Topicals

Topicals: railway stamps and post offices
By Janet Klug
Trains are one of the most popular topical subjects for stamp collectors.

TOPICALS: Stamps which all have a common theme, such as animals, flowers, etc.
UNUSED STAMPS: Stamps which have
never been used for postage, but may have one or two small flaws. Mystic sells stamps with small flaws at a significant discount.

Topicals are stamps related to a single topic or theme, such as birds, or trains, or household appliances.

Topicals are also great in that you can choose what types of material to include. Most topical collectors look for special postmarks Postmarks - A mark indicating when and from where a letter was sent. It may or may not also serve as a cancel.

Topicals
A group of stamps with the same theme, such as space travel or Disney cartoons.
Unused ...

Some claim that the hobby took a bad turn with the growing popularity of topicals, or thematics, usually traced back to the Seventies.

TOPICAL COLLECTING American Topical AssociationHelp for collectors of topicals or thematic collections. Art on Stampsa well-designed and valuable Art topic collector's site.
Federal Duck Stamps ...

Some people like to collect stamps of maybe any one country or lots of countries, but which are all of the same subject, or topic. Sometimes, these collections are called "topicals".

that Count Philipp von Ferrary's collection at the beginning of the 20th century was the most complete ever formed. Many collectors limit their collecting to particular countries, certain time periods or particular subjects (called "topicals") like ...

Didactic: "educational, once used as the generic term for topicals or thematics.
Die: 1: a block of metal that has been hand or machine engraved from which plates are prepared to print stamps. 2: terms Die I, Die II, etc.

See also: Stamp, Topical, Cover, Used, First day