AKPhilately

The End

2011-11-18T09:03:00.001Z

Oh dear, the title sounds rather ominous, but don't worry, it isn't really.

Yes, it does mean that this is the end of this blog. But fear not: I have been invited to start blogging for Stamp Magazine, so if you like what I've done so far, I would welcome you heartily to my new blog, which you can find here:

http://blog.stampmagazine.co.uk/

Or just click here.

Hope to see you there and thank you so much for having been here!

Love you all!

:-)
Adrian

Roll on 2012 !

2011-11-12T10:46:00.001Z

Ooh, yes, 2012 is going to be a great year for GB issues! And I haven't said that since 1999! We had already had the fantastic news about those great Olympic definitives, which will be issued on 5 January.

I love them and even though I'm anything but a sports/Olympics fan and even less of a sports/Olympics on stamps fan, I think these are absolutely great.

But it gets even better, for to celebrate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we will get a diamond blue Machin first class stamp and an absolutely stunning miniature sheet.

It's so good and beautiful that I don't even know where to start! I'm in need of a myriad of superlatives! And all the values are first class stamps so we can actually use them on our everyday mail. The sheet will be issued on 6 February, with the Machin in various formats issued in February and March.
Life is good again!
:-)
Adrian

I see green

2011-10-31T11:17:00.000Z

Well well well. I only recently reported on a major change in the French definitives (see here), and here's yet another one! This is turning out to be a very nice and varied set!
I'm not totally in the know but I believe that for a long time there have been green definitives, representing a slower, surface mail rate. Now, these green definitives have become properly green.

The general definitive image has been placed into a leaf, ramming home its economic-friendly message. The publicity bumph glorifies the eco-friendly rate, as no airplanes are being used in the transport of mail franked with these stamps. Everyday users have, I believe, been grumbling for years that this rate represents mail taking ages and ages to reach its destination. But there you go.
I love the design, think it's quirky, and I like the idea behind it. And it's a perfect sideline in a collection of this set.
And what's even better: instead of the one green stamp which we used to have, the green stamp is now available for four different weight rates, in four different shades of green.

I'm a fan!
:-)
Adrian

ECSC

2011-10-16T09:41:00.002+01:00

I've mentioned the ECSC before, the European Coal and Steel Community, founded in 1952 when the general idea in Europe was that economic cooperation was so much better than isolationism or even war. Among the top men involved with the foundation of the ECSC was Robert Schuman, then French Foreign Minister, after just having been French Prime Minister for some time.
To mark the 20th anniversary of the ECSC, Luxembourg issued a stamp in 1972, depicting a bronze by R. Zilli portraying Robert Schuman.

Just in case, like I did, you wonder why Luxembourg would portray him rather than "one of their own", I found out that he was actually born in Luxembourg, albeit more or less on the Lorraine border with France.
Another great item for my Peacemaking collection! Or should it go in my Engravers collection, under the B for Béquet?!

:-)
Adrian

Purrfect (sorry!)

2011-10-07T08:42:00.000+01:00

Just a short note today. I love cats and as such I've always been interested in cats on stamps. Downside? They're pretty much all horrific. I can't think of a single cat stamp I like! Until now, that is. For when I went to the Prestwick stamp fair this weekend, I finally found cat stamps I not only like but absolutely adore! They're a bit wacky, but they're so good and lifelike and great, that I had to buy them and I simply had to show them to you straightaway! (well, five days late but sometimes life gets in the way).
So here they are:

I wish I lived in Sweden! I would buy up to 1000 of that top right stamp and use nothing else on my mail for years to come!

:-)
Adrian

2011-09-29T08:42:00.000+01:00

Gentlemen
I believe it was the Dutch engraver Sem Hartz who once said when talking about recess-printed stamps that they are the gentlemen among stamps. And how true is that! He had just as outspoken an idea about multicoloured stamps: rubbish! In his view a well-engraved stamp only needed one colour. So he would hopefully have been pleased if he could have seen this post of mine, for it will feature nothing but monocoloured recess-printed stamps!
I'm still ploughing through the stamps I got from my friend Paulo, you see, and there's quite a few of recess-printed stamps among them. The set that I like in particular is the 1966 set to mark the Tercentenary of the Solemn Promise to Our Lady of Luxembourg. In plainer English this means that in 1666 the Mother of God was chosen as Patron Saint for the City of Luxembourg.

The stamps are engraved by abovementioned Sem Hartz and are absolute gems. He seems to have a bit of a fussy style, but there's so much to see on these, it's absolutely amazing. However, as usual, they look better in real life than in scans, but there you go.

Not being an expert at all, it is great to see that even within engraving there are different styles. Compare the two stamps shown above with the two coming up next.

These two were also issued in 1966. They seem to be very French in nature. No wonder I suppose, for they were engraved by the Frenchman René Cottet. I don't know what makes them French in style, is it the whiteness around the image, or is it maybe just the subject matter?

Yet another different style can be found in this 1980 stamp portraying Jean Monnet (yes, him again, which is why I was doubly pleased with this stamp as it fits in my Peacemaking collection!).

A very modern stamp and yet so well executed that for me it still proves good old Mr Hartz right!
:-)
Adrian

2011-09-25T09:04:00.000+01:00

Indulging
Forgive me but I've just received another batch of wonderful Europa stamps, from my dear friend Paulo, so I can't help myself, but I just have to show some of them to you. They make me feel so happy!

I promise I won't touch the subject again for some time.
:-)
Adrian

2011-09-22T08:30:00.000+01:00

Errare humanum est
I've just finished a few features on errors in philately, so I'm probably still very much focused on that, but it's not why I bought this set. I only got it because I thought they looked nice! It is the 1952 set issued by the German Democratic Republic or DDR, marking cultural anniversaries. And it is the top value which displays the error.

The physician Avicenna was not born in 952, as inscribed on the stamp, but in 980!
The three other values mark the 150th birth anniversary of the writer Victor Hugo on the 12pf value,

the 500th birth anniversary of the artist Leonardo da Vinci on the 20pf value,

and the death centenary of the writer Nikolai Gogol.

The DDR designs became ever more communist in appearance, but in the early days they issued gems like these which is why it is such an interesting period to collect!
:-)
Adrian

2011-09-18T09:24:00.000+01:00

In dreams...
What is it with that woman? Why is it that I'm always enchanted by Victoria on stamps? Must be something Freudian! But once again I just had to give in and get the latest GB issue from Royal Mail, featuring the royals from the House of Hanover. And that meant buying low value commemoratives which are priced at over a £1 each! Which is really not done in my book but there you go. I had to because one of the top values depicts Queen Victoria.

Isn't it an absolute beauty?! She also features on the accompanying miniature sheet but I cannot get those from my post office.
When I will win the lottery, I will mosty definitely build up a Victorian collection. Mint of course! Not necessarily specialised, just one of each. Maybe even without the overprinted ones, just the crisp beautiful designs on page after page... Sigh...
Not having done that yet, I make do with a used collection of an as yet very meagre appearance. What I also plan to do is try and find an old Victorian album where I can put those in. Nearly got one on Ebay the other day but it went for over a £100 and that was really a bit too much for me.
So for the time being I'll have to be satisfied with victorian dreams...
:-)
Adrian

2011-09-02T08:41:00.001+01:00

Europa
I've always thought it an enormous shame that the CEPT countries decided to let go of the "one design for all" principle. Since then, the CEPT stamps have just become like all the other issues, with nothing linking them together.
The fun thing with the common design is that you are so used to the stamps of your own country that those of other European nations always look fresh and usually much more beautiful!
As part of my "omnibuses" collection, I've therefore decided to collect all the CEPT stamps with similar designs. So that means basically all the stamps from 1956 to 1973, plus 1984 and 2000. And I must say that it has been a great pleasure to find these lovely stamps coming through my letterbox!
Yesterday two more sets came in, both from Monaco.

This one here is from 1965, the year I was born, so just that little bit extra special. The design is by Hördur Karlsson and represents the Europa sprig. The three leaves stand for post, telegraph and telephone (PTT), by which many of the European postal services were known. As with many of the Monaco stamps, this stamp was recess-printed, engraved by C. Haley.

The other one is a later one, from 1972. This design is by Paavo Huovinen, representing the Aurora Borealis, although it also known under the name "Communications". Again, this stamp is recess-printed, but this time engraved by G. Bétemps.
In think they're absolute beauties and they make me happy every time I see them!
:-)
Adrian

2011-07-19T09:15:00.000+01:00

They're here!
No, not the Poltergeists (sorry, but I am from that tender age), but the new French definitives, which I talked about here. Just got them sent to me by Eric, for helping him with his frog cover project..

I'm still getting used to the design itself, but they're slowly growing on me.

And here's the new version for the ecopli rate.

What do you think? Is it better/nicer than the head with background version? To be honest, I'm not sure yet. I think it might have looked better if it had not been in grey.
:-)
Adrian

2011-07-12T08:46:00.000+01:00

Six or eight?
Yes, I'm still on the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC or CECA). I just received my latest item which is this 2001 stamp from Luxembourg, marking the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Paris, which founded the ECSC.

Now the ECSC was founded by six nations: West Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux. So how come there are eight signatures on the stamp? I only recognised the top one, that being Germany's Adenauer. Thankfully, a quick look on the internet gave me the full list of signatories:
1) Konrad Adenauer (Federal Republic of Germany)
2) Paul van Zeeland (Belgium)
3) Joseph Meurice (Belgium)
4) Robert Schuman (France)
5) Carlo Sforza (Italy)
6) Joseph Bech (Luxembourg)
7) Dirk Stikker (Netherlands)
8) Jan van den Brink (Netherlands).
Now all we need to find out is why both the Netherlands and Belgium had two signatories.....
:-)
Adrian

2011-07-06T10:44:00.000+01:00

Coronation

I know I like to get lost in the minutiae of stamp collecting every now and then, but don't worry, I can also enjoy the simplicity of a beautiful stamp. No need to specialise, no need for anything, just get a lovely stamp on a page and enjoy looking at it.
And that's what I'm showing you today. A stamp from the 1953 omnibus set for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth.

Although I must admit I couldn't resist sorting them by printer!
:-)
Adrian

2011-07-04T08:27:00.000+01:00

Armistice

I've finally sorted the remainder of my French lot and, before I come to today's topic, will just show you another heraldry stamp.

Very much like the other one, but this time celebrating the bicentenary of the union of Corsica and France. As in the other stamp, we have the arms of France on the left, and here we see the arms of Corsica on the right.

But the reason I got this whole lot was because I needed a stamp marking the armistice of 11-11-1918. Now I haven't looked very specifically into this, but a two-day search left me with only one option:

This French stamps marks the 50th anniversary of the armistice, and was the earliest stamp I could find to actually mention the date. There's a lovely French stamp from 1938, which I would rather have used, but that only mentions the celebratory date of 11-11-1938.

You'd think that at the time more countries would have marked the occasion, even though in 1918 we weren't yet bombarded (excuse the pun) with commemoratives. But as far as I know it's only the USA who issued a victory stamp, in early 1919.

But if you know of any others, let me know!

:-)
Adrian

2011-06-30T19:04:00.000+01:00

Extras

I've probably said this before, but sometimes buying a bigger lot will yield a nice surprise or two. And so I was looking for a French armistice stamp of 1968, and found that buying the 1968 year set would be much more cost effective. So I did and they arrived yesterday. While sorting them I found two stamps that would fit perfectly in two collections I don't have but have been thinking about starting up for some time now!

The first one is this stamp marking the 300th anniversary of the first Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. It's a lovely stamp on its own but it contains the Arms of France and Flanders. Now I think heraldry is a fascinating subject and coats of arms always look great on stamps, so I would love to one day start a heraldry collection. Do any of you collect this? I have no idea how to set up such a thing, as I don't want to just collect them and that's that. So I suppose I'm looking for some sort of framework here. A general development of arms? Various subjects depicted on arms? Families? Countries, Cities? I haven't really looked into this yet, so I'm interested to hear if you collect heraldry and how you collect heraldry.

