akphilately

2008-08-26T08:29:00.004+01:00

CURIOUSER AND CURIOUSER

I can't resist showing you at least one more flower set. And we're going even further afield this time, but again to a country from which I would normally never buy stamps: Bhutan. Although I must admit that I once got a lovely booklet with loads of Bhutan stamps in, some of them, especially the more tradionally Bhutanese ones rather than just depicting Van Gogh or what have you, were really nice. I'll see if I can rescue them from under a pile and show them to you next. But today it's rhododendrons I'm showing you. It's funny how such an ordinary plant can have so many fascinatingly beautiful varieties!

Nothing much to say about the stamps, really, I just enjoy them. Makes me feel good to just look at them.

Hope the same goes for you!

:-)

Adrian

2008-08-23T09:08:00.004+01:00

REICHENBACHIA

Yes, it's still flower power time, and why not, eh?! We're doing orchids today. Sander published his famous Reichenbachia book at the end of the 19th century. The book, and especially its botanic artwork, is still very famous today. In the 1980s, Guyana, that country which on its own takes up about a third of a whole world stamp catalogue, but who cares when they produce stuff like this, produced stamp sets which depicted this artwork. Later, most if not all values were reissued with overprinted values.

While usually steering clear of issues like these, my flower article did lead me there, and as a result I now have a few of the overprinted values. Couldn't go for the original issue, as I was looking for a certain value which I could only find overprinted. But hey, they're so gorgeous that it does not really matter. So here's a feast for your eyes:

and this is my favourite of the lot I have, by the Scot Walter Hood Fitch:

Beautiful aren't they?!

:-)
Adrian

2008-08-20T08:34:00.005+01:00

SILLY BOY

Every now and then, for whatever reason, I buy something I wasn't going to or didn't want to. And that happened to me again, t'other day. I'm writing an article for which I need some flowery stamps as images and while I was browsing away, I finally came across the Thailand flower stamps I thought I needed. I was after the 2004 set for New Year 2005. The years apparently proved too mindboggling for my simple brains for I ended up buying the 2003 set for New Year 2004!

Completely useless but they turned out to be quite nice, so I'm not displeased!

My favourite two of the four are the 3b Canna xgeneralis (a type of lily),

and especially the 3b Eucrosia bicolor, which is a Peruvian lily.

Note how the background colour comes from a different corner on each stamp. Nice touch. Maybe they were issued as a block of four in the sheet stamps. But mine came as singles so I can't tell you.

Now all I need to do is get myself the proper stamps I really need!

:-)

Adrian

2008-08-18T09:22:00.012+01:00

Machins for beginners

This year, Great Britain marks the 40th anniversary of its Machin stamps, a perfect time to discuss how you could set up a collection of these stamps. And that won’t be easy if you haven’t started yet. A standard collection of all the different values and colours come to over 400 stamps! But this article is an attempt to show that you can put together a nice collection which will be a tad more interesting than just all the values from 0.5p to £5 in a row, yet without needing anything more than a magnifier. This will be done by subdividing the set into easily manageable and distinguishable groups, giving a good picture of 40 years of Machins!

The story starts in 1967. On the June 6 of that year, the first Machin stamps are issued. The stamps replace the no longer popular Wilding stamps, which were considered cluttered and dated.

The new design is a picture of simplicity, with just the portrait of Queen Elizabeth

and the value.

The first group of stamps are the pre-decimal stamps, printed in photogravure. At the introduction of the Machin stamps, Great Britain had not yet switched to decimalisation. The stamps are easy to distinguish, because the penny values are indicated with a d
and the shilling values with a little "forward slash".

It is a relatively small group, which has its merits because you can collect stamps in sheets,

coils

and booklets.

The higher values of the pre-decimal period are a separate group, because they are larger and printed in intaglio. There are only four values, but do take care that you include the right £1 stamp, the one with the elaborate pound sign.
The stamp with a more stylized pound sign belongs to the decimal group.

On 15 February 1971, Britain goes decimal, resulting in a whole lot of new stamps. From now on, the pence values are indicated with a p.

