Exactly why I started working with Iceland. Seem fairly similar to Sweden. Good looking interesting stamps.
Sweden appeals to me because of the engraved beauty of their stamps. also maybe because recent geneological research uncovered I am descended from some Swedish kings.
One drawback- most of their stamps after 1940 or so are in booklet/coil format. There is a difference in how these are collected; in Europe collectors go for pairs on the booklet stamps in order to have examples of imperf-orates on every possible side, also I think for pairs on the coils, and European printed albums reflect this. Over here it is mostly one of each. Thank God, US collectors do not follow this on our stamps!
Swedish stamps are great! Especially the souvenir sheets. I second Snick1946's comment about the number of Swedish stamps that are engraved.
I started collecting Sweden a little while ago and quickly found out all the many ways that the country is collected. I finally settled on a combination of European and American style collecting. Firstly, I am collecting both mint and used singles, as well as the booklet pairs in either mint or used. I am also collecting shades and types on the earlies. Will probably also include mint or used booklet panes on the ones where all the stamps in the pane are different designs. Still on the fence about complete booklets though. I seem to be getting a certain amount by accident. It seems like every time I buy a lot or group of Swedish stamps, there is a couple of them included. Also, making my own pages to accommodate everything I want. Sweden has issued MANY stamps over the years, so this will not be a small undertaking for me.
What got me started in Sweden firstly was the cancels on the early stamps, then I saw all the beautifully engraved issues. Combine all that with the relatively inexpensiveness of them and you can have a nice collection for not that much money.
Goodness! I had no idea there was both a European and an American style of collecting! I think this one needs further explanation...
" ... in Europe ... pairs on the booklet stamps ... pairs on the coils ... Over here it is mostly one of each. Thank God, US collectors do not follow this on our stamps! ..."
Now i am reminded of our late club president Joe..he loved to tell the story of how he had a roll of official stamps in his desk and one day for whatever reason his step daughter needed a stamp and took one from the roll. She was banned from his stamp room for life !
I've only ever collected singles from Sweden and have never come across any collector in the UK or europe that collect pairs
My Sweden collection is pretty much along the lines of RBPuzzles, except I do collect all booklet panes, mostly mnh. I like to collect all of the issues the same way Scott's lists them in the catalog, since that is basically the way the album is set up anyway. Most of what I am missing is some of the pairs, but will find them someday, whenever I can actually do some work on the collection.
Mike
Capestampman - I am also going by Scott, for the most part. I'm designing my album pages by Scott, but adding in the pairs, major varieties, and shades according to Facit. I'm going by Scott mostly because the show dealers here in the US stock their material by Scott. Problem is finding the varieties, etc.., because you have to examine everything to find something you are looking for.
"Americans content ourselves with 'one of each' for booklet & coil stamps?"
I always thought, here in the US, that booklet singles were looked down upon as inferior copies. Even to the point that some booklet singles with wide margins have had fake perforations put on to create a fully perfed copy. Simply crazy!
What really strikes me about the slightly older Swedish stamps is the design and use of colour (note correct spelling, you Yanks!). There are a lot of bold and solid colours, esp on the sets from the 20s and 30s commemorating UPU and Sweden's postal history and the king's various birthdays. I'm reminded of the rich colours used in 19th century houses here in UK - deep greens and magentas.
Design is also very original - with some unusual viewpoints. There's a stamp showing a girl diving - viewed from above, so you just see her curled body and the rippling water below. Can't remember the year - the 60s I think, and probably engraved by Slania, as so many are.
And their originality continues - like the joke on the stamp showing two old friends crossing a snow covered field. Neither will take the footpath from the other so they both walk in the snow!
Love Swedish stamps! Well, more accurately the socked-on-the-nose cancels they frequently come with. I'm halfheartedly working on a collection of Sweden, the only restriction being that every stamp must have a socked-on-the-nose handstamp cancel.
Taking a cue from the Machin series where a full perforation stamp may be from one printer and source, a stamp imperfed on one side from another while a coil a completely different printer or process, I have tried to collect other nations that way as well.
So I usually mount a "SEL" next to a "SER" ( Straight Edge Left or Straight Edge Right ) and if available an SELB next to an SELT along with a Coil (vertical SERL or horizontal SEBT) and a perfed all around when such was printed.
Inserted within the US collection are blank pages that have, for instance, a complete reconstructed pane of the Simpsons or one of several state commemoratives issued in panes of twenty or twenty-five.
It takes a while to find nice lightly cancelled examples of each position.
Charlie, you can try collecting Guatemala...lots of different vendors printed the stamps..different paper, different perfs for sure(even sewing machines )..just a suggestion, i do not get into it all that deep myself..like some flyspeck collectors !
" .... I do not get into it all that deep myself .. like some flyspeck collectors !
But that will limit you to only about the first 1,000 Machins.
If i were looking for a new country to collect i would seriously consider Sweden. their stamps are not expensive except for that yellow 3 skilling or whatever it is and only one person can have that at a time. I think their stamps show what i call a simple genius and humanity !