The second item I found useful is the 1968 set for Europa. This is a lot more straightforward, because one day I'd love to have a basic collection of all those Europa stamps of the 50sd, 60s and 70s, when countries adapted and used a single design.
So much for my downsizing programme!
:-)
Adrian

2011-06-28T09:14:00.000+01:00

Top speed

It's been a while since I last mentioned our dear old queen Wilhelmina, but don't worry, she's still on the cards! I find that collecting her goes in fits and starts. I had a real fling some time ago because I had to display her at my local society last February. After that I had had enough of her, but now she's back with a vengeance!

The thing is, you see, that next year our local society is organising the ASPS (Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies) Congress in Perth. As host society we have to display umpteen frames, and I've been asked to do four frames of Wilhelmina. That's 64 sheets! Now I'm alright with that if I include the definitives of the overseas territories, and all the commemorative stamps, but seeing that I prefer to do just the Dutch definitives, I really need to give my collection a bit more meat.

And so I'm back looking at all the auction sites and catalogues, in search of more stuff to add. Great fun of course but also rather frustrating because I've found that, especially on eBay, the majority of dealers who have what I want are from Holland (makes sense) and most of those only send to Holland, which is a bit of a bummer. But I've finally found one who has lots of plate flaws and who ships to the UK as well! So here's my latest addition.

It's the plate flaw "diagonal scratch in front of 1 of 15" on the 15c value of the 1924 Veth set. Here's the enlargement, just in case you couldn't spot it!

:-)
Adrian

2011-06-25T09:06:00.007+01:00

And on..
Yes, more on Monnet! Sorry! But I just got some more in so I thought I'd continue the theme for a wee while longer. We've already seen a few of the stamps issued to mark the birth centenary of Monnet. But West Germany issued a stamp in 1977 for a more original reason: to mark the fact that Monnet was awarded the "Citizen of Europe" honour.

West Germany was again among the lot in 1988 to mark the birth centenary. I'm showing you that stamp not because if that or because it's so beautiful. Indeed not! I'm including it because it shows so well how recess-printed stamps are so much more beautiful than stamps produced in other ways. Here is the German stamp in lithography.And here, to remind you, is that French stamp again, in recess, which I showed you some days ago.You may make up your own mind as to which one is better (though I will say that the difference shows better when looking at them in real life). Now I'm not an expert on Monnet, far from it, and so I thought he was the founder of the ECSC, but when I got the 1971 Italian set in which marks the first 20 years of the ECSC, Monnet was nowhere to be seen.The only men depicted are Adenauer, Schuman and De Gasperi. So a little further research found that the ECSC was founded on the basis of the Schuman Declaration (Schuman being the French Foreign Minister at the time). It makes therefore sense to have him included. The other two are basically two European heavyweights for both Germany and Italy who supported the foundation of the ECSC. Monnet was "only" the first President of the ECSC, but is also widely regarded as the real writer of the Schuman Plan.

:-)

Adrian

2011-06-23T08:26:00.012+01:00

France goes TVP
When I think of the French Marianne series, I'm always slightly worried about the current fast pace of replacement sets being introduced.

I had barely gotten used to the Lamouche stamp or it had already been replaced by the Beaujard set.

The disadvantage is that definitive sets just become sets of basic stamps with hardly anything interesting to collect. But when I visited Dominique's blog yesterday I noticed he had put up an announcement by the French Post regarding new Beaujard stamps.

So thankfully the Beaujard set is proving to be different in that new developments are being incorporated in its lifetime!

The development is one that has been going on for some time in many European countries, namely the (wider) introduction of non-value-indicated stamps, or NVIs (TVPs in French). Belgium and the Netherlands, to name but two, have more or less recently moved towards very vague rate indicators, by just numbering their stamps 1, 2 etc. For outstanders this will prove rather confusing I would say.

But the new French stamps, out on 1 July, are much clearer in that respect, as you can see from the La Poste info. They indicate the type of postage (inland, Europe etc) and the weight steps. Seems very clear, judging from the images. Clearer than the TVPs that France used so far, which did not mention anything at all and could only be distinguished by their colour (blue shown here being for Europe).

Another very interesting image on the info sheet is that of the new grey ecopli stamp, ecopli being the rate for slower and cheaper mailings.

There is already a grey Beaujard stamp, but judging from this new image, this stamp will be without the hatched background around the portrait. It looks absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait to see it in the flesh!

:-)

Adrian

2011-06-22T10:04:00.004+01:00

Encore plus!
Yes, as promised, here's a few more Monnet stamps.

The first one is another French issue, this time dating from 1988, to mark the birth centenary of the man. The stamps was designed and engraved by Marie-Noëlle Goffin and printed in recess. Although a much more traditional stamp than the 1980 one, I like its simplicity very much. A beautiful portrait.

The 1988 Monaco stamp, also issued to mark the birth centenary, is much less impressive, I feel. The design, by E. Lacaque, who also engraved the stamp, is way too busy and colourful, distracting from the portrait. It is also pointless as one wouldn't have a clue why e.g. the cathedral (and which one) is included. At least I don't. Just the portrait on its own would have made for a much better stamp I think, for that is very well done.

:-)
Adrian

2011-06-17T08:59:00.004+01:00

Jean Monnet

Time for a fresh start! The summer months are always my quietest months, with an enforced (by me!) ten weeks at home. No trips, nothing. Great! Recharging the batteries and finding the inspiration to bring this blog back to life!

So we kick off the new season with my most recent acquisition, falling on the doormat only yesterday afternoon!

It is one of the stamps from a 1980 set issued in France, and it portrays Jean Monnet. I needed this stamp for my Peacemaking collection. In the aftermath of WW1 France was toying with the idea of economic cooperation in Europe, rather than destructive competition. The then French minister of commerce and industry, Clémentel, set up plans for this, but they came to nothing. However, his assistant, Jean Monnet, managed to breathe new life into the plans and it was him who eventually, after WW2, founded the ECSC, the European Coal and Steel Community, which basically was the first step towards the current European Union.

The stamp was designed and engraved by R. Quillivic.

Phew, well that was easy!;-)

Adrian

2011-05-08T08:54:00.008+01:00

Mother's Day
It's always the same...
Every year in March, when Mother's Day cards appear in the shops here, I think: I won't forget this year. And every year in May, I do forget...
And the irony of it all is that I got myself some Mother's Day stamps from Austria earlier this week and not even that did ring a bell...
Only when I happened to glance at our wall calendar yesterday did I finally notice that it's Mother's Day in Holland today!
And so (Hi Mum!), instead of a card, here's one of those gorgeous Mother's Day stamps from Austria, designed and engraved by H. Ranzoni.

:-)
Adrian

2011-02-10T09:14:00.005Z

More Cami

Did you like yesterday's penguins? Well, I just got the 1960 year set for France in the mail, so I can now show you a couple more of Robert Cami's stamps.

This one depicts the patriot Marc Sangnier and marks the tenth anniversary of his death. The stamps is quoted quite often, probably for its skilled portrait engraving. But the background, in contrast probably, is quite stark and simplified. I think I prefer the next stamp which is of a similar design idea.

This is one of the values in the Red Cross Fund set. This particular stamp depicts the statesman Michel de l'Hospital. Look at those soft tones and how the background picture complements the portrait. Look at how beautifully that beard is done.

Knowing that these engravings are done at stamp size, you cannot but be completely in awe with these masters in their art!

:-)

Adrian

2011-02-09T09:58:00.004Z

Animals

It's funny that so many stamp engravers seem to have portraits as their expertise, although I must say that portraits are ideal for engravings, but what about architecture or even landscapes?! Those topics work very well on engraved stamps too. I suppose really everything looks better on a stamp when it is engraved!

I've been doing a little research on a well-known french engraver, Robert Cami, who, because he worked for the French postal authorities, also engraved a good number of stamps for the French territories. And it's great to see that he seemed to concentrate a lot on animals in the latter years of his life. Here is a rather beautiful example of that.

This is his 50f airmail stamp for the Terres Australes et Antarctique Française, or TAAF, which is so much easier to type. It was issued in 1956. There is also a 100f stamp which is blue all over (still bicoloured though), which looks even better maybe, but then, I quite like these two colours together.

:-)

Adrian

2011-02-06T09:18:00.005Z

Ambassador

My Peacemaking collection is more and more veering towards social history I feel, and I quite like that! I started off collecting just stamps and covers for this theme, but soon I was adding postcards and cinderella, and now I find myself getting all excited about press photographs of all things!

I was talking to a friend yesterday about how good it would be to be able to walk into the past, have a look around and then run quickly back to the safety and luxury of our current lives! I suppose my collection is my way of walking around in the past, from the comfort of my desk chair!

And so I was very chuffed with my latest addition which arrived yesterday: a press photograph of the French Ambassador to the United States in December 1918: J.J. Jusserand.

I wanted to include him because he was among the party of US big shots who went on the ship to Europe to attend the 1919 Peace Congress in Paris. My initial info was just that the French Ambassador went along with the party. But it's great to have internet, for it was rather easy to find out who the French Ambassador was at the time.

Now I'm on to the next person on the ship: the Italian Ambassador to the United States. I've found him as well: it's Count Macchi di Cellere, but his name is spelled in many ways so he's not that easy to find. So far I've only found reproduction photographs of him, which I don't want. It's got to be the real thing. But I suppose, if I'm patient enough, something from his time will come along! Until then I'll just be happy with Jusserand!

:-)

Adrian

2011-02-04T08:39:00.003Z

British Philatelic Bulletin

I'm all excited. Yesterday I got my first article published in the British Philatelic Bulletin!

And that's no mean feat, when you realise I'm surrounded in there by such greats as Julia Lee, from the world's best philatelic magazine Stamp Magazine, and Keijo Kortelainen from the Stamp Collecting blog.

You know, I still can't believe that only a couple of years ago I was still in awe of all those people writing those great articles in the philatelic press, and now I see my name printed among them. It still feels so wonderfully good!

So never mind the gale force winds, I'm having a sunny day!

Downside? Oh, those deadlines! Better get back to work!

:-)

2011-01-10T08:50:00.004Z

Magical birds

I've just concluded a little swap with someone in Australia. A Gold Machin label for a few Hungarian stamps. They're quite common apparently, looking at their catalogue values, but I had never seen them before so I'm chuffed to bits!

The stamps were issued on 20 November 1913 with a surcharge for the Flood Relief Fund. This was for a flooding disaster (yes, even back then there were lots of flooding disasters!) in the East Banat.

The stamps are basically a reworking of the original Turul definitives of 1900. These were enlarged to include the wording árvízkárosultaknak külön, which I believe means surcharge (külön) for flood (árvíz) victims (károsultaknak), and the amount of the surcharge.

The stamp design shows the Turul flying over the Holy Crown (with the crooked cross on the top) of Hungary. The top values of the set (which I don't have) depict King Francis Joseph wearing that same crown.

The Turul is the mythical bird of the Magyars. Hungarian legends have it that this bird appeared in a dream of a Hungarian tribe leader, beckoning them to migrate and leading them to the lands which would eventually become Hungary.

So there!

:-)

Adrian

2011-01-03T09:09:00.005Z

Bernie

I'm working on an article on the WWF at the moment, because it celebrates its fiftieth anniversary in 2011. And so I stumbled upon Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands who not only was its first President, but who also, together with "our" Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, founded the Club 1001 of very rich (business) men who pledge a lot of money after being invited to join. It makes for an independent source of income for the WWF but the more I read the more I understood it to be a rather infamous group of people (although membership is semi secret) and when I happened upon info on alleged military links as well, I thought the better of it and started concentrating on the beasties rather than the people! Which is always a healthy way of living I think, if it wasn't for the fact that beasties don't make stamps.

