Save them, stick them, swap them or sell them, millions the world over love stamp-collecting. 'Philately', Greek for 'the love of being tax free', refers to the fact that before stamps came into use, letters were paid for by the receiver.

Before stamps were invented, the person who received the letter was charged by the number of pages and the distance the letter had travelled. An Englishman called Rowland Hill came up with the idea of pre-paying for postage with 'postage stamps'.

British stamps are the only ones in the world that don't have the country of origin printed on them. They simply display the reigning monarch's head. This is because Britain was the first country in the world to issue stamps in 1840.

The British Guiana one-cent stamp is the only sample known to exist making it the rarest stamp in the world, valued at approximately Rs.500,000!

The Columbian state of Bolivar issued the smallest-ever stamp in 1863, measuring just 9.5 mm x 8 mm.

The first postage stamp issued in Great Britain in 1840 was called the “Penny Black” because it cost one penny to buy and the stamp was printed with black ink.

In 1693, letters were held in front of a candle to determine the postage rate. The less the light shone through, the more costly the rate. This was known as candling.