A Classification Scheme For Postal Authorities
Aaron Maizlish (published in 2004 on The Cinderella Philatelist)

	Type of Authority	Example

1.    	INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNIZED GOVERNMENT ISSUES

1. 1	Independent Government Authorities
A.	Active	UPU Members (190) + Misc.
B.	Inactive	“Dead Countries”

1.2 	Dependencies
A. 	Dependencies/in free association	States with internal self-rule; Aruba, Greenland
B. 	Colonies	Major and minor colonies and protectorates
C.	Trust Territories and Mandates	UN Mandates, Micronesia etc.
D. 	Charter Companies 	North Borneo, British South Africa Co.

1.3 	Occupation Authorities
A.	Occupational Governments 	Numerous examples
B.	Armed Forces Abroad 	Indian Forces, U.N. forces, British Middle-East Forces
C.	Military field posts 	Feldposts, Inselposts 

1.4	Sub-National
A.	Provincial Authorities - Active	Åland, Guernsey, Madeira
B.	Provincial Authorities - Inactive	Whose authority derives from central govt., West Berlin, Ciskei
C.	Autonomous Regions	Whose authority does not derive from central govt., Thrace, Iraqi Kurdistan, EPLF Liberated Eritrea
D.	Free Cities and Plebiscite Governments	Allenstein, Danzig, Campione d’Italia
E.	Pre-Unification Governments 	German and Italian States, Indian Native States
F.	Local govts. prior to National Postal Authority 	Zurich, Buenos Aires, U.S. Postmaster Provisionals
G	Regional stamps that are valid system-wide	Japanese Prefectures, Galapagos

1.5   	Super-National
A.	International Agency Posts 	U.N. and Agencies, UNESCO
B.	Extra-Territorial Post Offices	GB, F, Italy, Russian Post Offices Abroad

1.6	Official
A.    	Official (Ministerial) Posts	US Departments, Argentine Ministries
B.	Quasi-Public Frank Stamps	Red Cross, Italian Semi-Governmental Agencies

2.    	PROVISIONAL STAMPS AND OVERPRINTS

2.1  	Wartime Issues
A.	Liberation Overprints	Commemorative or based on devolution of postal authority; Manchuria, Czech. 1945, France 1944
B.	Revolutionary or Civil War Locals	Spanish Civil War, Confederate Locals
B1.	Postal Tax Surcharges	Republican Spain
B2.	Patriotic Overprints	Sudetenland
B3.	Revolutionary Governments	Mexico 1914, PRC Liberated Area Locals 1949
B4.	Local Authorities	Hidalgo Express
C.	Wartime Provisionals 	Poland 1918, Peru Provisionals, Russia Postmasters 1920, Israel Interim Government

2.2	War Propaganda
A.	Secessionist Propaganda Issues	South Kasai, Biafra
B.	Insurgency Issues	Issued by various combatants
C.	Wartime Propaganda Speculatives	Speculatives issued by belligerents; Azad Hind, Vichy Colonies
D.	Government in Exile Propaganda	Poland, Croatia, Tibet, Montenegro in exile

2.3 	Temporary Issues
A.	Control Marks	Overprinted by central authority to control distribution, theft, or surcharge; Kansas/Nebraska, early Mexican definitives, Guanacaste
B.	Stamp Shortage Labels 	“no hay estampillas” etc.

2.4	Locally applied overprints 	Overprints that do not transfer authority to the local level
A.	Change of Postal Rate	Belgium Van Acker (-10%) overprints, German Bezirkstempel
B.	Change of Currency	Poland 1955, Pakistan 1961
C.	Independence Overprints	Pakistan 1945, Bangladesh 1971, Algeria 1962
D.	Postal Tax 	India Refugee Relief Surtax