The first group of decimal stamps runs to 1983 and includes a great deal of values, as this was a period of rampant inflation.
Again, the four higher values are printed in intaglio, and this is the group in which you include the modern £1 stamp.
From 1977, a new type of high value stamp is introduced, printed in photogravure, and therefore more like the low value stamps, only in a larger format.

Seeing that so many new values are added and various types of stamps are being used (light head on gradated background, dark head on light background and light head on dark background)

Royal Mail decides to clean up the series. Two developments play a major role here.
The first dates from 1983 and entails the introduction of a new letter type. The bulky letter type used turned out to be problematic for large values like 19½p.

Stamp designer Jeffery Matthews was taken on board to design a new and more compact letter type. This new letter type is introduced in 1983 and is still used today.

Most figures are easily recognizable, but in case of doubt, look at the recent stamps with elliptical perforations: these all have the Jeffery Matthews letter type.
The second development was to stop using all those different sub types and to create a standard stamp: a light head on a dark background, just as Arnold Machin had wanted it to be.

Again, Jeffery Matthews was involved. In 1988, he created a colour palette of 30 colours.
In 1999, three colours are added,

and now, to mark the series’ ruby jubilee, Jeffery Matthews created a ruby colour for the £1 stamp.

The colour palette is still in use today, so again: if in doubt, check out the stamps with elliptical perforation and find the 34 colours. Note: the stamps in black (1st),
gold (26p and 1st) and light blue (2nd) do not come from the palette, so discard those!

From 1993, things will get interesting if you’re planning to start a collection of Dutch Machins, because in that year, Enschedé obtains the contract to print the stamps, and will continue to do so until 1997. Enschedé are the printers that introduce the elliptical perforations. The Enschedé Machin head is very refined and easy to recognize once you know what to look for. Check out the following values, which have been printed by Enschedé only: 29p grey, 36p blue and 38p red.

In 1997, the contract returns to Harrison, who introduce a “new head”. This is not really a new head, but it is now computer engraved which makes it sharper and more detailed. It is the head which is still used today, even though the stamps are now printed by De La Rue. Stamps such as the 40p azure and 42p green have only been issued with this “new head”, and are therefore a good benchmark.

A final major development is the reintroduction of the high values. In the 1980s, the 1977 set was replaced by stamps in a different design, but in 1999, high values revert to the Machin design. The stamps are still recess-printed (engraved by Czeslaw Slania) but are now issued in small format. In 2003, the high values were printed in gravure (with shiny Iriodin ink), but nowadays they are only available via Royal Mail’s philatelic bureau.

Is that it? No way, there is so much more! For starters, we have the Machin stamps from the regions: the Isle of Man, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

And once we’ve done the regions, we can go abroad, to Somaliland for example, where Machin stamps were overprinted for use there. When in 1990s Somaliland’s postal arrangements were put in place, the idea was to use British stamps with an overprint. This idea was abandoned however, for fear of Islamic lack of understanding. Therefore, new stamps were designed and printed by Harrison. These new stamps were not finished on time. An urgent need for stamps meant that the overprinted Machin stamps, which had already been printed, had to be used after all. They were withdrawn after a couple of days, after it emerged that reactions to them were indeed rather negative. Postally used stamps are now very scarce.

The Machin head also graces definitive stamps from Gibraltar

and Hong Kong. The Hong Kong set is especially interesting, because the stamps are available in sheets,

miniature sheets,

booklets and coils.

Now, when you start collecting all these stamps, you will notice that so many stamps do not fit into one of these main groups,

but by that time, you will have been hooked and will be eager to read, research and collect even more! And once you’ve reached that stage, you’ll be extremely busy for the rest of your life!

An edited, Dutch version of this article was published in Filatelie of July/August 2007.

2008-08-16T08:44:00.004+01:00

BRIDGES

I know I have a list of links on my page, but I do confess I only check a number of blogs on a daily basis, these being Michael, Machin Mania, Eric, Sébastien and Dominique. Part of my daily routine, followed by My eBay and then it's on to business. But the other day I got an e-mail from a collector of maximum cards. And not just any, it's a collection of bridge stamps on maximum cards. Now, I quite like stamps with bridges on and although I do not collect maximum cards myself, I think it is quite a good collection on show. So, have a look here and, here's one of my favourite bridge stamps. Note how the water seeps beyond the picture frame. Wonderful!

