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"Ribbed" stamps
Forum: Canada
Last Post: Carmen
19-12-2025, 07:51 AM
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U.S. Scott 279A
Forum: United States of America
Last Post: Carmen
18-12-2025, 06:43 AM
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u.s. scott 279a
Forum: Wanted
Last Post: Carmen
18-12-2025, 06:33 AM
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U.S. Scott 279A update
Forum: KSC Lounge
Last Post: RICHARD
18-12-2025, 02:53 AM
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An embarassing catalogue ...
Forum: Non-philatelic (other collectibles) enquiries
Last Post: Carmen
13-12-2025, 04:15 PM
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Plating scott 231
Forum: KSC Lounge
Last Post: RICHARD
12-12-2025, 01:37 AM
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Washington Franklin Serie...
Forum: United States of America
Last Post: RICHARD
12-12-2025, 12:37 AM
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Does anyone else have STA...
Forum: Stamps / covers discussion
Last Post: Carmen
09-12-2025, 07:20 AM
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Denmark stopping letter d...
Forum: Post Offices
Last Post: Carmen
09-12-2025, 07:12 AM
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What's New? What Are You ...
Forum: Stamps / covers discussion
Last Post: Hugh
08-12-2025, 11:01 PM
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Not a fugitive stamp, but definately an unexpected one. I found this in a stockbook of stamps I bought at the club (mostly for the stockbook).
Stamp:
Series: India Military Stamps
Queen Victoria / Empress of India
Issued in 1900
3p, Carmine-rose, Overprint C.E.F. [China Expiditionary Force] on Sc. 54
Sc. M1
Two brigades of Indian troops were sent to China in 1900 during the Boxer Uprising 义和团运动 ... a postal unit was sent with the troops and I understand that the first recorded use of these overprinted military stamps was August 1900. Most of the Indian troops were withdrawn by 1906.
Stamp:
Canada: Halifax Bicentenary
The founding of Halifax
Based on a painting by Charles William Jefferys
Issued on June 21, 1949
4c, Purple, engraved
Unitrade 283
Edward Cornwallis ... born on March 5, 1713. One of his grandfathers was First Lord of the Admiralty, the other was Governor of Ireland.
He was a twin. The family's plan was that one of the brothers would enter the church, one the military. But which one? When his brother fell from a horse and paralysed his arm., Edward, at 18, was commissioned into the army.
A career soldier, he fought for Cumberland at the Battle of Culloden in 1745 and was tasked, after the battle, with leading a regiment into the Highlands to 'pacify' Lochabar.
He was appointed Governor of Nova Scotia in 1749 and established the port town and fortifications of Halifax. He ended his career as a Lt. General and as the Governor of Gibraltar. He died in 1776.
His Nephew, Charles Cornwallis, commanded the British troops at Yorktown.
Finally got around to putting this in my album. A Commemorative celebrating victory in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05). This was the first major victory of an Asian Power over a European Empire in modern warfare.
Stamp:
Japan: 明治三十七八年戦役陸軍凱旋観兵式記念郵便切手
[Commemorative Postage Stamp for the Triumphal Military Review of the Army from the 37th–38th year of Meiji]
Issued on April 29, 1906 [Meiji 39]
1.5s, Blue, Engraved (T. Hosogai)
SG 154b (perf 12.5)
Picked this up at the club a while ago. I don't collect Brazil so this stamp series was new to me.
In August 1942, Brazil had entered the war on the Allied side, responding in part to Axis submarine attacks on Brazilian shipping. The Força Expedicionária Brasileira (FEB) or the Brazilian Expeditionary Force in English, arrived in Naples in the summer of 1944. It was was the only Latin American ground force to fight in Europe during World War 2. Roughly 25,000 Brazilian troops served alongside the Allied forces in the Italian Campaign. These troops were integrated into the U.S. 5th Army under the overall command of General Mark Clark. Much of their combat operations took place in northern Italy’s mountainous terrain.
Brazilian troops sported an emblem of a pipe-smoking snake nicknamed 'Cobra Fumando', referencing a popular saying at the time: “It’s more likely for a snake to smoke a pipe than for Brazil to send an expeditionary force overseas.” Once Brazil did go to war, the ironic image stuck as a badge of pride.