But anyway, the whole saga did remind me of one of those stamps sets from yesteryear. And when I found out that though I knew every inch of them by heart, I did not actually own them, I got them in and can now show them to you. The set was issued in 1971 to mark the 60th birthday of Prince Bernhard and the four stamps show his activities.

The 15c shows a white carnation, which was (is) the symbol of the Prince Bernhard Fund, a Fund which stimulates culture and the preservation of nature, although it started out in WW2 as a fund to buy war materials.

The 20c shows the WWF logo (lovely stamp this!) at the time when Bernhard was still President.

The 25c shows the prince himself. I suppose the background image shows his involvement in business, but the inclusion of the planes are an unfortunate reminder of the bribery scandal known as the Lockheed Affair, which led to the prince being stripped of all his military buttons and bows, hence his depcition in civilian clothes.

The final stamp, the 45c has a surcharge of 20c for the Fund for the Conservation of the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia, of which Bernhard was the patron.

Pure nostalgia, this set, for me, and it threw me back to the early days when I was browsing daily through my Dutch catalogue, looking at all these stamps I would one day hope to have!

I still do though...

:-)

Adrian

2010-12-04T09:59:00.004Z

Wintertime!

Snowed in! Or iced in more like it. So even more time to spend on stamps and finally some peace and quiet to write on this blog. I'm still reorganising everything philatelic so I do not always have the time to write, but things can only improve! Maybe this is an early New Year's resolution!

:-)

Anyway, I am working on a Swedish feature, which seems nicely appropriate seeing the weather. And so I managed to lay my hands on a number of issues from the 1970s. Now as you may know, Sweden issued a lot of recess-printed stamps in those days. Thumbs up! And of course, many of these are engraved by Czeslaw Slania. Now he's apparently more known for his beautiful engravings of human faces but when I saw the 1974 stamps he did, which depict the inside of Stockholm's main post office, I was struck by their beauty, so I thought I'd show them to you.

I especially love the stamp on the left. Such detail and yet no overcrowding. A true masterpiece indeed, I would say. I once read that you should not enlarge stamps which are printed in lithography or photogravure as the image will disintegrate. But do enlarge a recess-printed stamp because it gives you the opportunity to step into the design and admire it even more. And I can assure you that it works on this one if you blow it up on your computer screen!

I'm also absolutely in love with his 1971 mail coach definitive.

Another non-human stamp, but what a beauty! Style, splendour and movement and those horses! Love the colour scheme as well, it all works perfectly.

So there's a few lovely additions to my very small Swedish collection. And very happy with them too!

:-)

Adrian

2010-10-17T09:00:00.004+01:00

Finale

Yes, I bring you the final instalment of our Spanish Series series. And it is maybe the best one in the lot, it being the Paintings sets that were issued from 1958 onwards to mark the annual Stamp Day.

Every year, a set of 10 stamps was issued with paintings from one painter. One of the ten stamps always included a self portrait.

The beauty of the set is that the paintings themselves are printed in monochrome.

Unfortunately, this was later abandoned when paintings were printed in full colour. This immediately ruined the whole concept I think so I don't collect these!

It being Spain, you will expect to find a large amount of religious paintings. One of my favourites is the St Christopher stamp. The painting is by Ribera and the stamp was issued in 1963. A similar design may be found here.

In all, every set looks absolutely stunning on a single page and in this way a perfect hommage is paid to the nation's artists. Well done!

:-)

Adrian

2010-10-08T08:41:00.005+01:00

Spanish Mood (part 2)

So yes, the three mega-sets of Spain, issued over a number of years in the 1960s/1970s. We've done the Spanish Castles, which is my absolute favourite, and number two is just a very weak imitation of that set, and with hindsight I would not have included it in my favourite Spanish sets, but since I already have, I will pick out some to show you.

We're talking about the Tourist Series, which was inaugurated in 1964. It is basically just a copy of that castles set but showing various tourist sights in Spain. They're nice because they're recess-printed but design-wise many of the stamps are either too busy or just downright boring. You'll notice that I started with showing those!

But thankfully, as I looked a bit further, there are a few which are nice, or even very nice, so I'll show those as well, for we're all here to love our stamps, not criticise them constantly! After all, that's being done enough.

I suppose if you've been to Spain you might very much like the stamps with the sights that you've seen for yourself, which would make this an interesting series to pick and choose from!

:-)

Adrian

2010-10-05T08:41:00.004+01:00

Spanish mood

Yes, I've been in a Spanish mood lately. That may have something to do with the fact that we're vaguely planning to go there somewhere next year! But don't worry, we've done that before and nothing came of it then, so don't hold your breath.

But it does mean that I've been looking at the Spain catalogue a bit more often lately, and that is how I remembered that Spain has these wonderful long running series of stamps, mainly in the 1960s. Three of them really stand out as far as I'm concerned, and I'll be showing these over the next couple of days.

First up is the Spanish Castles series. An absolutely wonderful series of stamps, issued annually, from 1966 onwards. I believe the series ran until 1972. A total of six sets were issued in that time, and they all consist of absolutely stunning recess-printed stamps. Makes you want to go out there and have a look for yourself. (Probably only to realize that romantic illustrations never live up to real life modernday tourism.)

Here are a few for you to enjoy. I'm afraid none of my catalogues mention any engravers so if any of you has information on this, I'd be happy to hear from you!

:-)

Adrian

2010-09-23T08:17:00.004+01:00

Bilingual

I've been looking for months, if not years by now, for an Aland Islands cover for my Peacemaking collection, and I've finally found it!

You may remember that I once showed you a cover sent from Geta to Sweden. You can still see it here. That cover was supposed to show that from the 1920s onwards, after a League of Nations decision, the Islands remained Finnish but that the Swedish language was guaranteed. I knew from the very start that that Geta cover was a feeble part of the collection, so I kept on looking for something better. And here it is:

It has all the evidence I need for abovementioned circumstances: the cover is dated in 1937 so that's not too long after the League of Nations decision, and way before any further major changes took place (such as the Islands issuing their own stamps from 1984 onwards). The card is written in Swedish which more or less shows the Swedish language was prevalent in the Islands. By the way, if anybody knows any Swedish....

:-)

Although having said that, with the help of Google Translate I suppose it says something like: you're my best friend.

The card has a Finnish stamp, which shows that the Islands remained part of Finland, and, most importantly: the postmark is bilingual, with the Swedish name Mariehamn at the top and the Finnish name Maarianhamina at the bottom. This shows again that the Swedish language was officially guaranteed.

So now I'm finally happy and can move on to other (though not necessarily better) things!

:-)

Adrian

2010-09-18T08:54:00.004+01:00

Teething problems

I've not only joined the Cinderella Stamp Club lately, but also Stampboards.com. A great online community of collectors where you can ask anything you like and usually get an answer within hours! Although originally Australia-minded, it is now truly global and a feast to spend hours on!

A great thing, too, is that the members are allowed to sell/swap items. So when I found out that there was a fellow Wilhelmina collector there, I was happy, but when he started offering items for sale, I was even more chuffed! That's how I got two very nice items from the 1923 Silver Jubilee set.

That set had to be printed and perforated in a very short time, because it was suddenly decided to use it as a definitive set. The enormous amounts of stamps to be produced in a very short time obviously led to lots of errors, and not all of them escaped quality control! Although the examples here do not directly affect the stamps themselves, which is maybe why they were allowed to slip through the safety net, but the extra perforation lines in the sheet margins are very collectable!

They exist both horizontally and vertically, with the latter very much the rarer of the two, and here's me, having an example of each now!

Yeay!

:-)

Adrian

2010-09-15T09:52:00.007+01:00

The Hammer

I recently joined the Cinderella Club, because I thought I might find / learn about some nice items for my Peacemaking collection. That's why I also joined their WW1 packet. And I must say I'm very pleased with the first packet I received for it had some nice cinderella depicting Bismarck.

Bismarck is named "The Hammer" on these stamps, and that seems a very fitting name for him. Bismarck, according to the French foreign ministry at the time, was reponsible for creating a militarized Germany, a "formidable machine of war", a country without scruples. He created this for his "employer" Prussia, which was described as an "army with a country".

After the First World War, France was justifiably very wary about having a mighty Germany for its neighbour. Ideally, it would have liked to have seen Germany smashed to pieces and being returned to its former shape of numerous little innocent German states and a Prussia that would have to learn its place. That, of course, was not to be.

Can't wait to receive the next packet! Although a note said that the packet may have to cease because of too little stuff being offered for sale and too few takers. Shame! So go on: be a heroe and join the club! This is their website.

:-)

Adrian

2010-09-13T08:33:00.005+01:00

New beginnings

Here we go again!

:-)

As many of you know I've been hoarding stamps for more than a decade now, and it's been getting to the stage where it becomes quite ridiculous. So something had to be done. And something is being done! I'm rigorously going through everything I have and will get rid of lots and lots. Having said that, I will of course also keep lots and lots. So here, to keep my mind focused, is an overview of what's happening at the moment.

First of all I will, of course, keep my main collections: Wilhelmina and Peacemaking, and will keep adding to those indefinitely.

Then I will have to keep everything issued in Europe for my articles in the various stamp magazines. But that's not really a collection, it's more like heaps of stamps in stockbooks as reference material.

I'm planning to basically get rid of everything non-Europe apart from what I really like. I've started at the A and managed to fill a big stockbook with stamps I no longer want or care for, and I am only at Cayman Islands! So that's going well!

One of the best pieces of advice I got was to finally start mounting everything, rather than keep everything in stockbooks. And so I've started to mount five collections which (until now anyway) cover what I like best.

First up are the birds!

They are now confined to Birds in Scotland, as I have this great RSPB book with only those in, so that's my catalogue if you like.

Second is that wonderful omnibus set marking the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953.

I will just collect those in basic form, grouped per printer. I love the design and the colours and they look perfect on a page!

Number three is another omnibus set.

No, not the 1935 Silver Jubilee which I used to collect. I've somehow gone off them a bit, so I'll not continue those. No, its the 1946 Victory issue. Again, a beautiful design. I will collect these as basic sets too.

Number four is my Definitive Collection.

This will comprise all the definitive sets throughout the world that I like. Again, I will collect these only in basic form, so no specialisation whatsoever. Not even overprints and what have you. Just the basic beautiful sets.
And finally, number five is my Champions of Europe collection.

This is the name of my monthly column in Stamp Magazine, where I write about European definitive sets. These I will collect in more or less specialised form, although I have promised myself to go from basic to specialised. That is to say, I can't go up a level until I've properly finished the level below. So no varieties unless I have the basic sets complete, etcetera. We'll see how that pans out!

Anyways, that's my life made orderly again, so now all I have to do is stick it!

:-)

Adrian

2010-06-05T11:08:00.004+01:00

Bare minimum

I never thought it would happen but I think I'm slowly but surely reaching saturation point as far as my collecting habits is concerned. Or in plain English: there are so many things I'd like to collect in a mega-specialized way, that I can't be bothered doing anything anymore. So maybe it's time to take a step back and go back to the basics and the fun of actual stamp collecting! Not worrying about specializing too much, not worrying about having enough interesting material to show at meetings, etcetera, just go back to collecting stamps! Beautiful stamps! Get sets complete before you embark on anything beyond that. Return to country collecting. Forget about covers (not that I did so much in that field), forget about postal stationery, just collect lots of beautiful stamps! Never mind the displays, never mind the wonderful collection you've dreamt of, just do what's within your budget and enjoy the beauty of stamps!

:-)

Adrian

...and keep taking the pills of course!

2010-05-31T10:18:00.003+01:00

Ships

There's a new stamp blog on the scene which is very interesting indeed.

Prashant Pune has started a blog on ship stamps. Have a look here!

