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Today I will present a small selection of stamps from Venezuela...the time frame involved goes from 1872 to 1910, and in my opinion this is another great way to spend your time ! Yes,we will find the influence of ABNC  and above all the omnipresence of Simon Bolivar , not only in the classics but throughout the time...You will see that the first stamps I will present have strange and out of the ordinary characteristics, and that the always agreeable presence of a large amount of [Recess] stamps is a fact....

Let's start with some of the classics...

The first thing we will notice , is that no country label is presented in these stamps...in fact , we see the currency label below the vignette and the word "ESCUELAS" above it... these are Revenue stamps intended to collect funds for the construction and maintenance of Primary Schools..the word itself means "Schools" in Spanish...the stamps present us a portrait of Simon Bolivar and they have no perforation... the next fact to call out our attention is the pen cancellation's.. we have to know that from 1863 to 1870 Venezuela lived a state of Civil War, and these "Escuelas" stamps were used as Postal stamps until 1911 in some of the remote areas of the country...stamps with postal cancellation worth many, many more and all the values we can find in a catalog are just for these pen Cancelled stamps... the real surprise, only detected in a scan or using a magnifying lens , is that below the pen cancellation ,an overprint exists..!!.. in very small letters ,two overlapping lines repeat themselves, with the inferior one inverted... (it is very strange, and I have a scan with 1200ppp, just to see this.)...

This is a scan of the first stamp, all the 3 of them have the same overprint...Now an important point, that is a major distinction between different  issues...

1) are there just one overprint or two identical overprints in the same stamp?'

You will see that this is very important,because it allow us to center our attention in a smaller period of time and in a smaller range of  issues...

2) Does the stamp have a top overprint  saying "Bolivar Sucre Miranda" and a foot overprint saying "Decreto de Abril de 1870" ?

2a) Does the stamp have just a Central overprint saying "Decreto de 27 de Junio de 1870"?

The answers are 1No,2No 2aYes so we can easily see that our stamps are from the 2a issue and now we can say that all the 3 stamps are from the 1872 issue ... [ in this point , SG present us two different Printing Houses , differing mainly in the quality of the impression... ] in my opinion, this impression is good ,but the 2r stamps present a pale color ,a pale red or rose red so the ornaments are not very clear,but in a closer view we see that  all the details are present ..the 1r stamp is deep red or rose...

1872 "ESCUELAS / Simon Bolivar" (15) [Litho] Sc(28a,28a,27)

 I said this before and i'm going to say it again ... For me a good lot of stamps is one that represents well one or more periods of a country's Philately...to find one or more stamps of each one of the most important series of a particular period is something I enjoy very much because it allows me to know some of the history, the design evolution, the incidence of a particular Printing mode , the importance of a Printing company , of an Artist, of a Personality, etc.. I think this Venezuela lot is one of those.. it is very complete and give's me at least a stamp of each of the main series,and that is Wonderful..!! in this case ,i have other 3 stamps, from two other series, and something I can extrapolate immediately is the similarity of these stamps with those of the same US period... Until the 40's we are at  the Venezuela's ABNC period , so it is normal that stamps from the 1880 decade are similar to those issued in the US at the same time..
[CENTER STAMP]   the center stamp is well accomplished,good design ,good engraving and again Simon Bolivar....
 1882 "Simon Bolivar" (5) [Recess (ABNC)] Sc(75)
[LEFT/RIGHT STAMPS] both from the same series from 1882... the stamps are very beautiful and we  have different frames and labels for different values...Now I will invite you to do a small exercise , involving our ABNC talk above...at our right , I show You a US stamp issued in 1882, at the same time that these two stamps were issued... let us look at it and at the 25r orange stamp above...You can see some marked similarities... the single and simple central oval doted frame, the external background, the spacing of the lines, larger in the exterior part of the background, diminishing as we walk to the center, etc.. I think the stamps are somehow identical in their general construction, the basic lines of the design are the same,..it is just 'coincidence' , I'm sure (..??) , so let's end this small conversation...
1882 "ESCUELAS / Simon Bolivar" (8) [Recess (ABNC)] Sc(79,81)