Stamps:
Brazil - Honouring the B.E.F. and the U.S. 5th Army
Issued on July 16, 1945
20c
Sc. 635
40c
Sc. 636
1Cr
Sc. 637
2Cr
Sc. 638
5Cr
Sc. 639
This display page appears to have been a dealer's sample and was included in a 2-hole 25 x 27cm loose leaf stamp album.
Here's a place for the world of cartoon characters!
...
Stamp: France
Fête du Timbre: Tintin
Issued 2000
3,00F + 0,60F (0,55€)
Y&T 3304
Bloc-feuillet / Souvenir Sheet
Y&T 28
Ah ... The Adventures of Tintin. A series of graphic novels created by Belgium cartoonist Geroges Remi (AKA Hengé). The first one came out in 1929. If it wasn't for Tintin and Snowy (And, Asterix, of course) I don't think I would have passed French at university.
Here's a thread to show your joint issue stamps.
...
France and US joint issue stamps ... The Statue of Liberty [La Liberté éclairant le monde] was a gift to the United States from the people of France.
Stamps:
France
100th Anniversary of the erection of the Statue of Liberty in New York
Issued on July 4, 1986
2,20f
Y&T 2421
USA
Statue of Liberty, 100th Anniversary
Issued on July 4, 1986
22c
Sc. 2224
Printing on tabs or labels is done to ensure that bad actors can't use then to create forgeries. I mean, they're perfect right? Old paper, correct watermark, proper gum and, unless preventative measures are taken, a blank slate to print whatever you want. (smile)
1932 Hindenburg Series
1936/7 Hindenburg Series
A used example.
14-08-2025, 03:23 PM
Forum: Australia Study Group (coming Sept. 2025) - Open Discussion
- Replies (1)
Welcome to the Australian Stamp Study Group. Our first meeting will be held Wednesday September 3rd starting at 1pm (ending at 3pm) at Edith Rankin Memorial Church. We are on Bath Road near Collins Bay Road. Main Floor entrance, easy parking and washrooms on the mail floor as well.
All are welcome. This is an open discussion forum.
This first meeting we will be reviewing the History/Philatelic Album Pages for the States. (Everyone will receive a copy of the album pages for each state.) The first colonizers were convicts from GB. The small colonies literally started from scratch.
We then turn to the Commonwealth of Australia (the 7 states join together to form this commonwealth). There is plenty of history and philatelic discussion in the start up. The Kangaroo and Map Series and the King George V Series are large and complex. In order to fully understand these issues I have assembled excel files that provide all the details based on the currency rate of the stamp.
There are stamps for sale and extras the attendees are willing to share.
Fee is $20.00 for this session.
Hoping to see your comments here. You are most welcome to join with us.
12-08-2025, 05:09 PM
Forum: United Kingdom and British Colonies / Commonwealth
- No Replies
Here's an Army Post Office cover from June 16, 1920.
It was sent by Lance Corporal A. Jeffery (6972), a member of the British Army Occupying the Rhine [BAOR] stationed in Cologne following WW1. There is an A. E. Jeffrey (sic) in the database of the Imperial War Museum. He is listed as a sapper with the Royal Engineers with the same service number, 6972. In fact, the Anglo-Boer War medal roll index also lists A.E. Jeffrey, 6972, also as a sapper with the RE in South Africa. It would appear that L/Cpl Jeffery was a long-service army regular. The variation in the spelling of his name is an administrative error given that his service number is always the same.
He is writing to Mrs. A. Jeffery, probably his wife, at 1 Orchard Terrace, Victoria Road, Dartmouth, Devon, England.
Postal Markings on cover:
Manuscript marking on Cover
Rhine Army
Orderly Room Cachet
Oval hand-stamp, red ink
7th FIELD COMPANY / ROYAL ENGINEERS / 15 JUN 1920
By mid-1920 Britain was scaling down its forces on occupation duty due to postwar budget cuts. The BAOR was reduced to one infantry brigade group with supporting arms such as the Royal Engineers.