:-)

Adrian

2010-05-29T08:52:00.004+01:00

Scotex

First of all, thanks everyone who got in touch with me regarding my request for the non-stamp panes of the 2008 regionals prestige booklet. I'm glad to say it is being taken care of now!

On my neverending quest for all Scottish regional items, I came across this very nice souvenir sheet from Scotex.

Scotex 1962 was the first formal exhibition organised by the ASPS (Association of Scottish Philatelic Societies).

The sheet is printed by Harrison & Sons on special paper watermarked "HARRISON AND SONS LTD". The stamp images were printed using the actual stamp positives. The stamps were not valid for postage though.

Isn't it a handsome little souvenir?!

:-)

Adrian

2010-04-20T09:07:00.004+01:00

Request!

I will have told you before that I quite like the Scottish Wildings from the 1950s/1960s. Well, actually I like all Scottish stamps, but as these are the first, they are just that bit more special. I've now decided to collect those a bit more seriously than I have done so far, and as part of that I have just gotten myself all the issues that were produced to mark the 50th anniversary of these (and those of other British regions) stamps. This anniversary was in 2008, and the issues include a miniature sheet and a prestige booklet.

Both were issued on 29 September. Both were printed by De La Rue, but the miniature sheet as printed in gravure, and the prestige booklet panes in litho. Another difference is that the miniature sheet is printed on cream-coloured paper, whereas the prestige booklet panes are printed on white paper. A final major difference is that the phosphor bands on the sheetlet are gradated, that is to say, they fade away at the edges. The bands on the prestige booklet panes are sharply defined and consequently show up much better, even on a scan.

I believe the miniature sheet versions are a better likeness than t'other ones. Royal mail has by now reissued most if not all Wilding stamps over the years, with varying degrees of success. I think the very first ones were the best, but they were universally regarded too clean, which is why coloured paper and other tricks have been used to age them a bit.

Now to my request: As is usually the case with prestige booklets, they not only include stamp panes but also interpane leaves with information and illustrations. Now, in order to mount these stamps in a nice way, I really need to show both sides of some of those interpane leaves, but it is a bit rich having to buy two booklets in order to be able to show both sides of those non-stamp panes. Especially because I never bought the booklet when it was still available at cost price, but will have to pay more than that now.

So basically, if anybody is reading this who has the stamp panes and still has the non-stamp panes and does not know what to do with them, I am basically looking for these two (see images), and would love to swap them for anything you like.

:-)

Adrian

2010-03-28T10:01:00.005+01:00

Slimming down

The fact that I'm rearranging my collections at the moment also entails a bit of slimming down. In the past decade my Wilhelmina collection has been at the forefront. I would say (and hope) that in the coming decade my Peacemaking collection will take priority and hopefully eventually pride of place. Seeing that my budget is not limitless (if only....) this does imply that I will have to scale down my Wilhelmina collection. Chopping off both the thematic bit and the overseas colonies bit was not too hard. That left me with the Dutch definitives, of which there are some five major ones and a few hangers-on. So away go the hangers-on (not literally, mind, they just get inserted into my general World Collection). But five major definitive sets is still quite a lot, for they span some 60 odd years. So I decided to first narrow it down to the ones I liked best, and those are basically the Veth issue of 1924-1940 and the Bontkraag (fur collar) issue of 1898-1923. Of those two, the Bontkraag issue will be the most interesting to collect, and I've got the most background information on that one, so hey presto: My decision was made. My Wilhelmina collecting activities will be focusing on the Bontkraag issue from now on. And so it was that I'm very happy with my latest addition.

When the Bontkraag issue was replaced in 1923, remaining stocks of the 3c and 5c values were overprinted for use as postage due stamps. And now I've got those in lovely blocks of four!

There are also two more values, which are overprinted values of the Vürtheim set.

Anyways, I'm chuffed to bits with these!

:-)

Adrian

2010-03-26T08:50:00.003Z

Big Ben

It's high time we had a look at yet another beautiful stamp! This time it's a stamp from Monaco.

Now I usually find the stamps from Monaco a bit "samey", instantly recognisable, that's true, but not always that remarkable. Although this stamp, too, has very much the stamp of Monaco all over it, it does stand out from the others, I think. Of course, it's a recess-printed stamps (like many of Monaco's stamps, which is to their eternal credit), and that means that the beauty of it does not show too well on a scan. Just hold the stamp against the light at an angle to enjoy and marvel at the lines of the engraving. Such an art form! The stamp is designed and engraved by Claude Andreotto. Not quite sure why Monaco would choose to mark the 150th anniversary of the Big Ben (not even GB has thought of milking that anniversary!), but if they come up with stamps like this one, long may they continue!

:-)

Adrian

2010-03-23T08:43:00.004Z

"Masterclass"

Ahem. Well, not really, just some ideas on how to keep your stamps, maybe, or maybe even just to show you how I do it. For Pablo!

:-)

As I said yesterday, I'm now rearranging my general world collection in stockbooks, like this:

I group countries together in regions, based on how Stanley Gibbons groups them in their different parts of their catalogue. I use different coloured books for each regions, so part 1 (British Commonwealth) is in black books, part 2 (Austria & Hungary, where this page is taken from) in blue books, part 3 (Balkans) in red books, etcetera. I use black paged books because I think the stamps come out great on a black background. I make the info strips at the top in Microsoft Word. Just a plain document, add one table of one column, and in that way you get around ten strips on one page. Cut them out neatly and slide them in your stockbook. As easy as pie!

I find that the enormous advantage of this is a) it's easy to set up, and b) easy to maintain. New additions can be either aded to the page or you can easily shift stamps around and make everything fit again. All you then have to do is write some new info strips (yes, I do keep documents of all strips made (one document per book), so as not to have to retype everything). I've done three books so far and am very happy.

I used to mount everything like this:

The great disadvantages of this way are: a) you'll never finish the job, b) there's so many pages to make because you somehow get less stamps on a page, and c) as soon as you have new stamps that need to be fitted in somewhere, you start wasting so much paper in having to redo whole pages and d) what about all the extra mounts you constantly need to use and buy. And I was fed up with the loose sheet format in binders. Made everything look like a schoolboy scrap book rather than a collection to be proud of / enjoyed thoroughly. So I'm glad I've stopped doing that. All I need now is to find some good use for all those empty binders!

My proper collection, of Queen Wilhelmina, is still on pages, like so:

I am however, considering doing these in books too. maybe in a more luxurious book of proper leather, with clear interleaves (or whatever they are called). But I'll give that one another think.

What I will keep on loose pages is my Peacemaking collection.

This is a more thematic collection with more write-up so I don't think that would work as well in stockbooks with info strips. besides, I'm hoping to one day start showing this to others so I would need loose pages anyway. I may, however, one day choose a different type of binder. I quite like the ones with pegs, but you'll need proper stamp pages for those and they don't usually fit standard printers. I haven't solved that problem yet! Bigger printer I suppose. But I just bought another one so I'll leave that for a while yet.

Anyway, here ends my guided tour through my collections!

:-)

Adrian

2010-03-22T08:29:00.005Z

Aviation

Blimey! It's coming up to two month since I last wrote something here! I wouldn't be surprised if you've all deservedly deserted me in droves! But please do come back as I will promise to mend my ways! It's just that sometimes life gets in the way of stamp collecting, and nowadays even my work for the various stamp magazines gets in the way of updating my blog!

I'm actually reorganising my general world collection. Until now I had that stacked away in stockbooks, in alphabetical order, hoping to one day have enough time and courage to properly mount everything I have. I've made a number of starts doing just that, but every time I'm disappointed with the results. I think I have come to the conclusion that I like stamp books rather than binders with loose leaves. And so I'm now putting them in those same stockbooks again, but this time with a better page layout, a strip with info on the top and grouped together in regions. I'm doing about ten pages a day and it's going great! Right now I'm in the Balkans, in Rumania to be precise. It's great to handle all my stamps once again and reacquaint with forgotten items and enjoy the beauty of them! Here's a few I've handled last night.

Aviation was very big in the Rumania of the 1920s and 1930s. I've read somewhere that in those years some 2000 planes were manufactured there, which seems guite a lot for those days! On an airmail set of 1928, we find the Blériot SPAD S.33 Biplane, which by the way, is not a Rumanian but a French plane.

Blériot and SPAD had merged and come up with this biplane, of which some 40+ were built. The plane was used by Franco-Roumaine for routes on the European continent.

The 1931 airmail set depicts various planes over Rumanian landscapes. The only value I have, the 3l carmine, depicts a biplane (in the background) and a Farman F.300.

Again, this is a French plane, built in the early 1930s. This F.300 type is a prototype of which only one was made. It was used by Farman's own airline.

Funding of all the Rumanian airmail activities was partially done by a postal tax. Special Aviation Fund stamps were introduced in 1931. They had to be used in combination with ordinary postage stamps. The very first types were meant for voluntary use, but within a year it had become an obligatory thing.

The stamp I'm showing you here was issued in 1936, and is quite a beauty I think.

:-)

Adrian

2010-02-02T11:13:00.004Z

For Michael!

Michael wants more KGV, Michael gets more KGV!

:-)

The only trouble is I do not have much KGV, so here's just a little bit more on Georgian India, which yielded some very nice stamps. I've already shown you the high values from the definitive set, but the low values were very nice as well, depicting the King-Emperor in imperial robes, placed in different frames.

There was basically only the one set, but different printers makes it still worth while specializing a bit.

Apart from the definitives, there weren't that many stamps issued back then. Bliss! But the period did see the first airmail stamps issued in the British Commonwealth.

They're not my favourites but hey, it's for Michael, and he'll be happy to see another plane on a stamp, this being the De Havilland Hercules if I'm not mistaken.

I'm more enamoured with the 1931 set to mark the inauguration of the new capital New Delhi. A lovely set of six stamps with various images from New Delhi.

I just love the frame they're placed in; nice and old fashioned and busy and curly. very imperial!

The final set in the Georgian reign was issued in 1935 to mark his silver jubilee.

Same idea as the 1931 set but this time with images from all over India, and with yet another sumptuous frame, although I'm not quite sure about the palm trees...

:-)

Adrian

2010-01-21T09:05:00.008Z

George V

George V, as you may well know, is the king whose activities resulted in the well-known saying "Philately: The King of Hobbies and the Hobby of Kings". He is most probably one of the most famous philatelists there ever were. His Royal Collection, even though it was not started by him, is bursting at the seams with rarities, and is still one of the best in the world.

This year we will be hearing a lot about him and his stamps, because this year marks the centenary of his reign. George V became King on 6 May 1910. Now why is that such a wonderful date? Exactly, because it was 70 years to the day after the first stamps of the world were issued! But let's presume that was just a coincidence!

Today I'm showing you what I think is one of the most beautiful stamp designs of his reign: The rupee values of India.

There are in total six values, from 1 rupee to 25 rupees, but I have only four of them in some form or other. The top value, the 25 rupee with orange centre and blue frame, still deludes me.

The stamps were not only used for postage by ordinary folk, but also for official mail. Those stamps were overpinted SERVICE.

And of course, the design was also use in many Indian Convention States, such as Nabha.

I have only just joined the very active Indian Study Circle, and one of its members sent me a scan of some colour trials, of which I show you that of the 15 rs. Beautiful!

(image courtesy of Markand Dave)

Apparently, there are also design proofs available, with the elephants in different positions. I've only seen a black and white copy of a copy of a copy, so cannot really show you anything, but the hunt is on, and as soon as I have a picture of those I'll try and show it here!

:-)

Adrian

2010-01-11T10:21:00.004Z

Patent Beauty (the end)

Yes, we're nearing the end of the patent beauty series, with the final two stamps showing inventions of this century.