:-)

Adrian

2008-08-13T08:40:00.003+01:00

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

I've shown you some Austrian Jubilee items before, which you will find under the Austria link on the left somewhere. The general idea is that an enormous jubilee set was issued in 1908 with lots of imperial portraits. For the various postal stationery however, it seemed that only the recent portrait of Franz Joseph was used (with one expection being the special 1908 jubilee postcard). I have now found another item that backs up that theory.

It is a letter card with a 35 heller stamp imprinted. As you can see from the close up, it is the portrait of the emperor as he looked then.

The ordinary sheet stamp does show the emperor too, but an earlier portrait was used, from 1878 rather than 1908. Interesting!

By the way, note that the 35 heller sheet stamp has a variety, which changed the emperor's name from Franciscus to Eranciscus.

:-)

Adrian

2008-08-10T09:44:00.003+01:00

UP AND DOWN

Every time I look at my ever growing collection of Japanese Occupation of Netherlands Indies stamps I smile at the amount of different stamps and overprints I have. But every time I look at the 600+ pages of the two catalogues regarding this period my smile fades: there's still so much to collect. The number of overprint types and varieties is just mind boggling! But anyway, I did receive a new type of overprint the other day, so that put my smile back on again!

It is the black "IPL in frame" overprint, used on Sumatra in the province of Palembang. I've tried for a few minutes to find out what IPL stands for, but no luck. Maybe something like Imperial Palembang? Answers on a postcard please! Anyway, this here is the small version. There's also a larger version but that was never used on Wilhelmina stamps, so that's one I do not have to collect! Phew! I do need to get the violet version though! Oh well...

;-)

Adrian

2008-08-08T08:29:00.004+01:00

HOW TO WEAR A DIADEM

I promised you some more on the queen's diamond diadem. Well, when Elizabeth became queen, she had to pose for photographer Dorothy Wilding whose photographs would be used for the new British and Commonwealth stamps. When she, the queen that is, saw the photographs, she realized that her diadem was leaning way too much backwards, which of course is a royal faux-pas. You can see that on the original artwork for the Wilding stamp.

A problem arose in that Elizabeth was far too busy to pose again, so the original photos had to be retouched. This proved rather hard to do, but in the end it proved possible to fiddle slightly with the frontal cross (remember?!), by making it stand more upright, thereby optically deluding the human mind into thinking the whole diadem was more upright. Everybody pleased.

Here, you have the two crosses side by side, for comparison.

So you see, one simple stamp design, so many things to discover!

:-)

Adrian

2008-08-06T08:45:00.004+01:00

SSSSHHHHH.....

Not much to say really after my entry bombardment of the other day. Just a calm and little entry now with just a picture for you to enjoy, of those wonderful Wilding stamps. It's a 1953 2.5d booklet pane of six, from cylinder no. J1 no dot.

Oh alright then, did you know there are two types of the 2.5d? No? Well, they're quite easy to distinguish. The ones in this pane are type II, and what you do to find out is look at the frontal cross of the diadem.

Now take a look at that same cross from type I.

As you can see, the top line on the cross only goes halfway on type I and goes all the way on type II.

Why fiddle with that frontal cross? That will be revealed in my next post!

:-)

Adrian

2008-08-04T08:35:00.001+01:00

Hmmm

Well, apparently, if you keep blog entries in a draft, they get published under the day you started them. So I did put up my article but you have to scroll down a bit, or go straight to the appropriate label!

:-)
Adrian

2008-08-03T09:34:00.004+01:00

ARTICLES

You won't notice it yet, but I've been busy with a few things! First of all I've decided to close down my two websites. It was too much work and I didn't really enjoy it, so I've packed them in.

But as I do want to do something with the articles I've written so far, I've decided to put them up here on my blog. I will create a special label for that, called "Articles". Imaginative, eh?! These articles will be different from the final products that have been published in various magazines, so even though you may have seen some of those, it might still be worth your while to check out the articles on here.

I'm now working on the first one to go up, which is about Admiral de Ruyter. I hope to finish it tomorrow!

