Help - distinguishing terms of philately

Postcards & Mail Mail, stamps & postal info
1

Especially for the first 2 ones, both of them seems to be referred to something like “a marking that represents postage”. The reason for put the 3rd one here is that “other permit Imprints (Indicia)” in was mentioned in “Franking Wikipedia page”.

Anyone who knows the differences? Sincerely thanks in advance.

1 Like
2

Indica is a non-stamp proof of payment. This can me a permit number, licence number, or metred mail, for example. It may look like this: (Sorry I don’t know much about Chinese post so it is US specific)
image

image
image428×144 23.9 KB

This is a subset of Franking. Franking includes metred mail and stamps. Any mail with the above or a stamp is franked mail.
An imprinted stamp is part of the mailpiece. You can get these from the post office as collectors items or for mailing. It is considered stamped mail.

1 Like
3

Thanks! And-

  1. You mentioned “metred mail”, do a meter stamp counts as an indica too, since it’s also a kind of postage ig?
  2. But wikipedia said that " Franking comprises all devices, markings, or combinations thereof (“franks”) applied to mails of any class which qualifies them to be postally serviced.", according to you, though, franking only contains stamps and metred mail, I’m confusing…
  3. Got it, so it’s the printed postage (unserperatable) on a postal stationary like a “postal card”? Postal card - Wikipedia
4
  1. Yes, metered mail is indica. Absolutely anything indicating payment is indica, including metered stamps.
  2. There are many ways to mark payment. Stamps and metered mail are just 2 examples. For example, in the Netherlands, you can just write in a stamp number. Writing that number would be franking the mail.
  3. Yep!
1 Like