A souvenir sheet or miniature sheet is a postage stamp or a small group of

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

s still attached to the sheet on which they were printed. They may be either regular issues that just happen to be printed in small groups (typical of many early stamps), or special issues often commemorating some event, such as a national anniversary, philatelic exhibition, or government program. The number of stamps ranges from one to about 25; larger sheets of stamps are simply called "sheets" with no qualifier. The stamps on the sheet may be

perforated A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, where all of the holes collectively are called a ''perforation''. The process of creating perforations is called perfor ...

in the usual way, or imperforate. The margins or

selvage A selvage (US English) or selvedge (British English) is a "self-finished" edge of a piece of fabric which keeps it from unraveling and fraying. The term "self-finished" means that the edge does not require additional finishing work, such as hem ...

of the sheet may have additional printing, ranging from a simple statement of the occasion being commemorated, up to a full picture of which the stamp(s) are just a small part. The margins of the sheet may have ornamental designs, price, emblems and logo(s) which are not the part of stamp(s). Stamps on the miniature sheet can be in se-tenant position while the same stamps were not se-tenants in regular issue. Both the stamps and the entire sheet are valid for mailing, although they are almost always sold above face value and kept in mint collection by collectors; a handful of usages may be found as

philatelic cover A philatelic cover is an envelope prepared with a stamp(s) and address and sent through the mail delivery system for the purpose of creating a collectible item. Stamp collectors began to send mail to each other and to themselves early on, and p ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

issued the first generally recognized souvenir sheet in 1923, a single 10-franc stamp, not otherwise available, inset in a larger blank sheet. The purpose was to honor the birth of Princess Elisabeth. However, this country had produced a somewhat similar issue in 1921, a small sheet of 5 stamps to celebrate the birth of Prince Jean, and an even earlier sheet of 10 stamps for the accession of

William IV William IV (William Henry; 21 August 1765 – 20 June 1837) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded h ...

in 1906. Neither had margin inscriptions and both consisted of regular issue stamps that were otherwise available.Commemorative Sheets - Notes
/ref> Since the 1920s many other countries have produced souvenir sheets. The

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

issued its first one in 1926, and printed several more in the 1930s, with new ones occasionally issued since that time. Starting in 1955 the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

has occasionally produced them. While some of the earliest souvenir sheets are valuable (for instance in excellent condition the US White Plains sheet of 1926 is worth hundreds of dollars), modern ones are typically produced in considerable quantities and have no special value. File:Faroe stampsheet 153 Hafnia 1987 II - Torshavn, Western Bay.jpg, A miniature sheet from the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

, in which the stamps form a part of the larger image. File:Miniature sheet france.jpg, A miniature sheet from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, in which each stamp is featured twice, once in the main picture and once at the bottom in a more traditional display. File:Celebrate Century 1900 1998.jpg, Celebrate the Century souvenir sheet issued by the

. Fifteen stamps are depicted with perforations running to the edge of the sheetlet. File:London 2010 Festival of Stamps Miniature Sheet.jpg, The British miniature sheet for the

London 2010 Festival of Stamps The London 2010 Festival of Stamps is a yearlong series of events to mark the centenary of the accession of King George V to the British throne. King George V was an enthusiastic and distinguished philatelist, and President, then Patron, of the ...

References

Souvenir sheets come in all shapes and sizes
by Michael Baadke, Linns.com

References

Further reading