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-30T09:37:00.041+01:00

Admiral Michiel de Ruyter – A Century of Stamps

“By God, I think the devil shits Dutchmen!” This famous remark was made by Sir William Batten during the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1667. The Dutch fleet had broken through the defensive chain across the Thames, sailed up the river without any English resistance of note, and managed to attack and torch most of the large English naval ships. On their return to sea, the Dutch towed away the Royal Charles, flagship of the English navy, as a war trophy.

The “Raid on the Medway” is still considered by many the greatest Dutch naval victory in history and the most humiliating English naval defeat. However, the Treaty of Breda which followed the war, was rather favourable to the English; admittedly, they lost Surinam to the Dutch, but were allowed to keep New Amsterdam in North America, which had already been taken from the Dutch and renamed New York, after the then Duke of York, the future King James II, a formidable naval commander in his own right.

In charge during the Raid on the Medway was one of the most famous Dutch naval heroes of all time, Admiral Michiel Adriaenszoon De Ruyter (1607-1676). This year marks the 400th anniversary of his birth but rather unexpectedly, despite his lasting fame, the Dutch TNT has not honoured the man with a proper stamp issue. However, in a number of other ways the anniversary has been marked by them.

First of all there is a generic sheetlet of ten personal stamps, similar to the British Smilers© sheets. The sheetlet, printed in lithography by Joh. Enschedé & Sons, includes two designs, one stamp depicting De Ruyter himself (from a portrait by Ferdinand Bol) and the other stamp his flagship De Zeven Provinciën. It is the first sheet of a long series (a total of in all 50 sheets is ‘promised’!) named “The Canon of the Netherlands”, depicting famous Dutch personalities.

This issue is a mirror image of the 1957 issue, which marked the 350th anniversary of De Ruyter’s birth. That set was designed by Lou Strik (10c) and E. Thorn Leeson (30c). In those days, recess-printing would sometimes still be used by the Dutch and the set, printed by Enschedé, is a fine example of what can be achieved with that process. This holds especially true for the 30c value depicting the flagship. The detail on that stamp is very fine.

That same flagship was also included in a set of charity stamps issued in 1973. This set, designed by Sjoerd de Vries and Ab Gratama, is based on a shipping theme and has no further links to De Ruyter.

If we just stick to the watery theme for a little bit longer, we should also include the 5c of the 1944 Dutch definitives. The set has become known as the “London” set, as it was ordered by the Dutch government in exile in London. The stamps are recess-printed in England by Bradbury, Wilkinson & Co. Ltd. The 5c depicts the cruiser De Ruyter, obviously named after the Dutch naval hero. The stamp is designed by J.B. Romein and engraved by A. B. Hill.

The second commemorative item is the official FDC logo for this year. Very cleverly, the designs for the official Dutch FDCs, produced by the NVPH, the Dutch Association of Stamp Dealers, are based upon a central theme. Thus, in 2005, when Queen Beatrix celebrated her Silver Jubilee, all designs took the shape of her silhouette, and in 2006, when the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt’s birth was commemorated, the designs were in the shape of paint brush strokes. This year, to mark De Ruyter’s 400th birth anniversary, the official FDCs are based on a ship and even include a banner marking the event.

The last in the row of this year’s De Ruyter anniversary products is the issue of postage paid stamps, produced by the Dutch TNT in association with www.marktplaats.nl. This issue is part of an ongoing cooperation between the Dutch postal authorities and the Dutch equivalent of eBay. The set of three stamps includes the obligatory portrait and maritime scenes but also a design incorporating the De Ruyter statue.

This cast iron statue, overlooking the sea, can be found in Vlissingen (Flushing), the town where Michiel de Ruyter was born in 1607. It is no coincidence that the statue can also be found on the Vlissingen sheetlet of the “Mooi Nederland” series, issued earlier this year.

This miniature sheet is part of an ongoing series portraying scenic towns of the Netherlands. Another sheet from that series, based on The Hague, also has a deliberate reference to De Ruyter’s birth anniversary by incorporating the street sign “De Ruyterstraat”.

