Colors

New Entries

I want to start this post by Presenting my Best Wishes of Peace and Health to Next Year 2015...

I want to say that this will be a short post , according to the number of stamps, but an important one for me, because it will be about one of my major difficulties when dealing with stamps..since I've started this blog I've been saying that recognizing papers (by touch...) and Colors are my two main 'stone's in the shoe'...

when the time comes the issue 'colors' will be brought to the blog's arena...

today I have stamps from France and Hungary, two Countries always with stamps to enter the Collection..

France

 A beautiful stamp from a series of 1924 dedicated to the VIII Olympic Games , in Paris...it is a series of 4 stamps designed by Edmond Henry Becker, (1871/1971) Sculptor , engraver and known designer of coins ,notes and Jewels and engraved by C. Parison...

1924 "VIII Olympic Games, Paris" (4,4,4) [Des (Edmond Henry Becker)][Engr (C. Parison)][Typo] Sc(198)

When the originals of these stamps were for the first time issued , we were at the end of the WWI..the main subject of the Original series was the Orphans fund , and in one of the designs we can see a widow visiting her husband's Grave and in the other two children left alone by the 'Cruel' War.. these are somehow sad stamps that appeal to reflection and thinking.. I'm not an adept of mixing Politics and stamps, but I think that this is not Politics , this is all about the system in witch Politics lives and rule's us...This system is not always fair and one of it's pillars is one simple thing that allows few to take decisions that will affect thousands of Family's that will lost their relatives , friends, way of life , wealth , etc... It is without doubts one thing that we all should be prepared to change... There must be Always Referendum's before declaring War to another Country..if Country A is in War with Country B, and wins, did the poor widow's that lost their husbands , houses and sometimes children , win too??? I don't think so.. In War nobody wins..! War always was and always shall be the Ultimate failure of Man..

[1st stamp] 1926 "War Orphans Fund" (4) [Des (Louis-Joules Dumoulin 1860/1924)][Engr (L. Ruffe)][Typo] Sc(B20)

this is a stamp originally from 1917, with a different tax applied ..(in the original we have 2c+3c and here we have 2c+1c..)

[2nd and 3rd stamps] 1922 "War Orphans Fund" (8) [Des (Louis-Joules Dumoulin)][Engr (L. Ruffe)][Typo] Sc(B12,B13)

stamps of the Original series of 1917 surcharged...

I think it is time to start talking about colors, their variations and their use in Philately...in this case , 5 stamps of the same individual series are presented each one differing from the others , either by color or by a mix of color and Printing...I think we can say that the first one is the 'Blue' stamp..others are variations of Greenish blue.. the 2nd is a dull Greenish blue, the last one is a dark greenish blue, and the 3rd and 4th differ in the printing , specially in the man's body ( lightly darker in the 4th..).. the last presents us a darker horse (than the 2nd,3rd and 4th..).. the first is without doubts the best printing and probably the desired color.. even in France catalogs (Yvert) , only one color is presented as original, and no other variations are listed...in most cases there is no problem with the appearance of all this variations , but in the stamp we present next , we will see that great problems could emerge, because money is involved..!!

If , in my last post I put great emphasis in the correct identification of Wmk ( remember , we were talking about British stamps...) , now , with French Commemorative stamps the focus go in most cases to the color and it's variations...when we are working with Wmk , there are ways to know and see the mark itself, remaining in the end no doubts about the correct ID of the stamp...with colors, I know there is some kind of device that help us in the identification...I don't want to make publicity , but this was the first one I pick in the Net, and it is a SG item...(I don't own the right's of the image or the item, of course.. they are of SG..)

1st) are the color denominations standard for all countries??

2nd) what and where is the boundary from 1 color to another..??

3rd) who define's it??

I think these are all legitimate questions of someone who has a deep problem with color identification..