The first one deals with Philips' LED lighting, patented in 2007. Now, to be honest, I thought LED had been around for a while, so what exactly has been patented here, I'm not sure, and a short search on the internet hasn't made things clearer for me, so I think I'll quickly move on to the next one.

The final stamp looks rather futuristic, but apparently the future is here. It is a solar car, which (no points for this) runs on solar energy, patented last year by the Solar Team Twente. I'm getting all sorts of cartoon images here, and I can't help feeling that these will one day fly above the motorway, rather than just on them.

Well, so much for this overload of modern stuff! It was a bit much maybe, but I still enjoy these stamps and will be looking forward to when they are released next month. But now it's time to head back to some more comfortable stomping grounds, like the first half of the last century, or wherever your and my fancy may take us.

:-)

Adrian

2010-01-07T10:16:00.004Z

Patent Beauty (6)

We're entering the 1980s now with our patent set, and there's three different stamps dedicated to this era.

First up is "Handwriting recognition", patented by TNT in 1980. This for me is one of the many wonders of the new age; the ability of computers to recognize handwritten input. It's completely beyond me, but that ain't saying that much.

Closer to my own little world of comprehension is the VacuVin, patented in 1987 by Bernd Schneider. Now here's a handy invention; a vacuum wine saver, a device to preserve opened botles of wine! Very surprised to see it being a Dutch invention though. One would image that it would have been a Frenchman who would have thought of something like this, but then again, they may be more apt to finish their bottles of wine in one go!

Staying in 1987, we have the final stamp for the eighties, dedicated to the milking robot, patented by Van der Lely, designed to relieve manual work for the farmer.

Designwise: Note how the clear font and the position of the text between those vertical lines make the set work together perfectly, and make the overall image one of stability, rather than too much info on each stamp.

:-)

Adrian

2010-01-02T10:54:00.003Z

Patent Beauty (5)

We enter the world of registered trademarks now with our next stamp.

I cannot seem to find all the symbols here in this programme so forgive me for just saying that there should be an R in a circle following every mention of the word Dyneema. And Dyneema is the subject of our 1979 patent stamp. It is a super strong fibre, which apparently is even stronger than steel! Dyneema is often used in ropes, cables and fishing nets. It is invented by the Dutch company DSM, the current version of what used to be the Dutch State Mines in the early 1900s.

Designwise: Note how part of the invention is highlighted in a circle on every stamp.

:-)

Adrian

2009-12-30T10:51:00.003Z

Patent Beauty (4)

Poor Wilhelmine van der Woerd.

She has not been remembered kindly in our virtual world, even though she is responsible for a very handy invention: the chain guard, patented in 1974! Hardly any mention of her chain guard when you start googling. Just as well she has been given a prominent place among the patent stamps!

Designwise: Note how the original technical drawings for each invention are depicted in the background, in an unobtrusive yet very clear light grey.

:-)

Adrian

2009-12-28T08:46:00.003Z

Patent Beauty (3)

We're taking a giant leap forward and end up in the 20th century, in the war torn Netherlands of 1943 to be precise.

Willem Kolff uses material such as cellophane and empty food tins to build the world's first artificial kidney. His invention marks the beginning of an era where body parts can be replaced by artificial organs, and is still seen as one of the major inventions in medicine.

Designwise: Note how the colour scheme is consistently chosen from one of the main colours of the illustration in every stamp.

:-)

Adrian

2009-12-26T10:36:00.002Z

Patent Beauty (2)

Our second Patent Act stamp also "suffered" from a lack of original illustrations. The stamp marks the invention of the first submarine by Cornelis Drebbel in 1620. When working for the English Royal Navy, he invented a submarine, made of a leather-covered wooden frame, with four oars. It is thought he produced oxygen for the passengers by arming nitre, which produces oxygen.

The submarine shown on the stamp is a replica, because the original submarine no longer exists.

:-)

Adrian

2009-12-24T10:42:00.006Z

Patent Beauty (1)
Those who know me a bit, know that I'm not usually very fond of modern-day stamp design, and when it comes to Dutch stamps, I usually find them quite abhorrent, even though I don't always vend my disgust here (that would bore you to tears I suppose, and there's so much positive to enjoy with stamps, so why bother focusing on the negative?!).
But I've just seen the Dutch stamps that will be issued next February, marking a centenary of the Dutch State Patent Act, and the designs are so absolutely stunning that I've fallen in love with them straightaway.
The only slight downer is that Dutch TNT has this horrible habit of issuing stamps in miniature sheets only, so this set comes in a sheetlet of ten different stamps huddled together. It completely spoils the whole thing, so I guess it's a case of ripping the sheet up, removing all the unnecessary tabs and margins, and then you're left with ten beautiful stamps. And I'm going to show you to them, all of them, one by one, whether you like it or not!
:-)
First up is the stamp dedicated to Hans Lipperhey, who applied for a patent on his binocular telescope ( = two small prismatic telescopes joined together) in 1608. He may not necessarily have been the first to make one, but he is credited with making the device widely known. According to the designer of the stamp, the original binocular telescope no longer exist, so the illustration is that of a replica.

More tomorrow!

:-)

Adrian

2009-12-21T10:16:00.005Z

Combi-Mail

That's right. Ever heard of combi-mail? Well, I must admit that I hadn't, until I was introduced to F.J. van Beveren's book about it, called Introducing Combi-Mail - Aeropostal History. That's how I now know that combi-mail means airmail with added postal markings showing special postal service treatment. So there!

There are apparently many subclasses, such as "airmail service for the entire route not possible", "printed airmail labels or handstamped cachests showing the flown stage", or "Surface air-lifted mail", meaning that air transport over the entire route would be possible, but a less expensive alternative (surface mail) is considered satisfactory. But also included is propaganda for airmail, which also includes slogan postmarks.

I had a browse through my covers and found that it is not even that easy to find covers that fit into one of those subclasses. I suppose the easiest ones are the ones with slogan postmarks, such as on this 1947 airmail cover from Switzerland to the United States, claiming that airmail to foreign countries is both reliable and fast.

The only other interesting cover I found is also from Switzerland.

It is an interesting cover in itself, what with its fieldpost postmark, and travelling post office postmark. But when dealing with combi-mail it is the cachet in the bottom right corner that does the trick. The cachet states that the postal service was suspended (we're talking 1942 here) and that the mail is returned to sender.

SHAMELESS PLUG!

Now, if you're interest is aroused, then why not join the Netherlands Philatelic Circle and you'll get a copy of this book (hardback, 256 pages, written in English)completely free! Membership is only £15 per year (UK rate, it's £20 for the rest of the world), so it's a bargain, whichever way you look at it. You can contact the NPC here.

END OF SHAMELESS PLUG!

Back soon (I hope!).

:-)

Adrian

2009-11-26T08:19:00.004Z

Abdullah, Ruler of Jordan

Although at first, Abdullah was regarded an idle and lazy man, he did turn out to be an effective ruler. And his is the only Hashemite kingdom that survived. That kingdom, Jordan, has since 1999 been ruled by Abdullah's great-grandson King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein.

A set of three stamps and a miniature sheet was issued to mark the coronation in 1999.

A similar set was issued with a portrait of both the King and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah.

You can read the whole story on Abdullah, Ruler of Jordan here.

2009-11-12T09:57:00.004Z

Adenauer, Konrad

The question of the German Rhineland kept the peacemakers busy. Ideally, it was to be a buffer zone between France and Germany, and various ideas were floated. Demilitarize the area, or make it part of France even. The inhabitants had never got used to Prussian rule, but becoming French was probably a step too far. In early 1919, a separatist movement grew stronger. Rhineland a separate state? Konrad Adenauer, then mayor of Cologne, toyed with the idea of separatism, but, cautious as he was, he made sure to represent the moderates. Later that spring he gave up any ideas of a separate state.

It is easy enough to find stamps with Adenauer on, especially since he went on to become West Germany's first chancellor in 1949. But in our Peacemaking story he was still 'only' mayor of Cologne; a fact many stamp issues tend to overlook.

This Grenada miniature sheet of 1992, however, does give full mention to this fact and is therefore a perfect addition to the Konrad Adenauer sub-theme.

2009-10-28T10:42:00.007Z

Abdullah, Ruler of Jordan

1920 was a disastrous year for the Arabs: They lost Palestine, Syria, Lebanon and finally Mesopotamia as well. Britain and France were coming to an agreement on how to split up the area, in April 1920. Britain got the Palestine mandate. But as rebellion was breaking out among the Arabs, the Brits, mindful of their promises to the Arabs, decided to split the mandate in two and thus created Palestine to the west of the Jordan, and the new Arab state of Transjordan, where Abdullah, brother of King Feisal, was made Emir.

For Palestine this meant a change from being under British military occupation to having a civil administration under a British High Commissioner. This change was marked with a set of EEF (Egyptian Expeditionary Forces) stamps overprinted "Palestine" in Arabic, English and Hebrew. The set was issued on 1 September 1920.

When Abdullah was made Emir of Transjordan, a set of stamps was issued to mark the change of government. The 1920 set of Transjordan was overprinted "Arab Government of the East, April 1921" in Arabic.

This overprinted set was issued in December 1922.

Although at first, Abdullah was regarded an idle and lazy man, he did turn out to be an effective ruler. And his is the only Hashemite kingdom that survived.

That kingdom, Jordan, has since 1999 been ruled by Abdullah's great-grandson King Abdullah II Bin Al-Hussein.
A set of three stamps and a miniature sheet was issued to mark the coronation in 1999.
A similar set was issued with a portrait of both the King and Queen Rania Al-Abdullah.

2009-10-18T09:17:00.005+01:00

Machins

Sometimes you need a little push to get going. That's what happened to me when I ordered an old postcard for my Peacemaking collection. The sender included two extra postcards, both modern, but both sent from here in Great Britain to Holland, and both being franked with Machin stamps.

And suddenly, without asking for it, my postal rate part of my Machin collection had grown from 1 to 3 items! Sometimes it's so easy to set up a collection! But of course you do need to find all the information needed, and for that I've found a wonderful website. Take a look, it's absolutely great, what time and effort and research must have gone into this!

So here are my latest two additions.

The first is a cover postmarked 25 July 1975, sent from Bodmin in Cornwall, England, to Boxtel in the Netherlands. The 6p pastel green, issued in 1971, prepaid the world postcard rate from 17 March 1975 to 29 September 1975, so that's only some six months. It does include the summer holiday period, so cards with this stamp on won't be extremely rare, but it is still a short period of usage.

This is a cover postmarked 2 August 1977, sent from Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex, England, to Goirle in the Netherlands. The 8p red, issued in 1973, prepaid the world postcard rate from 13 June 1977 to 20 August 1979.

I can't wait to get to the next fair and get those cards for next to nothing to build a more complete picture!

:-)

Adrian

2009-10-17T11:44:00.005+01:00

Conclusion

I'm back again! Sorry I took so long but sometimes with all the other stuff I have to write, my keyboard just dries up. Anyway, back with a vengeance. Well, hopefully anyway!

I may have told you that I've made a bit of a restart on my Peacemaking collection. It is going well so far, so I feel confident enough to share it with you. It will be a bit higgledy-piggledy, but I will label the posts in such a way that the various 'chapters' of the collection will be grouped together, making for a better read, eventually.

So let's start today at the very end: The Conclusion!

Apart from all the major issues that had to be resolved, the peacemakers also had to deal with numerous of minorities' claims and fears. They tried to impose obligations on the various governments to treat their minorities well, but this was rather futile in an age of growing chauvinism. The League of Nations was in charge of holding governments to their responsibilities, but gave up in the 1930s.

However, it was not all doom and gloom. There were a few hopeful signs, such as the case of the Aland Islands. The problem there was that the land was Finnish but the population overwhelmingly Swedish. The case was brought to the attention of the League and in 1921 they decided that the islands were to remain Finnish, but the treaty guaranteed the language and culture of its inhabitants.

