i listed quite a few Latvian covers not that long ago; no takers.
I've never really been interested in covers, I've bought a few from Canada and the US. I remember your covers but I really don't want to soak interesting covers. They should go to cover collectors.
The last time I posted a book with vintage (i.e. until 1940) Baltic States there was a run for them. It almost sold out completely. I will have a look if there is enough left in the stock books for a second round.
Most pre 1940 sells well in approvals from what I can see, especially for smaller countries. Lots of WW collectors here, especially "Big Blue" collectors. Greg has been listing some older French Colonies as of late and they are mostly gone in the first 24 hours.
Jackie
I sort of collect Latvia too. I was interested at some time in the 1980s by the map and the banknote stamps. Haven't looked at them for a long time, but I have quite a lot of the early ones. I was disappointed by what I saw as poor quality printing in the later stamps from the 1930s, though there's an attractive set of airplanes from 1933.
Maybe this thread will prompt me to revive my interest. Or maybe not..
I wonder if anyone ever tried to collect enough of the early stamps to complete the maps on the back. That would be one hell of a job!!! Unless, of course, you could find whole sheets of the stamps.
Hi Harvey,
That would be quite a puzzle!
There were 228 stamps printed on a single map and at least 65 different maps are known to have been used.
So we should have around 15,000 different designs on the backs to find and sort!
As a beginner to this area I didn't realize it was that complicated. I knew they were short on paper and used a stack of maps. I always assumed it was one map and not a variety. I wonder if any other countries did a similar thing. I know some early Russian stamps had writing on the back, but not like this.
I've always really liked these map stamps!
Over the years I've tried to match stamps or blocks with their locations but usually had to admit defeat.
Here's one that I was able to pin down.
Let's start with the map which in this case has its placenames in Polish:
Now let's focus on the top row.
There's a small town identified as Kuze.
This appears to be Kuziai in Lithuania as on this map from Google Maps:
A few other names appear to match:
Olbikiskie = Albikiszki
Smiltyne = Smiltynie
Svendre = Szwendry etc.
This block includes the top margin of the map and there would have been one more row of stamps above it in the sheet.
Cool find! That looks like a black and brown German military map of the type mentioned in the Michel catalog, recognizable by the terms and abbreviations: Gut = manor, Vw. = Vorwerk = folwark (large farm), Hst. = Haltestelle = (railway) halt, Ww. could mean Wasserwerk (water works). The place names appear to be Lithuanian in Polish spelling. What a mess history can be!
Martin
Hi Martin,
I'm glad you like it!
You're spot on with all your comments.
Some maps have their placenames in Latvian but it seems that most used Polish.
As well as some map features, the map legends are in German.
Here's a small CTO block of four showing part of a map legend for various types of railway lines and roads, and also part of the imprint of the publisher, the Royal Prussian Land Registry:
I do collect the three Blatic States, including Memel.
I have found some on SOR and Delcampe. There are also lots of forgeries, some of them I sold on Delcampe, writing FORGERY on the back. They went with a much higher price than the genuine ones.
I still miss a few, waiting to find them on Stamporame.
A few years ago I spent a month in these countries, just to connect a bit the stamps and the history.
I am not talking about the newer "stuff" since the breakup of The U.S.S.R., the stamps I'm looking for is from 1921 to about 1940. I've seen some on SoR, but it rarely shows up. Is it that there are few collectors of this area out there? I'm not sure if I'll ever officially collect early Latvia, I'm just curious why the stamps rarely show in SOR auctions or approvals. I promise that if you list pieces I don't have I will buy them!
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
i listed quite a few Latvian covers not that long ago; no takers.
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
I've never really been interested in covers, I've bought a few from Canada and the US. I remember your covers but I really don't want to soak interesting covers. They should go to cover collectors.
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
The last time I posted a book with vintage (i.e. until 1940) Baltic States there was a run for them. It almost sold out completely. I will have a look if there is enough left in the stock books for a second round.
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
Most pre 1940 sells well in approvals from what I can see, especially for smaller countries. Lots of WW collectors here, especially "Big Blue" collectors. Greg has been listing some older French Colonies as of late and they are mostly gone in the first 24 hours.
Jackie
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
I sort of collect Latvia too. I was interested at some time in the 1980s by the map and the banknote stamps. Haven't looked at them for a long time, but I have quite a lot of the early ones. I was disappointed by what I saw as poor quality printing in the later stamps from the 1930s, though there's an attractive set of airplanes from 1933.
Maybe this thread will prompt me to revive my interest. Or maybe not..
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
I wonder if anyone ever tried to collect enough of the early stamps to complete the maps on the back. That would be one hell of a job!!! Unless, of course, you could find whole sheets of the stamps.
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
Hi Harvey,
That would be quite a puzzle!
There were 228 stamps printed on a single map and at least 65 different maps are known to have been used.
So we should have around 15,000 different designs on the backs to find and sort!
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
As a beginner to this area I didn't realize it was that complicated. I knew they were short on paper and used a stack of maps. I always assumed it was one map and not a variety. I wonder if any other countries did a similar thing. I know some early Russian stamps had writing on the back, but not like this.
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
I've always really liked these map stamps!
Over the years I've tried to match stamps or blocks with their locations but usually had to admit defeat.
Here's one that I was able to pin down.
Let's start with the map which in this case has its placenames in Polish:
Now let's focus on the top row.
There's a small town identified as Kuze.
This appears to be Kuziai in Lithuania as on this map from Google Maps:
A few other names appear to match:
Olbikiskie = Albikiszki
Smiltyne = Smiltynie
Svendre = Szwendry etc.
This block includes the top margin of the map and there would have been one more row of stamps above it in the sheet.
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
Cool find! That looks like a black and brown German military map of the type mentioned in the Michel catalog, recognizable by the terms and abbreviations: Gut = manor, Vw. = Vorwerk = folwark (large farm), Hst. = Haltestelle = (railway) halt, Ww. could mean Wasserwerk (water works). The place names appear to be Lithuanian in Polish spelling. What a mess history can be!
Martin
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
Hi Martin,
I'm glad you like it!
You're spot on with all your comments.
Some maps have their placenames in Latvian but it seems that most used Polish.
As well as some map features, the map legends are in German.
Here's a small CTO block of four showing part of a map legend for various types of railway lines and roads, and also part of the imprint of the publisher, the Royal Prussian Land Registry:
re: I "sort of" collect vintage Latvia stamps!
I do collect the three Blatic States, including Memel.
I have found some on SOR and Delcampe. There are also lots of forgeries, some of them I sold on Delcampe, writing FORGERY on the back. They went with a much higher price than the genuine ones.
I still miss a few, waiting to find them on Stamporame.
A few years ago I spent a month in these countries, just to connect a bit the stamps and the history.