{ "model": { "rank": 2294, "code": "thing-q37930", "model_id": "vr.tr.postage-stamp", "name": "postage stamp", "purpose": "Let an agent explain postage stamps and their kinds, support collecting and identifying stamps with catalogues, describe stamp production and postal use, and present contested stamp issues neutrally.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Information and virtual systems", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "INF", "domain": "INF.MED", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q37930/", "tier": 2, "score": 110, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "maximum card", "definitive stamp", "pair of seals", "stamp court", "plated seal", "Dokdo stamp", "postage stamp pair", "Encased postage stamp", "Japanese etched stamps", "coffee stamp", "obligatory stamp", "invertebrates in postage stamps", "postage stamps by jurisdiction", "NK 831-834", "chemistry on stamps", "famous postage stamp", "Legioenpostzegels", "Military stamp", "special delivery stamp", "United States postmasters provisional stamps", "postage stamp error", "commemorative stamp", "chess on stamps", "Kinderpostzegels", "Zemstvo stamp", "Se-tenant", "rarity", "airmail stamp", "forerunner", "special stamp", "stamp book", "Verigar issue", "self-adhesive postage stamp", "Firebox stamp", "personalised stamp", "non-denominated postage", "precancel", "postage stamp block", "Mint stamp", "Postal currency" ], "aliasCount": 88, "merged": 88, "knownIn": 110, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q37930", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q37930", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-12T00:04:30Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 2, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q37930", "registryId": "vr.tr.postage-stamp", "name": "postage stamp", "version": "0.2.0-wave.2", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "INF.MED" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q37930/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.postage-stamp", "name": "postage stamp", "purpose": "Let an agent explain postage stamps and their kinds, support collecting and identifying stamps with catalogues, describe stamp production and postal use, and present contested stamp issues neutrally.", "definition": "A small piece of paper, usually adhesive, issued by a postal authority and affixed to mail to show payment of postage, in forms such as definitive and commemorative stamps, with related philatelic items such as maximum cards and plated varieties; postage stamps have been issued since 1840, are collected and studied in philately, catalogued with values, and occasionally carry designs that are politically contested.", "what_it_is_for": "Proof of postage and collectible items.", "affordances": [ "explain kinds of stamp", "support collecting and identification", "describe production and use", "present contested issues neutrally" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Postal payment", "Denomination", "Collectible", "Catalogued" ], "appearance": "A small printed paper label with perforations and a face value.", "visual_identification": [ "Issued by a postal authority", "Denominated and adhesive", "Revenue and Cinderella stamps serve other purposes" ], "physical_properties": [], "families_and_kinds": [ "definitive stamps", "commemorative stamps", "airmail and special service stamps", "philatelic items such as maximum cards", "errors and varieties" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "print", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "adhesive stamp", "why": "category" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "motif", "why": "stamp designs" }, { "relation": "is related to", "target": "heritage site", "why": "a common stamp subject" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "Universal Postal Union rules on stamp issues", "National postal regulations", "Philatelic cataloguing conventions" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Forgeries", "Misidentification of varieties", "Partisan presentation of contested designs" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What stamps are.", "rationale": "Definitions.", "layers": [ { "id": "kinds", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds of stamp.", "findings": [ { "id": "kinds-finding", "name": "Kinds", "description": "Kinds.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do definitive, commemorative and special stamps differ, and what are maximum cards and plated varieties?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits a specific issue?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "production", "name": "Production", "description": "Design and printing.", "findings": [ { "id": "production-finding", "name": "Production", "description": "Production.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are stamps designed, printed and perforated, and what security features do they carry?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits printing?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "collect", "name": "Collect", "description": "Philately.", "rationale": "Practice.", "layers": [ { "id": "identify", "name": "Identify", "description": "Identifying a stamp.", "findings": [ { "id": "identify-finding", "name": "Identify", "description": "Identification.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can this stamp be identified and valued using catalogues, watermarks and perforation measurements?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "How are forgeries detected?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "care", "name": "Care", "description": "Storing and handling.", "findings": [ { "id": "care-finding", "name": "Care", "description": "Care.", "questions": [ { "text": "How should stamps be stored, handled and mounted to preserve them?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which philatelic societies exist?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "use", "name": "Use", "description": "Stamps and post.", "rationale": "Context.", "layers": [ { "id": "postal", "name": "Postal", "description": "Postal use.", "findings": [ { "id": "postal-finding", "name": "Postal", "description": "Postal use.", "questions": [ { "text": "How are stamps used and validated in postal systems today, and how are they changing with digital postage?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits postal services?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "contested", "name": "Contested", "description": "Contested designs.", "findings": [ { "id": "contested-finding", "name": "Contested", "description": "Contested.", "questions": [ { "text": "Which stamp issues have been politically contested, such as those depicting disputed territories, and what are the attributed positions?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "learn", "name": "Learn", "description": "History and teaching.", "rationale": "Education.", "layers": [ { "id": "history", "name": "History", "description": "History of stamps.", "findings": [ { "id": "history-finding", "name": "History", "description": "History.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did postage stamps develop from the Penny Black onward?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "teach", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching with stamps.", "findings": [ { "id": "teach-finding", "name": "Teach", "description": "Teaching.", "questions": [ { "text": "How can stamps be used to teach history, geography and design?", "kind": "action" }, { "text": "Which misconceptions arise?