Hong Kong

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Today and for the first time I have some Hong Kong stamps.. The Portrait definitive stamps of Hong Kong , all obey to a standard design that started with Queen Victoria and continued until Queen Elizabeth.. there are some differences in the stamps of King's Edward VII and George V ( more elaborated design with frame ornaments and vignette with circular form..) , but King George VI and Queen Elizabeth II returned to the initial Queen Victoria's  simpler design...

In today's post I will present some stamps of Queen Victoria and others from Queen Elizabeth II.. I leave the King George VI and specially King's Edward VII and George V for other posts because there must be a careful analyses of the Wmk, that in some cases are simply not visible (Chalky paper, again..) ..

First let us talk about the Queen Victoria Hong Kong Series that present this design...there are three main series with normal stamps, without being Surcharged or Overprinted... All this 3 series have perforation 14 , so that is not the distinctive factor here... The watermark plays the most important role in the differentiation of these series... The first series (and also the first Hong Kong series) has no Watermark.. the Second presents us a Crown above two letters (CC)  , and the third a Crown and (CA)... the watermarks , in these stamps are clearly visible and it is easy to make the classification of the stamps...

So, I can tell that all the stamps i present are from the Third series (with Wmk Crown above CA...) issued from 1882/1902.. this time frame is the one presented in the Scott Catalog, and I think it is a correct approach because dividing this series into several one's according to the issue date , would be only 'complicating what could be simpler'... well, I only have these 14 stamps to present and 4 of them are spares, but time will come when some of the high values will also be presented .. (Hope is the last one to Die..!)... the last stamp , the 12c troubles me, because it looks much older than it is.. the colors are faded, the stamp is in very bad condition, but it is without doubts from this series... there are many color variations with the presence of different shades, and i think ( by looking to these stamps..) that  well centered stamps should have a high increase in their value...

1882/1902 "Queen Victoria" (13) [Typo] Sc(36b,36b,37,37,39,40,40,41,43,43,44,44,45,46)

These are stamps from the Queen Elizabeth II 1st Definitive Series issued in 1954...this first group present us the values i have to show ... all of these stamps are spares , because I already had this series classified.. it is a relatively simple series without any kind of 'hot spot'... there are many different shades for each color...

  

These are some of the spares , but they don't have any special interest, but I have to show them...I must say that I can only rely on the Scott world catalog to classify this series, because my SG Commonwealth ends with the reign of George VI...so, it is possible that I actually missed 'some of the action' in this series... Anyway, I like to keep large number of stamps from definitive series from any country and in a near future more specialized catalogs are on the way, so I will take another close look to them...

1954/1960 "Queen Elizabeth II" (14) [Typo] Sc(185,186,187,188,189,190,191,192,194,196)

This is a stamp from the 1978 25th Anniversary of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth , where the simplicity of the original Queen Victoria Design is again used , resulting in a very beautiful stamp.

1978 "25th Anniversary of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II" (2) [Litho] Sc(347)

For the last part of this post , I choose to present my KGVI Kenya, Uganda & Tanganyika stamps...two common design series (The Silver Wedding and the Coronation series) and the 1938/1954 Various Designs series...

Sometimes , the unexpected happens...this morning , I was finishing the classification of the 38/54 series , when my scanner ended..!! it just ended!! it started to make strange noises and it  doesn't work anymore...the sh values remain unclassified and without scans, so I promise that next week (I hope a new scan has arrived...) in the beginning of the post, I will show these stamps that are missing today...

All these [Recess] Printed stamps from KGVI are really excellent stamps.. Good engraver works, good designs , excellent printings, overall Above average Works..! As I said before these two series at right and left are common Designs and are used in many of the colonies, Protectorates and Empire Territories in general... 
[Left] 1937  "Coronation Series" (3) [Recess (De La Rue)] Sc(60,...,62)
[Right] 1948 "Silver Wedding Series" (1) [Photo (De La Rue)] Sc(92)

The stamps of the series 1938/1954 present the same designs as those used in the KGV series of 1935, but with the portrait of KGVI... This is a series with some difficulties when we talk of it's classification.. there are many different perforations, there are mistakes, varieties , etc.. ( I don't present any of these 'picture' varieties because I don't have any of them in these sgroup of stamps...)  these stamps I have to show could have different perforations and dates of issue... however I will gather those stamps that are similar 

I will show the stamps one by one, because they are really beautiful and because these were the last scans of my EPSON SX230...

the 50c are also missing  but they will be included in the stamps to be presented next week..

