for letter delivery systems.
If I remember correctly, these stamps used glue, as opposed to an adhesive, (there is a difference).
The timeline was the very late 1700's. Perhaps some more fluent German speakers on the board, may be able to access the German Wikipedia and see what turns up.
Mick.
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OK, maybe the phrase needs clarifying a bit! We invented the first adhesive postage stamp which was the Penny Black in 1840. Before that, it was usual for the receiver of the letter to pay instead of the sender. About.com has a bit more info: http://coins.about.com/library/weekly/aa083102a.htm
It concludes:
"Finally, it is of interest to note that, in honour of the U.K. having issued the world's first adhesive postage stamps, the Universal Postal Union grants it an exemption from its rule that the name of the issuing country must appear on a stamp. No British stamp to date has ever had the country name on it."
Why am I taking a sudden interest in stamps? I've never collected or been interested in them before!!
Cheers
Mike
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Mike!
This is very interesting! Thanks so much for the brief bit of info. I had also wondered about that! Cool! 
Jeanette
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Isaiah 25:1
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Hello All,
Two more cards have arrived. Thanks to BobF for a nice shot of London's River, and SteveH for an interesting 'still life'.
Regards Daniel
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Mike, very interesting, shows what a bit of innovation can lead to!
With a bit of thinking though, the word "Adhesive" appears to be a bit incorrect. Gummed paper as I understand it means paper that has had gum arabic applied. This is a natural substance that is edible, as in gumdrops and the like.
Later on, adhesives which are synthetic, or man made, became the choice of manufacturers.
In the graphic art house where I worked for a fair while, we had a gum maker whose job was to apply gum, to just scrubbed glass plates, immediately after, another worker applied the emulsion. Although by this stage the materials used were synthetic, we always referred to the process as gumming. As a footnote when things went wrong the term, "Gumming up the works", was applied.
Mick.
Last edited by Mick Fagan; 04-13-2006 at 07:53 PM. Click to view previous post history.
Reason: Added information.
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My goodness this is sooo much fun, I've been loving everyone's postcards. I've recieved so many I don't know who to thank first - so I'll thank everyone. You've all gone to such an effort, incredible workmanship. Mine are finally finished and off to everyone today, YAY! A little late again but I come through.
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BobF,
Received your postcard today. Thanks, enjoyed it very much. I really liked the view that you photographed! How do you get the nice, even, white borders on your postcards? I guess it helps if you have a small easel.
BWKate
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I got Victors cyanotype in the mail today, that is fantastic!
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Got Nicoles yesterday... very nice! Guess most of you guys will have to wait for a few more days to see... one benefit of living on the same continent!
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