For today the Eastern European country of Albania. The early issues of Albania are quite difficult to come by and it has only been in the last year or so that I have searched for them. I'm showing the first 3 pages and although there are still many empty spaces they were nearly all a empty a year ago. I hope to get many of the remaining stamps in the not to distant future providing they can be found.
The country for today is Italian Somalia. An Italian colony since 1903 it attained it's
Independence in 1950. Many typically colorful and attractive Italian colony type stamps were issued during is period. Shown are the first page of regular issues as well as the first page of Semi-postal and airmails.
Some of my favorite stamps of all time are the Australian states. I'm a sucker for Queen Victoria heads! However I have never put to much time into collecting them, mostly because of the price. In the last year and a half I've been working on them and have been happy to add quite a few. A couple of states I thought were good enough to add to the site and hopefully more will follow. I doubt I'll ever get a great showing of them because of the price but I'll be happy with every one I get.
Queensland is one that I have added to the site recently. Shown is the second page and a couple others.
For today the French colony of Upper Volta. Shown are all the issued stamps from the first issues of 1920 til 1934 when the colony was split up and combined with three other Fr. colonies. With only 89 stamps and affordable prices makes Upper Volta one of the easiest countries to complete.
Today a British colony known for it's exotic beautifully engraved bi color stamps: North Borneo. It is a favorite of mine but I have not had much luck obtaining many of it's stamps. Shown are four selected pages from 1886 thru 1961.
Lovely to see these 1939 definitives of North Borneo, A-Ra. They were engraved by the great JAC Harrison, who also engraved, among loads of other stamps, the GB 1913 seahorses, most of the 1924 Portuguese Camoes set, the 1929 GB PUC £1 and the GB 1939 high value definitive. What a portfolio!
I'm lucky living near London - Harrison's proofs are in the British Library, all available to be viewed by appointment and some on permanent public display.
Beautiful stamps - thanks for sharing.
Thanks for sharing, I missed your views. Hope allis improving at home.
Always liked bi-colored issues, no matter where they were from.
Strider, Yes, is an impressing portfolio indeed! I've always been amazed how they are able to turn dots, dashes and lines into such beautifully detailed works of art.
It would be interesting to study and compare the different styles and techniques of the great engravers. Would also be interesting to see how their work progressed over the years. I doubt it is a study that I would ever have much time to devote to, but if anyone knows a good book on the subject, I would appreciate knowing the title.
For today another colorful French Colony located in Western Africa: Ubangi-Chari. With 120 stamps produced it is another country that is rather easy to complete. I find it interesting that all but 4 of the stamps are overprinted and all but 15 are bi-colored.
Shown are the first three pages and the last page consisting of semi postals and postage dues.
For today the Italian colony of Cyrenaica. It produced stamps for only 11 years. Most of the stamps were Italian with a "Cyrenaica" overprint.
It can be a bit pricey to collect. I found it interesting that the lowest cat stamp was $1.20. As with most Italian colony stamps they are relatively difficult to come by
Hi again A-Ra!
A couple of days ago you asked if anyone knows a good book on line engraved stamps. There is a book I've seen mentioned in another forum - it's The Engraver's Line by Gene Hessler. I haven't read it myself - there are two copies for sale on Abebooks at £314 each, which is a bit beyond my means. What's more I don't know if it's specifically about engraved stamps or banknotes. But the contributors who really know their stuff in terms of engraved stamps mention it from time to time. There's another book by Hessler called the International Engravers Line.
The forum is on the Stamp Community Family site, and it's called Collecting by engraver. So far it runs to 195 pages of scans and very well informed chat. There's also Stampboards, about which people have opinions, but the Engraved Stamp Beauties thread is also good.
Bye for now!
All though it is limited to the engraving and art of Czeslaw Slania's, the book entitled Czeslaw Slania's Life Work provides a good look at this master engraver’s techniques, skills and artistry.
