Saturday, September 10, 2016

Mystery Turk stamp

I'm usually fairly good at finding where and whats regarding stamps, yet some do elude me such as this Turkish Republic 35 Lira. Does anyone have an idea of the what and when issue this is?



JimmyB

Tuesday, September 06, 2016

75th U.P.U. Anniversary

 These were issued in a set of 4, naturally I only have the 3 lowest values. Nevertheless it's nice to have these from Singapore. This is an omnibus release, which means that multiples of different countries released stamps commemorating this event. While many countries released matching stamps, some countries also released their own version of stamps in recognition.





JimmyB

Monday, September 05, 2016

Rocafuerte

 Aristocrats weren't always as bad as history books would have us believe from the civil strife during their era. Vicente Rocafuerte seen here was such a man. Born into aristocracy in Ecuador in 1783 and schooled in Madrid, he returned to Ecuador to become the second President and rewrite a new constitution and give more freedoms to Native Americans. Quite a righteous fellow, wouldn't you say?
 This is a regular stamp which was overprinted "FRANQUEO OFICIAL" making it an "Official" stamp. Official stamps were used by government officials and departments. Generally these stamps are used to aid in accountability in government expenditures.
 I have read that these stamps of the 1894-1895 era were reprinted on thick paper and thus those have a minimal value. Ecuador joined the Universal Postal Union in 1890 and for some time placed U.P.U. on it's stamps. This stamp still has most of it's gum and appears to have been very lightly hinged at one time.


 JimmyB

Sunday, September 04, 2016

Changelings


 Changelings were often a topic of conversation when I used to attend my local stamp club in Belleville, IL. Sometimes stamps were brought in that appeared to be green vs blue and a couple old timers would butt heads and eventually the matter would be dropped and they'd shrug their shoulders at whoever brought the stamp in. Here is an example of perhaps one. Could it have been a different tint of ink used, as many suppliers of ink, particularly long ago, didn't have the exacting color detection instruments of today, or is it merely conditions one of the stamps was exposed to which lightened it.
 These are 15 cent Canal Zone airmails issue date of Nov. 18th, 1931. Released in nine different denominations. The difference in shade is subtle yet quite apparent.
 My guess, judging from the color of the paper, is that it is mostly a change due to exposure to elements. Note the slight yellowing of the paper on the stamp that's above the other.



JimmyB