King George V

 Additions to my Silver Jubilee. South West Africa stands out amongst the Omnibus.

Masters Weekend

 With the Masters tournament in full swing this weekend, I find it fitting to share this Bobby Jones 18 cent stamp Scott #1933 released in 1981.
 Bobby Jones is the only golfer to have won the Grand Slam(pre Masters), or all 4 major golf tournaments in one year(1930). He played in the Masters, but never won it through the 30's and 40's. With his failing health his Masters appearances were mainly hosting the event, although he played respectfully well at the events.

Ships of Discovery

This is a souvenir sheet from Australia 99 World Stamp Expo held in March.
Among this set of ships are the H.M.S. Rattlesnake, H.M.S. Swallow, Roebuck, H.M.S. Blanche, Vitaz, San Pedrico, and L'Astrolabe. These were ships of discovery.

Be One One One!!

Germany really did have stamps issued in the 20's without "thousand","million" or "billion" stamped across them! It still doesn't happen to hold much value though. My catalogue places this at minimum value never used. The website raregermanstamps.com calls this one "Genius with torch" Am I missing something? I'm no genius for sure, but this being carrying a torch looks more like an Angel of some type lighting the way as a German Reich soldier is greeted by some Norse God or Hero.

Update: Ragui from the Facebook stamp group "Stamp collecting" had this to say.......This design was first issued in 1900 to commemorate the 25 anniversary of the union and the formation of the Reich Empire. It was issued in blue color with a denomination of 2 marks and was inscribed Reich Post. 

JimmyB

Cake!!!

 I dug up this today while clearing off some of the mountain. I can't dig up much info on it as about all I have to go on is the Aug, 1974 date and a Pat. Pending. I imagine maybe someone will recognize the photo and a trail may lead as to it's origin. ;)

JimmyB

Phoenix Rising

 King George was just so awesome. The man really set the bar high for the world in the appearance of stamps, this issue(174 in my book) is absolutely no exception to that.  After Hong Kong was invaded by Japan, refugee/prisoner camps were set up and amongst the interred, Edward Wynne-Jones, Hong Kongs' Postmaster began designing this special Coat of Arms shown below the stamp image and commemorative stamp for after their liberation. Special consideration was given to the design and approved by George to allow this vs the omnibus peace and victory stamp in 1946. "Phoenix rising from the ashes of war" is just so aesthetically pleasing. I also greatly appreciate the bilingual aspect of the stamp. The banner on the left roughly says "China and Britain perpetually at peace" and the right side says "The phoenix revives: great good fortune".  The Latin "Resurgo" or "Arise" appears beneath the rising phoenix. The British lions are holding shields that bear the name of the colony. It's easy to not notice the two bat's hovering around George's head which to the Chinese symbolize god fortune and longevity.   It's just such a cool looking stamp wouldn't you agree?

JimmyB

Anarchist Target

 King Umberto I, besides having another gigantic mustache of which seems to be a potential topical stamp category, was implicated in the assassination of the U.S. President William McKinley. Apparently, if Umberto had not gotten himself whacked by the Italo-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci, McKinley's assassin, American anarchist Leon Czolgosz, would have never been inspired to kill McKinley! Even more personal to me, I went to a jr.high school actually named after McKinley and without his death, my school's name may have been something completely different!! This only goes to show how important it is to avoid growing gigantic mustaches.
 This is Italy number 54 in my stamp book and has a faint 1889 penciled in on the backside, the same year that Thomas Edison showed his first motion picture. Were motion pictures really around that far back? Actually they were around earlier than that!
  

JimmyB

1924 Huguenot-Walloon Tercentary Issue

 Now if I were a squirrel, I would have never survived my first winter away from the nest.
 This set I found in a box along with other stuff today in an old glassine envelope with my handwriting on it, yet no recollection of having seen most of what was in the box. This morning has been frustrating for me as I found several boxes of items I had no clue that I had stashed away.
 This is a 300th anniversary issued to commemorate the arrival of the Hueguenots and Walloons who were some type of Calvinistic Protestants I believe probably in danger of being killed(I'm not certain all of the Hueguenots were Walloons which were a French speaking people.) deciding to settle in America. A monument was given to the city of New York in Battery Park honoring Jesse de Forest who founded New York and had come to America hoping to found New Belgium a new colony.