Strider, Thanks for the info. It seems there is a much interest in the subject. I checked the chat site and there are a great many postings with much info on the subject. Not surprisingly the majority seem to be Austrian stamps. It did seem like most postings were of modern stamps while my interest is generally pre 1930. I don't think I'll be buyinng any books on the subject as they are quite expensive.
For today the country that occupies the Western half of the Island of Hispaniola: Haiti
Shown are the first four pages:
"A couple of days ago you asked if anyone knows a good book on line engraved stamps."
Lars, thanks for the tip, looks like one I could afford. I'll put it on my list.
About 25 years ago I bought a handmade collection of Russia. It is one of the few times I bought an album that wasn't Scott specialty but I have never wanted to change it as the 3 volumes are quite a work of love. Seems this fellow had the whole world up to 1990 on these handmade pages and they were mostly all complete. I cannot imagine that anyone person could have made that collection, I've always envisioned 2-3 fellows working many years putting it together. All of the pages were up to date within two years before I got them! I was only able to get the Russian and Mongolian collection. The Mongolian collection is virtually complete up to 1990 but lacks several of the very early issues. I've never got round to scanning it and adding to my site, but someday.... The Russian collection was complete up to 1990 missing around a 75 stamps. It's the most complete collection I've bought. I wanted it because I really did not want to fill a lot of the 7,000 spaces that are Russia. I've added a bit over 50 stamps since I've had it. About 5 years ago I sold around 10 of the better items when Russia was hot and got some funds I needed at the time. The Lenin Souvenir sheet still shown brought $550 but I still have the scan. The collection also had the most sought after Russian stamp I believe it's C65, I sold it right after I bought the collection to cut down the price of the collection. I've always rather regretted selling it. Today it's price is ten times more than it was when I bought the collection.
So if you haven't guessed today's country is Russia.
Shown are page 1,2,4 and a few other later selected ones. The fourth page shows the popular Polar Bear air issues. At the bottom of the fifth page is one of my favorite really creepy war sets. The last page shows the scarce hotel set of 1950
For today Ljubljana.
Shown are the 1st three pages.
Mitch. Thanks for showing - I love the second page.
Merv
Love the Laibach- I have never seen it as complete as this.
Since you guys liked the Laibach I added the only other page to the post. It shows the airmail and postage dues. I like the set on the second page best also. The rest are pretty redundant with overprinted Italian stamps but the ovpts are pretty cool.
For today the Portuguese Colony of Cape Verde.
Shown is the first page and a couple more modern ones I like.
Love that 1952 issue.....
Bobggg, Yes, I think it's a beauty also. They remind me of the very popular set from 1949 Liberia, shown below. Never could figure out why more countries did not print stamps like these.
The country for today is Sweden. I've only added maybe a half dozen samps to Swede in the last 20 years. Most of what I need are on the expensive side. In the last 5 years I have seen the collecting interest in Sweden increase along with their values.
Shown are the first three pages.
The country for today is Georgia.
Shown are the two pages which show most of the stamps of this period.
Very, very nice, Mitch. I've never seen Georgian stamps from that period. Are forgeries a problem?
Ed, I don't think there were many forgeries of these. Most of the stamps exist with and without overprints and the values are close. There are two stamps that value over a few hundred dollars and I would not doubt that these have been forged.
For today Lombardy Venetia. Being part of the Austrian empire early types of Austria were used as formats for their stamps. They can be easily mistaken for Austrian stamps, the difference being in the denominations. While Austria used Kreuzer, Lombardy and Venetia used Centimes and later on; Soldi. Shown is the first and only page of L-V and the first page of Austria for comparison.
Very nice Mitch..Austria has always been one of my favorite countries to collect.. Esp the tons of back of book stamps.
Nice Austria!
Bobggg & Rjan, Thanks, my Austria is very nearly complete. I'm missing only 5 regular issue stamps thru 1986, 2 semi postals and the Renner sheets. Airmails are complete.
