The Language of Stamps

As a holiday gift, Carolee supplied Kathy and I with copies of a lovely book by Edward St. Paige entitled Writing Letters with Pen & Ink. It was a fantastic gift- the perfect thing to curl up with on the couch in this -17 degrees Fahrenheit weather. [Seriously, my nostrils froze together this morning.] It's mostly a collection of quotes and images of paintings of letter writing, but there is some handy information about ink and paper choice as well.

Tucked in the back was the best part of the book; a little explanatory guide to the language of stamps. Now, up to this point, I had been unaware that stamp placement could also be a way to communicate. The practice appears to have originated from people placing special code marks on the outside of envelopes in England during the time when recipients of letters paid for their postage. Basically, the marks made it so that people could scam the post office. Later, when postcards became in vogue, the stamp language became a way to submit information clandestinely when the postman could freely read your words. Marketing geniuses screwed it up though, when they began publishing postcards with the language decoded on the front. Also, many of the placements involved other sections of the envelope other than the upper right corner, which is required for mailing today. Nowadays, you mostly find the language in use in military post or having originated organically between pen pals. The positions have different meanings depending upon what language you speak as well; a "kiss" in Finnish may mean "write soon" in English.

Here's a selected list of meanings according to The Philatelic Database:

Upside down, top left corner = I love you

Crosswise on top left corner = My heart is another’s

Center of envelope, at top = Yes

Center of envelope, at bottom = No

Straight up and down, any position = Goodbye sweetheart

Upside down, top right corner = Write no more

At right angle, top right corner = Do you love me?

At right angle, top left corner = I hate you

Upright top right corner = I desire your friendship

Upright in line with surname = Accept my love

At right angle in line with the surname = I long to see you

Centered on right edge = Write immediately!

Comments

[magpie]

how lovely and timely to have come upon the lwa! just yesterday i posted the charles and ray eames stamp sheet on my blog and uncovered my stash of commemorative sheets and scanned them all intending to post them.

i came her via behind the curtain and found myself there after noticing "Burns and Allen" under the blog name on the blogroll at
http://hannepiasecki.blogspot.com...

god i love the internet. if only i didn't have this stupid full time job...

i'll sneak back when i can...shhhh.

magpie

[Carla]

Interesting post. When I was younger, the only "message" we knew about was that an upside down stamp meant "I love you." But, I find that very few people have ever heard of that now.

[Custom Essays]

I have really found your post to be informative and this has compelled me to visit your blog over and over again. For the sake of relevance I'd like to thank you for your efforts in spreading academic information. Regards.

[danial]

good blog

[Ron Columbine]

I have recently aquired a bundle of Letters from one gent to his lady,
and all have the stamps at various angles,,
so I found this site to be of great use,to I.D. the Secrets being sent,