Timbrology is the study of postage stamps, derived from the French word timbre, meaning postage stamp. Timbrology is also known as Philately. The study of stamps is more than just stamp collecting, it is also the study of postal history and other related items not necessarily involve the stamp collections. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps. For instance, the stamps being studied may be very rare, or reside only in museums. Don't laugh, but I have a huge stamp collection from all over the world and some of my stamps are over 40 years old. Yes, I'm a dork with a lifetime membership.
The stamp pictured below is called the Treskilling Yellow. It is expected to sell at £5 million. It was printed in yellow by mistake, and should in fact have been green, which makes it very rare. Click HERE if you want to know more about this little yellow piece of paper worth millions.
Other turbulent T_ology words
Tartarology: a doctrine about Hell and punishment in the afterlife. You know who's an expert about Hell and the horrors that happens in the pit? Dean Winchester. He's actually been there and back. *swoon*
Telmatology: a branch of physical geography that studies wet lands, as marshes or swamps.
Tsiology: The study of tea, usually in the form of a treatise.
Trichology: From Greek "hair" is the branch of dermatology that deals with the scientific study of the health of hair and scalp. Trichology can be used in forensic studies of hairs to find suspects. Forensic trichology can determine the approximate age, body mass, race, and other important traits of the hair's owner. If you watch enough CSI you would know this. (;
Thanatology: The scientific study of death. It investigates the mechanisms and forensic aspects of death, such as bodily changes that accompany death and the post-mortem period, as well as wider social aspects related to death. It is primarily an interdisciplinary study offered as a course of study at numerous colleges and universities. The word is derived from the Greek language. In Greek mythology, Thanatos "death" is the personification of death.
Tegestology: Derrived from a Latin term defined as the practice of collecting beermats or coasters, with practitioners known as tegestologists.
The record by the way, is over 100 beermats.
I remember watching a video in school once about stamp collecting, and how if you found an inverted Jenny stamp, that would be like winning the lottery. So I remember going through all my parents' old letters and stamps that they kept and trying to hunt for an inverted Jenny. Never found it though.
ReplyDeleteWhile this is interesting, it didn't leave me giggling and blushing like the last two :)
ReplyDeleteRhonda @Laugh-Quotes.com
Visiting from AtoZ #41
Heard only Philately
ReplyDeletenever heard Timbrology
Thanks for all these new words ! I know few and never heard few like tsiology or tegestology :)
Fellow A to Zer
Good day
Years from they can study our postal system and figure out where it all went wrong...
ReplyDeleteI had only ever heard of philately too. There are so many words out there that most of us are unfamiliar with. These have all been very interesting.
ReplyDeleteJO ON FOOD, MY TRAVELS AND A SCENT OF CHOCOLATE
Supernatural is a great show although Dean doesn't make me swoon. Lilith does it for me!
ReplyDeleteRest easy, Elise. You're in good dork/geek company in the blogosphere (says the guy blogging about comics). Stamps were never my thing but I've liked coins since I was a kid - especially international ones.
ReplyDeleteI have a collection of stamps too. It wasn't mine at first. It was my brother's but he left it here. I keep them because they are pretty.
ReplyDeleteSam has been to hell too, just trapped in a box, so maybe not the best expert. I wish I had a 5 million dollar stamp.
ReplyDeleteI don't collect stamps myself, but I can see the draw in it; you have history and travel all in one neat little package.
ReplyDeleteI used to collect stamps when I was kid. I had heard of philately but not timbrology.
ReplyDeleteAnd that trichology/CSI reference made me laugh because I was thinking the same thing. :)
I am finding as I try to figure out the roots of the ologies, that I don't always figure it out. How is tartar a root for hell? I am always guess wrong.
ReplyDeleteKatie atBankerchick Scratchings
Great words again, Elise. I always thought collecting beer mats was called stealing but then I didn't realise you were supposed to buy them.
ReplyDeleteOh darn. I thought this was going to be the study of all things Justin Timberlake and feature a shirtless pic of him.
ReplyDeleteI think I should spend a week with Dean and call it research. I never dreamed you could learn so much from hair. No, I don't watch CSI...I'm a loser, but I am also a nerd, so that redeems me a bit.
ReplyDeleteBoy those are words I've never encountered before. I only know philately. Didn't realize there was another stamp-related word. Thanks for the fresh info. It's always nice to learn something new.
ReplyDeleteMy grandfather was an avid and devoted stamp collector and I always thought it was such a boring hobby . When he died, my cousin who showed interest in his collection, received it in the will. We were all shocked to learn that it is a very valuable collection .
ReplyDeleteBlogger ate my comment! Or maybe it went spam somewhere. Shrug. I'll try again.
ReplyDeleteI've never understood stamp collecting. I understand the whole supply vs demand and rarity thing that makes them valuable. But stamps? To each their own.
I used to collect stamps when I was younger, but they never really held my attention like baseball cards and comic books.
ReplyDeleteI might have missed out on some $$$ :)
It seems that anything can relate to Jensen Ackles to you. hehe He is HOT!
ReplyDeleteTartarology and Thanatology are right up my alley. Love the Dean comment, lol. Tegestologists? Are you serious? More like time wasters and un yeah...hobbyists. That term makes it sound like they're doing a science not collecting coasters. Never got into stamp collecting myself.
ReplyDeleteAt one stage I collected candles, in all shapes/sizes/colours... and would love to start a postcard collection (at some stage...)
ReplyDeleteWriter In Transit
I'd love to see the Tegestologists, who have had 10 or more pints downed from glasses which have dripped on their best beermats, say the word 10 times in succcession. Nancy at Welcome to she said, he said
ReplyDeleteBonjour,
ReplyDeleteStamps, eh? You really got it licked with this one, Elise! I was hoping that Timbrology was the study of lumber-jacking. I was a bit of a lumber jack in my day, eh. Nothing wrong with you collecting stamps. A hobby you can um stick with.
Perhaps, rather worryingly, I used to collect beer mats. I think I've got a whole stack of them somewhere in the house. Interesting ologys. I'm now going to study my cuppa' tea :)
@Banker Chick - I'm guessing the "Tartar" in Tartarology comes from the Greek "Tartarus," a region in the Underworld where the damned were punished for their sins.
ReplyDeleteSome Dark Romantic
The new one in that list for me is the study of collecting coasters. Interesting. I know some people who collect matchbooks from various places. I wonder if that's what the coaster thing is about.
ReplyDeletephil ate ly, huh? :O
ReplyDeleteall kindsa good stuff ya got for this 'ology', you must've won the thing!
I used to collect stamps when I was little, but I was stuck on the ones with pretty pictures. Frankly, I'd have tossed the Treskilling Yellow just like the Swedish boy did. The lesson learned from this informative post? Confine my tossing to beermats. :)
ReplyDeleteVR Barkowski
Hi Elise .. I guess you didn't need to use Tautological language did you .. cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteI used to collect stamps, but not study the postal history ..