However there are around 40 B.O.B.'s I'm still missing out of the 500 or so that exist.
I've bought a great many collections and parts of collections and many hundreds of hours putting it together. I think Austria is a must to collect as they are known for producing possibly the most beautifully engraved stamps in the world.
Below are links to the 3 sections of Austria that are my Austrian collection. Sorry but I cannot remember how to do links any more. You will have to cut and paste the URL's to bring up the pages.
http://mitch.seymourfamily.com/mward/collection/europe/austria/austria.html
http://mitch.seymourfamily.com/mward/collection/europe/austria/austriabob.html
http://mitch.seymourfamily.com/mward/collection/europe/austria/austria2.html
The country for today is the Philippines (U.S. administration)
Shown are the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th page from my collection.
m For today my meager collection of Shanghai. Easily one of the most difficult areas to collect, with nearly all of it's first 70 stamps valued in the thousands of dollars. Mine are more of a showing of what the average collector would be able to come up with.
Today a rather obscure country not known by many collectors; Eastern Rumelia or South Bulgaria. Once a part of Turkey the province revolted against Turkish rule and united itself with Bulgaria. The first stamps are Turkish stamps with overprints. In 1881 stamps that were nearly alike the Turkish stamps except for new inscriptions added on the bottom and sides
were issued. Later different Lion overprints were added to these. A long time ago I bought a dealers stock of the Lion overprints but have never had much luck finding the first issues.
Shown are the two pages of issued stamps.
Before the kingdom of Italy came into being the states that compromised it issued their own stamps. Today the issues of the Italian States. Many of the stamps of the states are quite expensive and completing any of them can be difficult. Shown is my sparse showing of these.
The country for today is Canada. I'm just showing he first four pages of my collection.
Note: the 1st and last stamp of the second row 1st page are catalog cutouts.
Time to start a new "page of the day" thread to cut down on the load times.
For today the early German state issues of Hanover. Shown are the two pages of stamps that were issued by Hanover before becoming a part of Prussia. Note the last set features the scarce type of perforating known as "Perce en Arc"
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
For today the Eastern European country of Albania. The early issues of Albania are quite difficult to come by and it has only been in the last year or so that I have searched for them. I'm showing the first 3 pages and although there are still many empty spaces they were nearly all a empty a year ago. I hope to get many of the remaining stamps in the not to distant future providing they can be found.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
The country for today is Italian Somalia. An Italian colony since 1903 it attained it's
Independence in 1950. Many typically colorful and attractive Italian colony type stamps were issued during is period. Shown are the first page of regular issues as well as the first page of Semi-postal and airmails.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Some of my favorite stamps of all time are the Australian states. I'm a sucker for Queen Victoria heads! However I have never put to much time into collecting them, mostly because of the price. In the last year and a half I've been working on them and have been happy to add quite a few. A couple of states I thought were good enough to add to the site and hopefully more will follow. I doubt I'll ever get a great showing of them because of the price but I'll be happy with every one I get.
Queensland is one that I have added to the site recently. Shown is the second page and a couple others.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
For today the French colony of Upper Volta. Shown are all the issued stamps from the first issues of 1920 til 1934 when the colony was split up and combined with three other Fr. colonies. With only 89 stamps and affordable prices makes Upper Volta one of the easiest countries to complete.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Today a British colony known for it's exotic beautifully engraved bi color stamps: North Borneo. It is a favorite of mine but I have not had much luck obtaining many of it's stamps. Shown are four selected pages from 1886 thru 1961.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Lovely to see these 1939 definitives of North Borneo, A-Ra. They were engraved by the great JAC Harrison, who also engraved, among loads of other stamps, the GB 1913 seahorses, most of the 1924 Portuguese Camoes set, the 1929 GB PUC £1 and the GB 1939 high value definitive. What a portfolio!
