Fraţii Mircea şi Vintilă Rosetti, printre primii colecţionari de mărci poştale din România
Mircea and Vintilă Rosetti brothers, among the first postage stamps collectors from Romania

Summary/Abstract: On May 6th 1840 the world's first postage stamp appeared in the United Kingdom. Applied on a letter, it had the role of certifying the payment for the sending fee of that postal item by the sender. Soon, the invention spread around the world, and led to the emergence of postage stamp collectors. Initially there was the term "timbrology", but in the end "philately" was the option that was imposed. The collection of postage stamps quickly led to the appearance of philatelic magazines, stamp catalogues, and merchants selling philatelic pieces. The first philatelists appeared in Western Europe, in Great Britain, France and Germany. If initially it was a passion of the elites, of people with a higher level of education and above-average material possibilities, over time it became accessible to increasingly broad social categories, often being called the queen of passions and the passion of kings. Today, postage stamps are used less and less for letter franking, but the passion for philately has remained, even if the interest of the general public for the collection of postage stamps has diminished, becoming a niche concern, not necessarily elitist. In Romania, philately arrived on the French chain, through young people studying in Paris at the beginning of the second half of the 19th century. The first case of a Romanian philatelist reported is that of Dimitrie C. Butculescu. He is joined, through this article, by Mircea and Vintilă Rosetti brothers, active on a philatelic level at the beginning of the 70s of the 19th century. The first Romanian philatelic publication appeared in 1880, and the first society of postage stamp collectors only in 1891.

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