Cyberstamps

by Bonnie & Roger Riga

Elusive Collectibles

When we think of stamps we naturally visualize a small piece of paper generally with perforations. But that was before the computer age and e-mail. Welcome to the world of cyber stamps, whose existence is designed to be viewed electronically (although the images could be downloaded and printed). After all, shouldn't e-mail be stamped like any other mail?

In surfing the Net, one can find quite a few examples of cyber stamps. One of the sites offered a good definition, which we will paraphrase. A cyber stamp is a stamp, not a rubberstamp. Cyber stamps are stamps without paper, perfs, thins, tears, gum, watermarks, cancellations or hinges. Some cyberstamps are artistamps in cyber space; some are, if you will, e-stamps for e-mail, and some are merely decorations for sites.

Many philatelic sites use cyberstamps as icons for e-mail links on their websites. As the Web grows, it is reasonable to expect to find more and more examples of cyber stamps of all the mentioned varieties. Our hobby is ever-changing and ever interesting.

Are these the stamps our grandchildren will collect? Who knows, the cyber stamp you download today may be the rarity of the next century.

Easy Come, Easy Go

A case in point is the Cyber-Cinderellas Gallery that we created in 2005. There were over fifty clickable images linked to sites where cyber stamps could be found. The list was headed with the admonition," Click on a stamp button to view the linked site in a new window." View or save them now! There's no telling how long they will remain active." After ten years, only ten of the original live links remain active and are listed below:

	More Discworld Stamps		The Hush Port site has numerous free cyberstamp letter designs and blushies throughout its pages that are designed for use with the free IncrediMail (graphic email) program.
	H. P. Lovecraft Postage Stamps		Digital Postage Stamps From Around The World
	DogWare Dane Flag Stamps		POKEMON - Pikachu and Pichu Stamp
	STAMP FORGERY - a postal performance		Stamps Salute the 1990s
	Anthrax Stamp		Living Ex-Presidents c.2001

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This column first appeared in Stamp Collector and has been edited for online presentation.
This page was last updated July 11, 2016.
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