I'm lucky living near London - Harrison's proofs are in the British Library, all available to be viewed by appointment and some on permanent public display.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Beautiful stamps - thanks for sharing.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Thanks for sharing, I missed your views. Hope allis improving at home.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Always liked bi-colored issues, no matter where they were from.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Strider, Yes, is an impressing portfolio indeed! I've always been amazed how they are able to turn dots, dashes and lines into such beautifully detailed works of art.
It would be interesting to study and compare the different styles and techniques of the great engravers. Would also be interesting to see how their work progressed over the years. I doubt it is a study that I would ever have much time to devote to, but if anyone knows a good book on the subject, I would appreciate knowing the title.
For today another colorful French Colony located in Western Africa: Ubangi-Chari. With 120 stamps produced it is another country that is rather easy to complete. I find it interesting that all but 4 of the stamps are overprinted and all but 15 are bi-colored.
Shown are the first three pages and the last page consisting of semi postals and postage dues.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
For today the Italian colony of Cyrenaica. It produced stamps for only 11 years. Most of the stamps were Italian with a "Cyrenaica" overprint.
It can be a bit pricey to collect. I found it interesting that the lowest cat stamp was $1.20. As with most Italian colony stamps they are relatively difficult to come by
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Hi again A-Ra!
A couple of days ago you asked if anyone knows a good book on line engraved stamps. There is a book I've seen mentioned in another forum - it's The Engraver's Line by Gene Hessler. I haven't read it myself - there are two copies for sale on Abebooks at £314 each, which is a bit beyond my means. What's more I don't know if it's specifically about engraved stamps or banknotes. But the contributors who really know their stuff in terms of engraved stamps mention it from time to time. There's another book by Hessler called the International Engravers Line.
The forum is on the Stamp Community Family site, and it's called Collecting by engraver. So far it runs to 195 pages of scans and very well informed chat. There's also Stampboards, about which people have opinions, but the Engraved Stamp Beauties thread is also good.
Bye for now!
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
All though it is limited to the engraving and art of Czeslaw Slania's, the book entitled Czeslaw Slania's Life Work provides a good look at this master engraver’s techniques, skills and artistry.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Strider, Thanks for the info. It seems there is a much interest in the subject. I checked the chat site and there are a great many postings with much info on the subject. Not surprisingly the majority seem to be Austrian stamps. It did seem like most postings were of modern stamps while my interest is generally pre 1930. I don't think I'll be buyinng any books on the subject as they are quite expensive.
For today the country that occupies the Western half of the Island of Hispaniola: Haiti
Shown are the first four pages:
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
"A couple of days ago you asked if anyone knows a good book on line engraved stamps."
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Lars, thanks for the tip, looks like one I could afford. I'll put it on my list.
About 25 years ago I bought a handmade collection of Russia. It is one of the few times I bought an album that wasn't Scott specialty but I have never wanted to change it as the 3 volumes are quite a work of love. Seems this fellow had the whole world up to 1990 on these handmade pages and they were mostly all complete. I cannot imagine that anyone person could have made that collection, I've always envisioned 2-3 fellows working many years putting it together. All of the pages were up to date within two years before I got them! I was only able to get the Russian and Mongolian collection. The Mongolian collection is virtually complete up to 1990 but lacks several of the very early issues. I've never got round to scanning it and adding to my site, but someday.... The Russian collection was complete up to 1990 missing around a 75 stamps. It's the most complete collection I've bought. I wanted it because I really did not want to fill a lot of the 7,000 spaces that are Russia. I've added a bit over 50 stamps since I've had it. About 5 years ago I sold around 10 of the better items when Russia was hot and got some funds I needed at the time. The Lenin Souvenir sheet still shown brought $550 but I still have the scan. The collection also had the most sought after Russian stamp I believe it's C65, I sold it right after I bought the collection to cut down the price of the collection. I've always rather regretted selling it. Today it's price is ten times more than it was when I bought the collection.
So if you haven't guessed today's country is Russia.
