Fairy Tale or Nightmare??

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Last night I was ending the classification of the stamps for this post when i come about a group of 12 King Ferdinand I 1920/1927 stamps..all the stamps from this post are from the last lot i bought sometime ago.. a very good and large lot, with many more to present...the problem is I remembered that I have some other stamps of this large group of series to classify.. and so, I begin searching for them and I found one entire Album page filled with stamps of these series...The idea of making a post about King Ferdinand's Series immediately cross my mind , so I had to replace those 12 stamps in today's post... No time , I had no time to do that...so today I have a small post and a new one in the future ,about King Ferdinand, is promised , ..

 two stamps representing King Carol I... they are from the series of 1885/1889.. this series was issued with 3 different perforations (11.5,13.5 or combinations of these two...) ,the possibility of having or not  a Beautiful coat of Arms as Watermark ( I must say that the Watermarked series, has also the 3 different perforations...)and 3 different papers (tinted paper, white paper, pale yellow paper) ... the stamp to the [Left] , with a very peculiar color (SG tell us that 3 shades are possible, Pale Red Brown, Red Brown , Red Brown on Buff) has a 11.5 perf ,no Wmk and white paper ...[Right] this stamp has 13.5 perf and Pale yellow paper...this time the catalog present 6 different shades (pale blue, ultramarine blue, blue, Deep blue on Yellow, pale blue on Yellow  and indigo blue on Yellow..) .. as you know colors are for me a very difficult subject, but i think this is the Indigo blue on Yellow (I am not certain of the presence of the Watermark.. I can not see it without instruments or Watermark detectors.. I will leave this stamp open for future appreciation..)
1885/1889 "King Carol I" (19) [Typo (Government Printing works, Bucharest)] Sc(78,93?)

small group of King Carol i stamps..only the 40b is a new entry to the collection, and the others are just  to add originals already presented.. something i noticed when i was taking the scans, is that in the 10b stamp there seems to be a light displacement of the Center image of the king , downward into the rest of the vignette...I saw the other 10b stamp I have already and the same thing happens, so perhaps this is a normal thing and not a "case of study".. but  when i saw the 4 1b stamps I have, I detected that in one of them this event also occurs and i became a little more confused... 

1906 "25th Anniversary of the Kingdom" (10) [Des (Ludovi Bassarab)][Recess (Bradbury Wilkinson & Co.)] Sc(189,186,192)

A very beautiful Fiscal stamp, but I know nothing about it... after a first look i can say it is a [Recess] printed stamp, with the picture of king Carol I in the end of his reign and that the stamp was overprinted with "Timbru de Ajutor"(Help Stamps) ...the last two facts together are building a doubt in my mind...We know that king Carol I reign begins in 1881 and end's in 1914... we also know that it was usual, not  only in Romania, to have the picture of the king in the stamp.. (there could be more than one king in the stamp, but the one that is actually reigning must be there in the picture) so we can conclude that Carol I was still the king of Romania... if we look to the catalogs and to the overprint "Timbru de Ajutor" we can see that the first time it was used was over  the stamps of the King Carol I 1908 series in 1915... the king's picture in this stamp is posterior to the one of 1908 and similar to the picture of King Carol I in 1913 ("Acquisition of Southern Dobrudja" 1913 series, 15b stamp).. so the fiscal stamp should be from 1913, 1914 , later overprinted with "Timbru de Ajutor" from 1915 on ... [ The Universe is a strange thing , always surprising us , and never, never unveiling what is ahead of us... I was writing this when i though that would be better to make a last Net search about "Timbru De ajutor" .. and there it was .. the overprint is from 1916 over a Revenue stamp of 1911... I could delete all that I have written before, but i will  let it stay , because it was my only thought current at the time ] ...OK.. it is a Beautiful stamp!!

All the stamps I will present until the end of the post are from 1940/1941... first we need to center our attention in the social Background of that time and mainly in the characteristic individuality of King Carol II ... As a Prince , Carol II had a life full of Romantic affairs and scandals.. as a result of one of them , Carol II abdicated to his right's to the Romania Throne for his son Michael I in 1925... Carol II returned to the Country in 1930 , overtaking the Power of his son Michel I (Michael I never again saw his father or talked with him..)... In the next ten years his personality and image was massively imposed to the kingdom and in 1938 the "Sentinels of the Motherland" was created as a Dictatorial Youth Movement (like others in Germany,and Portugal for example..) , and the king  has taken Full Dictatorial power over the country...in terms of Philately , we can say that many series were issued with the image of the King, a Fund for his Youth was created and his accession to the Crown was commemorated with new stamps every year...so , it is not surprising that from these days many Carol II series were born and some of them became marks of Romania Philately... 

A series with Carol II wearing the Air force Uniform...for me it is a good series , with good overall aspect, but I continue to say that there is nothing better than an Engraved stamp... this [Photo] printed stamps always seem to me poor than they could be...another thing I want to highlight is that when you use a scanner, do not use resolutions above 400ppp with these [Photo] printed stamps, because of their lack of  detail and general blurriness  .. the final result can be very bad...with [Recess] printed stamps you can use very high resolutions...This is the first of 3 series commemorating the 10th anniversary of the kings Accession...