3. 	PRIVATE AND LOCAL POSTS

3.1	For Local Postal Delivery
A.	Locals: Government Sanctioned	Zemstvos
B.	Locals: Private Posts and courier services	Massive category includes classics (byposts, U.S. and German cityposts) and moderns (Dutch stadspost, NZ Private Posts, Sweden)
C.	Charity Posts 	Scout Posts, Postal Tax Charity stamps
C1	Charitable Tax Stamps	Iranian Local Charities, Sanitary Fair
C2	Seasonal (Christmas) Charities	British Scout Posts
D.	College Posts  	For campus delivery, esp. UK.
E.	Strike posts 	Temporary suspension of public service
F.	Expedition posts 	Bouvet, Mt. Everest, Dahlak, Antarctica cruise ships

3.2 	For Courier Delivery to Nearest P.O.
A.	Carrier Posts	Semi-official US Carrier issue
B.	Hotel Posts  	Switzerland, Hungary
C.	Private Island Posts	British island locals, Rattlesnake, Kaulbach, Hustadvika
D.	Private philatelic local posts	Modern U.S. locals etc.  

3.3	Camp Posts
A.	Displaced Persons Camp Posts
B.	Concentration Camp Posts
C.	Prisoner of War Camp Posts
D. 	Refugee Camp Posts
E.	Ghetto Posts

3.4	Inter-Post Delivery
A.	Interpostal Seals	Egyptian Interpostals
B.	Morocco Cherifien Posts	Includes other “station to station” private posts

4. 	COMMON CARRIERS

4.1 	Railway
A.	Railway Letter Posts	For delivery of mail and parcels on national, regional or private railways; classic Great Britain, Ireland railways, Kahalui RR
B.	Tourist & Preservation Railways	Mostly commemorative in nature; modern GB 
C. 	Station control marks	Name of station does not denote a separate revenue collecting authority; Rhodesia, Australia, NZ, South African railways

4.2	Air Posts
A.	Official air posts	Only where the postal entity is different than the national post
B.	Semi-official Air Posts	Canadian semi-officials
C.	Souvenir or Inaugural Air Flights 	Buffalo Balloon Post
D.	Rocket Posts	

4.3	Other Carriers
A.	Ship Posts	Classic ship lines, Danish ferries
B.	Bus and Tramway Posts	Letter Posts and Parcel Posts
B1.	Bus station control marks
C.	Telegraph Stamps
D.	Telephone Stamps
E.	Newspaper Parcel Posts	When not otherwise covered above
F.	Other (truck) express services	Shipping companies

5.    	BOGUS AND FANTASIES

5.1	Bogus Posts
A.	Bogus issues of real nations 	e.g. classic Albania forgeries, modern frauds
B.	Bogus occupation overprints	German Occupation in US, US occupation in Grenada
C.	Classic phantom philately	Franz Josef Land, Amazonia
D.	Classic Bogus Private Posts	McRobish, Kers City Post
E.	Modern Breakaway locals and republics	C.I.S. locals

5.2 	Fantasies
A.    	Fantasy Governments of purported places	Intl. Council of Independent States, Sealand, Hutt River
B.    	Make-Believe Lands 	Wonderland, Atlantis, Sabor of the Midlands

5.3	Art Stamps 
A.	Stamp-like labels	Purport to be postage stamps (face value, key words like “postage”)
B.	Labels	Not purporting to be postage stamps
C.	Virtual stamps	Not on paper

6.    	PRECANCELS AND PRIVATE CONTROL MARKS

6.1	Precancels	Pre-printed cancellations with local post office name
6.2  	Perfins	Private (corporate) perforations to control distribution

7.	REVENUE STAMPS

8.	NON-POSTAGE AND NON-STAMPS

8.1	Postmarks
A.	Extra-Territorial Cancellations 	Mail franked abroad (esp. 19th c.) e.g. British mail from Buenos Aires
B.	Cancellations in Occupied Territories
C.	Unauthorized cancellations
D.	Ship Posts/Paquebot

8.2	Stamp-Like Delivery Labels and Etiquettes
A.	Parcel Express Labels 
B.	Receipt Labels

8.3	Stamp-like Collectible Labels
A.	Christmas Seals
B.	Radio Stamps
C.	Savings stamps
D.	Philatelic Clubs and Labels
E.	Poster Stamps