JimmyB

Wedding Anniversary

 I've never really made any finds with Japan. Tonight's a winner for me. I came across several older Japan's that are a bit over minimum value in my book. I'm going to have to stretch out these few finds over the next couple days however as I don't want to kill all my joy in one post.
 This is the 1894 2 Sen carmine colored stamp #85 in my Scott - 25th Anniversary of Emperor Meiji and Empress Haru's wedding. Meiji's Wiki page gives no mention of the Empress other than pointing her out in a family portrait along with his children which are all born from concubines. Quite a few concubines I might add all with the title Lady.
 I'm pretty certain this is a mint stamp even though there is slight discoloring in the lower left bottom. Remnant of gum remain scattered across the back in spots. Unfortunately #86  which is a blue 5 Sen almost identical was not alongside it in the album.
 At first I was excited thinking I had a pair of dragons on each side here, but it turns out that they are rather ornate cranes.

JimmyB

Lost On a Single Page

 I pulled out an old stamp album I got at an auction which is called Paragon Stamp Album and printed for S.S. Kresge Company in my hometown of all places, Racine Wisconsin in 1931!! My Grandma even worked at S.S. Kresge when I was a kid!! Anyways, I turned to the Ukraine page and found these two stamps. One original and one surcharged. My Scott catalogue has about one page of pre 1992 stamps and lists neither of these though it does give mention of the government of Ukraine in exile in Warsaw printing a 40h denomination and overprinting with the Cyrillic "UPP", purportedly created as a Field Post issue for a planned invasion of the Ukraine which never happened. The stamps were never issued. This old album has this 40h stamp imaged on the page, so I wonder if these were simply sold to stamp dealers then to raise some cash or if these really are official Ukrainian stamps and I am just showing off what a true idiot I really am when it comes to looking up stamps. Particularly stamps with Cyrillic writing.

JimmyB

Train, Horses, Field Hand

 This 1928-29 issue #157 shows a farmer harvesting wheat the old fashion way with horses. In the background it appears there is a passenger train cutting thru the field. It reminds me of a farmer that lived about a mile from me while I was a teen. He and his brother used a two horse team to work a small farm which sloped up a gentle hill along the highway. The land is all commercialized now with stores,banks,gas stations and restaurants. I'd guess the man and his brother were at least in their 70's and was amazed that one could farm in such a way in the modern age.  I'm disappointed by the heavy cancellation, in fact upon closer examination it actually looks like multiple cancellations. Beggars can't be choosers though and if this were pristine the value would have made it unattainable for me to have.

JimmyB

Not Gonna Peek

 Mr. Howard Gordon from the Facebook group Stamp collecting brought to our groups attention that 100 sheets of the souvenir $2 inverted Jenny stamps were intentionally inverted themselves so having already been to the post office and declined a sheet purchase I opted to return and take a hit at the lottery for the inverted invert. I get a kick out of the USPS's last line in it's description of the souvenir. "Imagine the excitement of finding such a sheet of stamps." Odds are less than 1:22,000, so I think I'll leave the package unopened for now and just dream. Not to mention, on the back side of the package it says in order for a return the package must remain unopened.

JimmyB

Heavy Transport

 In 1946 Canada released this depiction of the Prince Edward Island train ferry which was used to transport boxcars and occasionally locomotives to, from and about the island. It usually operated at night. #273 in my book.