1940 "10th Anniversary of Carol's II Accession to the Thrown/ Aviation Fund" (8) [Photo] Sc(B119,...,B126)

In this series Carol II appear as a man , as the ruler of the Romanian Army and as Military.. it is a wonderful thing for us collectors, to read someone's biography and to understand what was happening in that person's mind .. it is easy to see that this was a dictatorial regime mostly publicized with an emphases in the image, like in other of  such regime's (Hitler and Franco  , for example , used also the image in a powerful way, not only his own image but also all the symbols of the Ideology and the Regime-in Hitler's case-...) .. Strangely, we find in the same time frame other dictators who don't used their own image as a weapon of mass publicity..Salazar and Mussolini were two good examples of this fact.. 

1940 "10th Anniversary of Carol's II Accession to the Thrown" (6) [Photo] Sc(B113,...,B118)

This is the third 1940 series commemorating the accession to the throne , and this time it was a series dedicated to the new youth movement 'Straja Tarii' Fund..the creation of these movements with high military Ideology in it's source it is common to almost all XX Century Dictatorial regime's .. in the Portuguese example it was accompanied by though and strict rules of Education with emphasis's in the "God, Nation, Family" Ideology...

1940 "10th Anniversary of Carol's II Accession to the Thrown (Straja Tarii Fund)" (8) [Photo] Sc(B127,...,B134)

In 1940 Carol II was overthrown by the Pró German and Anti Bolshevist Government of  Prime minister Ion Antonescu who returned the ruling Power to Michael I, who again became King in September 1940..but those were difficult times to King Michael I who act only as the Official Power , but the Power was effectively in the Hands of the Prime Minister...the Constitution was suspended and the Parliament was dissolved..

This series of stamps show us quite clearly this Difficult times with both the Nazi and Anti Bolshevist Ideologies well present... 

It is interesting to see that some Kings and Queens of the XX Century lived almost  "Fairy tale" life's while others do not succeed with their "Nightmare" Life's ..  The Universe is indeed a Strange thing.!..

1941 "Anti-Bolshevik Crusade" (4) [Photo] Sc(B170,...,B173)

well, it's the end of this small post with many words...

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[Update] All the stamps from 1940 and 1941 that i have presented show a small sign on the DownRifght Corner..
I leave here two images of this small sign.. Could be the sign of "Fabrica de Timbre" ... I don't know..

Regards

Updated 22/06/2015 19:13

The PostMan

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I would like to talk a little about some experience I am gaining with time with the research I am continuously doing for my other blog...stamp designers could be sometimes very furtive and could live lives as unknown people... other times ,they were great Artists that one day have designed some stamps, just to gain some money... The real problem came when they are great Professionals, with sometimes hundreds of stamps designed, and there is almost nothing about them, no biographical data... this happens frequently with designers of many countries from South America, Africa and some countries of the Middle East ... there is much to do , many information about Artists in general , not only designers ,  must be made available by State Organizations or by the unknown citizen , and in this field I think many research has to be done by Philatelists of those countries...And Now You should be asking "But 'Who the Hell he think he is??' ; Well, I'm just a person who need that info and can't get it, because it isn't where it should be ...  We have to Globalize a little more... and Globalization must not be an empty word used by Politicians to ornament their speeches... Globalize is to offer, made available info, even when it is not requested.. The main tool , in our days  to Globalize is the computer and in my opinion the Language to use , should be the English..

Today I will present some stamps from Belgium , some difficult stamps to present , because there isn't much to say or talk about them...I will not follow the usual chronological approach , and i will start by the 50's and 60's and with a series first issued in 1957  that I think continues today.. The "Stamp Day" series is common among many countries and is used sometimes for disclosure of cultural events or interesting aspects of the Postal Activity through time...I have several of these stamps , and I decided to show them today...they are beautiful works of design and in most cases also engraving... Let us start in 1957..

this stamp represents Emperor Maximilian I receiving a letter...

The stamp is work of Charles Leclerqz , both Designing and engraving..

1957 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des (Charles Leclercqz)][Engr (Charles Leclercqz)][Recess] Sc(504)

the stamp show us Emperor Charles V and Jean Baptiste de Taxis (Grand Master of the Posts) , who is giving a letter to the Emperor.. This is a solo work of one of the Great Masters of engraving.. Jean De Bast. it is without doubts a beautiful stamp, and at this time we should notice that his signature (JD) is presented in the stamp 

1959 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des (Jean De Bast)][Engr (Jean De Bast)][Recess] Sc(530)

the stamp represent the Countess of Taxis...The signature of De Bast is presented..this is a reproduction of a tapestry...

