S

S: Auction abbreviation term for "Superb" or best there is.
S: Franchise. Scott catalog number prefix to identify stamps other than standard postage.
S A E: Stamped, addressed envelope
SAFETY PAPER: A type of paper that has been prepared to make stamps hard to forge. A common form of safety paper has silk threads in it.
SALES CIRCUIT: Booklet of stamps offered for sale usually through stamp groups.
SAMPLE: An overprint used on stamps instead of specimen.
SAN: Sanabria's Air Post Catalog
SAND DUNE COUNTRIES: Nickname for desert sheikdoms that issue stamps.
SANITARY FAIR: Unofficial stamps issued by the U.S. Sanitary Fair Commission and considered a forerunner of the Red Cross.
S A P D A: South African Philatelic Dealers Association
SAS: Sassone Specialized Italy Postage Stamp Catalog
S A S E: "Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope" is an unused envelope addressed to the sender with return postage affixed. Many stamp correspondents will not reply unless you include a SASE.
SB: Softbound
SB: Stock Book, Suggested Bid
SC: Small Crown (British Watermark)
SC: Scott Catalogue
SCINDE DAWK: Local issues from India.
SCOTT CATALOGUE NUMBER: Number assigned to a philatelic item by Scott editors according to that publisher's criteria for such assignment.
SCRAPE: An abrasion of the stamp surface which removes or moves paper fiber.
SCRIPT: Watermark: Multiple Crown Script CA
S E: Straight edge
SEALS: Paper adhesives that were issued for various purposes, such as Christmas Seals, etc.
SEAPOST: Operations and markings of governmental postal employees operating a post office aboard a seagoing ship on a route where a fixed schedule is maintained.
SEAWAY ISSUE: The St. Lawrence Seaway issue of Canada; famous because of inverted center.
SECRET MARKS: Small identification marks in the stamp design.
SECURITY WATERMARK: Used to guard against postal misuse.
SEEBECKS: A nickname given to certain issues of Ecuador (1892-96), Honduras (1890-99), Nicaragua (1890-99) and Salvador (1890-99). Mr. Nicholas F. Seebeck, as agent for the Hamilton Bank Note Company, printed stamps for these countries at no charge in exchange for the right to sell remainders and reprints to stamp collectors.
SELF-ADHESIVE: Rubber-based adhesive on back that does not have to be moistened to adhere to paper.
SELLO de AVISO de RECIBO: (Sp.) Stamp issued as a prepayment fee as an acknowledgment of receipt of a registered package. ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT STAMP (A.R.) (Eng.)
SELVAGE: The unprinted paper on the edge or margin of a sheet of stamps.
SEMI-OFFICIAL: Stamps used in connection with private postal use, but having official sanction such as the railway letter fee stamps of England.
SEMI-POSTAL: An additional monetary value devoted to a specific non-postal purpose such as the Red Cross. The surcharge has no postal validity and is usually separated from the official postal value with a "+" sign.
SEP(S): Separation(s)
SEPARATIONS: The method employed in which stamps are separated from one another. Perforations are a form of separations.
SERIES: A set of stamps with various denominations such as the National Parks issue.
SERIF: Shape given to the ending of the vertical base of letters.
SERVICE INDICATOR: Inscription included in the design of a stamp to indicate category of postal service to be rendered such as "Bulk Mail Rate."
SERVICE INSCRIBED: Term used for wording on a stamp to identify the service for which the stamp was designed.
SET: A series of stamps with similarity in design or purpose.
SET OFF: When freshly printed sheets are stacked before the ink is completely dry and transfers to the gummed side of the sheet directly above it.
SETEN: Se-Tenant
SE-TENANT: Two or more unseparated stamps having different colors, denominations, or designs. Se-tenant is French for "joined together."
S F: Sanitary Fair
S F: Space Filler
S F L: Single folded letters with writing on inside and address on outside.
