The first postage stamp appeared in the late 18th century on the territory of Russia, the use of stamps was not easy. They were of different shapes.
History of postage stamps.
1653–1654 years Renoir de Vihiers, the tenant of Paris post released a ribbon-like parcels at a price of 1 Sol (1/20 of a livre or 5 centimes), which wrapped postage, or which were located so that the letter carrier could see them. There are many stories about the stamps. According to some of them, the first stamp in the world appeared in the late 1830-ies.
Nowadays stamp is symbol of a postage. You can buy it in the post office or at the post department.
Each stamp has a nominal cost. If there is a stamp on the front side of the letter, so the letter is marked and paid for. Stamps, intended for franking letters and therefore they are also called Franco-mark.
Mark is a piece of paper of small size, usually rectangular with sharp edges. It is covered with glue. The stamps indicate the name of the postal administration that issued them. Also the stamps depict different images.
There are different types of stamps: registered, airmail, newspaper, railway, etc.
Looking at the picture on the stamp you can identify where it comes from. For example, on a stamp from Moscow you can see the Kremlin, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior or the Olympic Bear. Whereas the stamp from France shows a picture of the Eiffel tower. Stamps may be the symbol and state emblem of the country from which it is sent.
As well there are stamps that are of great value to collectors, these stamps are very rare, and they are released at a small amount and very few reached this day. There are a lot of people who are engaged in stamp collecting. They are called philatelists.
But there are stamps with animals and birds. There are a lot of stamps and to get the desired one you do not need to send a letter and wait till you'll get it. You can just buy this stamp in the post office or on the Internet. Now there are plenty of them in the world: outer space, animals, insects, tourist attractions, etc. And you can choose any of them.
Stamps with different images are divided by types and themes. At first glance, the marks differ only in pattern but it is not so obvious. If we look more carefully, we learn a lot. Stamps vary in size, shape, labels, etc. Some brands are small, and some are big, there are even giant stamps, which close a letter by itself. Stamps can have different forms. There are rectangular, square, rhombic shape stamps. And the ancient Zemsky stamps had the shape of an oval, circle, hexagon, etc. Sometimes, you can find pictures, signs or numbers on the side of a stamp. Experienced philatelist will tell you dozens of such differences. These pictures will tell about the history of the stamp. We must not forget that the function of a stamp is a demonstration of a postage. They are issued by a post office for the person who sends a letter to pay the delivery of a letter. The letters are different: postal cards or postcards, ordinary, registered, airmail, etc. The post office sets the price of services depending on the kind of posting and they print stamps of different nominal value.
The writer M. Gorky had a stamp with his portrayal. The stamps can depict famous people: actors, poets, singers, artists, writers, etc. But, in the 21st century there is no need to become a famous person to be depicted on a stamp. You can just visit the website and order a personalized stamp.
However, there are some differences between stamps from different countries. For instance, Russian stamp can show a symbol of the region where it was send from, and it is written in the Russian language. While, for example, Italian stamps depict Italian symbol and it is written in the Italian language. The stamps from Russia, depicts the Russian sights, animals, etc. And stamps from Italy contain Italian sights, animals, etc.
To sum up, stamps are widely used all over the world. They differ in forms and pictures but they all depict traditions or symbols of the particular country.
References:
- https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Марка
- http://mir-faktov.com/item/508-maksim-gorkij-interesnye-fakty.html
- http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/ruwiki/1509148
