Editing Stamped envelope

{{Short description|Type of postal envelope}}
{{about|a [[postal stationery]] product|written correspondence products|Stationery|monogrammed or personal letterhead|Letterhead}}
[[File:2Centavos-UsedNorway.jpg|thumb|A 2 centavos stamped envelope with embossed Columbus [[indicium]] and 3c [[adhesive postage stamp]] from Cuba to Norway ca. 1904]]
A '''stamped envelope''' or '''postal stationery envelope''' ('''PSE''') is an envelope with a printed or [[Embossing (paper)|embossed]] [[indicium]] indicating the prepayment of postage. It is a form of [[postal stationery]].

==United Kingdom==
The [[Sherborn Collection]] in the [[British Library Philatelic Collections]] is an important collection of 1841-85 Queen Victoria embossed 1d pink stamped envelopes. The collection was formed by C. Davis Sherborn and donated to the [[British Museum]] in 1913.<ref name=bl1>[http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/philatelic/philateliccollections/collectionsoverview/collectionsgb/philcollectionsgb.html The Sherborn Collection.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618032532/http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/philatelic/philateliccollections/collectionsoverview/collectionsgb/philcollectionsgb.html |date=2012-06-18 }} British Library, 29 January 2012.</ref>

==United States==
[[File:FawnEnvelope1883Plimpton.jpg|thumb|A fawn colored, [[United Postal Stationery Society|UPSS]] size 7, [[watermark#Watermarks on postage stamps and stationery|watermark]] 6, [[laid paper]], US postal stationery envelope from the Plimpton series of 1883.]]
In August 1852, an Act of the US Congress authorized the Postmaster General to provide "suitable letter envelopes with such watermarks or other guards against counterfeits... with the addition of the value or denomination of the postage stamps so printed or impressed thereon...." The first result was the 1853 Nesbitt issues of stamped envelopes, which was named after the private contractor who produced them for the government.<ref name=Mintz># Mintz, Allen, Ed.; ''Catalog of the 19th Century Stamped Envelopes, Wrappers, Cut Squares and Full Corners of the United States''; UPSS, 2001. {{oclc|50290906}}</ref> When the different envelope sizes, [[knife (envelope)|knives]], colors, dies to print the [[indicia (philately)|indicia]], and denominations are combined, there are literally thousands of different stamped envelopes produced for the US.<ref name=Undersander>Undersander, Dan, Ed.; ''Catalog of the 20th and 21st Century Stamped Envelopes and Wrappers of the United States'', Third Edition, UPSS, 2011. {{ISBN|978-0-9800112-8-9}}.</ref>

==Collecting==
Collectors of stamped envelopes use a catalog to know what has been issued.

Siegfried Ascher was the first to try to comprehensively document all countries' postal stationery including stamped envelopes.<ref>Ascher, Dr Siegfried, ''Grosser Ganzsachen-Katalog'' (1925) in German.</ref>  This was followed some 40 years later by the [[Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog]].  Though now out of date, it is still frequently cited since it covers all countries and no other comprehensive catalog has been attempted since.  The H&G catalog, as it is known, describes stamped envelopes by the envelope size, the depicted indicia and its valuations, some corner cards, while sometimes disregarding envelope color.

The [[Scott catalogue]] is the United States envelope color and value of the indicia which is perfect for dealing with [[Cut square (philately)|cut squares]], but falls short of information needed to collect entires, i.e. the whole envelope. The [http://www.upss.org United Postal Stationery Society] has two published books cataloging U.S. stamped envelopes.<ref name=Mintz /><ref name=Undersander /> These books describe all of the other stated criteria plus the envelope [[Knife (envelope)|knife]] making them the most complete U.S. stamped envelope catalogs.

British postal stationery to 1970 has been comprehensively documented<ref>Huggins, A.K. British Postal Stationery, ''A Priced Handbook of the Postal Stationery of Great Britain'', Great Britain Philatelic Society (1970).</ref> and Edifil is a Spanish company that has comprehensive listings for stamped envelopes of Spain, Cuba, Philippines and Puerto Rico.

Australian Postal Stationery is covered by a catalogue from Brusden White. The 'Australian Commonwealth Specialists' Catalogue: Postal Stationery including Australian Territories' was first issued in 2013. In 2018 a fully revised 2nd edition was released. Fully illustrated, it is the most comprehensive reference work for these Australian issues.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.brusden-white.com.au/ |title=Home |website=brusden-white.com.au}}</ref>

Most stamped envelopes are collected as entires. In the 19th century the practice was to collect [[cut square]]s (or [[Cut-out (philately)|cut-outs]] in the U.K.)<ref name=VanGelder>Van Gelder, Peter J.; ''The Collectors' Guide to Postal Stationery'', A Squirrel Publication (1997) {{ISBN|0-947604-07-3}}</ref> which involved cutting the embossed indicia from a postal envelope.  This destroyed the envelope. As a result, one cannot tell from a cut square what specific envelope it came from and, many times, the cancellation information. The manner in which the stamped envelope is cut before folding (that is, its [[Knife (envelope)|knife]]) vanishes on a cut square.  The envelope size disappears, too, with a cut square.

In collecting entires, a single indicium may appear on many different sizes of envelopes.  Some countries have issued the same indicium on different [http://www.cubafil.org/MemberPages/RobertLittrell/ENV/1910-2c.html paper types]: [[Laid paper|laid]] and [[Wove paper|wove]].  Likewise it is common for the same indicium to be embossed onto paper of several different colors. Finally, two envelopes of the same size can have a different flap size indicating that they were cut from a different [[Knife (envelope)|knife]].   Rarely, an uncatalogued color, or displaced surcharge, or albino indicium, or inside-out folding of the envelope may appear, in which case you have found something of value.  All of these attributes relate to mint or unused envelopes.  When you add a [[postmark]] from a used envelope to the mix, the collecting possibilities explode.  What was formerly in fashion, collecting only mint examples, has changed because many collectors seem to find used PSE collections more interesting.<ref name=VanGelder />

[[File:1899MiroOteroCornerCard.jpg|thumb|1899 postal stationery envelope with an imprinted ''special request'' corner card of ''Miro y Otero'' from U.S. occupied Cuba.]]
Some postal stationery envelopes contain a [[Corner card (philately)|corner card]], a printed return address on the envelope, usually in the upper left hand corner.  This can range from a simple town and country notation to an elaborate illustrated advertisement for a business.  Corner cards are either applied by an after-market print shop or by dealing with the government related entity that produces the stamped envelopes.

==See also==
*[[Illustrated stamped envelope]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* [[Higgins & Gage World Postal Stationery Catalog]], 19 volumes covering the whole world. Out of print, but worth looking for.
* Huggins, A.K.; ''British Postal Stationery, A Priced Handbook of the Postal Stationery of Great Britain'', Great Britain Philatelic Society, 1970
* ''[[Prescott Holden Thorp|Thorp]]-[[Julius (John) Murray Bartels|Bartels]] Catalogue of U.S. Stamped Envelopes'', Century Edition, 1954
* ''Cutting Knife Handbook'' by United Postal Stationery Society, 1999. Envelope knives illustrated.
{{commons category|Stamped envelopes}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.cubafil.org/MemberPages/RobertLittrell/ENV/1899Franklin.html Cuban Postal Envelopes, 1899 - 1949.]

[[Category:Philatelic terminology]]
[[Category:Postal stationery]]