S G: Stanley Gibbons catalogue
SH, SHT: Sheet
SHADE: Minor differences in the color of a stamp.
SHEET: One full impression of stamps taken from a printing plate. A typical sheet of commemorative stamps is four panes each of 50 stamps. This is then cut into four panes of stamps for sale at the post office.
SHEET WATERMARK: A large watermark with only a portion showing on a stamp.
SHEETLET: A small sheet of stamps; less than what is normally considered by normal standards as a usual sheet. In the U.S., a normal sheet consists of 50 stamps, while a sheetlet would be sheets of less than that quantity.
SHIFTS: An uncorrected mistake caused by an imperfect entry with the transfer roll.
SHIP CANCELLATION: A postmark applied to mail on board a ship.
SHIP LETTER: Letter carried by a private ship and bearing some sort of rubber stamp or manuscript marking.
SHIZEN: Term for health on Japanese Christmas seals.
SHORT PERFORATION: Paper has been removed down to the base line of the perforation holes.
SHORT SET: An incomplete set of stamps usually with the expensive or important value missing.
SHORT TRANSFER: A variety that occurs when a stamp design is not fully transferred to the plate.
SHOW CANCEL: Postmark applied to covers at philatelic events; the name of the event is indicated,
SIEG: Sieger.Zeppelinpost Spezial-Katalog (specialized Zeppelin Mail Catalog)
SIGNOSCOPE: Commercial name of an electronic watermark detector.
SIDEROGRAPHERS: The craftsmen who transferred the designs from the die to the transfer roll to the plate.
SIGNATURE: Name, usually on the bottom of a stamp of the artist, engraver or printer.
SIGNED: Expertised on reverse.
SIGNED STAMP: A signature on a stamp, blocks or pane, usually in the margin.
SILKOTE: Paper that is whiter tha usual stamp paper with a surface texture that is extraordinarily smooth. Used for the U.S. 2-cent Liberty experimental printing of 1954.
SILK PAPER: Stamp paper containing small pieces of colored silk in the paper mixture.
SILK THREAD: Paper used for stamps containing a silk thread as a means of preventing forgery. It is most easily seen on the back of the stamp.
SILVERING: Some encased postage stamps had a thin silver coating to look like the silver coinage of the period.
SIZING: Chemicals added to paper in the manufacturing process to improve the printing characteristics.
SL: Straight Line (cancellation)
SLABBING: Encasing collectibles in a container after authemication and grading that will show evidence of any tampering.
SLEEVE: Plastic protector on a cover. Also printing plate curved to fit around cylinder.
SMALL DIE PROOF: Made before 1903 for a series of 83 albums from dies prior to final approval of design and color.
SMH: Great Britain Scotland Machin. Scott catalog number prefix to identify stamps other than standard postage.
SNIPING: Placing a bid at the last possible moment in an auction.
SOAKING: The process where stamps are removed from the paper on which they were affixed.
"SOCKED-ON-THE-NOSE": A stamp with the postmark in the center of the stamp.
SOIGNÉ: (Fr.) Exact or correct. ACCURATE: (Eng.)
SOILING: Any substance which dulls or darkens the appearance of a stamp.
SOLDIER'S STAMPS: Usually used for the soldiers in the Swiss army who received free stamps. Each battalion had its own stamp design, usually with insignias.
SOLFERINO: A 1871 stamp from Greece with an error of color (Solferino means dark red in Italian).
SORGFÄLTIG (Ger.): Exact or correct. ACCURATE: (Eng.)
SOUVENIR CARD: A card, not valid for postage, issued in conjunction with a stamp exhibition or some other special occasion.
SOUVENIR PAGE: An 8½ x 11 sheet bearing one or more of the stamp described and cancelled with the first day of issue postmark.
SOUVENIR SHEET: Sheets of a stamp or stamps, surrounded with a paper margin issued for a specific event or purpose.
SOWER: French stamp design first issued in 1903 illustrating a woman in flowing gown spreading seeds.