1938/1954 "King George VI portrait with Various Designs" (20) [Recess (De La Rue)]  

This was a strange post, with little to say and with some unexpected events..

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The Tree

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In this post we will continue to focus in the Americas,with stamps from Cuba and Chile...

Let us start with Chile ,with stamps from the 30's to the 70's...

3 single stamp Commemorative series about President's of Chile.. the first Honors the life of Manuel Bulnes and 2 stamps are presented , because the printing was made with two different papers.. the 2nd stamp is a much more thin paper...The 2nd series show us Bernardo O'Higgins and the 2nd stamp is from a different shade of blue..The 3rd president showed is José Joaquin Peréz (the stamp is of the same size as the others, of course... my digital work is not very good yet...)

1931 "Manuel Bulnes" (1[2]) [Litho] Sc(181)[the information of the papers appeared in my SG old catalog of South America, and it revealed to be very accurate...]

1932 "Bernardo O'Higgins" (1) [Litho] Sc(182)

1934 "José Joaquin Peréz" (1) [Litho] Sc(185)

These are stamps from a series about the main Industries and Landscapes of Chile..it is a 12 stamps series,and I've got 2 still missing ...The series is divided in (c) stamps and (p) stamps..the first 7 stamps (the 5c is missing above) are [Litho] printed and the other 5 (with the 1.80P missing) are [Recess] Printed... the designs are very beautiful and the final result is a very well accomplished series... 

in my continuous quest for strange 'Stamp things' I found 3 of them in the same stamp.. Printing problems , for sure, but they are there!!.

1938/1940 "Industries and Nature" (12) [Litho] Sc(199,...,204)

Some more presidents ...The first two stamps are from series about Bernardo O'Higgins .. these two series have 2 stamps each , one with wmk and other without...the stamps I show from these series are with wmk in the first case and without wmk in the 2nd.. The personality presented in the other two stamps is Francisco Antonio Pinto, also President of Chile in a specific period of time...the 1st is from a series of several portraits, and the last is from a Various Designs series...

1948 "Bernardo O'Higgins" (2) [Litho] Sc(252)

1952 "Bernardo O'Higgins" (2) [Litho] Sc(265)

1956/1958 "Various Portraits" (7) [Litho][1958] Sc(295)

1960/1967 "Various Designs" (8) [Litho][1960] Sc(324)

 [Left] the two stamps have the same design, and in it's original form (1st) it belongs to the above 'Various Designs' series from 1960/1967...this design exists also in another larger size with a difference in the descriptive label .. in this stamp it appears between the two currency numerals ... in the other stamp (of this same series) it appears below the label "Correos de Chile" ...The 2nd stamp offers us a surcharge over the original stamp.. it is an obligatory tax...
1st) 1960/1967 "Various Designs" (8) [Litho][1962] Sc(326)
2nd) 1970 "Surcharge over Sc(326)" (2) [Litho] Sc(RA1)
[Right] portraits from the Politician Diego Portales and from the President Jorge Montt..
1st) 1975 "Diego Portales" (10) [Litho] Sc(481)
2nd) 1965 "Jorge Montt" (1) [Litho] Sc(354)

1st) beautiful stamp commemorating Robinson Crusoe's presence in the Juan Fernandez Island... 
1965 "Robinson Crusoe commemoration" (1) [Litho] Sc(349)

2nd) a landscape stamp commemorating a campaign to plant trees and to contribute to our planet's Good Health...
1967 " National Afforestation Campaign" (1) [Litho] Sc(363)

1st) a stamp about the Rapel Dam
1969 "Rapel Hydroelectric Plant" (1) [Litho] Sc(377) 
2nd) 1968 "The 5 Cities Celebration" (1) [Litho] Sc(371)

CUBAN STAMPS

Now we are leaving the domain of the [Litho] printed stamps and we are entering the [Recess] printed Territory... some of the stamps I will show are real beautiful specially the 2c stamps of the Tobacco Industry Series of 1948...

these are 1914 stamps and they represent the map of the Golf of Mexico where Cuba appears as the largest Island...  

1914/1915 "Cuba's Map" (10) [Engr (ABNC)][Recess (J.L. Rodriguez,Havana)] Sc(253,254,257)

I will now show a small presentation of the stamps related to the Anti Tuberculosis Fund...

[Left] 1938 "Anti Tuberculosis Fund" (1) [Recess] Sc(RA1)



[Right]  1939 "Anti Tuberculosis Fund" (1) [Recess] Sc(RA2)




 [Left] 1940 "Anti Tuberculosis Fund" (1) [Recess] Sc(RA3)



[Right]  1941"Anti Tuberculosis Fund" (1) [Recess] Sc(RA4)

[Left] 1943 "Anti Tuberculosis Fund" (1) [Recess) Sc(RA8)

[Right]  1950"Anti Tuberculosis Fund" (1) [Recess] Sc(RA10)

1951"Anti Tuberculosis Fund" (4) [Recess] Sc(RA12,...,RA15)

General Calixto Garcia was a very important Personality in Cuba's History , because of his involvement in three Wars against the Spanish Rule over Cuba, that led into the Independence of the Island  after the Spanish-American War... the other stamp of the series must be a nice stamp,with the General riding a Horse.. very nice..!

1939 "General Calixto Garcia" (2) [Recess] Sc(359)

I have showed the other two stamps of this series in a previous post with Cuban stamps.. it is a series about the Tobacco Industry, one of the main income source of the Island..

1939 "Havana Tobacco Industry" (3) [Recess] Sc(358)

Another series related to the Tobacco Industry... I think the 2c stamps is the most beautiful stamp of all that I have presented today..

1948 "Havana Tobacco Industry" (3) [Recess] Sc(420,421)

Hope you like this post  and thank you for your visits and Continuous support...

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A Bad work?!!..

New Entries

In this post I chose to show some stamps from Uruguay...it is a "first time" in the Blog , because I don't have a great number of these stamps (perhaps in the future, some more will came out...) , not for a "like or not" problem , but because they don't appear very often here in Portugal, and my attention was not in this direction...Now , after a closer view , these stamps seem to me very appealing and with several points of interest... The continuous presence of Waterlow and Sons in Uruguay stamps, until the 50's , at least, is one of these interesting points with the usual well accomplished stamps...however , Waterlow is not , as we will see, equal to quality.. some of the stamps I will show are among the worst Waterlow stamps I have seen...

Let us start with a series from 1904..

I cannot find a link between these stamps, some of them representing Allegorical figures, other presenting livestock , Artigas or a numeral... the stamps are shown in all catalogs as part of a series, so there must be a meaning to this.. it is a [Litho] printed series, with beautiful designs and a single stamp is missing ...other of the interesting aspects of Urugayan stamps is the large quantity ,in the early days, of stamps representing Mythological and allegorical elements.. Mercury , for example is largely represented in several beautiful series and watermarks and a collector of this topic should study carefully Uruguayan Philately... I have some spare stamps from this series , but will not present them , because there is nothing different about them... 

1904 "Various Designs" (7) [Litho (School of Artes and Crafts, Montevideo)] Sc(160,...,165) 

These are stamps showing José Gervásio Artigas, considered to be the Father of the Uruguayan Nation...like in other stamps from South and Central America, the Turbulent History of those days, with war or civil War on many of the Territories under Spanish and Portuguese Influence, is well reflected with many definitive and commemorative series honoring the several Heroes of the struggle for Independence... Artigas never achieved the Honor of being President or other high Society rank , but his leadership was decisive to the appearance of Uruguay as an Independent Nation in 1825...He lived his last years in exile in Paraguay and died in 1850, but his name was brought to the status of National Hero , after the Independence...

This series is [Recess] printed by Waterlow , but this work, as I said above , is in my opinion very weak.. the Portrait design is very poor, with Artigas eyes being strangely undefined affecting enormously the final result here shown...the Engraver did also a poor work.. (it could be much better..) .. if We consider the Status that Waterlow has accustomed us , this must be one of the Worst works of the British company...this 'eye's' problem is so strange that I had to study a little deeper the Life of Artigas.. perhaps he had an eye problem, or an injury during his life, but that is not the case, and I discover that he had normal eyes like almost everybody.. So, why this Design??? It is really strange!..