This 1924 cover shows that, after the treaty, Finnish stamps remained in use on the Aland Islands, whereas the cover is written in Swedish.

The League of Nations meeting where the islands' fate was decided upon, which took place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 24 June 1921, was commemorated on a 1991 stamp issue.

2009-09-27T10:28:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Honduras, 1961

The 1c from the airmail set to mark the settlement of the boundary dispute with Nicaragua.

The stamp depicts a map of the disputed border and King Alfonso XIII of Spain who determined that border in the early 1900s.

Printed in recess.

2009-09-24T09:04:00.006+01:00

The Narrowing of the Waters
2008 marked the 400th anniversary of the foundation of the City of Québec. The Canadian and French postal authorities marked this with a joint stamp issue in May 2008. A hundred years before, Canada Post went it alone and released a still very popular set of eight stamps to mark the city’s tercentenary.
In March 1908, the Canadian government proposed to issue a set of stamps based upon the history of Québec, including historic scenes and non-royal persons. For this, permission was needed from King Edward VII, who consented when asked. The King does, however, take his rightful place on one value; the 2c carmine shows him together with Queen Alexandra.

Québec’s story starts with the French explorer Jacques Cartier (1493-1557).

His second expedition, in 1535, saw him ending up with three vessels on the future site of Québec. This was near Cape Diamond, on a narrow stretch of water where the St Charles River flows into the St Laurens River. His three vessels are shown on the 20c dull brown.

Cartier anchored near the Indian village of Stadacona. The area had long been populated by Indian hunters and fishermen. In fact, the future city was to take its name from their language, Kebec being the Algonquin word for “Narrowing of the Waters”.
The 1c blue-green depicts Cartier, shoulder to shoulder with Champlain, who was to take Québec’s story further.

Samuel de Champlain (1570-1635) was a well-known French navigator who set out for the West in the spring of 1608.

His departure is shown on the 15c brown-orange.

The design is inspired by Champlain’s own version of events, which has him leaving from the Isle of Sainte Helaine on Monday May 27th, accompanied by four Frenchman and one Indian, with their canoes laden with provisions, arms and merchandise.
When Champlain arrived in the Québec area, he set about fortifying it. The City of Québec was officially founded on 3 July 1608. It consisted of three main buildings and a deep moat to protect it from Indians. Champlain collectively referred to this stronghold as l’Abitation. It is depicted on the 5c indigo.

The design of this stamp was based on an illustration in Champlain’s narrative of his voyage to New France. L’Abitation was the first permanent settlement of the French colony “Nouvelle-France”, or New France. However, the French were not in a particular hurry to expand their colony. In 1663, the year Québec became the official capital of New France, its population was still no more than 550!
In the early 1660s, François de Montmorency-Laval (1623-1708) left France for Québec.

His main aim was to organize the Roman Catholic Church in the city, becoming its first bishop in 1674. He also founded a theological school there, the “Séminaire de Québec”. Later, after Queen Victoria granted a Royal Charter in 1852, the school was renamed Université Laval, in honour of its founding bishop.
In Laval’s early days, the “city” was still mostly made up of wooden dwellings. Only after a devastating fire in 1682 were most dwellings rebuilt in stone. The 10c violet shows what the city looked like in 1700.

The design is based on an illustration from Bacqueville de la Potheries’ “Histoire de la Nouvelle France”.
Québec is the only city in North America to be surrounded by city walls. Its old parts, le Vieux Québec, are now a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Québec has always played a major role in the battle for English supremacy in North America. English colonists from the south besieged Québec in 1629. This led to three years of English rule. A second attempt by the English, in 1690, was not successful and the French experienced a period of relative peace thereafter.
In 1759, the English laid siege to the capital once again, and after two months of bombardments, British General James Wolfe (1727-1759) defeated French General Louis-Joseph Montcalm (1712-1759) during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

These two generals, who both died in battle, are depicted on the 7c olive-green.

The design was based on existing portraits by Moncornet (Montcalm) and Houston (Wolfe).
The following year, the French tried to recapture Québec during the Battle of Sainte-Foy. The French were victorious but they were to lose Québec later to the English anyway. The “Monument des Braves” was erected to honour both French and English soldiers who gave their lives during the battle.
The Paris Treaty of 1763 ceded Québec once and for all to the British. The city then became the capital of the British colony the Province of Québec. The city flourished and became predominantly English. But when economic fortunes changed, the English moved away from the city towards the West, leaving the city once again mainly populated by the French, helped by an influx of French speaking peasants. Québec did manage to hold on to power as capital of Canada, but only for a few short periods. Afterwards, it was “downsized” to the capital of the Province of Québec with its population stabilizing and its growth decreasing.
And that’s how we find the city on 16 July 1908, the day the Tercentenary of Québec set was issued, just in time before the then Prince of Wales (later King George V) reached Québec to participate in the celebrations. On 22 July, He arrived on board the Indomitable, then the newest, largest and swiftest of British battleships. The Prince and Princess of Wales are depicted on the ½c sepia.

The design is based on photographs taken by Messrs. W. and D. Downey. The original die, however, shows that at first, the idea was to depict the Prince of Wales in civilian dress!

© 2009, AKPhilately
An edited version of this article was published in Stamp Magazine of August 2008.

2009-09-22T08:30:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Great Britain, 16 June 1982.

The 24p value from the Maritime Heritage set. The stamp depicts Lord Nelson and HMS Victory, which is preserved at Portsmouth.

Printed in recess and photogravure, engraved by Czeslaw Slania.

2009-09-20T09:45:00.005+01:00

Thinking cap

I do not always go on about it (well, I do a bit, but still), but my thinking process as regards the way my "grand" collection is going forward, is still ongoing. That falling star of two nights ago, and my subsequent secret wish have led to the following luminous concept: Restriction!

It's just too much to be working on the number of collections I'm working on (or want to work on) right now. So I'm letting go of a big chunk and just keep two main collections: My recently so gloriously restored Wilhelmina collection, which I've tried to give up once and that didn't work so I'll not do that again, and my even more recently restarted Peacemaking collection, about which I will soon say more. What I'm letting go is a number of European definitives, which I kept alive because I have this vague idea of maybe when I'm over 50 writing books/booklets about. I've now decided to incorporate what I have in my existing general all world collection. I can always pick it up if that above-mentioned idea becomes less vague, but won't want to spend any time and/or money on it now.

So if I manage to stick to this plan, I'll have two demarcated collections, one primarily of stamps and the other venturing into postal history, and I can always add to my world collection through the material I have to get for writing my articles, so that'll statisfy my hunger for ever more stamps!

Sounds good, doesn't it?! I hope it works and I hope I can stick it, but you know me, I'm such a sucker when it comes to stamps!

:-)

Anyway, to tell you something about Wilhelmina (you see, I immediately get so focused that I manage to update my blog!), my latest item is a cinderella of 1913.

It is part of the 1913 set issued to mark the centenary of Dutch independence. The set of twelve features four portraits; those of the three Dutch kings: William I, II and III, and that of Wilhelmina. The stamps were so popular that the designs were used by a good number of companies for advertising material, such as this advertising label from a Dutch tea company. I already had the other two with Wilhelmina on, the 10c and 50c, but this is the top value, so I was very happy when I saw it on eBay! Now all I need is to get the proper 10g stamp!

But that's such an expensive stamp, that I'll need to win the lottery first!

There are other versions of the cinderella as well, with the company's name incorporated into the design, but I haven't got any of those yet. All I have is a few kings stamps like that.

One last thing to notice is that the frame around the portrait of the cinderella is different from that of the real stamp. Actually, what they used is the frame of some of the kings' stamps!

:-)

Adrian

2009-09-17T08:21:00.002+01:00

Picture Gallery

Russia, 1 January 1913.

The 1 rouble of the set to mark the Tercentenary of the Romanov Dynasty. The stamp depicts the Kremlin.

Printed in recess.

2009-09-14T11:27:00.004+01:00

Finally

I've been doing a bit of research on the Dutch stamps for the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which have been issued ever since the 1930s. The early ones, up to the 1950s, consisted of current stamps with an overprint in gold.

I was bascially wondering whether they were more gimmicks rather than properly used stamps. I was wondering that because the current issue denominated in euros has not kept pace with the rate changes, so basically there is now no stamp for the basic inland rate, because that changed some years back from 39 to 44 ct.

I've been looking for ages to find any material to show that these stamps were really used, but had basically given up, expecting I'd have to settle for just mint stamps, and cancelled to order copies of the older ones. Mint stamps were not made available in the old days, although some did end up on the philatelic market, like this 1950s stamp with the Peace Palace on!

But thankfully, two auction catalogues appeared at the same time, both advertising properly used Court stamps on Court envelopes! So I'm happy to be able to show you one!

:-)

Adrian

2009-09-03T08:35:00.004+01:00

Picture Gallery

France, 27 April 1963

The 30c value from the "Celebrities of European Economic Community Countries" set. The stamp includes a portrait of the Dutchman Hugo de Groot, flanked by the Peace Palace in The Hague on his right and St. Agatha's Church in Delft on his left.

Printed in recess, engraved by J. Combet.

2009-09-01T08:20:00.004+01:00

More sunshine

Probably because of a lack of sunshine here at home, I'm strangely drawn towards writing blog entries on the sun! We have just had the sun behind Hradcany Castle and now we're doing the sun behind the camel! For this I'm taking you to Sudan. I've done that before, writing about the wonderful Camel Postman series, have a look here. But now, nearly two years later, I'm finally mounting what Camel Postman stamps I have and I was sorting them last night. My first, and very pleasant, surprise was to find an inverted watermark among the lot, which made the large box I got it from (bought for hardly anything and filled with used and mint stamps) very much worth my while! But inverted watermarks don't show up in scans so I'm going to show you another find, which may maybe not help so much towards my pension fund, but which is very nice to have and it shows better on a scan!

We're having a look at the 1948 commemorative stamp, which marks 50 years of Sudanese stamps. And what better way to mark this event than to depict an image of the stamp which had already become a national symbol!? So the stamp depicts the 2p camel Postman stamp, in a border with explanatory text.

Now the catalogues don't tell you this but there is a type 2 of this stamp!

Do you see the difference?

Well, on the type 2 stamp, the shading behind the camel's neck has disappeared, giving the appearance of a rising or setting sun behind the camel. Here's a close-up of the two versions.

The strange thing is (or was, maybe more research has been done by now) that this variety exists on both plates used for printing, and in varying numbers on different sheets! Maybe it's time to join the Sudan Study Group!

:-)

Adrian

2009-08-29T10:59:00.002+01:00

Picture Gallery

Russia, 1 January 1913.

The 5r value from the set marking the tercentenary of the Romanov dynasty. The stamp depicts Nicholas II.

Printed in recess.

2009-08-27T08:32:00.006+01:00

And then there were five

Right, remember the comments on the last entry? Well, today I'm going to show you the five versions of the Hradcany Castle definitives of Czechoslovakia. We start off with a picture of the original design by Alfons Mucha, courtesy of a Cuba miniature sheet of 1988.

As you can see (this was a point raised in the comments), there is no sun behind the castle. Note also the position of the doves in the bottom corners! Now, the original design was adapted by the printers. Mucha was not used to designing on stamp format, so the design had to be altered somewhat to make it work on a small format. What the printers ended up with is now called the Type I stamp.

You can now see that the sun has risen, indeed in such a place which would not be possible in real life, and note also that the doves are facing the other way! It is thought that the lettering was deemed not very legible, so another change was made which yielded the Type II stamp.

Note that the lettering is now in colour on a white background. Apparently, Mucha had enough of the printers tinkering with his design, so he stepped in to make further changes to improve the legibility of the stamp, thereby creating Type III.

The position of the wording is now in a different place and indeed much better to read. But more changes were made, though I do not know by whom and why. I suppose they are just cosmetic changes. Here is a Type IV stamp.