SP: Short Perf, Surface Printed
SPACE COVER: A cover commemorating an event that is related to a space or astro event.
SPACE FILLER: A poor copy of a stamp used to fill the space in an album until a better example is found.
SPEC: Specimen
SPECIAL DELIVERY STAMPS: Stamps issued for the immediate delivery of mail at the receiving post office.
SPECIAL HANDLING STAMPS: A stamp for expediting fourth class mail by the U.S. Post Office.
SPECIAL ISSUE STAMP: Stamp printed for a particular mailing requirement as Christmas or the Love stamp.
SPECIALIST: A stamp collector who has made a study of a limited field of collecting such as a topic or a country.
SPECIMEN: Stamps that are distributed to members of the Universal Postal Union for identification purposes and to the philatelic press for publicity purposes.
SPECULATIVE: Stamps that are issued for sale to collectors, not for a legitimate postal use.
SPLICE: A strip of perforated translucent paper pasted over the junction of two rotary press printings. known as a "spliced pair."
SPLIT GRILL: A stamp showing parts of two or more grills caused by a sheet being misfed under the grill.
SPOT: Toning or rust spot.
SPRAY-ON POSTMARK: Ink-jet line cancel applied by USPS.
SR CDS: Single-Ring Circular Date Stamp
S S: Souvenir sheet
ST. ANDREWS CROSS: Term used to describe the extra labels inscribed with an "X" as on early Austrian issues.
ST. LOUIS BEARS: New York City postmaster provisional's issued in 1845.
STAINING: A discoloration in the paper of a stamp.
STAMP: In stamp collecting, a term for an adhesive label for postal purposes.
STAMPLESS COVER: This term is usually applied to envelopes that went through the mails before the use of adhesive stamps were mandatory.
STAMP LIFT: Device used to remove stamps from paper without soaking. Stamps are placed on a shelf above the water, then covered with humidity slowly loosening the paper.
STAMP SIZE: The size of the stamp design, measured in mm.
STANDARD MAIL: As of July 1, 1996, the new name for the merger of third-class and fourth-class mail as one class.
STAR, OPEN: Some of the Washington-Franklin plate blocks has an open star after the imprint and before the plate number in the margin. The star means that stamps printed from plates with 3 mm of spacing, instead of 2 mm, between the six outer vertical rows on each side of the plate.
STAR, SOLID: Plate 4980 and 4988 of the Washington-Franklin series have a solid star to indicate the 3 mm wider spacing. The 2-cent Lincoln issue of 1909 also has a solid star.
STEAMBOAT MARKING: Used on inland or coastal steamship that had no contract to carry U.S. mails.
STITCH WATERMARK: Appears as a row of short parallel lines.
STKBK: Stockbook
STOCK BOOK: A book with pockets designed to hold stamps. Also available in card size and individual sheets.
STR: Strip
STRAIGHT EDGE (SE): A stamp which naturally lacks perforations on one to
STRIKE: A machine or handstamp cancel on a stamp or cover.
STRIP: Three or more stamps that have not been separated.
STRUBEL: Silk threads imbedded in handmade paper during the manufacturing process of early Swiss stamps.
SU: Superb used or Canceled-to-order.
SUBMARINE MAIL: Postal services operated by submarine in time of war as used in 1916-17 by German subs to the U.S.
SUPERLITHO: A new exacting printing process that allows for security features to be applied during the printing process.
SURCHARGE: An overprint which revalues a stamp either up or down.
SURFACE RUBS: Partial removal of ink by abrasion as the chalk-coated papers of Great Britain.
SURTAX: The additional denomination on a semi-postal stamp over and above the amount that covers postage.
SYNCOPATED PERFORATIONS: An interrupted perforation.
SWAN: Issues of Western Australia.
SWEATBOX: A closed box using humidity to soften the gum on stamps that are stuck together making it easier for separation from each other.
SWOPS: Duplicate stamps used for trading.