Stamped envelope

[1] In August 1852, an Act of the US Congress authorized the Postmaster General to provide "suitable letter envelopes with such watermarks or other guards against counterfeits... with the addition of the value or denomination of the postage stamps so printed or impressed thereon...." The first result was the 1853 Nesbitt issues of stamped envelopes, which was named after the private contractor who produced them for the government.

Siegfried Ascher was the first to try to comprehensively document all countries' postal stationery including stamped envelopes.

The United Postal Stationery Society has two published books cataloging U.S. stamped envelopes.

The 'Australian Commonwealth Specialists' Catalogue: Postal Stationery including Australian Territories' was first issued in 2013.

Rarely, an uncatalogued color, or displaced surcharge, or albino indicium, or inside-out folding of the envelope may appear, in which case you have found something of value.

This can range from a simple town and country notation to an elaborate illustrated advertisement for a business.

Corner cards are either applied by an after-market print shop or by dealing with the government related entity that produces the stamped envelopes.