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
Exactly why I started working with Iceland. Seem fairly similar to Sweden. Good looking interesting stamps.
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
Sweden appeals to me because of the engraved beauty of their stamps. also maybe because recent geneological research uncovered I am descended from some Swedish kings.
One drawback- most of their stamps after 1940 or so are in booklet/coil format. There is a difference in how these are collected; in Europe collectors go for pairs on the booklet stamps in order to have examples of imperf-orates on every possible side, also I think for pairs on the coils, and European printed albums reflect this. Over here it is mostly one of each. Thank God, US collectors do not follow this on our stamps!
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
Swedish stamps are great! Especially the souvenir sheets. I second Snick1946's comment about the number of Swedish stamps that are engraved.
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
I started collecting Sweden a little while ago and quickly found out all the many ways that the country is collected. I finally settled on a combination of European and American style collecting. Firstly, I am collecting both mint and used singles, as well as the booklet pairs in either mint or used. I am also collecting shades and types on the earlies. Will probably also include mint or used booklet panes on the ones where all the stamps in the pane are different designs. Still on the fence about complete booklets though. I seem to be getting a certain amount by accident. It seems like every time I buy a lot or group of Swedish stamps, there is a couple of them included. Also, making my own pages to accommodate everything I want. Sweden has issued MANY stamps over the years, so this will not be a small undertaking for me.
What got me started in Sweden firstly was the cancels on the early stamps, then I saw all the beautifully engraved issues. Combine all that with the relatively inexpensiveness of them and you can have a nice collection for not that much money.
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
Goodness! I had no idea there was both a European and an American style of collecting! I think this one needs further explanation...
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
" ... in Europe ... pairs on the booklet stamps ... pairs on the coils ... Over here it is mostly one of each. Thank God, US collectors do not follow this on our stamps! ..."
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
Now i am reminded of our late club president Joe..he loved to tell the story of how he had a roll of official stamps in his desk and one day for whatever reason his step daughter needed a stamp and took one from the roll. She was banned from his stamp room for life !
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
I've only ever collected singles from Sweden and have never come across any collector in the UK or europe that collect pairs
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
My Sweden collection is pretty much along the lines of RBPuzzles, except I do collect all booklet panes, mostly mnh. I like to collect all of the issues the same way Scott's lists them in the catalog, since that is basically the way the album is set up anyway. Most of what I am missing is some of the pairs, but will find them someday, whenever I can actually do some work on the collection.
Mike
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
Capestampman - I am also going by Scott, for the most part. I'm designing my album pages by Scott, but adding in the pairs, major varieties, and shades according to Facit. I'm going by Scott mostly because the show dealers here in the US stock their material by Scott. Problem is finding the varieties, etc.., because you have to examine everything to find something you are looking for.
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
"Americans content ourselves with 'one of each' for booklet & coil stamps?"
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
I always thought, here in the US, that booklet singles were looked down upon as inferior copies. Even to the point that some booklet singles with wide margins have had fake perforations put on to create a fully perfed copy. Simply crazy!
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
What really strikes me about the slightly older Swedish stamps is the design and use of colour (note correct spelling, you Yanks!). There are a lot of bold and solid colours, esp on the sets from the 20s and 30s commemorating UPU and Sweden's postal history and the king's various birthdays. I'm reminded of the rich colours used in 19th century houses here in UK - deep greens and magentas.
Design is also very original - with some unusual viewpoints. There's a stamp showing a girl diving - viewed from above, so you just see her curled body and the rippling water below. Can't remember the year - the 60s I think, and probably engraved by Slania, as so many are.
And their originality continues - like the joke on the stamp showing two old friends crossing a snow covered field. Neither will take the footpath from the other so they both walk in the snow!
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
Love Swedish stamps! Well, more accurately the socked-on-the-nose cancels they frequently come with. I'm halfheartedly working on a collection of Sweden, the only restriction being that every stamp must have a socked-on-the-nose handstamp cancel.
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
Taking a cue from the Machin series where a full perforation stamp may be from one printer and source, a stamp imperfed on one side from another while a coil a completely different printer or process, I have tried to collect other nations that way as well.
So I usually mount a "SEL" next to a "SER" ( Straight Edge Left or Straight Edge Right ) and if available an SELB next to an SELT along with a Coil (vertical SERL or horizontal SEBT) and a perfed all around when such was printed.
Inserted within the US collection are blank pages that have, for instance, a complete reconstructed pane of the Simpsons or one of several state commemoratives issued in panes of twenty or twenty-five.
It takes a while to find nice lightly cancelled examples of each position.
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
Charlie, you can try collecting Guatemala...lots of different vendors printed the stamps..different paper, different perfs for sure(even sewing machines )..just a suggestion, i do not get into it all that deep myself..like some flyspeck collectors !
re: Sweden the simple genius of their stamps
" .... I do not get into it all that deep myself .. like some flyspeck collectors !
But that will limit you to only about the first 1,000 Machins.