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "Should each issuing authority be a separate entry?", "How should catalogues be linked?", "How should contested issues be attributed?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "work, medium or creative form", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a postage stamp, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain postage stamps and their kinds, support collecting and identifying stamps with catalogues, describe stamp production and postal use, and present contested stamp issues neutrally.", "characteristics": { "substance": "information", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "read and interpreted", "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: maximum card, definitive stamp, pair of seals, stamp court, plated seal, Dokdo stamp, postage stamp pair, Encased postage stamp, Japanese etched stamps, coffee stamp, obligatory stamp, invertebrates in postage stamps.", "88 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 110 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a postage stamp, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "content that has to be carried by something else", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "read it and act on what it says", "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "What is seen is a copy or a performance, not the work. Recognising the work means recognising the content through whatever is carrying it." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "maximum card", "definitive stamp", "pair of seals", "stamp court", "plated seal", "Dokdo stamp", "postage stamp pair", "Encased postage stamp", "Japanese etched stamps", "coffee stamp", "obligatory stamp", "invertebrates in postage stamps" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 110 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 88 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one postage stamp from another, and a postage stamp from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a postage stamp sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a postage stamp from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a postage stamp passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a postage stamp between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a postage stamp, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a postage stamp is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "content-and-access", "name": "Content, encoding and access", "description": "What a postage stamp says, how it is encoded and who may read it.", "rationale": "An informational thing carries content that can be copied, versioned and withheld, none of which its physical carrier explains.", "layers": [ { "id": "content-and-encoding", "name": "Content and encoding", "description": "The content itself, its format and its language.", "findings": [ { "id": "content-and-format", "name": "Content, format and language", "description": "What a postage stamp contains and in what form it is held.", "questions": [ { "id": "content-and-format-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the content of a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the content of a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "content-and-format-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the content of a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "access-and-rights", "name": "Access, rights and retention", "description": "Who may read, copy or change it, and for how long it is kept.", "findings": [ { "id": "access-rules", "name": "Access rules and retention", "description": "The permissions attached to a postage stamp and the period it survives.", "questions": [ { "id": "access-rules-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes access to a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about access to a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "access-rules-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once access to a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "work-and-manifestation", "name": "Work, version and copy", "description": "Which level of postage stamp a statement is about.", "rationale": "The work, the edition, the file and the copy in hand are four things; rights and content attach to different ones.", "layers": [ { "id": "levels", "name": "Levels of the thing", "description": "Work, expression, manifestation and item, in plain terms.", "findings": [ { "id": "level-rules", "name": "What belongs at each level", "description": "Which facts hold for the work and which only for one copy.", "questions": [ { "id": "level-rules-q01", "text": "For postage stamp, which facts belong to the work itself, which to a version, and which to a single copy?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "level-rules-q02", "text": "What identifier exists at each level, and which one is being cited?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "versions", "name": "Versions, editions and variants", "description": "How versions differ and which is canonical to whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "version-record", "name": "Versions and canonicity", "description": "Differences that matter and who calls one authoritative.", "questions": [ { "id": "version-record-q01", "text": "Which versions or editions of postage stamp exist, and how do they differ substantively?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "version-record-q02", "text": "Who treats which version as authoritative, and for what purpose?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "authorship-and-rights", "name": "Authorship, rights and permitted use", "description": "Who made postage stamp and what may be done with it.", "rationale": "Rights are jurisdictional, time-limited and attached to a level, and an agent that ignores that will copy what it may not.", "layers": [ { "id": "authorship", "name": "Authorship and contribution", "description": "Who contributed what, and in what capacity.", "findings": [ { "id": "contribution-record", "name": "Contributors and roles", "description": "The people and bodies behind it, with their roles.", "questions": [ { "id": "contribution-record-q01", "text": "Who authored or contributed to postage stamp, in what roles, and how is that attested?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "id": "contribution-record-q02", "text": "Where authorship is disputed or anonymous, what is recorded instead?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "rights", "name": "Rights and permissions", "description": "Which rights subsist, where, until when, and what they permit.", "findings": [ { "id": "rights-record", "name": "Rights, term and permitted acts", "description": "The regime in force and what it allows.", "questions": [ { "id": "rights-record-q01", "text": "What rights subsist in postage stamp, in which jurisdictions, and until when?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "rights-record-q02", "text": "Which acts are permitted without further permission, and which must an agent refuse?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a postage stamp came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a postage stamp and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a postage stamp is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a postage stamp, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a postage stamp, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a postage stamp is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }