The Eye

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I've had the opportunity in other posts of saying that to collect Egyptian stamps is an excellent choice, not only because of the richness of Egyptian's Culture and Historical Background,but also for the Country's Central role in one of the most disturbed regions of the world... I always talked about the necessity of keeping Politics away from our hobby , because it is a subject that blur our objectivity and sometimes kept us away from a clear analysis of a stamp..., so let them Live and Play their Dangerous 'Games', while we remain peaceful and relaxed citizens, with our "Stamp Medicine"..

I think that the best way to start this post is to divide the time frame we are used to deal with (1850/2015) ,in several small periods of the Egyptian History..

I will leave you a link to an Wikipedia Article about the Egyptian History.. It is very good and relatively detailed (specially in this period that We need to focus..)..

The stamps I have to enter my collection today, are mainly from the 40's and 50's .. They are all [Photo] printed stamps, some of them very beautiful....another detail that I want to focus is the total absence of data about Designers, except in the period from 1980 to our days...I will try to get some of this information from two or 3 Egyptian Internet Friends .. perhaps they know something..              

One more time I wish to say to the Egyptian Authorities that it is not fair to make an internet site with all the information about Egyptian stamps (Excellent site.. ) and keep it only in Arabic Language..YOU ARE LEAVING ALL THE WORLD BEHIND..!!

so, in this post You only will find less words and more dedicated to the history and Culture presented in the stamps and not from any more technical domain..

These are two stamps representing King Farouk I , in Power since the Death of King Fuad I in 1936... these stamps are the two high values of the 2nd King Farouk I Definitive series, from 1937..

1) 1937/1946 "King Farouk I" (8) [Photo] Sc(239,240)

The main Cultural  subject represented in this series of 1937 is the Eye of Horus..it is a symbol with several meanings in many different fields of Knowledge.. 

1937 "15th Ophthalmological Congress, Cairo" (3) [Photo] Sc(220,...,222)

 

The stamp represents King Fuad I that reigned over Egypt from 1922 to 1936..this is a commemorative stamp of his Death...

1944 "8th Death Anniv of King Fuad I" (1) [Photo] Sc(241)

The first stamp is representative of King Farouk I  that reigned from 1936 to 1952, and the other Ismail Pasha . 

1) 1945 "25th Birth Anniversary of King Farouk I of Egypt" (1) [Photo] Sc(252)

2) 1945 "50th Death anniversary of Ismail Pasha" (1) [Photo] Sc(253)

the stamps show us the logo and flags of the countries that participate in the Arabe League  Congress in Cairo..

1945 "League of Arab Nations Conference, Cairo" (2) Sc(254,255)

1) 1946 " Visit of King of Saudi Arabia" (1) [Photo] Sc(256)

2) 1946 "Withdrawal of British Troops From Cairo" (1) [Photo] Sc(257)

3) 1947 "36th International Parliamentary Union Conference, Cairo" (1) [Photo] Sc(265)

4) 1947 " Withdrawal of the British Troops From the Nile Delta" (1) [Photo] Sc(266)

beautiful stamp representing the Arrival of Egyptian Military forces to Gaza.. 

1948 "Arrival of Egyptian Troops in Gaza" (1) [Photo] Sc(271)

The first stamp show us a cotton plant and some cotton pickers, and the second  one is a commemorative of the life of General Ibrahim Pasha , one of the key figures of the Famous Naval Battle of Navarino.. It was in this small detail that I found a connection between the history of Egypt and Greece (another one...).. Yes, there is a 1927 Greek series of stamps about the Battle of Navarino, with the portraits of some important Personalities in the conflict and some designs about the battle itself and the reconquest of Key cities and places..Now , here it is one stamp with the portrait of the leading General of  the Egyptian Forces and a Battle Scene in the Background..

1) 1948 " International Cotton Congress, Cairo" (1) [Photo] Sc(270)

2) 1948 "Death Centenary of Ibrahim Pasha" (1) [Photo] Sc(272)

1) 1949 "Centenary of Death of Mohammed Ali" (1) [Photo] Sc(280)

2) 1949 "Abolition of Mixed Courts" (1) [Photo] Sc(284)

1) 1951 "International Cotton Congress, 1951" (1) [Photo] Sc(290)

2) 1955 " 50th Anniv of Rotary International" (2) [Photo] Sc(378)

beautiful Series...

1) 1957 " 5th Anniv of 1952 Revolution" (5) [Photo] Sc(400,...,404)

1) 1958 "50th Anniversary of the Death of Mustafa Kamel (Orator and Politician)" (1) [Photo] Sc(419)

Now , and to end the post, a few stamps from the 70's and 80's..

1) 1970 "50th Anniv of the Misr Bank" (1) [Photo] Sc(830)

2) 1972 "2nd Death Anniv of Brigadier  Abdel Moniem Riad" (1) [Photo] Sc(913)

3) 1975 "Reopening of the Suez Canal" (1) [Photo] Sc(982)

1) 1981 "Centenary of Arabi Revolution" (1) [Photo] Sc(1165)

Sorry for the lack of Talk during this post ,but there is in fact , very little to talk about these stamps, except their obvious Richness in Historical and Cultural Facts and beliefs..the problem is that "Wikipedia" does this kind of talk , much better then I do..!!

I have many more Egyptian stamps to enter the collection, some from the UAR period and others from these last years of the XX Century.. It is sad that I don't have anymore any of those "Pyramid stamps" or other definitive's to enter , but they were already classified before I started this blog.. perhaps, one of these days I can buy a small lot , to finish some series and then we 'talk'...

Seeyou 

The Vichy Days

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Hello, today I bring you some Madagascar stamps...As you know , these stamps present a great French influence , because Madagascar and some other Indian Ocean Territories were under French Influence , as colonies or simple Protectorates.. To talk about French influence in our hobby is to talk about quality... Great Designers and Engravers...however, great part of the stamps I present today are [Photo] Printing stamps and this was not usual in stamps under French Influence..As we will see, this one's were made under difficult conditions...

Stamps from this beautiful and Unique Island can appear with one of seven Country Labels..

1) " MADAGASCAR " (1884/1886) Stamps issued by the British Authority... The Power over the Island and neighboring territories was in dispute first between French and British authorities , but in 1886 the British swap their claims over the Island for the Acceptance by France of British dominion over Zanzibar...The Territory became a French Protectorate in 1885 , but only in 1896 it was officially declared a French Colony..

2) "MADAGASCAR ET DEPENDANCES" from the first issue of the Territory until 1930..

3) "MADAGASCAR" from 1930 to 1958

4) "REPUBLIQUE MALGACHE" in 1958 , Madagascar became an Independent State...

5) "REPUBLIKA MALAGASY" from 1961 to 1976

6) "REPUBLIKA DEMOKRATIKA MALAGASY" under Soviet Influence .. until 1993

7) "REPUBLIKAN'I MADAGASIKARA" until our days..

In this first post about Madagascar I have stamps from the 2nd and 3rd period's ....

These are stamps from the only two original series issued until 1930.. the rest are surcharges and overprints of these series.. The first stamp represent two characteristic animals from the Island..The Zebu and the Lemur.. it is from a series with just this design and 15 stamps..The 2nd group of stamps represents someone being transported by natives... these are stamps from a huge series , with 36 stamps , but just with this design..(I don't understand why...).. the last stamp is from one of the many surcharged stamps from this period of time..

1st) 1903 "Zebu and Lemur" (15) [Des (B. Damman)][Engr (B. Damman)][Recess] Sc(66)

2nd,3rd,4th,5th) 1908 "Traditional Transport" (36) [Des (L. Demoulin)][Engr (J. Puyplat)][Typo] Sc(79,82,83,84)

6th) "Surcharge on "Transport in Madagascar (1908/1928)" (12) [Des (L. Demoulin)][Engr (J. Puyplat)][Typo] Sc(141)

These are Postage Due stamps from 1908.. 

1908 "Postage due stamps" (9) [Typo] Sc(J8,J10,J11)

These two groups of stamps seem's to be similar, but they are from two different series, with the same design.. they differ in the size of the stamps... this difference is very notorious if we have the stamps in our hand, and we note it after a quick first look... I should say that we are talking of a difference of half of a millimeter in size... the two series we are talking about differ also in the perforation (14.5 1st 13.5 2nd).. the stamps represent General Simon Gallieni 

1st Group] 1931 "General Simon Gallieni (1st Series)" (5) [Des (Madame Cayon-Rouan)][Engr (Abel Mignon)][Recess] Sc(173,174)

2nd Group] 1936 ""General Simon Gallieni (2nd Series)" (11) [Des (Madame Cayon-Rouan)][Engr (Abel Mignon)][Recess] Sc(182,180)

[ the designs attributed above to Madame Cayon-Rouan are in fact work of Henry Cayon ... Sorry for this enormous mistake... Updated 04/11/2015 ]

This is the Madagascar series of the Paris International Exhibition of 1937.. it is a series with common designs to all the French Colonies and has the curiosity of being the result of the work of  several of the Greatest French Masters of Design and engraving... so , let us see...

1) [Des (Jean Goujon)][Engr (R. Cottet)[Recess] (20s)

2) [Des (François Robichon)][Engr (Emile Feltess)][Recess] (30c)

3) [Des (Madame Cayon-Rouan)][Engr (Pierre Munier)][Recess] (40c)

4) [Des (Albert Decaris)][Engr (Albert Decaris)][Recess] (50c)

5) [Des (Gabriel antoine Barlangue)][Engr (Antonin Delzers)][Recess] (90c)

6) [Des (Albert Decaris)][Engr (Albert Decaris)][Recess] (1.50F)

1937 "Paris International Exhibition" (6) [Recess] Sc(191,...,196)

To start this next section of our post, we need to introduce an historical view over France and it's government near the beginning of WWII... initially, after the German invasion of France, the country was divided in two parts, the North and the South.. the north was occupied , obviously due to it's strategical interest in Hitler's Campaign against the UK, but the South remain a Free and unoccupied zone until 1942 , when it was finally occupied by Germany...From 1940 to 1942 a French government , ruled by Marshal Petain was centered in Vichy, and it was called the Vichy Government.. ..The next series of stamps were issued by the authority of the Vichy Government , but never were actually sold in Madagascar...so, we are now facing only unused stamps, never really circulated in the colony..

 This first series presents us the same design used in the 1908 series (Traditional Transport..) , but with the portrait of Marshal Petain... The stamp is designed by an unknown Artist , whose initials are AJ and are writen next to the currency label..The stamps are engraved by Pierre Gandon and Degorge...The figure and work of the Lettering engraver was never common among French engravers, so I think that one of the Engravers worked on the Design itself and other just on the Portrait.. I cannot find another explanation for the presence of a signature in the Design and two French engravers..
1941 "Marshal Petain and Traditional Transport" (2) [Des (AJ(??))][Engr (Pierre Gandon)(Degorce)][Recess (Institute De Gravure, Paris)] Sc(210A,210B)

[ today I read an article in the Blog "StampEngravers" ,that opened my eyes to an important mistake I made,regarding these stamps... One of the Engravers is Gaston Gandon and not his son Pierre...Pierre Gandon engraved his first stamp in 1941  and it was not for Madagascar, so where You read "Pierre Gandon" You must read "Gaston Gandon"..] Updated 24/01/2016 13:22

I don't know what was the real purpose of these stamps, so I say that they were meant to be aid for some Military Fund ...I don't understand how the Occupation Force let this stamps be printed in Helio Vaugirad ,Paris if they were to help the War effort.. I have to read a lot more about these stamps that don't really circulated in the colony...

this is a [Photo] Printing Series and unlike the previous series,  these are not elaborated designs ... 

1942 "Military Fund" (3) [Des (P. Alleroux)][Photo (Helio Vaugirard, Paris)] Sc(B8,B9,B10)

This is a stamp representing three French Explorers and a Map of  some Indian Ocean French Territories administered by the Madagascar colony...

The Explorers are ,from left to right  : Admiral Anne Chrétien Louis de Hell, Captain Passot, and Captain Jehenne..
1942 "Centenary of the French Colonies of Mayotte and Nossi Bé" (1) [Des (J. Douy)][Photo (Helio Vaugirard, Paris)] Sc(211A)

another series whose credits are divided by several Artists... These are stamps for a Children Welfare  Fund, and so Maternity and Children are the main focus of the Designs...
1)[Des (Raoul Serres)][Engr (Raoul Serres)][Recess (Institute De Gravure, Paris)]
2)[Des (Rene Cottet)][Engr (Rene Cottet)][Recess (IG,Paris)]
3)[Des (Mai-Thu)][Engr (George Betemps)][Recess (IG,Paris)]
1942 "Native Children's Welfare Fund" (3) [Recess (IG,Paris)] Sc(CB2,...,CB4) [AIR MAIL]

Two single Air Mail Stamps ; these are the last two stamps I have to present ,  issued under authorization of the Vichy Government...

1) 1942 "Colonial Education Fund" (1) [Des (Jules Douy)][Engr (Jules Piel)][Recess (IG, Paris)] Sc(CB5) [AIR MAIL]
2) 1942 "Air Mail" (1) [Des (Jeanne Thil)][Engr (Rene Cottet)][Recess] Sc(C26)

 To end this post , some stamps from a famous series from this period...

There are only 3 stamps missing , but the real good news is that they aren't the higher values.. in this case it really don't matter , because this is a small cv series, but in other series , from countries like Great Britain , Denmark, Norway, Russia, etc, I will never end some series , because I just don't have the money (!!..) and I think I will never have ...but we always want more and a stamp is just that,..., a stamp.. high values or not they are  always welcome in the collection...!
This is a [Photo] Printed series, and the personalities involved are : 3rd group (3 stamps : General J. Simon Gallieni)(1 stamp : General Jacques Duchesne) 4th Group (1 stamp : General Jacques duchesne)(3 stamps : Marshal Joseph Joffre)
1946 "Various Designs" (19) [Des (Jules Douy)][Photo (Helio Vaugirard, Paris)] Sc(269,...,272)(273,275,279,280)(276A,277,278,281)(282,...,285)

I will have two more posts with Madagascar stamps in a near future...

Seeyou

Prince and Regent

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Today I have some German stamps to present.. stamps from the German Empire and from the states of Wurttenberg and Bavaria..

Let us begin with the oldest stamps..

These are stamps from the German state of Wurttenberg, There are two distinct series with this design : one from 1875/1879 (3pf,10pf) and other from 1890/1894 (5pf, 25pf)...the stamps are in general good condition and there is not much to say about the series.. no idem secrets or strange varieties..there are several possible matches for the same values corresponding to different color shades..

1875/1879 "Numerals" (18) [Typo] Sc(56,60)

1890/1894 "Numerals" (18) [Typo] Sc(59,63)

the first group of stamps belong to a series from 1880.from the Imperial Period...another series with these two same designs was issued in 1875/1879.. the main difference between the 1st and 2nd series is that the currency label is "pfennige" in the 1st and "pfennig" in the 2nd.. the Eagle in the center of the vignette is in both cases Embossed..this is a very beautiful series and without doubts another one to add to my "Must Have" list...another important aspect we have to keep in mind is that there are two different types of stamps possible in this series of 1880.. Type A[with dull and faint colors..all of these 3 stamps are definitely of this type..] Type B [ bright and fresh colors, and yellow gum..]..I just want to talk a little about the word "dull" when we are speaking of colors.. A stamp that is classified in the catalogs like a dull color is easily recognized , because it is easy to imagine something like a 'fog' layer that unable us to see the colors in it's full brightness.. it is what happens with these  3 stamps, even with the Ultramarine blue ,that is one of the most faint Ultramarine's I ever seen..

1880 "Numeral and Coat of Arms / Pfennig" (6) [Typo] Sc(38,39,40) [The Scott catalog I use is a world Catalog, so it does not contain any reference to types A and B, and  the code presented for the Ultramarine blue corresponds to "Bright ultramarine" , but we can see that it is not the case...]

The 2nd group of stamps , also very beautiful, was issued in 1889/1900..the series presents us many different color shades with different cv also..I haven't talked yet about watermarks,but i can tell that both series are Un-Watermarked..

1889/1900 "Numerals and Imperial Eagle" (7) [Typo] Sc(48,49)

these are stamps from a  beautiful series designed by Friedrich August von Kaulbach, and issued in 1911.. Now and until the end of this post we are talking about Bavaria stamps.. The personality represented in the design is the Prince Regent Luitpold and this is a commemorative series of the 90th birthday of the Prince.. There are some interesting points to talk in this series:

A) the series has 2 designs and 3 main stamp sizes.. a small size stamp, for values of 3pf to 25pf, a medium size stamp for values of 30pf to 80pf , and a large size stamp with a different design for Mark values..

B)The series is Watermarked ... The watermark is the same for all values ( paralele waves) , but presented Horizontally for 3pf to 25pf and Vertically for 30pf to 20M..

C) the perforation is 14 x 14.5 for the small size stamps, and 11.5 for the medium and large size stamps..

D) Now I will try to explain the differences of the two types of (pf) stamps, with the help of the two 40pf  stamps already presented :

 Prince Luitpold's Birthday is printed above the Prince's Head.. 12 March 1911 [this series was issued at 10/03/1911) .. Here lies the big difference between these two stamps.. if We look to the label of the month (MAERZ) , we will see that in the first case the central leg of the E is very short and the Head of the R is small (Type I).. in the 2nd case we see a larger central leg for the E and a Larger Head for the R (Type II) ..this small group of stamps is not representative because it isn't a valid sample of these stamps, but after classifying them I found a larger number of type II then Type I stamps..

 there are different values for the two types but I don't have actual values for it, because I used an old SG catalog... [only the 60pf is not covered by this differences] ..There is yet another important and much more valuable difference in the 3pf and 10pf stamps... in these two stamps , the date could be misprinted , and in the end only 911 appears , instead of 1911.. I don't have any stamp with this variety, but I would like to...

 The Mark values also have a distinctive variety  in the date .. in the last two digits of the Year (11), The difference is easily seen in the two M stamps above.. in the 1M stamp, we have a type II stamp [ at the bottom of each number one we find

 a small horizontal line..] in the 2M stamp we have a type I [at the bottom of the vertical line of each number1 there is no horizontal line..] .. I think that , with the values presented in the catalog , the Type I stamps are scarcer then those of Type II..

I show several stamps of  some pf values , because of these varieties we were talking about and because almost all of them have different shades of the original color..

1911 "90th Birthday of Prince Regent Luitpold" (16) [Des (Friedrich August von Kaulbach)][Photo/Litho (Oskar Conseé, Munich)(Topographical Institute of the Ministry of War)] Sc(77,78,79,80,82,83,84,84A,85,86,87) 

These are stamps from a  Official stamp series issued between 1916 and 1919..it represents a coat of arms.. there is nothing of important to comment about this series...

1916/1919 "Official stamps" (14) [Des (Otto Hupp)][Typo (Mint , Munich)] Sc(7O,8O,10O,11O,14O,15O)

stamps from 1920.. the first stamp is from the original series (without Overprint..) .. it is a 20pf stamps, and these particular stamps could have great value... if the tail of the number 2 of the points upward , it means "great value" (1150$ Used) , if it points downward it means almost nothing... in the stamp above it is not conclusive due to the postmark, but I sincerely think that it points downward...

The other stamps are also issued in 1920 , and are from the previous series , but with a "Deutsches Reich" Overprint.. A) there are 5 different designs in this series.. 3 of them for the pf values and 2 for the M values..B) The pf values have 14x14.5  perforation and the M values 11.5..C) The watermark (Waves) is presented horizontally in the pf values and vertically in the M values..

1920 "Various Designs" (17) [Des (F.P. Glass)][Typo ] Sc(241)

1920 "Overprint 'Deutsches Reich' on Various Designs" (21) [Des (V. Ziatara) 10pf,15pf (F.P. Glass) 20pf,...,80pf (S. Von Weech) 1M,...,2.50M] [Typo] Sc(257,258,260,262,263,264,265,265)

Ok,..we reach the end of this post almost dedicated in it's totality to the 1911 Prince Luitpold..

SeeYou