This series is divided into two parts...the first, this one, is [recess] printed and the other is [Typo] printed... the first one has 6 stamps (it is completed) and the 2nd has 13 stamps, divided into Sub series (Types I and II) of 7 (Type I) and 6 (Type II)...

1910 "José Gervásio Artigas" (6) [Recess (Waterlow and Sons Limited, London)] Sc(187,...,192)

These are some stamps from the [Typo] series... we have to talk now about the two types available...the difference is easily recognized , even with these 400ppp scans...

Type 1] The background lines of the Central portrait are very close to each other..

Type 2] The Background lines of the Central Portrait have a larger distance among them...

There is yet another difference , that could exist in the two different types.. it has something to do with the position and size of the currency numerals.. but I have only stamps of one of these two types , so I don't show  or talk anything about this...

I have to tell that the Sc World catalog is insufficient , because it doesn't list almost any of the many color shades existing in this series... I will not present the codes for this series...

1912/1918 "José Gervasio Artigas" (13) [Typo] 

This is another of those Allegorical series , where we can see Liberty bringing Peace, in the form of an Olive branch , to Uruguay...nice stamps, with Designing work of  J. Debert...

1918 "Promulgation of the constitution" (2) [Litho (National Printing Works)] Sc(214,215)

Here is a complete series , also with [Recess] printing of Waterlow , but this time the work is good..

1920 "Honoring José Enrique Rodó" (3) [Recess (Waterlow and Sons, London)] Sc(235,...,237)

Some stamps from a 'Mercury' Series issued in 1921 and 1922.. The stamps are actually from two different series , both with the same beautiful design... one of them , the first one (represented here by the first 10 stamps..) has no Wmk and the 2nd presents a Wmk..the wmk is visible ( at least, parts of it...) without any operation, the design , as i said before , is very beautiful and detailed..

 I present some spare stamps and as usual I tried to find something different and out of the ordinary in the stamps... this time , the only thing I could find was this small brown spot near 'Mercury's' body.. it is a spot of the Label Background brown and not the dark brown of the body... it must be again some kind of printing problem, but it is there...

1921/1922 "Mercury" (12) [Litho (NPW)] Sc(238,239,240,242,246,247,248)(and spares..)

1922/1923 "Mercury" (6) [Litho (NPW)][Wmk] Sc(254,255,256,257,259)

a beautiful Ultramarine blue stamp that must be one of the first stamps celebrating Football.. it is from a series with 3 stamps issued in 1928...
1928 "Uruguayan Football Victories" (3) [Recess (A. Barreiro Y Ramos)] Sc(390)

This is a stamp honoring Juan Zorrilla De San Martin, know writer and Poet.. He was Uruguay's Ambassador in the court of Alfonso XIII, and I have a strange curiosity about this stamp...
Thursday morning I was working for my other blog in a post about José Zorilla de San Martin.. I searched a little bit in the Net and  found his father Juan..José Zorrilla was a very important sculptor and painter, and also designed two stamps for Uruguay in 1935 and 1961...then , Friday afternoon, I was preparing my stamps for this post and found this small stamp about his father.. just a curiosity....
1933 "Juan Zorrilla De San Martin" (1) [Recess (Waterlow and Sons , London)] Sc(446)

A very nice stamp honoring President Roosevelt.. it is from a series of 3 stamps that commemorates the Postal Congress of the Americas and Spain... so Roosevelt appears in the stamp because of his life as a Philatelist.. the stamp has a very good work of design and Engraving and it is again printed by Waterlow.
1953 "5th Postal congress of the Americas and Spain" (3) [Recess (Waterlow and Sons)] Sc(604)

two more stamps from Waterlow and from a series issued in 1954.. it is a large series with many different stamps and it is now in the Group of the "Most Wanted"..

1954 "Various Designs" (17) [Recess (Waterlow and Sons, London)] Sc(611,618)

I hope that this post could help you to know better Uruguayan Stamps... it was for me a very nice introduction and time well spent with another rich 'Philatelic World'  in South America...

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