The first time the Flushing statue was depicted on a stamp was in 1976. A single stamp was issued to mark the 300th anniversary of his death. The design by Walter Nikkels very successfully conveys the overpowering impression De Ruyter had on others by showing the statue from below.

One of De Ruyter’s earliest naval feats was to try and regain Dutch territory from the English in the 1660s. After the First Anglo-Dutch War, further conflicts of interest between the two maritime powers were battled out in North America. In 1664, the English had conquered Dutch territories, including Curaçao and New Amsterdam. Michiel de Ruyter, who was to work his way up from sailor to Lieutenant-Admiral-General (a rank created specially for him), was sent to the area to fight them. In 1666, he captured various English vessels and delivered supplies to the Dutch colony at St Eustatius. The conflict would later spill over into the Second Anglo-Dutch War, which, as mentioned in the beginning, would end with the Treaty of Breda, with various territories changing hands.

A stamp issued in 1966 by the Netherlands Antilles marks De Ruyter’s stay at the colony at St Eustatius in 1666,

and the obelisk erected in memory of De Ruyter features on a number of values of the Disberg definitives (so named after its designer) that were issued in the Netherlands Antilles between 1958 and 1977.

In Surinam, a set of stamps was issued in 1967 to mark the 300th anniversary of the Treaty of Breda. The set depicts the castle where the treaty was negotiated and signed, as well as the territories involved in the exchange.

All the Anglo-Dutch Wars and the Boer War centuries later could well have had a detrimental effect on how the Dutch regarded the English and this was a notion the Germans eagerly tried to exploit when occupying the Netherlands during World War II. In 1943 they ordered the issue of a set of definitives in the Netherlands, depicting various Dutch naval heroes who had fought against the English, thereby hoping to stir up any anti-British sentiment. However, it completely backfired, for all it did was evoke stronger patriotic feelings among the Dutch! Michiel de Ruyter was, of course, also included in that definitive set. That particular stamp, the 7½c, was designed and engraved by the well-known Dutch stamp designer Sem Hartz. It is printed in photogravure by Enschedé. There are two versions of the stamp. Type I has thick value and letters, with the word “NEDERLAND” touching the outer side frames of the design.

Type II has thinner lettering and the word “NEDERLAND” no longer touches the frame.

There are a number of small plate flaws to collect, which mainly consist of extra dots on various parts of the design, e.g. just above the first “R” of “DE RUYTER”.

Michiel de Ruyter made his philatelic debut one century ago, in 1907. A set of three low values was issued on 23 March 1907 to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth.

The design depicts De Ruyter and a naval fleet in action. The stamps, designed by W.A. Mouton and engraved by J. Walter, were printed in typography by Enschedé. This was only the second commemorative set issued in the Netherlands. The first set, issued a year before in 1906, was a TB charity set.

Inadvertently, the portrait of Queen Wilhelmina was not incorporated in the design for that TB set. As laid down by law, all Dutch stamps with a value of three cents or higher had to bear the monarch’s portrait, and the set was made up of a 1c, 3c, and 5c! As no time was left to come up with new designs, a special Royal Decree had to be prepared to allow the issue to go ahead. In 1907, the Dutch postal authorities did not want to make the same mistake again and made sure that the De Ruyter set was made up of low values only. Consequently, the stamps were only valid for inland use.

A number of constant varieties exist on each value. On the ½c a white line through the second D of NEDERLAND can be found. The 1c has a dent in the bottom left frame line and that value may also come with an extra cannonball, just below one of the larger flags.

On the 2½c a little line can be found between the two frame lines below the M. A second variety on that value is a white spot at the left end of the scroll bearing the word 1907.

The issue becomes even more complicated when we take a look at the postage dues. The normal postage stamps were on sale and valid for use during a limited period only, from 23 March to 31 May 1907. The rather large quantities of all three values that were left after this period were overprinted with the word PORTZEGEL (postage due stamp) and a new value.

A total of thirteen different postage due values were thus produced, ranging from ½c to 1g. The stamps were issued on 1 November 1907.

