F

F: Auction term meaning "Fine" quality.
F: Registration. Scott catalog number prefix to identify stamps other than standard postage.
FA: Certified Mail. Scott catalog number prefix to identify stamps other than standard postage.
FAC: Forwarding Agent Cachet
FACER CANCELER: Postal equipment that "faces" the envelope to be read easily and then cancels the item.
FACE VALUE: The monetary value of a postage stamp as printed in its design.
FACIT: Facit (specialized Scandinavian postage stamp catalog)
FACSIMILE: A reproduction intended for souvenir value and not meant to defraud.
FADING: A lightening of ink or paper due to natural physical causes.
FAKE: A genuine stamp altered as to color, design, value, etc. to increase its monetary value.
FALSE FRANKING: Use of low value stamp for a bulk mailing with balance due in lump sum at time of mailing.
F A M: Foreign Air Mail route.
FANTAIL MARGIN: Missing marginal perforations from edge of stamp to the end of the sheet.
FARLEY'S FOLLIES: Name given the "Special Printings of 1935" produced during the administration of U.S. Postmaster General James A. Farley.
FAULT: Missing piece, tear, clipped perforation, hole, scuff, thin spot, crease, toning, oxidation, stain, short perforation, etc. on a stamp.
FAVOR CANCEL: A hand cancel that is applied in a special manner as a favor to the maiiler.
F/C: Fiscal cancel
F D C: First Day Cover.
FDI: First Day of Issue
FELDPOST: Field or army post.
FERRARITIES: Someone who owns a number of fakes. Named after Baron Philipp La Renotiere Von Ferrary, a great collector who also owned a number of fakes and forgeries.
F F C: First Flight Covers commemorate the first flight of an air-borne vehicle. They may or may not have been carried on board.
F I A F: Federacion Interamerican de Filatelia
FIELD POST OFFICE: A post office established for servicemen on active service.
FILING CREASES: Creases folded on a postal piece by recipient so that the mail item will fit into a folder.
FILING HOLES: Holes punched by the recipient so that postal piece can be filed.
FINAL MASTER PROOF: Combination of all four separations to produce the complete design.
FINE PERFORATION: Perforation with small holes and teeth close together.
F I P: International Federation of Philately, the group that sets rules and standards for international exhibitions.
F I P O: Federation of Olympic Philately
FIRST CLASS MAIL: A class of mail including letters, postcards and postal cards with all matter sealed or otherwise closed against inspection.
FIRST DAY COVER: A newly issued stamp affixed to an envelope and postmarked on the first day of sale at a city designated by the Postal Service.
FIRST DAY OF ISSUE: The day on which a stamp is first placed on sale.
FIRST FLIGHT COVER: An envelope bearing a cancellation and usually having a special descriptive cachet affixed which has been at the point of origin and carried on a first flight opening a new air mail route.
F I S A: International Federation of Aerophilatelic Societies
FISCAL CANCELLATION: A cancellation applied to a stamp by pen, indelible pencil or rubber stamp, and used for revenue, rather than postal purposes. This usually reduces the market value of the stamp considerably.
FISCAL STAMPS: Stamps intended to collect taxes, fees and duties for the revenue as opposed to prepay postage.
FIVE-DIGIT PRESORT: Bulk mail presorted to five Zip Code digits and bundled.
FL: Folded Letter
FLAG CANCEL: Cancellation with a flag as part of the bar design.
FLAGS: Refers to the series of 13 stamps issued in 1944 picturing the flags of the overrun countries.
FLAT PLATE: A stamp printed on a flat bed press. This process is slower than the rotary press method of printing from curved plates.
FLAW: A blemish in the stamp design that occurred during manufacture and may be considered a variety.
FLIGHT COVER: An envelope actually flown in the vehicle being commemorated.
FLOWN COVER: A cover that has been carried by air.
FLT: Fault
FLUGPOST: German for air mail.
FLUORESCENT: An optical brightener that emits a distinctive, intense glow when viewed with either a long or short wave ultra-violet light. Fluorescent tubes in fixtures can emit damaging quantities of UV light that can discolor stamps and covers.
FLUORESCENT INK: Ink that glows brightly when its luminescent ingredients are activated by ultraviolet light, and which ceases to glow when the light is extinguished.
FLYSPECK PHILATELY: Term used for the microscopic study of stamps such as extra dots in the design, or a slight break in the frame line, etc.
FOIL STAMPS: Stamps printed on paper with a facing of metal foil.
FOLDED LETTER: One piece of paper folded so that the letter is written on one side and then folded so that the address and proper postal markings can be placed on outside.
FOLDOVER: Accidental folds made at some point in the production of the material.
FORBIN: Catalogue de Timbres-Fiscaux, 1915 (worldwide revenue stamp catalog)
FOREIGN ENTRY: When original transfers are erased incompletely from a plate, they can appear with new transfers of a different design which are then entered on the plate.
FORERUNNERS: Stamps from one nation used in another area before the new nation had stamps of its own.
FORGERY: Imitation of a stamp made to defraud the Postal Service and/or collectors.
FORMAT: General physical characteristics of a stamp such as size, shape, dimensions, etc.
FOURTH CLASS MAIL: Includes domestic parcel post, bound printed matter and films weighing up to 70 pounds with a combined length and girth of 108" or less.
FOXING: Tan or brown spots often seen on stamps or covers.
F P O: Fleet Post Office postmark used for America's servicemen attached to the U.S. Navy. On a British cover, it means Field Post Office.
FRACTIONAL CURRENCY: Paper money issued in the U.S. during the Civil War reproducing postage stamps.
FRAMA: Adhesive postage label dispensed by an electric coin-operated machine producing postally valid labels of any denomination.
FRAME: The outer printed border of a design on a stamp.
FRAME BARS: The tall bars at the beginning and end of the bar code that alert the bar code machine that a bar code is passing through and ending.
FRANCHISE STAMPS: Issued by a government for private groups entitled to send mail free of postage.
FRANCOBOLLO d'CENNO di RICEVUTA (It.): Stamp issued as a prepayment fee as an acknowledgment of receipt of a registered package ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT STAMP (A.R.) (Eng.)
FRANK: An indication on the front of an envelope that it is to be carried free of postage. This is usually limited to official correspondence such as Members of Congress or the President, and it also applies to servicemen's mail while serving in war zones.
FREAK: An irregularity in a stamp such as color shifts, streaks, smears, double print, etc.
FREE MAIL: Mail transmitted free of charge due to natural disasters, franking privilege, and troops on active service.
FREE POSTAGE: Envelopes sent by military personnel where no postage is required.
FRONT: The front of a cover completely detached from the rest of the envelope. These are much less desirable than the entire cover.
FSAT: French and Southern Antarctica Territories
FTB: Forced to Buy, as when a dealer prices covers at 3 for $10 and you can not purchase only one.
FU: Fine Used
FUGITIVE INKS: Used in the production of some stamps to prevent forgery and make it impossible for re-use. If washing is attempted, the ink runs off leaving a faced stamp or a black piece of paper. Some stamps or Netherlands Indies are printed entirely with water soluble fugitive inks.
FULLING EFFECT: A light print of the stamp design seen on the back of the stamp, usually on letterpress printed stamps.
FUNCTIONAL WATERMARK: Parallel lines to act as a guide for the writer.
FUTURE DELIVERY: U.S. revenue stamps.
F/W: Franked With
FV: Face Value