1929 " 500th Anniversary of the Relief of Orleans by the French Forces Led by Joan D'Arc" (1) [Des (Gabriel-Antoine Barlangue 1874/1955)][Engr (Abel Mignon)][Typo] Sc(245)

This is the tough subject of the post and the main reason I name it 'colors'.. ; in another post with French stamps I showed another one of these stamps, so these are new additions to the collection , acting as color variations... in this particular case , it is of absolute importance , because two of the variations are listed in the Yvert catalog, and one them has a particularly high cv... 

this is a stamp from a series from 1930 ('Plane flying over Marseilles')..the series has two stamps with the same value .. the first is a deep Carmine stamp and the 2nd a dark blue stamp with variations Ultramarine blue and Bright ultramarine blue...I have posted at the left  a small part of an old YT catalog of the 60's , where you can see this clearly... 

I think I have here '2 or 3 shades of blue', none of them Ultramarine blue.. they are variations of Dark blue.. currently , the prices for the ultramarine variations are € 25.00 cv for the ultramarine and € 460.00 cv (Yvert 2013 Used prices) for the Bright ultramarine..a small color variation could lead to a huge Financial difference.. the last stamp has some strange problems with the labels.. the color is not uniform in some of the labels, there are parts of the currency label, for example, that are not correctly printed .. the color is not uniform...

1930/1931 "AirPlane flying over Marseilles" (2) [Des (Albert Laurens)][Engr (Abel Mignon)][Recess] Sc(C6)

Hungary

 

These are stamps with a very familiar design in Hungarian Philately.. The Turul bird and the Crown of st. Stephen are represented in these stamps from the Flood Control Fund...

The stamps have a tax of 2f , presented in an additional Tax tab (if we consider that the superior part of the stamp is complete with center design , frames and exterior frames...)...however this tab , is not like others we know of other countries stamps , like Belgium , for example (in the Kings Leopold and Albert stamps...)... this tab cannot be separated from the stamp, and is part of the stamp itself while in the Belgium stamps it could be separated.. the series present us two designs , one we have talked about and the other ,of the higher values (k) , showing Emperor Francis Joseph wearing the Hungarian Crown...some stamps are printed with two colors , like the beautiful 12f and the 50f...All the stamps have a beautiful double Crown Wmk, clearly visible in most cases...
1913 "Flood Charity Stamps" (17) [Des (J.Bohm)(O. Tull / the k values)][Typo] Sc(B1,...,B7,B9,...,B13,B15)

These are War stamps from the War Widows and Orphans Fund (additional tax of 2f..).. the design is the same of the 1913 stamps , and in this period two overprinted series with this same design were issued with this tax...(1914 and 1915)
1915 "War Widows and Orphans Fund" (18) [Des (J. Bohm)][Typo] Sc(B35,B36,B38,B39,B40,B43)

these are really beautiful stamps work of two designers.. Jeno Haranguy (40f) (1894/1951) and J.Difcky (others)..One thing that I find strange is that these stamps do not belong to the list of very common stamps from Hungary and yet, they seem to be the stamps with lowest cv  of those who are shown in this post...there must exist a considerably lower demand for Hungarian stamps, to justify the market price they have... it is not understandable because there are very beautiful and well conceived stamps in the classic and Neo-classic period of Hungarian Philately , with lots of excellent works of great Artists...
1916 "War Charity stamps" (3) [Des (Jeno Haranguy/40f)(J. Difcky/others)][Typo] Sc(B53,...,B55)

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The Queen, some Flowers and Several Conference's

New Entries

1. Finally I have a small post with Queen Elizabeth II Stamps...

This is the First QEII Definitive series... well , I must correct.. It look's like the the 1952 series.!!. One of the things these QEII Definitive Series taught us is that things aren't always what they seem to be.. there are three different issues of this beautiful series.. the design and perforation remain constant, but the watermark is different on each one of them..so, in fact the images above  present stamps from all of the 3 issues.; I'm not really an expert in QEII stamps , but it is possible that, in spite the fact of the design and printing mode [Photo] remains the same , could exist some differences in the general appearance of the stamps.. I don't know because I don't spend much time studying these particular stamps.. the 'MIX' series is not complete , because the 7d stamp is missing..