 from 1892 on , an important fact to know is that every stamp with the label "CORREOS" is destined to Foreigner correspondence... others with "ESCUELAS" or "INSTRUCCION" are for inland correspondence...
[LEFT] stamp from a 1893 'CORREOS' series.. another ABNC product with good quality...
1893 "CORREOS/ Simon Bolivar" (5) [Recess (ABNC)] Sc(125)
[Right] a beautiful, beautiful stamp,!!..notice that the portraits used in these 4 last series are the same , with Bolivar looking right and/or left.. the original series with this 'INSTRUCCION' (Education) design is from 1893 but this particular stamp is from 1901,a "New colors" series... I want to talk now of a major , major disagreement between SG and Sc catalogs... Sc catalog tell us and I will quote " After July 1, 1895, stamps inscribed “Escuelas” or “Instruccion” were no longer available for postage" , but SG tell us that "stamps with the inscription 'ESCUELAS' or 'INSTRUCCION' are revenue stamps intended to collect  a tax to defray the cost of state Primary Schools..Until 1911 they were also valid for Postal use in the absence of ordinary stamps, which often happened in the more remote post offices.."... because of this, I have no Sc code, only SG code...
1901 "INSTRUCCION / Simon Bolivar" (9) [Recess (ABNC)] SG(227)

This is a 1896 series ,known for the high quantity of forgeries existent..these stamps present a relatively high cv , when compared with other Venezuelan stamps, so the existence of forgeries is comprehensible... the catalogs tell us that the original paper is thin,semi transparent , very white and the gum is shiny and crackled... when we talk of the papers , these stamps all comply in two of the characteristics : the paper is thin and with some degree of transparency,but none of these stamps have a shiny glue... the yellow 25c stamp has an error in the foot label, and this is normal when we are talking of forgeries, so I think in the best of my options, I could have an original stamp (the 50c rose red),some of them I really don't know and one is fake (25c-- if you notice it is the only one with perfect perforation and limits...)... I present two 50c stamps,because one is red and the other is rose red (SG makes this distinction, not presented in Sc)

1896 "80th Death Anniversary of Gen. Francisco Antonio Gabriel de Miranda" (5) [Litho (Caracas)] Sc(169,...,173)

I think this is the right moment to introduce a piece of history taken from an old SG catalog , where we can see that those were strange and violent days also in Venezuela, with a Civil War happening...

A nice group of stamps , one more time , and after some of the Civil War issues, work of ABNC..the 5c stamp is missing yet..

1904 "General José De Sucre" (6) [Recess (ABNC)] Sc(232,...,236)

also from 1904, a 'Instruccion' stamp, valid for current inland postage...

1904 "Instruccion / Simon Bolivar" (8) [Recess (ABNC)] Sc() SG(318)

This is a stamp from 1905 , from a series commemorating the revolt of 1889 that is described in the text above... at the center of the stamp, President Cipriano Castro is represented ... it is again a commemorative stamp resulting of inside work and not of foreign companies...

1905 "6th Anniversary of General Castro's Revolt of 23 of May 1899" (3) [Litho (Litografia Del Comercio, Caracas)] Sc(246)

A Beautiful stamp celebrating the Independence...

1910 "Centenary of the Independence" (1) [Des (Pablo W. Hernandez)][Recess (ABNC,NY)] Sc(249)

Well, today's post had a small number of stamps , but I exceeded myself in some talking about non essential subjects... but what is done is done, and I need to move on... In a few weeks I will have another post about Venezuela's stamps, starting in 1910 (where I finished this time..) and hopefully with already some new Classic entries (I became a fan of these classic stamps..)

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the Old and the New

New Entries

I decided to continue with the presentation of some US stamps, but this time mixed with some other new entries...

Two beautiful stamps from Greece, representing "The Tragedy of War"... there You can see a soldier dying in battle and a Feminine figure, that I think represents "Mother Greece", carrying out  the task of taking care of the young Orphan and his mother... it is also significant that the figure presents a large Cross in her chest, and this could represent the role of the Orthodox Church both in the state and in the Social cohesion of the Country... it is a series from 1914 and the stamps present a very good and clear [Litho] printing.... 

1914 "National Welfare Fund" (2) [Litho (Aspiotis Bros)] Sc(RA1,RA2)

As we know Geopolitics of the Balkans region is very complex, full of wars , disputes and Political and Religious Instability until our days ... all the countries of this region had invasion stamps, stamps of the invader, etc, and these stamps in particular are from a region that in our days belongs to Albania...Historically North Epirus  was heavily populated by Greek people and was under Greek control from 1912 to 1914...History is something that never stops and the events of 1914 in that  region led to the uprising of the Greek Population of North Epirus, who became an Autonomous Region in November 1914...curiously ,this series is exactly from that time and reflects all these changes that were taking place...the first two stamp issued (10l and 25l) have the Label "Epirus" and all the other 6 values have  a different label saying "Autonomous Epirus"...I only have 3 stamps of the 8 available, but fortunately we can see this difference... These are undoubtedly stamps full of history and to a better comprehension of all that was happening , I can advertise a little and say to you that if you collect Greek stamps You should have the 3 volume Greece Catalog of Karamitsos ... it is one of the best Catalogs I have and all these events are explained with great detail and clarity....

I could not find the Scott codes for "North Epirus" (they are there, just don't know where..) ,so I don't present them...

    1914 "Infantrymen" (8) [Litho (Aspiotis Bros,Corfu)] 

What can I say about these engraved series from Russia..??."I Love them..!!" .. the subject is a little over used during the years,but it is a comprehensible effort to maintain the cohesion of the complex map of what was Russia in those days..these stamps belong to the 1961 2nd and 1962 3rd series of  the Main series "Capitals of Autonomous Republics"... they were all designed by N. Krugov, but Engraved by several different engravers....

1961 "Capitals of Autonomous Republics 2nd Series" (7) [Des (N. Krugov)][Engr (I.Mokrousov 1)(V.Smirnov 2,5)(I. Sapronov 3)(T.Nikitina 4)][Recess] 

Well,let us start to show the US stamps I promised in the beginning of the post... I like very much these portrait series, and even more when they are designed by several Artists...these are stamps from the "Great Americans" series from 1980/1985... You don't have to be a US collector to know that there were across time , several President Issues, some of them really precious stamps, not only Artistically but also Economically..these series we are now talking about are basically the some thing but with people that one way or another distinguished  themselves during their life... 

there are various aspects we should note in this series... some of the values have perforation 11 and others 10.5x11... it is possible that some stamps appear without "tagging" , but this aspect is clearly detailed in all catalogs...the complete series has 26 stamps,so You know that 5 of them are still missing (I think that now that the classification is done, I will end these two series next month...)

1980/1985 "Great Americans" (26) [Des (Bernie Fuchs 1)(Bert Silverman 2)(Ward Brackett 3,12,20)(Richard Sparks 4,7,8,17)(Paul Calle 5)(Dennis Lyall 6,14)(Robert Anderson 9)(Brad Holland 10)(Bradbury Thompson 11)(Jim Sharpe 13)(Christopher Calle 15,16,18,21)(Roy H. Anderson 19)][Recess] 

stamps from the 1986/1994 "Great Americans" series...

1986/1994 "Great Americans" (28) [Des (Ron Adair 1,2)(Christopher Calle 3,4,5,11,12)(Juan Maldonado 6)(Robert Anderson 7,15)(Jack Rosenthal 8)(Dennis Lyall 9)(Richard Sparks 10)(Bradbury Thompson 13)(John Berkey 14)(Tomm Broad 17)(Arthur Lidov 18)][Recess] 

Great, Great engraving....

1973 "Harry Truman Issue" (1) [Design (Bradbury Thompson)][Recess] Sc(1499)

Great Art work to represent a Great Man...

1979 "Albert Einstein Issue" (1) [Des (Bradbury Thompson)][Recess] Sc(1774)

These are stamps of individual series, so they do not belong to the same series.. I show them together because I think they are intimately related... 

The place of "old People" is with their families and not in places prepared to segregate them..We all must live together..! We all have a place in life, even in old Age....

1979 "International Year of the Child" (1) [ Des (Paul Calle)][Recess] Sc(1772)

1982 "Aging Together" (1) [Des (Paul Calle)][Recess] Sc(2011)

Next time I'll have stamps from Venezuela...

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Employees

New Entries

From time to time I need to make a post with US stamps, because I have hundreds of them to classify,from very different time frames...As we all know US stamps are among the most collected stamps in the world, so they are almost all very common (exception made for some of the classics, that are real "pearls"...)...the selection I made today,bring us some series from the beginning of the XX century and a group of commemorative stamps  from the 40's ,50's and 60's...to end the post  ,I have a group of sheets from the 70's and 80's...there is not much to tell about these stamps, but I will try to say something when I feel the moment is adequate... 

 This first series to be presented is from 1907...it is about the Jamestown Exposition...in previous posts I have showed other stamps,about Expositions in other parts of the country,trying to promote the Natural beauties or Industrial Capabilities of those regions...
The 1c stamp show us Captain John Smith,the 2c the Founding of Jamestown and the 5c the Native Indian Pocahontas...

1907 "Jamestown Exposition" (3) [Des (G. Rose and Edward M. Hall][Engr ((Marcus. W. Baldwin)][Recess] Sc(328,...,330)

These are stamps from the 1913 'Panamá-Pacific Exposition' series..this exposition celebrates the end of the construction of the Panamá Canal and the Rehabilitation of S. Francisco after the Powerful 1906 Earthquake...represented in the stamps are Vasco Nunez De Balboa, the Panamá Canal , the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Discovery of  S. Francisco Bay...the design of the frames is identical in all the 4 stamps and this is new if we look to the previous series presented  , where each stamp has it's own frame design...originally a yellow 10c stamp was issued but the design was not clearly seen , so a new orange stamp was then issued to replace it ...

1913 "Panamá-Pacific Exposition" (5) [Des (C. Aubrey Huston)][Engr (J. Eissler 1c)(Marcus Baldwin 2c)(L. C. Schofield 5c)(Marcus Baldwin 10c)][Recess] Sc(397,...,400)

These are parcel stamps issued in 1912/1913 .. the complete series is designed by C. Aubrey Houston and engraved by several different engravers....I have many spare stampsbut I decided not to present them .. I could have better centered stamps (aspect with great importance for these stamps...) but I present those who have the design in clear conditions (without larger interference from Postmarks...)... the stamps present wmk but it is of very difficult  'naked eye' visibility...the higher values are still missing....

1912/1913 "Parcel Stamps" (12) [Des (C. Aubrey Houston)][Engr ( J. Eissler 1c,2c,5c, Marcus W. Baldwin 1c,4,, Edward M. Hall 1c, 2c,3c,4c,5c,15c,20c,25c,  E. Myers 4c ,5c,15c,25c,  J. Benzing 3c,4c, 15c,20c,  H. Charlton 3c,4c,20c, 25c  C. Chalmers 5c,10c, L. S. Schofield 15c,][Recess] Sc(Q1,...,Q9)

 

 

In this small group of Commemorative stamps,I like to highlight the two 1969 Space stamps...Reaching Moon Landing was a great achievement for Humanity and these stamps became important stamps...of course,they are also very beautiful...!

1) 1948 "100th Anniversary of the American Turner's Society" (1) [Des (A. Meissner)][Engr (A. W. Dintaman)][Recess] Sc(979)

2) 1949 "Bicentenary of Alexandria, Virginia" (1) [Des ()][Engr ()][Recess] Sc(C40)

3) 1949 "First Gubernatorial Election in Puerto Rico" (1) [Des (C. R. Chickering)][Engr (G. A. Gundersen)][Recess] Sc(983)

4) 1952 "Women's Services Commemoration" (1) [Des (W. K. Schrage)][Engr (C. A. Brooks)][Recess] Sc(1013)

5) 1955 "Armed Forces Reserve" (1) [Des (Charles R. Chickering)][Engr (C.A. Brooks)][Recess] Sc(1067)

6) 1961 "Kansas Statehood Centenary" (1) [Des (Charles R.Chickering)][Engr (M. D. Fenton)][Recess] Sc(1183)

7) 1969 "Moon Flight of "Apollo8"" (1) [Des (Leonard E. Buckley)][Engr (E. R. Felver)][Recess] Sc(1371)

8) 1969 "Air Mail/First Man on the Moon" (1) [Des (Paul Calle)][Recess/Litho] Sc(C76)

9) 1970 "150th Anniversary of Fort Snelling,Minnesota" (1) [Des (David K. Stone)][Engr (E. P. Archer)][Recess] Sc(1409)

Now I have a small part of a sheet with all the stamps from the 1973 series "Postal Employees"... the stamps are [Photo] Printed and they have a nice design with plenty of color... they have the particularity of being printed in the back, each one of them with a different text...

1973 "Postal Service Employees" (10) [Des (E. Vebell)][Photo] Sc(1489,....,1498)

These are important stamps in the History of the US Postal Service , because they were the first "Mini-Sheets" to be issued in the United states...35 deceased US presidents are represented in the stamps...
1986 " "Ameripex 86" International Stamp Exhibition, Chicago (2nd issue). U.S. Presidents." (36) [Des (Jerry Dadds)][Litho/Recess] Sc(2216a,....,,2219i)

I had more 14 stamps prepared for today's post , but I think this way it is enough..
Hope you like the post as it is...

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