1960 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des (J. Van Noten)][Engr (Jean De Bast)][Recess] Sc(539)

The stamp show us a XVI Century Post man riding a horse .. this was the first of three stamps of the series "Stamp Day" , designed by James Thiriar and engraved by Jean De Bast.. notice that in this stamp there were no signatures..Another detail we should highlight is the fact that the Background is [Photo] printed and the main design [Recess] Printed..

1962 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des (James Thiriar)][Engr (Jean De Bast)][Recess][Photo] Sc(578)

This is a XIX Century Stagecoach , and the two processes of Printing are merged together again... Jean De Bast signature is again presented (small letters JD at the Downright).. I don't know what was the criterion for him to sign his stamps, but the fact is that some of them are signed and others don't.. 

1963 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des (E. Verboeckhoven)][Engr (Jean De Bast)][Recess][Photo] Sc(591)

these are two spectacular works from the partnership James Thiriar/Jean De Bast... To choose James Thiriar (1889/1965)  to do the design of these two works was obvious, because he was best known for his ability to design Military Uniforms.. During the WWI he worked as a designer in the War Front , for both Belgium and British Magazines.. 

[Left] in this stamp we find a Liege Postilion from the XIX Century.. A postilion was a Stagecoach driver who, instead of be seated  in the coach itself , was riding one of the Horses that pull's the coach... these workers do not use military uniforms but the Postal Office had a Uniform for them... 

1964 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des (James Thiriar)][Engr (Jean De Bast)][Recess] Sc(609)

[Right] A Postmaster of the XIX Century is represented with his more distinguish look...

1965 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des (James Thiriar)][Engr (Jean De Bast)][Recess] Sc(629)

both the works are excellent , great engravings and have the particularity of being both signed by the two Artists in very visible places, as it to say "This Was a good work.. I like it!"..this partnership was for sure to continue with some more beautiful works but was interrupted by the death of James Thiriar in 1965..

Two more works of De Bast for this series [Left] the stamp represents a rural Mail Man from the XIX Century... it is not a particularly good stamp , and we must not be surprised for the absence of signature from De Bast...the [Photo/Recess] Printing returns...

1966 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des (O. Bonnevalle)][Engr (Jean De Bast)][Recess/Photo] Sc(664)

[Right] At the right we have a Mail Horseman warning the population of it's presence with the famous Horn, presented in so many stamps...You can see the De Bast signature below the horseman's boot , in the ground...

1967 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des (O. Bonnevalle after the work of an Unknown engraver)][Engr (Jean De Bast)][Recess/Photo] Sc(686)

To end this small section about the "Stamp Day" series and Jean De Bast , I have a stamp from 1985 , issued as an homage to Jean De Bast and his work for the Belgium Post Office...

1985 "Stamp Day" (1) [Des/Engr (Paul Huybrechts)][Recess] Sc(1193)

Now I will start a new section about Parcel and Railway stamps... As we know Belgium has a rich history with this kind of stamps.. I have made a first approach to railway stamps in other previous post and i will continue now, but other future posts will be needed to have a more complete look to the several series of these stamps...

Here is a complete series from 1921..the stamps itself represent a coat of Arms...

1921 "Coat Of Arms" (7)  [Recess ( Enschedé & Sons, Haarlem)] Sc(Q132,...,Q138)

The first of two Railway stamp series..

1934 "Locomotives" (3) [Photo] Sc(Q182,Q183)

This next series is from 1949 and the stamps represent the evolution of the locomotives through the XIX and XX Century... in order to satisfy the many 'Train Stamps' Collectors, I will present the stamps individually.. 

there are some values missing: I have the 3F stamp, but it is heavily damaged , so i decided to do not present it..the 300F is missing and the last stamp (60F) is from another issue.. two stamps of the 4F and 30F were presented because they are different shades of the main colors...We should pay some attention to the stamp frames ; they are very beautiful and well designed..the engraving troubles me... it is very good , but  the presence of a Pure white Background should prevent and disable the appearance of white spaces also in the design of the locomotives .. I don't understand it.. in some of the designs , the engraving leaves white spaces where they shouldn't exist.. ( you can see this in the 9F,20F,40F stamps, for example...)

 As You can see in this 40F stamp, we have something that appears to be a sun reflex, but the ending result is identical to the white Background.. it should not be this way...

  in this 20F stamp, all those metal pieces should not be plain and pure white...

 the same happens here in this 9F stamp, with to much empty white space...

in the same 9F stamp we have a complete Printing failure...
The question is.. Are all of these white spaces some kind of bad work of the engravers?? Was the Background originally intended to be White?? are they simple printing failures?? 

1949 (0.50F to 100F) "Various Locomotives" (17) [Recess (Brussels Engraving Institute)] Sc(Q310,...,Q325) 

1949 (60F) "Electrification of Charleroi-Brussels Line" (1) [Recess (Brussels Engrving Institute)] Sc(Q327)

1950/1952 "Parcel stamps" (8) [Recess] Sc(Q328,Q330,Q331,Q332,Q333)

Well, we reach the end of this already long post...Hope you like it..!

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