JimmyB

Long Tall Sally

 This semi-postal from 1952 Finland #B118 in my book, note the different number on Stampworld(scroll down about half the page to #421), is surtaxed with proceeds going to aid in the prevention of tuberculosis.
 In the upper left corner is the Cross of Lorraine which is used by the American Lung Association and similar organizations around the world. Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease which infects the lungs and kills around half of those afflicted if left untreated.
 Two Spotted Flycatchers appear at a nest, both looking off to the right perhaps spotting a swarm of flies maybe?  These Flycatchers use a feeding technique which is referred to as sallying, which is a form of hawking, this method involves sitting on a perch. spotting a bug, flying to grab it and immediately returning to the same or nearby perch and enjoying the snack.
 The used versions of these stamps garner a slightly higher catalogue value. This one is actually in really good condition compared to my average stamps, only one small perf on the bottom is missing and it appears well centered, although the image appears turned ever ever so slightly to the left with greater distance on the bottom left edge than the top left and reversed on the right side.

JimmyB

Can't Catch a Break.

 This King George the Fifth, #90 in my book(04) from Canada values at $16.00 mint(better centering and perf condition than this) and $50 never hinged. I know this wasn't hinged, but it's easy to see whre the gum is missing on the bottom right corner of the stamp. It may as well be hinged then eh?

JimmyB

Canada's old "New" coat of arms.

I much prefer the 1905 version of it's coat of arms over this one adopted in 1923. Just my opinion, but the beaver is just so Canadian. This special delivery has the one adopted in 1923.


This is the 1905 Coat.

This is the 23 coat.....you be the judge over whether it was an improvement.  I like the beaver myself.

.

This is E7 in my book and issued from 1938-39. Two more coats have been adopted since the 23 version, but still......No beaver.

JimmyB

Mouse Pain

 I got a pair of stamps(Taiwan) from a friend at work who got a package. Anyways, I found the fruit stamp on the right instantly. Longan's (after I had to look up and see what they are. There's a video on the linked page) remind me of Kiwi berries with a tangerine rind and one big black seed.  I gave up looking for the bird on the left. My finger began to hurt scrolling on my mouse for so long that I cried uncle. I'm not using my index finger to type this, that's how long I searched. Either I'm blind, stampworlds not showing it or it's in Scott's. But I've gotta make some fast cash tonight on GTAV and I'm afraid a patch is coming along to remove the farming. I hope someone knows when this bird was born and doesn't hurt their finger like I have searching.

JimmyB

1+0=0

 Except for the huge shark bite along the edge, I think this is a nice used stamp. Light cancel though a tad off centered. Neils Henrik Abel(1802-1829). was from what I can tell only the 3rd person to be on a Norwegian stamp, regular postage at least.. #148 in my book and issued in 1929, the 100th anniversary of his death, the color is ultra blue. I wonder if they use the same color names as Crayola?
 When Neils entered the University, he already knew more mathematics than anyone else in the country. How does one get taught mathematics when they already know more than their professors? I guess you just create and discover new mathematics. He was taught at home with hand written textbooks and in one of his textbooks had been written the equation 1+0=0. He was average in all his classes except for math in which he excelled.
 Died at 28 from TB, but responsible for major advances and lived a poor man basically having what appears to be an appointment to professorship sent via post and arriving too late, Neils having passed before the news from the University arrived to him. Ok, the ending is different, but I couldn't help but think "Good Will Hunting".

JimmyB

Battered Yet I Looked

 This is a well worn #10 Finland with serpentine roulette perforations from 1866-1874 or else an 1893 reprint on thicker woven paper. Without knowledge of the colors I'm looking for to know the difference, or stamps to compare paper thickness I'll settle for that as the possibilities. I measured the depth of the serpentines and determined it is not of the special varieties in the thousands of dollar catalogue value, I am happy to find it in my mixture from Elmer never the less. It's always exciting finding a stamp in the catalogue with expensive varieties. I feel like I'm checking my lotto ticket numbers when I'm making measurements with my perf gauge.

JimmyB

Above the River Thames

 This is a view of Windsor Castle above the river Thames on Basutoland's King George V's Silver Jubilee omnibus of 1935. This set is of significance partly because of King George's interest in stamps.

JimmyB