Can you find the differences? Yes, the sun has finally disappeared and the bush at the front has been filled in with little lines. Still not satisfied, more changes were made, for there is also a Type V stamp!

Here, the bush has been removed to give more prominence to the church at the front.

Now, there is also a subtype of this Type V stamp. It is in design like the Type V stamp but it is larger and produced in a different way. Some schools of thought say this is a whole new type and should be called Type VI. There is only one stamp printed like this (sorry, I haven't got it so can't show it), but that was very much at the end of the line for the definitives, so it may well have been that more values would have been printed in this Type VI if the series had run on. But that is pure speculation! Unless someone knows stuff that I don't! (which is highly likely!)

:-)

Adrian

2009-08-24T08:08:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

The Netherlands, 24 October 1989

The 7g value from the 1989-1994 set of stamps issued for use by the International Court of Justice. The stamp depicts symbolic images of an olive branch and a column.

Printed in recess and lithography.

2009-08-22T09:12:00.003+01:00

Party time

In 1948, the Czechoslovakians were preparing a party to mark the 30th anniversary of their country and also the 30th anniversary of their first stamp issue: the Hradcany definitives.

I'm not sure of the exact story, so correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the idea for the latter was initially to re-issue the 5h yellow-green. Proof printings were made with the original printing plate, on paper without gum. I recently managed to get hold of a nice block of those.

I don't know why this issue never happened. It couldn't have been because the 5 haleru was no longer a value which could be used for any postage rate, because the Hradcany stamps show no denomination, so the stamp could easily have been used as a 5 koruna stamp, a value which was still current at the time and often included in stamp sets.

But anyway, somebody must have changed their mind for what was eventually issued was a miniature sheet with a reprint of a Hradcany stamp, the dates 1918-1948, and the sentence "Thirty years of Czechoslovakian postage stamps".

The stamp value has extra zeros to indicate this is a koruna value. As you can see from the 5h stamp block, the original stamps only had a large figure denoting the value in haleru. The sheet was issued on 18 December 1948, 30 years to the day after the first Hradcany stamps were issued!

:-)

Adrian

2009-08-17T08:24:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Aden, 15 January 1945.

The 14a value sepia and light blue of the `1939-1948 pictorial George VI definitives. The stamp depicts the painting "Capture of Aden, 1839" by Captain Rundle.

Printed in recess, engraved by Waterlow & Sons.

2009-08-15T11:06:00.003+01:00

Design

I've been on the lookout for a long time but I've finally managed to lay my hands on this postcard.

What's so special about it? Well, it's not so much the card itself but the photograph of Queen Wilhelmina. You see, this is the actual photograph that was used to design the Bontkraag definitives of 1899!

At first a bareheaded portrait was used, but when it became clear that this would not be acceptable to the overseas territories, even though the actual frame would include a crown above the queen's head, a new photograph was made and the whole design process had to start again, which is also one of the reasons the set was only introduced in August 1899, rather than in September 1898, in time for the Queen's inauguration. The 1g high value was the only stamp to be issued in 1898, and had since become known as the Coronation stamp.

:-)

Adrian

2009-08-12T08:53:00.004+01:00

Messy

I know, it's been a while, but I've been sort of busy and I've had a few computer hick-ups, but everything is more or less back on track, so high time to get going again! And what better way to end a messy period than with a messy set! And for this I'm taking you to Istria! Don't worry, I didn't know either at first where Istria was, so here's a little map, and if you still don't know, think east of Italy.

During the second world war the Istrian peninsula was Italian but large parts were occupied by Yugoslav partisans who issued overprinted stamps. The Italians followed suit by producing their own overprinted stamps, for use in Istria and Pola (Pula on the map), but these were not issued. However, four of those received another overprint and these were issued, on 1 July 1945. And now you know what I mean with messy!

This 4l on 2l on 1l violet (can you make that out? I suppose any postal staff would have problems with it!) is from the original 1929 Imperiale definitive set from Italy, and depicts Julius Caesar.

But wait, it gets worse! The 20l on 1l on 50c was also originally from that Imperiale set, but had already been overprinted for use in Mussolini's Italian Social Republic. It depicts the then King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III.

The 10l on 0.10l on 5c brown was a stamp issued by that same republic and depicts St. Ciriaco's Church in Ancona.

The final stamp, depicting a drummer and the slogan "To Arms!", was also from the republic and has been changed into a 6l on 1.50l on 75c.

Now I believe that all these stamps were superseded by the AMG-VG sets that were issued in September 1945 when the peninsula was officially split up with zones under the control of either Allied or Yugoslav forces. This leaves the messy set with a lifespan of say three months, which might explain why you may never find them on cover. Or are they just too messy to be real, and mainly produced for us???? You tell me!

:-)

Adrian

2009-07-30T08:00:00.006+01:00

Shall we dance?

I'm still in a nostalgic mood, so here's another blast from my past: the 1974 Classic Dance stamps from Thailand. I know that some people have "Dance" as their theme for a collection, which is very original I think and must be interesting to do research on. The stamp shown above depicts the "Phra Lak Phlaeng Rit", but trying to find anything out on Google just leaves you with sites selling the stamp! That also goes for the "Chin Sao Sai" stamp! So much for starting on a new theme! Maybe "Dance" isn't such a nice theme after all!

The stamps did remind me, slightly, of those 1940s dance stamps from the Netherlands Indies, again showing traditional dance (I don't give up that easily!). The 5c depicts a padjoge dancer, but still hardly any info. Look, though, how the shadowy theme which you find on the Thai stamps is repeated here!The 4c depicts a Wayangwong dancer, from the early theatrical performances in the palaces. Finally a dance on which you can find information! So maybe this is the stamp to start exploring on!

:-)

Adrian

2009-07-26T10:35:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Belgium, 13 November 1965.

The 6f from the set marking the death centenary of King Leopold I. The stamp design is based upon the 1f value from the 1865 set with the King's portrait.

Printed in recess, engraved by De Bast.

2009-07-21T08:59:00.004+01:00

First stamp

Do you remember your very first stamp? No, I thought not. Well, at least I don't, but it was probably a Dutch one! However, one of the very early stamps I remember so well, is this one here:

I must admit I didn't have the original anymore, must have given it away sometime. It's from a 1961 Yugoslav set marking the 20th Anniversary of the Yugoslav Insurrection. To be honest, I had always remembered it to be a Russian stamp, so I had a hell of a job finding it in the catalogue the other day because I wanted to order the set! But I found it and the other stamps in the set are very nice as well.

They all depict various monuments that chart the events of that time.

The odd one out is undoubtedly this funny stamp, which only shows part of a monument and is so out of synch with the others that show complete monuments against these gradated background colours.

The reason why I remember that 15d stamp so well is because it came in a packet of used stamps and it was the only one that was not used. I was so happy to have a mint stamp (even then, at the tender age of somewhere between 8 and 11?) that I could not believe my eyes when I ready the accompanying note saying that any uncancelled stamps could be returned and exchanged! No way I was gonna do that!

:-)

Adrian

2009-07-19T08:47:00.005+01:00

Picture Gallery

Belgium, 13 November 1965.

The 3f from the set marking the death centenary of King Leopold I. The stamp design was based upon the 30c value from the 1865 set with the King's portrait.

Printed in recess, engraved by De Bast.

2009-07-17T08:44:00.003+01:00

Nepal?

I was sorting my "N's" last night and when I came across my bunch (well, rather tiny bunch) of Nepal stamps to sort, I came across this stamp.

I couldn't find it in the catalogue, and I also couldn't find it amongst any other countries (such as Tuva) which I thought it might be from. And I can also not remember how I got this stamp and why I put it amongst the Nepal stamps in the first place. I must have taken it out of a box of stamps that I once got. But anyway, it seems I desperately need your help! Do any of you know where this stamp comes from, and maybe any other details???????

Hope so!

:-)

Adrian

2009-07-16T08:58:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Japanese Occupation of the Netherlands Indies, 8 August 1943.

The 25c from the 1943 definitive set for Borneo, Celebes, Moluccas and Lesser Sunda Islands. The stamp depicts Mount Fuji, the Japanese flag, a map of East Asia and a dove.

Printed in recess.

2009-07-12T10:02:00.006+01:00

Vienna Printings

A rather peculiar episode in the postal history of the Netherlands Indies/Indonesia is that of the Vienna Printings. Much has been written about them, and much of that is contradictory. I'm no expert so please don't take it that the following is the one and only true version, it is just a summary of what I have happened to read about it. Any more conclusive information is always welcome!

I believe the stamps were made in 1948. The origin has something to do with the Indonesian authorities in the US and US stamp dealer Stolow. It may well be that the set was mainly made as a means of propaganada, just like the Infamy stamp I showed you ages ago. Now it is said that not all stamps were printed in Vienna, but some were made in the US, even though (as far as I know) it does say Vienna on all stamps, well, on all my copies anyway.

There are a lot of different mini sets, if you like, starting off with the Repoeblik postage stamps, airmail, express and postage dues (my favourites, an absolute beautiful stamp!).

Then a similar lot but now inscribed Republik.

Then both lots overprinted RESMI, which means official (stamp).

Stamps from all aforementioned groups may then also be found with the overprint "Merdeka Djokjakarta 6 Djuli 1949", referring to the independence (merdeka) of Yogyakarta.

Although the stamps look perfectly bogus, it has been said that the stamps have actually been for sale in Indonesia, albeit for just a very short while. A naval blockade by the Dutch made distribution well nigh impossible. Most used stamps and stamps on cover eminate from the US, with a lot of fabrications and mail sent outwith the normal postal system.

The conclusion therefore seems to be that even though there is a lot of bogus material around, the stampos themselves may have had a proper postal function, albeit for a very very short while.

:-)

Adrian

2009-07-09T08:32:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

The Netherlands, 12 October 1923.

The 50c from the set marking the 25th Anniversary of the Queen's Accession. The stamp depicts Queen Wilhelmina and, surprisingly, does not include the country's name.

Printed in recess. Engraved by J.J. Warnaar.

2009-07-06T16:13:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Australia, 14 February 1966

The $1 value from the first decimal definitive set of Australia. The stamp depicts Matthew Flinders who circumnavigated Australia in 1802/3, and his ship HMS Investigator.

Printed in recess, engraved by E.R.M. Jones.

2009-07-04T09:10:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Australia, 2 June 1930.

The 1.5d from the set marking the Centenary of Exploration of the River Murray by Captain Sturt. The stamp depicts the Crossland portrait of Captain Charles Sturt.

Printed in recess, engraved by F.D. Manley.

2009-07-02T08:38:00.004+01:00

Picture Gallery

Australia, 25 July 1962

The 5d value marking the centenary of Stuart's Crossing of Australia from South to North. The stamp depicts the Scot John McDouall Stuart (1860-1862) who was the first explorer to cross the Australian Continent from south to north in 1862.

Printed in recess, engraved by P.E. Morriss

2009-06-30T07:59:00.005+01:00

Perfins

I used to collect my Wilhelmina perfins the way I suppose many others do: on used single copies.

Although this is an easy way to collect them, I've since found that it is much nicer to try and collect them on cover. And especially on covers which have the name of the company printed on the envelope.

That way, the whole item not only shows that that particular stamp comes with a perfin, but also which company is represented by the perfin, something which may be hard to find otherwise, unless of course you belong to a perfin club! I must admit, though, that the perfin itself does not show up as nicely as when you mount it against a black background, but if you study the stamp a bit more closely you'll see the perfin JTV / &Co easily enough!

Although I must admit that I cannot read the perfin on my 10c cover, even though I know it is sent by NV Hartelust's IJzerhandel in Leeuwarden. The postmark is so heavy that I cannot distinguish the perfin at all. maybe I'll have to be on the lookout for a better example! And I know that the whole thing takes up much more album space, of course, but as I'm not going for perfin completion here, but just a copy of each value of the set on cover, that's not an unsurmountable problem.