Shown are page 1,2,4 and a few other later selected ones. The fourth page shows the popular Polar Bear air issues. At the bottom of the fifth page is one of my favorite really creepy war sets. The last page shows the scarce hotel set of 1950
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
For today Ljubljana.
Shown are the 1st three pages.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Mitch. Thanks for showing - I love the second page.
Merv
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Love the Laibach- I have never seen it as complete as this.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Since you guys liked the Laibach I added the only other page to the post. It shows the airmail and postage dues. I like the set on the second page best also. The rest are pretty redundant with overprinted Italian stamps but the ovpts are pretty cool.
For today the Portuguese Colony of Cape Verde.
Shown is the first page and a couple more modern ones I like.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Love that 1952 issue.....
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Bobggg, Yes, I think it's a beauty also. They remind me of the very popular set from 1949 Liberia, shown below. Never could figure out why more countries did not print stamps like these.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
The country for today is Sweden. I've only added maybe a half dozen samps to Swede in the last 20 years. Most of what I need are on the expensive side. In the last 5 years I have seen the collecting interest in Sweden increase along with their values.
Shown are the first three pages.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
The country for today is Georgia.
Shown are the two pages which show most of the stamps of this period.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Very, very nice, Mitch. I've never seen Georgian stamps from that period. Are forgeries a problem?
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Ed, I don't think there were many forgeries of these. Most of the stamps exist with and without overprints and the values are close. There are two stamps that value over a few hundred dollars and I would not doubt that these have been forged.
For today Lombardy Venetia. Being part of the Austrian empire early types of Austria were used as formats for their stamps. They can be easily mistaken for Austrian stamps, the difference being in the denominations. While Austria used Kreuzer, Lombardy and Venetia used Centimes and later on; Soldi. Shown is the first and only page of L-V and the first page of Austria for comparison.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Very nice Mitch..Austria has always been one of my favorite countries to collect.. Esp the tons of back of book stamps.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Bobggg & Rjan, Thanks, my Austria is very nearly complete. I'm missing only 5 regular issue stamps thru 1986, 2 semi postals and the Renner sheets. Airmails are complete.
However there are around 40 B.O.B.'s I'm still missing out of the 500 or so that exist.
I've bought a great many collections and parts of collections and many hundreds of hours putting it together. I think Austria is a must to collect as they are known for producing possibly the most beautifully engraved stamps in the world.
Below are links to the 3 sections of Austria that are my Austrian collection. Sorry but I cannot remember how to do links any more. You will have to cut and paste the URL's to bring up the pages.
http://mitch.seymourfamily.com/mward/collection/europe/austria/austria.html
http://mitch.seymourfamily.com/mward/collection/europe/austria/austriabob.html
http://mitch.seymourfamily.com/mward/collection/europe/austria/austria2.html
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
The country for today is the Philippines (U.S. administration)
Shown are the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 6th page from my collection.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
m For today my meager collection of Shanghai. Easily one of the most difficult areas to collect, with nearly all of it's first 70 stamps valued in the thousands of dollars. Mine are more of a showing of what the average collector would be able to come up with.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Today a rather obscure country not known by many collectors; Eastern Rumelia or South Bulgaria. Once a part of Turkey the province revolted against Turkish rule and united itself with Bulgaria. The first stamps are Turkish stamps with overprints. In 1881 stamps that were nearly alike the Turkish stamps except for new inscriptions added on the bottom and sides
were issued. Later different Lion overprints were added to these. A long time ago I bought a dealers stock of the Lion overprints but have never had much luck finding the first issues.
Shown are the two pages of issued stamps.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
Before the kingdom of Italy came into being the states that compromised it issued their own stamps. Today the issues of the Italian States. Many of the stamps of the states are quite expensive and completing any of them can be difficult. Shown is my sparse showing of these.
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day Part IX
The country for today is Canada. I'm just showing he first four pages of my collection.
Note: the 1st and last stamp of the second row 1st page are catalog cutouts.