The five ½c values come in two types. Type I has the fraction placed 1mm away from the main value figure, whereas on Type II the fraction is placed closer to the main figure (½ mm). The 1½c, 2½c, 6½c and 12½c values were printed in whole sheets of either Type I or II. These are therefore relatively common and don’t come at much of a premium. The 7½c value, however, was printed only in sheets of Type I, with on every sheet one copy of a Type II stamp. This Type II stamp is therefore much rarer and is ideally collected as a pair with the normal Type I stamp. The same goes for the 12½c Type II. Although whole sheets of Type I and Type II exist, as noted before, the Type I sheets are similar to the 7½c value sheets, i.e. one Type II stamp can be found on the Type I sheets. So again, a pair of 12½c stamps with Types I and II is very collectable.

It comes as no surprise that the various plate flaws of the ordinary set may also be found on the postage due stamps. The only plate flaw listed in the Dutch NVPH special catalogue, however, is the “white line through second D of NEDERLAND”, to be found on seven values.

The flaw on the 2½c (the extra little line below the M) exists on the postage due versions as well, and that may well be the case for the other flaws too.

There is also a constant variety of the overprint, consisting of a colon between the E and N of CENT on the 5c and 25c values. The postage due set was replaced in 1912 by a new set of specially designed postage due stamps.

And with this set we’ve “battled through” a century of Michiel de Ruyter issues. With such a variety of stamps to be had, it is clear that there are many ways to set up a nice collection, from collecting the cheap and cheerful modern issues, easy to get and great to look at, to the more traditional way of collecting the 1907 issue, with the more challenging items to hunt down!

© 2007, AKPhilately

An edited version of this article was published in Stamp Magazine of December 2007.

2008-07-30T08:41:00.004+01:00

SLOPPY

In the early 1900s, the Swiss started to print special sheets for booklet panes. These sheets consisted of rows of 10, and the layout was as follows: three stamps upright, an empty stamp-size field, three stamps upright and finally three stamps inverted. Now, if you picture this in your mind, it's clear to see that these sheets yield both tête-bêche pairs and gutter pairs. And it's the gutter pairs which I'm showing you today.

The empty stamp-size field was prone to be used for the forgery of stamps, so the Swiss PTT had to do something with those field. That's why they decided to punch a hole through them. Now, the thing with these holes is, that they exist in circular form, and in not really circular form. This one here, like the first image, is of the not circular type.

And here is a more carefully produced hole, lovely and circular.

I wonder whether more than one perforator was used, with either a circular or not circular pin, or whether the not circular hole was just a matter of deteriorating material. The latter could well be the case for later, a smaller hole was punched through the paper.

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-27T09:02:00.004+01:00

MORE FISHY TALES

I'm doing a little research on the Orval Abbey in Belgium. Remember I previously showed you an Orval stamp here? Well, today's stamp depicts the origins of that same abbey.

Countess Marthilda of Tuscany had only recently been widowed when she inadvertently dropped her wedding band in a well. Being the devout woman she was, she immediately started praying, and lo and behold, up came a trout from the well who gave her back her ring. "Well," exclaimed the lucky lass, "truly this place is a golden valley!" And so she decided to found an abbey on that very spot in the Val d'Or, which of course was morphed into Orval through the ages. The Orval coat of arms shows the trout rising upards, returning the ring, and that very same well can still be found in the grounds of the abbey.

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-25T08:27:00.004+01:00

FISHY

Oh go on then, let's have two more ships. I like these because they are modelled like sea creatures. The 3d50

depicts a 6th century BC vessel, and the 5d depicts

Argo, which I think is a wonderful ship! And thanks to Argo (named after its builder Argos) I came across this website on ancient Greek ships. A great read and it even has a reference to this stamp!

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-24T08:48:00.004+01:00

REFRESHING

Ships on stamps is a very popular thematic theme. And rightly so, for there are endless possibilities and stories attached to ships on stamps. I always quite like sailing ships on stamps, they appeal very much to my romantic side, and that goes especially for older ships.

In 1958, Greece issued a set of ship stamps in honour of the Greek merchant navy. Six stamps in all, of which four depicted sailing ships. They were the first Greek stamps to be produced in four-colour printing. The 2d depicts a Byzantine galley,

but the 1d50 is my favourite:

It depicts the 1821 vessel called Nova. I tried to find some information on it (well, only for a couple of minutes, mind) but Nova is such a general word that I did not succeed in finding one website which might have anything to do with the ship. Oh well.....