The first issue from 1952/1954 had 17 stamps and presents the left Wmk , with the Tudor Crown and 'E2R'(Elizabeth II Reign)

The second issue from 1955/1958 has also 17 stamps but the middle Wmk , with the St. Edwards Crown

The third issue from 1958/1965 ( 17 stamps ... also...) presents the right Wmk , only with Crowns...

these are the three main issues of this series , but in time they were issued similar stamps with phosphor bands (1959) and with black lines on the back of the stamps (1957/1959) ... this QEII series and the others that follows are good examples of the need of having special equipment to 'discover' the right Wmk presented , because in some of these stamps it is really difficult to spot the Wmk... perhaps in the future I can buy one of those machines that turns the Wmk detection from a nightmare into a beautiful and happy Reality.. 

Other thing that is needed is a specialized in QEII stamps catalog.. sometimes people think that this is only for extravagant collectors, but it isn't.. You will never know what you have in hands , unless You got one of these..!

 I will not present the Sc codes this time , because i think there is no need of it...

I will continue now with some British commemorative stamps, always good additions to a collection...

1953 "Coronation" (4) [Photo] Sc(313,314)

1958 "6th British Empire and Commonwealth Games , Cardiff" (3) [Photo] Sc(338,339)

1960 "1st Anniversary of the European Postal and Communications Congress" (2) [Photo] Sc(377,378)

1960 "Tercentenary of the Establishement of 'General Letter Office'" (2) [Photo] Sc(375)

1961 "CEPT Conference, Torquay" (3) [Photo] Sc(382,384)

1961 "7th Commonwealth Parlamentary Congress" (2) [Photo] Sc(385)

1963 "Freedom from Hunger" (2) [Photo] Sc(390,391)

1963 "Centenary of the First International Postal Conference, Paris" (1) [Photo] Sc(392)

1964 "10th International Botanical Congress" (4) [Photo] Sc(414,...,417)

Sorry for don't presenting the designer's data , but I only got (yet,..) British data until George VI Reign..

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Poets and Saints

New Entries

My objective today is to make a short post just with two series from India.. As I said before I've finally bought a good lot of stamps from India and Pakistan.. it is with a big smile on my face that I finally will show a series of Commemorative stamps from India.. you know, they are not easy to get here in Portugal, and even in the Net , the offer of this stamps is not great as in other cases..

The first group of stamps I have to show is from the 1st Standard Series from India .. The Year is 1949 and we are still living those Revolution Days of the Ghandi Era... this series show us Religion and monuments motifs.. it is a beautiful series with lots of 'Rich' stamps , because they all have many history and Knowledge to offer us... It is a relatively common series , so it is no 'revelation' to nobody... the lower values are all Typographed and the higher ones (the rupee values..) are lithographed.. I will show the stamps individually , for better appreciation..., 

As I said before each of the stamps represent something that has a meaning and an history... I think that all the information is gathered on the NET , and so it doesn't make sense that I loose time explaining with my words something that is already correctly explained.. so I will leave links to Wikipedia or other relevant sites and videos when available.. if You are interested , just click them...
This series has 16 stamps , so there are 3 still missing.. I say 3 because one of them ( the 3p stamp) already is in the collection and appeared in an earlier post...the 3.50A, the 10r and the 15r are missing.. 

1949 "Standard Issue 1949" (16,16) [Des (T.I. Archer)(I.M. Das)][Typo (6p,9p,1A,2A,3A,4A,8A,12A)][Litho (1r,2r,5r)] Sc(208,209,210,211,212,214,215,216,217,218,219,220)

Konark Sun Temple
Konark Horse

Trimurti

Bodhisattva

Nataraja

Sanchi Stupa

Bhuvanesvara (??)

Tomb of Muhammad Adil Shah,Bijapur

Muhammad Adil Shah

Kandariya Mahadeva Temple

Golden Temple,Amritsar

Victory Tower,Chittorgarh

Red Fort, Delhi

Taj Mahal

video

Ok, we have finished the tour to the Taj Mahal and it's romantic story, so let us continue with the next series of stamps, finally a commemorative one..!..
it is a series from 1952 dedicated to the Saints and Poets of India..
I don't have yet the data from these stamps (designers , etc), but it is arriving one of these days to my house... the personalities presented are : Kabir , Tulsidas , Meera  , Surdas , Ghalib and  Rabindranath Tagore

1952 "Indian Saints and Poets" (6,6) [Photo] Sc(237,...,242)

 

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the King, the City and the Perfin..

