Burelage (french: burelage), also burelé, is a French term referring to an intricate network of fine lines, dots or other designs printed over or as the background of some

postage The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letters, and parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid-19th century, national postal syst ...

revenue stamp A revenue stamp, tax stamp, duty stamp or fiscal stamp is a (usually) adhesive label used to designate collected taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, ...

s to prevent

counterfeiting To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...

. In English the word is sometimes spelled with an accent on the first "e" as burélage, although the accent does not appear in the French spelling and its origin is unclear. Burelage most commonly appears as a form of

underprint An underprint is anything printed underneath the main design of a stamp, banknote or similar item. Underprinting is used as a security measure to prevent forgery, or the cleaning of a postmark from a used stamp. Mackay, James. ''Stamp Collecting: ...

ing. Early uses of burelage on postage stamps include the first issue of the stamps of

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

from 1851, and stamps issued by the City of Hanover beginning in 1855. Stamp varieties may be distinguished in catalogs based on the presence or absence of burelage as well as variations in the burelage itself, such as the size of network, orientation on the stamp, color, or method of printing.Scott Catalogue, Denmark, nos. 1-2 note (first printing from copper plate ecess printed later printing typographed). Although burelage is usually unobtrusive, some of the Mexico Exporta stamps (see below) had burelage printed over the stamp which is dark enough to obscure the stamp image.

Examples of burelage

File:Stamp Danish West Indies 1866 3c.jpg,

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...

stamp, 1866, with wavy burelage visible on margins and corners File:Rusconsularstamp.jpg,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

consular A consul is an official representative of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, as well as to facilitate trade and friendship between the people ...

stamp File:Yugoslavia3+2din1945.jpg, Serbian stamp, 1945, with Yugoslavian

overprint An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage or revenue stamp, postal stationery, banknote or ticket after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative pur ...

File:Exporta Cotton.jpg, Mexico Exporta stamp, 1992, with gray burelage printed on stamp

References

{{italic title Philatelic terminology

Examples of burelage

See also

References