:-)

Adrian

2009-06-27T09:11:00.004+01:00

Picture Gallery

Belgium, 15 February 1951

The 20c from the Belgian Lion definitive set. The only value to be printed in recess, with all the other values printed in letterpress.

Printed in recess, engraved by L. Janssens.

2009-06-25T08:21:00.004+01:00

Full circle

Well, almost anyway. As happens so often, I think I'd like to change my collecting habits, only to find that in the end I end up with what I was already doing. Because, let's face it, after so many years of collecting one might sort of already know what to do. And that's how I went from expanding to all of Europe 1900-1950 (I even got myself some new Andorra stamps as I had started mounting there)

to all of Europe to all world to all world and all world used (thanks/due to Keijo). But when I received an e-mail from this American guy who gladly offered me his heaps of low value stamps, I suddenly remembered that I was so glad to be rid of all of that, so out of the window went the idea of used collections, to be followed by all world and all of Europe.

So now I'm basically back to where I started: Wilhelmina and European definitives between 1900 and 1950, and apart from that I mount everything that I have written articles on, so that's still plenty to do! I'm rather content, although the idea of a fully mounted collection of Europe (either up to 1950, 1965 or everything) is still slightly tempting. So I'll give that a bit more thought.

But having come back to my European definitives, I was very happy to come across this Swiss postcard which is an adaptation of the Helvetia with Sword stamps which forms a part of my European Definitives collection.

Nice, innit?!

:-)

Adrian

2009-06-23T08:00:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Austria, 18 August 1910.

The 5k value from the set to mark the 80th Birthday of Francis Joseph I. The stamp depicts the Hofburg and is a reworking of the 1908 stamp to mark the 60th Anniversary of the Emperor's Accession, in that the two dates (1830 and 1910) have been added to the top and bottom of the design.

Printed in recess. Engraved by F. Schirnböck.

2009-06-21T09:24:00.003+01:00

Father's Day

Well, I never. I managed to forget about both Mother's Day and Father's Day this year, how rude is that?! Well, I'm hopefully excused as far as Mother's Day is concerned for that is on a different day here in GB so by the time the Dutch Mother's Day arrives everything has gone quiet here. But it was only yesterday, when I bought a card for someone, that I saw it was Father's Day today! Oh well, too late for a card now, so I'll just have to show one!

And it is a very apt one, for it comes from my dad's former collection! He used to work for Philips and that's how he got hold of one of these special jubilee flight postcards, with a special cancel, special air mail sticker and of course a special air mail stamp. All in honour of 75 years of Philips. A quick look at various on line auctions tells me that the flight cover is rather common, but I've not come across one single flight postcard like this one. Maybe they were only produced for Philips staff!

:-)

Adrian

PS: Oh, and notice the handwriting! If I could write like that, I wouldn't need a computer to write up my collection! But alas, I did not inherit my dad's handwriting, for mine is awful!

2009-06-18T09:01:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Italy, 29 July 1946

The 100l from the Democratica definitive set. The stamp depicts a family and scales, symbolizing Work, Justice and Family.

Printed in recess, engraved by M. Colombati

2009-06-15T09:06:00.008+01:00

Ancestors

I've never been to the Sistine Chapel, I've never even been to the Vatican City or Italy or anywhere near! So much still to do! But judging from the Vatican stamps I got recently, I'd love to see the chapel for myself.

The set of 12 stamps was issued in April 1991, because of the restoration of the Sistine Chapel.

All stamps depict details from the so-called lunettes. These are the parts of the walls surrounding the windows.

They all depict the Ancestors of Christ, and are of course all by Michelangelo.

I do find that the stamps are rather bright. I do believe that during the restoration the true bright colours did show up, which were deemed quite remarkable, but I'm not sure whether these colours are very lifelike.

A second set, issued in 1994 to mark the completion of the restoration, has more subdued colours, depicting amongst others the creation of the planets.

:-)

Adrian

2009-06-13T09:22:00.002+01:00

Picture Gallery

Netherlands New Guinea, 02 January 1950

The 5g value from the Juliana en Face definitives.

Printed in recess, engraved by Sem Hartz.

2009-06-11T08:11:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Germany, 13 October 1994.

The 100pf marking the 500th birth anniversary of the poet and mastersinger Hans Sachs (1494-1576). The stamp depicts Sachs's 1545 woodcut portrait by M. Ostendorfer.

Printed in recess. Engraved by W. Mauer

2009-06-09T08:25:00.005+01:00

Regrouping

Yes, it's that time of year again, time to take a step back, reflect on what I'm doing and then decide to implement major changes! Although each and every time I do this, I'm getting closer to what I really want. For a little while now, I've revived my Wilhelmina collection. I'm remounting the whole thing in three groups: the Dutch definitive sets, the definitives for the overseas territories and the third part (about which I'm not entirely sure yet) would be "Her Life" with all commemorative and special stamp issues, issues after her death and lots of postcards and memorabilia. And all this in a more or less chronological order. We'll see how that pans out, but for the moment I'm very much still busy with part 1.

That is also because I have a display to do in October for a neighbouring stamp society. And a whole night as well! That means 160 sheets! And I've never done so many, and I've never been to another society to display. Brrr! But anyway, I've kept the title of my display nice and vague (Definitives of Europe) so I can be flexible about what to show. What I had in mind is to show 80 Wilhelmina sheets as part 2 and 80 sheets of five different European definitive sets as part 1, those being the Hradcany stamps of Czechoslovakia, the Helvetia with Sword issues of Switzerland, the Imperiale definitives of Italy, the Juliana en Face definitives of the Netherlands and finally the 1908 Franz Josef issues of Austria. Now I do have those but some of the pages are still rather boring so at the moment I'm trying very hard to get some more interesting items to show. One of those being a black print of a Hradcany stamp.

These were proof printings, made in black, for a final inspection of the printing plates, to check them on possible damage, etc. With thanks to Peter for all the information on these. He's got a great website, listed at the right on my blog. Do have a look!

But anyway, I singled these five sets out to collect them further and more specialized, in order to later be able to write a book(let) on them. The idea was to add a new set every now and then and so build up a collection of European definitives. But I find that I want to get a bit more variation in, and I find that I'm still learning so much doing my articles, that I won't want to think about writing anything as prestigious as a book, so what I've now decided is to focus on Europe 1900-1950. The dates had already applied to the definitives as well, because in this way I can skip the expensive 19th century stuff, I can include a very interesting time of European history, still add a bit of postwar Europe and then again will be able to forget about all modern issues. As usual, I'm very excited about the prospect of mounting my Europe stuff thusly, but like I said, I first got to get this display organized and then I'll be in full swing, I hope!

:-)

Adrian

2009-06-07T08:36:00.005+01:00

Picture Gallery

Germany, 8 September 1994

The 100pf marking the death centenary of the physicist Hermann von Helmholtz. The stamp depicts Helmholtz, a cross-section of an eye and a colour triangle.

Combination of recess-printing and lithography.

Engraved by J. Kanior.

PS: A slight change to the picture gallery format is that from now on I'll only feature stamps that have been fully or partially recess-printed as in my humble opinion these deserve a gallery!

:-)

Adrian

2009-06-06T09:25:00.006+01:00

Let's get personal

The possibility of making personal stamps has become quite a rage in Holland, and I suppose in other countries too. Here in Britain, all you get is a lame label next to an ordinary stamp, so apart from dealers cashing in there's hardly anything happening on that front (as far as I know anyway). But in the Netherlands, where you can have your own image on the stamp itself, you'll find that lots of organizations use this medium to advertise or commemorate various events etc.

I was sent these two stamps promoting the province of Groningen by a former colleague of my Dad's (thank you, Mr Huizing!), a Groningen born man and obviously still rather partial to that part of the Netherlands, even though he now lives in Friesland, the neighbouring province where I am from.

As you can see, there are already a number of frames in circulation, and seeing that this whole thing started a few years back, you may also find personal stamps with a value of €0.39.

The stamp depicts the logo used for the promotion of tourism in Groningen, with the slogan "Er gaat niets boven Groningen" translating as "Nothing tops Groningen", the clever pun being that this may be true figuratively, but it is also true literally, as Groningen is the northernmost province of the Netherlands. The previous logo reflected this much better, I think, with the province "jumping out" at you.

But anyway, give me the 1927 version of a Groningen stamp any day, old-fashioned so and so that I am!

:-)

Adrian

2009-06-05T08:28:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Germany, 9 November 1994

The 100pf marking the 175th birth anniversary of the poet Theodor Fontane. The stamp depicts a chalk drawing of the poet by Max Liebermann and an excerpt from one of Fontane's Preussenlieder.

2009-06-04T08:14:00.003+01:00

Cinderella

I know that some people frown upon these and regard them as uninteresting labels to stick on your envelope, but I've always liked them, especially when they come with a certain set I'm collecting. That's why I was very happy to stumble upon a set of Voortrekker labels.

These were issued in 1933 to promote the sale of the Voortrekker stamps. Those stamps were issued with a surcharge to raise money for the erection of the Voortrekker Monument (which was eventually opened in 1949), the voortrekkers being the Dutch Boers who left their British occupied lands behind, went inland and eventually founded a number of independent Boer republics. Here is one of the three stamps.

As was the case in those days, stamps were often issued in bilingual pairs. Later issues would have both languages on just the one stamp. Seeing that the stamps were sold with a surcharge, they're also called semi-postals, which I believe stems from the time that these "charity stamps" were hardly regarded as proper postage stamps and were in many cases even barred from catalogue entry!

:-)

Adrian

2009-06-02T08:25:00.003+01:00

Picture Gallery

Germany, 9 November 1994

The 100pf value marking the Death Bicentenary of General Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. The stamp depicts Steuben (Inspector general of Washington's Army) and the "Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown" (detail from John Trumbull painting).

2009-06-01T08:41:00.004+01:00

Dots

I've been trying to read a book on the Italian Imperial definitives, but it is in Italian so it's not easy! I do try and put phrases into "Google translate" but even then I sometimes have to guess what it is they're trying to say. I managed to get a few corner blocks from the set with information in the margin that let's you pinpoint which print runs they came from and when they were printed. The oldest one I have is the 2c depicting the Arms of Italy.

The oldest print runs had a number on the bottom left margin. I'm still not sure whether that is a proper cylinder number or more like an order number. I believe it is actually the latter because normal cylinder numbers would normally just start at 1 and each value (needing its own cylinder) would then have a cylinder 1. Which is not the case with this set, so this may well be cylinder no. 196 used by the printers. But no matter, for this number indicates that this printing was the original one, from 1930. A second print run, in 1938, had number 1178.

Later print runs, from approximately 1935 onwards, usually no longer had this number, as can be seen on this 15c Italia turrita.

This numberless block dates from 1939. One thing I am sure about is the dots in the corner. The cylinder could print four blocks of 100 stamps in one rotation. The printed paper was later cut into sheets of either 200 or 100. The four blocks of stamps were given dots from 1 to 4 so that the original position of the stamps on the cylinder could be retraced in case of flaws.

And then there's the Novara printings, after the war, such as this block of 35c Italia turrita stamps.

The Novara printings were emergency printings, in times when chaos still occasionally reigned in Italy. Officially, all stamps with the fasces symbols had been redesigned with the symbols removed, but for some of the Novara printings the old designs were still used. These can normally be disntinguished from their pre-war cousins because they have no watermark. The printing information on these is uaually on the right hand side, which is why this 35c black has to be a Novara printing, seeing that it has nothing printed in the bottom left corner. Also note the extra perforation hole in the left hand margin. I'm not sure yet whether this, too, is typical for the Novara printings.

As you see, so much still to find out!

:-)

Adrian