Double ring CDS
ARMY POST OFFICE / S.40
16 / JU / 20
S40 was the designation PO for the BAOR in 1920 (Whitney, 15/65). In 1922, sub-offices would be added and designated as S40a-h. S = S(tationary Post Office).
One of my favourite diversions is to find a cover or postcard with a missing stamp and try to figure out what stamps is missing.
Here's another fifty-cent cover I pulled from Roy's box KSC. Who would want it, right? The stamp is missing.
Nonetheless, let's see what we can figure out.
It looks like it was an Italian picture postcard provided to guests at the Grand Hôtel in Menaggio on Lake Como. There is a big friendly handstamp in purple that confirms this and adds that the proprietor of the hotel was L. Martinelli.
There are (or were) two CDS receiving cancels from Menaggio. One is still visible, the other has mostly vanished with the stamp - which either fell off or was stamp-napped by a collector sometime in the last 125 years. It is a circular, single ring cancel with MENAGGIO under the ring and 25 / LUG / 99 in the centre - suggesting it was mailed on July 25, 1899.
It was sent to a Miss Kathleen Walker in Budapest in the care of [bei] Frau v[on] Miklós. The street address is a bit of a challenge. It looks like a mix of Hungarian and German, perhaps Délidő?‑gasse , 33. Perhaps not that surprising for a cosmopolitan city like Budapest in fin-de-siècle Europe. One assumes that Frau von Miklós is a friend or landlady.
Getting back to the missing stamp. The UPU foreign postcard rate from Italy to Hungary in 1899 would have been 10 centesimi. This suggests that the missing stamp may have been the 10c King Umberto 1 carmine definitive issued in 1896 (Sc. 68). It's size and shape also nicely matches the rectangular space and residue still visible on the card.
If so, this is the missing stamp:
But wait, there's more.
There seems to be a small circle arrival cancel on the bottom left dated 99 / JUL / 27 [July 27, 1899]. The location is only partially visible but, it is reasonable to conclude its from Budapest. A two-day trip by rail is very possible. Here, delivery was attempted but the original Budapest address was crossed out. The card appears to have been redirected within the Empire of Austria-Hungary to Kaltenleutgeben - a spa near Vienna in the district of Mödling in Austria (see, the town name on the lower left of the card - written in a different hand). It arrived the next day.
There is a single ring CDS from KALTENLEUTGEBEN. In the centire, it reads BESTELLT / 28.7.99 / 8-9V. [July 28, 1899, time-stamp 8-9 in the morning]
However, it appears that Miss Walker was not there either. Kaltenleutgeben was struck out and the card was redirected again to Szt. Kereszt [Holy Cross]. That may or may not have been the end of the matter. However, it is interesting that Szt. Kereszt was, in the end, also crossed out.
There is evidence that some information was erased ... probably information about the sender. Otherwise, there is no message. It's a postcard from the undivided back era and the picture side of the card, had blank space for messages. It shows an image of a foot path in Menaggio. It appears to have been published by Edizioni Vierbücher who owned a postcard printing house in Milan. He specialised in view‑cards of northern‑Italian resorts around 1898 – 1906. The card is number 280 in a series. I understand that his cards with numbers less than 300 are monochrome collotypes.
That was a lot of fun for fifty cents. I may have the order wrong. Perhaps it went to Szt. Kereszt before it ended up at the Spa in Austria. I'll keep looking.
Update:
OK ... I've done a bit more research. I now think the card was initially redirected from Budapest to Ladomér-Szentkerest a spa town on the river Garam about 160Km north-east of Budapest (now in Slovakia) where it was again, and quickly, redirected to another spa town, this time care of Frau von Miklós, in Kaltenleutgeben. Presumably that was where it was finaly delivered to Miss Walker on July 28.
This appears to be confirmed by the BESTELLT on the Kaltenleutgeben cancel which I now undertand indicates delivery.
On Card ... Ladomier [Hungarian Ladomér]
On Card ... Szt. Kereszt [Hungarian Szent Kereszt
That is, 'Holy Cross' a spa / market town in the Old Kingdom of Hungary.
Today ... Žiar nad Hronom, Slovakia [German, Heiligenkreuz, Hungarian, Ladomér‑Szentkereszt]
I think I've now wrung every historical drop out of this I can find. Did I miss anything?

