Postmark

A postmark is a postal marking made on an envelope, parcel, postcard or the like, indicating the place, date and time that the item was delivered into the care of a postal service, or sometimes indicating where and when received or in transit. Modern postmarks are often applied simultaneously with the cancellation or killer that marks postage stamps as having been used. Sometimes a postmark alone is used to cancel stamps, and the two terms are often used interchangeably.

Postmarks may be applied by handstamp or machine, using methods such as rollers or inkjets, while digital postmarks are a recent innovation.

Back to Stamps & Collecting →

Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · Public domain

POSTKID

Help kids fall in love with the mail — free calculators for postage, delivery times, envelope and paper sizes, pen-pal time zones, stamp counts, and letter reading level, plus friendly guides to letter writing, pen pals, postcards, and snail-mail crafts for families and classrooms.

Get new guides by emailOccasional emails. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.

InformationAbout Contact Privacy Policy Terms of Service Disclaimer Affiliate Disclosure Cookie Policy

Every museum entry, image, and fact is drawn from Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, used under public-domain and Creative Commons licenses. No content is AI-generated.