Philatelic Glossary
This glossary has been compiled from various different sources. Some of the terms have been reproduced with kind permission from the Stanley Gibbons Philatelic Terms Illustrated by James Mackay. If you think a term is missing please e-mail us.
V Mail
A form of Airgraph (q.v) used by the US Forces during WW2.
V.R.
Victoria Regina - Queen Victoria.
V.R.I.
(Victoria Regina Imperatrix) Overprint applied from 1900 to stamps issued in Orange Free State under British occupation.
Value Tablet
The panel on a stamp carrying the declared monetary value.
Variety
Any deviation from the normal e.g. errors of colour, design, perforation and watermark.
Varnish Lines
Bars of varnish applied across the face of stamps.
Vending Machine Booklet
Booklet of stamps prepared to be sold by a vending machine.
Vending Machine Stamps
Stamps produced for use in stamp vending machines.
Vertical Pair Imperforate Between
A pair of stamps that is fully perforated at the top, sides and bottom but has no perforation between the two.
Victory Stamps
Stamps commemorating victory after major wars.
Video Coding System
System used to manually code items which have not been coded by optical character recognition (q.v OCR).
Vignette
Term used to describe the central feature of a stamp design: also applied to a pictorial advertising label of no postal validity.
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