The WADP Numbering System (WNS) is a project referencing
postal stamps issued in the world since 1 January 2002. It is monitored by the
World Association for the Development of Philately (WADP) and the
Universal Postal Union
The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to ...
. Its inventory is made possible by the declarations of the postal administrations participating to the project.
Its publication appeared on a website where visitors can look for an issue by country, date, topic or key words.
The WNS goals are to give stamp buyers and collectors a
stamp catalogue
A stamp catalog (or stamp catalogue) is a catalog of postage stamp types with descriptions and prices.
The stamp catalog is an essential tool of philately and stamp collecting. Stamp catalogs are part of philatelic literature.
Similar catalogs ...
of all official issues and to fight
illegal stamps
Illegal stamps are postage stamp–like labels issued in the names of existing independent countries or territories used to defraud postal administrations, stamp collectors, and the general public. Often, but not always, a member nation of the U ...
printed without the postal administrations' consent. Since 2002, some
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreem ...
succeeded to reduce their philatelic program and officially denounce illegal stamps via the UPU.
[Fact presented with quotations of Michel and ]Yvert et Tellier
Yvert et Tellier is a postage stamp dealer and a philatelic publishing company founded in 1895 in the northern French city of Amiens, where the head office is still located. The logo is a circle divided into a snowflake and a smiling sun. It i ...
catalogues by Melot, Michel in "L' Afrique francophone, le nouvel eldorado des collectionneurs ?", article published in '' Timbres magazine'' #76, February 2007, pages 38-43. The period concerned was 1995-2006 for some Western French-speaking countries of Africa.
When declared, each isolated stamp with a graphic difference (in the design,
denomination, color or dimensions) is given a WNS number :
* two letters : the country or region's code in the
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 codes are two-letter country codes defined in ISO 3166-1, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), to represent countries, dependent territories, and special areas of ...
standard,
* three digits for the position in the year of issue,
* after a point, two digits for the year (.02 means year 2002).
Sources and references
External links
* {{Official website, http://www.wnsstamps.post/en/
*
Participating postal administrations and years available
Universal Postal Union