New Entries

In November 2013 I was still in that period of time when there was  some financial availability to acquire some stamps that I desire in that moment.. I have in my collection some King Leopold II stamps , without the famous label attached... I remember reading in some catalog that stamps without that specific label have much less cv.. So, I bought some of them in a beautiful lot , with others from King Albert I and some complete series from the 40's and 50's..

Now it is time to present them and give them a place in the collection.. 

I remember one more time that there could be some light disturbances in the size of the stamps , but that is only because I made individual scans of the stamps ( during the classification), and then , to present them here I connect all the pictures and they could appear to be of different sizes.. but I assure you that they are have the right dimensions...!!(I'm jokin'..)

This is a beautiful stamp, full of incredible details, the frame is spectacular...for a better  appreciation , I ask you to give more attention to the brown 35c stamp.. the details are much more visible.. the designing work is of the Omnipresent ,at this time, Eugene Mouchon and of H. Hendrickx.. Of course , as it happens with almost the definitive series in my collection, the high value stamps are missing.. I really don't care , perhaps someday I could buy them...

1893/1900 "King Leopold II" (11,1) [Des (Eugene Mouchon)(H. Hendrickx)][Engr (A. Doms)][Typo] Sc(66,65,67,68,69,73)

Another king Leopold II series , with the king a little bit older... the two 25c stamps are in fact two different stamps, with different codes... we have the ultramarine Blue and the Deep blue 25c.. it is also a beautiful stamp , this time designed by Henry Meunier..

there are two catalogs that I need to buy rapidly.. the Scandinavian and the Belgium and Holland Catalogs.. there are always new details and varieties to know..

1905/1911 "King Leopold II" (7,7,7) [Des (Henry Meunier)][Engr (M. Ellis)][Typo] Sc(85,86,87,87a,88)

what happened to this stamp..?' the white color in the back of the King's head it isn't normal, I think .. I have already this stamp in the collection and I'm only presenting it here to ask for help in the identification... it could be the 10c presented above (without the attached label..) ,but with that white color issue... If You know something , please comment.. perhaps it is something I am missing , in the catalogs.. I don't know..

These stamps are older than the other ones presented before.. (I should have presented these first , but all that talk about the attached label , made me showing the others ..)

The numeral series and the King's stamp are presented in the same series in Scott Catalog, for example... I think it is a good idea, but I separated the two of them...
The numerals are really Master works...when I showed the 1893 stamps I said that the Design was of Eugene Mouchon and H. Hendrickx... well now We know who is the 'Frame Wizard'.. these frames are really spectacular and the similar appearance with the ones of 1893 led me to conclude that Eugene Mouchon had designed the King's Head and H. Hendrickx , the frames...In this case all the work frames , numerals and King's Head's  are work of H. Hendrickx..

Now, talking of the King stamps, we can say that all the values have different frame designs .. The first three stamps are only variations in color of the 10c stamp.. Catalogs tell us that there was a different printing with Aniline colors... well, this is still 'out of my league', and if any of the stamps presented are from this printing , sorry, I could not identify it...
1869/1870 "Numerals" (4,4,4) [Des (H. Hendrickx)][Engr (A. Doms)][Typo] Sc(28,29,30)
1869/1875 "King Leopold II" [Des (H. Hendrickx)][Engr (A. Doms)][Typo](32,32,32,33,37,34)

Here ,at the left , we have some stamps from a series representing the Coat of Arms of the City of Antwerp..The Green on Red of the 1st stamp  is not very visible , but the Red on Light blue and blue on Red of the 2nd and 3rd stamps are easily seen...these stamps were issued with the inferior label attached..

1894 "Arms of Antwerp" (3,1) [Des (H. Hendrickx)][Engr (V. Lemaire)][Typo] Sc(76,...,78)

Now and just to finish the post , I would like to make some considerations about the 1883 King Leopold II stamp presented at the right..there are no doubts about the correct identification of the stamp, but it presents also a perfin 'SG'.... I was digging a little yesterday , and I couldn't find anything.. however I find a stamp of Sudan 1922 that has the same perfin , so I'm confused.. I will left here a link to a Perfin group .. I will ask them for answers and perhaps in the future buy some of the books and catalogs available..