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-22T08:30:00.003+01:00

DONE AND DUSTED

Some time ago (yes, this is another instalment in the loose ends saga) I wrote about wanting to catalogue all the different plate and perforation combinations of the 1923 Silver Jubilee set of the Netherlands (see here), to see whether it could be established when the various plates were made and used. But when I reread the information on this set in the Handboek Postwaarden Nederland, I found that all the information was already there! Lucky me! It transpired that almost all plates were made before production started. The only exceptions are plates 14 to 17 for the 2c, which were made in mid 1924, rather than autumn 1923.

Saves me a lot of work!

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-21T08:23:00.005+01:00

TOLD YOU SO

I was sorting my V stamps last night and when I came to the Vatican City, I was pleasantly surprised to find a set in the envelope that I had been hoping to add to my collection! It is the 1964 set of five commemorating the 400th death anniversary of Michelangelo. I need that one because it goes with the Michelangelo definitives of Italy which I have shown you before. The great thing of this Vatican set is that it shows the same portraits as on the definitives. Here for example we have the prophet Isaiah

and here is his definitive counterpart.

I think the Vatican set a very stylish one, unlike so many others they produce. Here are the other two prophets depicted on the Vatican stamps, Joel and Jeremiah,

and their definitive cousins.

It's great to see that the same concept works well on both commemoratives and definitives. The commemoratives give the possibility to elaborate a bit on the portrait idea, by showing more and having a "fancy" frame, whereas just depicting the portraits gives the definitives a very classic feel. Well done!

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-20T11:04:00.004+01:00

COLOURBLIND

We're doing a bit of royalty again and we're off to Greece for that today. In 1956 and 1957 two large definitive sets were issued with portraits of various Greek royalty. The sets are straightforward in that no major errors or varieties have been reported but they earn their places in our collections (well, in mine at least) because they are lovely recess-printed sets and because I have a well-publicised soft spot for royalty on stamps. This is my favourite stamp from the 1956 set.

It depicts Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark (1903-1997) who went on to marry Prince Paul of Yugoslavia.

The only strange thing about this set is that it was re-issued in 1957 but in different colours. Exactly the same set with the same values and designs, but all in a different colour!

And what makes it even stranger is that according to the Hellas catalogue, the decision to issue both sets was taken before the first set was issued. In other words, it was decided beforehand to issue two identical sets in different colours! Hmm... would there be any logical reason for that, or does it smell of tapping in on the philatelic profit market?

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-16T08:56:00.003+01:00

TIDIED UP

At least there is one questionmark which I did manage to lay to rest. Remember these?

These were the Java (this example has an inverted overprint) and Buiten bezit. overprints

of 1908. I wrote about those here.

Thanks to Hans Kremer of the ASNP, I was able to read an article about this issue. And so it transpired that the experiment was held to see whether local postage rates on the main island Java (and Madura which was administratively linked to Java) could be reduced. In short, the idea of the overprints was that incoming letters on Java and Madura with Java overprinted stamps would be counted. This research period ran from 01-08-1908 to 31-01-1909. It never led to a rate reduction and the idea was never brought up again. No results of this research were published at the time. And as far as all those overprint varieties is concerned. well, I suppose for us collectors it's a case of "seen it all before...."!

;-)

Adrian

2008-07-13T09:33:00.004+01:00

FOREVER LOOSE

When I say tidying up loose ends, that doesn't mean, of course, that I now have the answer to all my questions, but at least we're getting somewhere, although in the following case I'm not sure where yet. Remember these?

I last wrote about those here. I've since been in touch with one or two people and at the moment the situation is as follows. In 1947, the Netherlands Indies printers Kolff & Co. produced a presentational book

containing stamp proof material for some of their staff celebrating their jubilees.

