There are few indoor activities as satisfying as starting a new album - stock book filled with stamps from Roy on my left, my first purchase from PostBeeld on my right, and all these empty pages filled with the promise of new discovery.

These albums come with a trigger warning. I still seethe with anger remembering all my teachers who had years to correct the fable that Columbus came first, and left us in ignorance. And don’t get me started on Cabot! 

   

   

Great Britain Penny Reds : A short tutorial

This series of stamps, in use from 1841 to about 1880 causes a lot of headaches, and mis-identifications.

Here are the three basic types:
   


Once you have learned to look at the upper corners first, the first one (#3) and last one (#33) do not present much of a problem. This tutorial is exclusively about the more complicated middle issue, Scott #8 to #20, with stars in the upper corners.

In my mind, if you have had a problem with these issues, it is not you, it Is the catalogue's fault! They seem to go higgly piggly all over the place -- but there is an underlying logic that can streamline identification.

The "set" has 4 basic properties, which show up in various combinations. If we pursue the properties in a logical order, everything becomes easy. These properties are:

Perforation : Either 14 or 16
Watermark: Either small crown (Scott wmk 18 = SG wmk 2) or Large crown (Sc wmk 20 = SG wmk 4) (See below)
Die : either original (equals SG die I) or re-engraved ( equals SG Die II) (See below)
Paper : either white or bluish (with varying depth of blue)

(SG means "Stanley Gibbons catalogue").

Sounds complicated, but it's not! Here's a useful ID table:

   


Here's the routine. Start with the perf gauge: 14 or 16? That puts you immediately into the top half or bottom half of the table, with only 4 choices now.

Next is the watermark: Small crown (18) or large crown (20)? Now you are down to 2 choices! Now the final narrowing down to one stamp may depend on either re-engraved or not, or bluish paper or not, but never both.

For example: Let's say your stamp is perf 16, wmk 20 (large crown). Only two choices for that combo, both of which are re-engraved -- either white (Scott #14) or bluish paper (Scott #18). Could it be much easier?

How about: perf 14, wmk 18 (small crown). Now you will see two choices again, both on bluish paper - the original die, and the re-engraved. Pull out your 10x magnifier and check the face -- that's it!

Here is the "close-up stuff" you are going to need:

  gb-penny-03.jpg (Size: 78.76 KB / Downloads: 148)

  gb-penny-04.jpg (Size: 36.25 KB / Downloads: 148)

  gb-penny-05.jpg (Size: 123.73 KB / Downloads: 147)

Note that I have ignored the Scott sub-numbers ("a", "b"). These are mostly colour shades. Gibbons gives most of these colour shades major numbers. That's why one Scott number translates to as many as 6 Gibbons numbers. In my mind, it is a great error for a novice collector to concentrate on colour for identification. Colours change over time. The red pigment in these stamps contains iron, and is subject to oxidation (rust). Frequently, there are many printings that are slightly different in colour, but are considered still be be colour "A", whereas to the novice, he/she sees a slightly different colour and thinks "one of them MUST be the better shade!". -- not so! Colours are best left to long experience, or verification by experts. (This is the subject of a whole 'nother tutorial). If you have never actually seen a correctly identified "orange red" vs. a "brick red" vs a "red brown", don't believe for a minute that you can tell the difference from word descriptions!

Now attack your penny reds! I hope this tutorial will make it easier for you.

Roy

Here are two interesting stamps issued during the Soviet Occupation of the Province of Saxony in 1946.

Why interesting? They were printed on very thin paper ... Michel refers to it as "so-called 'cigarette paper'" So thin it is almost transparent.

Stamps:
Province of Saxony under Soviet Occupation
Series: Land Reform in the Province of Saxony - Farmer Plowing
Issued on February 21, 1946

6Pf, dark opal green, "cigarette paper"
Mi.Nr. 90
12Pf, red, "cigarette paper"
Mi.Nr. 91

Here are the stamps scanned against a white background.

   

   

And, here are the same stamps as they appear on a light table. I photographed the 12pf stamp from the back just to illustrate how transparent they are. The image is as clear from the back as it is from the front. (The item on top of the 6pf stamp is just the end of my stamp tongs. The stamps have a tendency to curl so it is holding it down).

   

As Michel says "The watermark is barely visible". Very true ... I've just about given up. There's something there but none of my devices are able to resolve it into a clear image.

The perfs look good ... K 13x13.25.

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.