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Update...[ I already have the answer from the Perfin question... Thank you to the Facebook Perfin Club that gave me this answer  20 minutes after I asked... I will quote "  The 1997 catalog of Belgium Perfins is still current. That looks like S54 with 15 holes in the S and 14 holes in the G with a period between. Soc. Generale pour Favoriser l'Industrie Nationale (Brussel/Bruxelles) Two of the e's have acute accents but I won't bother with those.".. ] updated 05/12/2014  20:50H

A Name and some Stamps..

New Entries

Among my unclassified stamps there are always some from France.. Old or more recent , French stamps are in the group of my favorites ... not indifferent  to this fact is the absolute abundance of Genius from the stamp Design and Engraving in French Philately... 

Today I will show some of the French Definitive stamps I had in the 'waiting for classification' list ... Along this post , i will present some interesting pictures from an old YT Catalog from the 60's...

[Left] This is a Napoleon III stamp.. It is presented here not only because it is a new entry but to exemplify one of the several obliteration methods in the earlier stamps from France (large picture below)..

1868 "Napoleon III with Laurel Crown" (Type I)[Right pictures] [Die Engraver (A. Barre)][Typo] Sc(33)

                                                                     

 [Right] I have one doubt regarding this particular stamp...it is slightly damaged in the left perforation , but the stamp appears to me as it was never used.. however I will consider it a used stamp... 

Yvert Catalog tell's us that if the background is lined (with lines..) there is a different value for the stamp.. My question is What background?? the inner colored Circle background or the external Background.?.. in this case , both are lined.. I really don't understand because i don't have additional stamps from this Ceres issue and i cannot compare different stamps...

the original stamp of 5c from this issue is 'Yellowish Green Over Light Blue' , but Yvert talks of this particular stamp , considering the variety 'Green Over White' (YT 53a)

1872 "III Republic Ceres (Large Numerals)" (4,1) [Des (M. Yon)][Die Engraver (A. Barre)][Typo] Sc(53a)

[Left] These are two stamps of the Sage Type..this series was issued from 1876 to 1900 and during the classification of these stamps we must have in mind the picture below..( the position of the 'n' of 'inv' below the letters 'U' or 'B' of the word 'REPUBLIC').. The name of the series is due , like many others, to the Designer name (Jules August Sage, in this case)..

1876 "Paix et Commerce /Type Sage" (Type II)[Des (Jules August Sage)][Die engraver(Eugene Mouchon)][Typo] Sc(78)

1884 "Paix et Commerce / Type Sage" (Type II) [Des (Jules August Sage)][Die engraver (Eugene Mouchon)][Typo] Sc(100)

[Right] these are two very beautiful Postage Due stamps... .

1893/1894 "Postage Due Stamps" (18,1)  [Des (George Duval)][Typo] Sc(J30,J34)

These are stamps from the Blanc Series , in homage to it's designer Paul-Joseph Blanc.. the series was issued from 1900 to 1929... in 1900 the first 5 stamps were issued (1c to 5c) ,the 7c in 1926 and the 10c in 1929.. After, there was the precanceled issue.; to identify the two types of stamps possible in these series , we must look to the label 'Française' and to the last letter 'E'.. immediately after this letter , there are one small line (type I) or two lines (type II) present... for each value of the series , there are new different types and differences...

 1900/1929 "Blanc Series" (7,1) [Des (Paul-Joseph Blanc)][Die engraver (E. Thomas)][Typo] Sc(109,110,111,113,115)

These are stamps from the famous series "La Semeuse de Roty" (in homage to the Designer Louis Oscar Roty) ; There are two main varieties of this stamp : with lined Background and with solid Background...I always say that the use of a National Catalog is indispensable in almost every case.. However in this particular series I think that the simplicity of Scott world Catalog allied with the detailed review of the series by Yvert is the best line of work..
The lined Background series has 17 stamps issued from 1903 to 1938 ; the solid Background series has 29 and was issued from 1906 to 1937...
The lined Background stamps have also a beautiful design of the Sun and it's rays.. 
A complete description of all the existent types of these stamps would be very long and exhausting..we should left it to another time..
[Left stamps] 1903/1938 "La Semeuse de Roty/ Ligned Background and Sun Rays" (17,1) [Des (Louis Oscar Roty)][Die Engraver (Eugene Mouchon)][Typo] Sc(143,144,146,147)
[Right Stamps] 1906/1937 "La Semeuse de Roty / Solid Background" (29,1) [Des (Louis Oscar Roty)][Die engraver (Eugene Mouchon)][Typo] Sc(162,163,168,169,179,180,178)
[I do not present here the types of the stamps (some codes have several sub codes..)..]