I understand that only 6 of these books were ever made. But as these books contain "stamps the staff has worked on",

we can safely conclude that these proofs are all made by Kolff. Now, Kolff started printing stamps for the Netherlands Indies in 1941, probably because Enschedé in the Netherlands was no longe able/allowed to print those for them because of the Netherlands being occupied by the Germans. This would date the proofs in the book at round the early 1940s. This makes sense, for most Wilhelmina proofs are either of the Kreisler design (albeit slightly different) which was the then current definitive design, or of the Van Konijnenburg design which was the eventually adopted definitive design. But then we come across these:

Now these are also mentioned in Van Dieten's Proof Catalogue for the Netherlands and overseas territories, but they are dated 1908! The catalogue does not mention the printer. As I said before, Kolff did not start producing stamp for the Netherlands Indies until 1941, so what were they doing in 1908 making these proofs!? And if they are theirs and made in 1908, then the Kreisler proofs may well be from an earlier date too and could still have been the original design, with the borders added later!

So my plea remains: could anyone please shed more light on this?! Hope so!

:-)

Adrian

PS: All images courtesy of F. Kalf, the Netherlands.

2008-07-12T09:17:00.003+01:00

LOOSE ENDS

Hello again! I've been away for a while but I have been busy "stamping", it's just that I didn't have anything to write about. Now it's time to tidy up some loose ends! But the main reason why I didn't blog very often lately, is that I've decided to update my two websites, and that's been more on my mind than this blog. So, if you're interested, why not take a look at my Wilhelmina website here. I've been working on the "Young Queen" definitives.

And while you're at it, here's my "Collections" website. For this one I'm working on the Admiral de Ruyter issues. You'll also find both links on the left of this blog somewhere.

I try to update one of them daily with at least a paragraph and a picture, so if you come back every once in a while, you'll find new stuff to enjoy (well, hopefully anyway).

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-03T08:40:00.003+01:00

LEVANT

The Turkish Empire in the late 1800s, early 1900s must be a very interesting period for philatelists, with all the foreign post offices, various currencies, etcetera. Those foreign post offices were I suppose usually founded to facilitate trade. The Germans had had post offices in Turkey ever since 1870. In the early days, stamps from the "Home Country" were used, which can only be identified as having been used in the Turkish Empire by their cancellations. Later, from 1884, stamps were overprinted in the local currency, piastres and paras.

However, the rather unfortunate exchange rates were having a detrimental effect on trade. This held especially true for printed matter and samples. Many traders started sending these via the post offices of other countries. In order to try and regain this important source of income for the German Post Office, they issued a set in French francs, on 5 August 1908. This set was also to be the last set of the German post offices in the Turkish Empire, because the First World War changed everything and made the Turks close their country to all foreign post offices in 1914.

The stamps, by the way, are from the German "Germania" definitives, which I would say is my favourite German definitive set. One day I will have a great collection of these, but just don't hold your breath!

:-)

Adrian

2008-07-01T11:23:00.004+01:00

SOKOL

If only I had paid more attention during my Czechoslovakian classes, I wouldn't have had to browse the internet all morning to find out about the 8th Slet Vsesolkolsky in Prague in 1926.

:-)

But I didn't, or more precisely, I never had any, so I had to, if you can still follow me. But that way I was able to find out that the Sokol movement was basically some form of precursor of the scouting movement, starting in the 1860 and ending up as a symbol of Czech nationalism. The gatherings were very popular, with all sorts of gymnastics being displayed. This issue is to mark the 8th such gathering, in 1926.

I found this great website with all sorts of Sokol memorabilia, like stamps and postcards and what have you. Great!

:-)

Adrian

2008-06-29T09:16:00.003+01:00

JACK

When I got my Czechoslovakian air mail stamps which I showed you the other day, they came with the next air mail set down the line.

This set was issued some two years after the previous one, on 15 June 1922. As you can see, the plane itself is rather similar, but the rest of the overprint layout is different. I like the two propellers obliterating the old value! A different kind of stamp was used for the overprints, the "Allegory of Economy and Science" definitives. As far as I know these stamps were not issued for specific flights. They were reprinted in 1970 on thick paper (with facsimile on the back) so do not confuse these with the real thing! Also, forgeries exist, which may be distinguished because the shading of the plane is patchy and the jack (is that the right word for that round thingy on the wings?) is round rather than oval.

:-)

Adrian