Teaching · For Teachers

Every stamp,
read front and back.

A stamp’s value sits mostly on the back and at the edges: the gum, a hinge mark, a thin, the perforations. Add each stamp with its catalog number and condition. The catalog names the condition the way collectors write it, totals catalog value against what you paid and flags the handling mistakes that cost the most.

Add a stampWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the For Teachers toolkit, $79 for 72 items.

Your stamps

The worked example is made up: a never-hinged 1969 moon landing airmail, an 1898 Trans-Mississippi stamp with a thin and a hinged Canadian definitive kept loose. Values are examples, not quotes. Saved on this device only.

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What you get

Teaching · For Teachers$12

What you finish with
A record per stamp: country, design, year, catalog number and catalog, face value, mint or used, centering, perforation gauge, watermark, faults, catalog value and edition, cost, storage and five handling checks. Names the condition (MNH, MH, NG, used) and the share of catalog value paid; totals catalog value and cost and counts countries; flags hinged mint stamps, faults, values with no catalog named, loose storage and unchecked watermarks on older issues.
Who it is for
Young collectors and their families, stamp clubs, and teachers using stamps for geography, history or art projects.
Format
Browser catalog with a saved record per stamp. Prints one stamp, the whole collection in a table or a blank sheet; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); exports and imports a file.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the For Teachers toolkit ($79) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Teachers space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions about access, an order or a correction: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Pick up each stamp with tongs and turn it over.
  2. Note the gum, any hinge mark and any thin.
  3. Measure the perforations with a gauge.
  4. Look it up in a catalog and write which edition.
  5. Move loose stamps into a stockbook.

Add a stamp

Condition terms

Reading a stamp’s conditionTermMeansCheck it byMNHMint, never hinged: full gum, no markThe back under a lampMHMint, hinged: a hinge mark or remnantA shiny spot on the gumUsedPostally used, with a cancelA light, clear cancel is bestPerf 1111 holes in 2 centimetersA perforation gaugeThinPaper lifted away on the backLight shining throughReading a stamp’s conditionMNHMeans: Mint, never hinged: full gum, no markCheck it by: The back under a lampMHMeans: Mint, hinged: a hinge mark or remnantCheck it by: A shiny spot on the gumUsedMeans: Postally used, with a cancelCheck it by: A light, clear cancel is bestPerf 11Means: 11 holes in 2 centimetersCheck it by: A perforation gaugeThinMeans: Paper lifted away on the backCheck it by: Light shining through
Collectors price a stamp by its condition first and its design second. Two copies of the same stamp can differ tenfold in value.

For a classroom

A shoebox of used stamps is a map of the world: country names in their own languages, currencies, rulers, wars and anniversaries. Students can catalog a class box, sort it by country and decade, and find where each one came from on a map.

Catalog value is a yardstick

Catalogs price every stamp, including very common ones, at a minimum that covers a dealer’s time to handle it. A page of common stamps cataloging 25 cents each rarely sells for that. Use catalog value to compare stamps, not as a sale price.

Sources

  1. Scott Postage Stamp Catalogue and Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers, current editions. Amos Media.
  2. American Philatelic Society. Stamp collecting basics: condition, gum, hinges and storage (stamps.org).
  3. Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Collecting guides and the history of the 1840 Penny Black (postalmuseum.si.edu).
  4. Stanley Gibbons. Stamp Catalogue, introduction to perforation measurement and watermarks.

The worked examples are made up and the values are examples, not appraisals. Nothing you type is sent to Caveat. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.