[Left] two individual series about important personalities from French culture and Science..
1927 "Centenary of the Birth of Marcelin Berthelot" (1) [Des (Abel Mignon)][Die engraver (Abel Mignon)][Typo] Sc(242)

1933 "Celebreties (Paul Doumer)" (1) [Des (George Hourriez)][Typo] Sc(292)



[Right] Finally I have finished this famous series...

1930 "International Colonial Exhibition,Paris" (5,2) [Des (Louis Pierre Rigal)][Die engraver (Abel Mignon)] Sc(258,261)

This is a stamp a little bit enigmatic for me, because I don't know the reason of it's actual cv... there were 6 million stamps printed , but this is not a number that justify its value.. perhaps someone can leave a comment to explain me this 'enigma' (it is a stupid enigma , but I leave it here at the same...) .. The stamp is designed by Jean Michel Daragnès and represent the Peace Dove...

1934 "Dove and Olive Branch" (1) [Des (Jean Michel Daragnès)][Engr (Jean Michel Daragnès)][Typo] Sc(294)

These are stamps representing the New design of Ceres, adopted and issued in 1938/1940.. Designed by George Hourriez, a Designer and Engraver with great part of his 'Stamp' work during this time frame (30's and 40's).. he was also known by the design of Bank Notes for several countries and French Colonies...
1938/1940 "Ceres / New Design" (6,1) [Des (George Hourriez)][Typo] Sc(335,337,338)

stamps from two different series about Marshal Petain..  
1942 "Marshal Petain" (10,1) [Des (Paul Pierre Lemagny)][Die Engraver (George Hourriez)][Typo] Sc(432,437,446)
1941/1942 "Marshal Petain" (6,1) [Des (Jean Eugene Bersier)][Die Engraver (Jules Piel)][Typo] Sc(439,440,441,445)

A beautiful Coat of Arms Stamp and new Designs of Ceres by Charles Mazelin..I think there is a problem with the first Ceres stamp, perhaps a printing problem , because the design is not clear and beautiful like in the other stamps ...
In a closer look to the coat of Arms stamp, we see that it is surrounded by a chain , that is broken at the middle..The stamp is from 1945 so We can easily reach the conclusion that it represents 'France finally Free' after WWII..
1945 "Coat of Arms and Broken Chain" (4,1) [Des (A. Rivaud)][Typo] Sc(527)
1945 "Mazelin Ceres" (8,1) [Des (Charles Mazelin)][Engr (Charles Mazelin)???][Typo] Sc(532,534,535)

Beautiful stamps from the 'Marianne de Muller' Series... the Marianne series was and continues to be an honor to the designers who are invited to do it...several of the Great Masters of French Stamp Design and Engraving are already in the list of those who have one Marianne stamp with their names.. sometimes this honor is given after the death of the Artist, like the 1967 Marianne de Cheffer.. this time we have a design by Louis Charles Muller..
1955/1959 "Marianne de Muller" (6,1) [Des (Louis Charles Muller)][Engr (Jules Piel)][Typo] Sc(753,754,755,756)

Just to finish this post , here it is a "Just for fun" section...some of the Marianne's from 1944 to the present days...

1) Marianne de Dulac 2)Marianne de Gandon 3) Marianne de Muller 4) Marianne de Cheffer 5) Marianne de Béquet" 6) Sabine de Gandon 7) Liberté de Gandon 8) Marianne de Briat 9) Marianne de Luquet 10) Marianne de Decaris 11) Marianne de Cocteau 12) Marianne de Lamouche 13) Marianne de Beaujard

The talk about the format of the posts in these blog (longer or smaller posts...), that I had in the last post, doesn't make sense anymore.. the truth is that.. sometimes it Happens to be a long post and sometimes a smaller post... Perhaps the easiest way is to 'Go with the flow'...

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