Belgium (7th Post) Brazil (4th Post)

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To start this small post , I was thinking of presenting some King Leopold I stamps, but problems with the Wmk detection, led me to the necessity of presenting them in a future post... The truth is that I am not certain of the presence or not of a Wmk... there are 3 unperforated series with Wmk and 2 without it , but the designs in 4 of them are quite identical...without the presence of a clear Wmked stamp , I cannot extrapolate about the more or less difficulty of seeing the wmk without instruments, so I prefer not to present them...Last Wednesday I was minutes away from concluding the purchase of a modern Wmk detector, but my finances were advising me not to complete the deal... when I was reaching the final steps of the Internet process, the site crashed and I was unable to finish it... then I thought one more time and I decided that was not the right moment to buy this instrument... but I need it , badly..! I have hundreds of "small" definitive stamps (mainly from the Commonwealth..),waiting for a last look at the wmk's , and in most of the cases , it is keeping them to enter the collection...

This is the 1920 series dedicated to the Antwerp Olympic Games... the series was surcharged , each one of the stamps with 20c , in 1921...until that moment in time , this was the first incursion of ABNC in Belgium... previously , some influence of Waterlow took place with some famous pictorial series....the stamps are very well designed and engraved,beautiful frames also...

I want to highlight two small details , without any relevance (I'm sure...!), regarding the Surcharges... the 1st is related with the green 5c stamp, where a significant red dot appears at the right top of the stamp....the 2nd, a small break in the black line , presented in the red 10c stamp.... 

1921 "Surcharge on 1920 "Olympic Games, Antwerp"" (3) [Recess (ABNC)] Sc(140,....,142)

Here are two series where the charity efforts of Queen Astrid are well represented...in the top 3 stamps, the Royal Children are shown ( the middle brown stamp is damaged ) and in the others Queen Astrid appear holding Prince Baudouin( this last series was issued after her death)...

1935 "Queen Astrid's Appeal" (3) [Photo] Sc(B163,...,B165)

1937 "Queen Astrid Public Utility Fund" (8) [Photo] Sc(B189,...,B196)

here is a MS from the series where several views of the Koekelberg Basilica are shown...the tax  presented in these stamps was for aiding the building (Completion) Fund...

1938 "Koekelberg Basilica" (7+MS) [Des/Engr (Jean De Bast)][Recess] Sc(B221)

A series from 1941, with several representations of different statues...the series is incomplete , with one stamp missing (1.50F+25c), and the MS is also presented with the stamp in it's perforated form...

One important fact in the stamps of this and posterior periods is that the Country Label could be written as "Belgie/Belgique" or "Belgique/Belgie" , sometimes the two different forms coexists in the same series,as we can see in this and in the next series..

1941 "Winter Relief Fund / Statues" (10+MS) [Photo] Sc(B305,...,B309)(B311,...B315)

Here it is another incomplete series, with the 10F+30F stamp missing... the series has also a MS presented above... if we pick our last words from the previous series, we can see that the country label changes from one form to the other ,from stamp to stamp... but it isn't the only thing that changes .. with it,  the 'signatures'  of the Designer and engraver also changes from left to right  .. Another interesting fact is that the first 4 stamps (values less than 1F) are engraved and [Photo] printed, and the others are all [Recess] Printed...The MS seems to me ( and I have no data about it) like a [Photo] work...The portraits presented in these stamps are of famous Scientists...in the MS the Archduke Albert and Archduchess Isabella are represented...

1942 "Anti tuberculosis Fund / Famous Scientists" (9+MS) [Des (E. Renard)][Engr (M. Poortmaan)][Photo ( 10c to 60c)][[Recess (Others)]

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Now ,I have a last group of Brazilian Emperor D.Pedro II stamps to add to the collection...

in my last post with Brazil stamps, I have shown my first D. Pedro II stamps...I said I would be a dedicated collector of these stamps, so here are some more... from the first group, 3 of them (10r,50r, and 100r) are already in the collection and 3 others (20r,200r and 500r) are new entries...these are stamps from the 1st D.Pedro II series, a perforated one .

in this series , we have to highlight two types of 100r stamps:

As you can see by clicking the pictures,as always, the borders of the top left ornament are faint in type 1 and reinforced with a double line in type 2 ... we have also a faint  frame border line at the center , in type 1, and a reinforced double line in type 2... it is very clear in both pictures...these two types are valid for this series and in the next one , the first rouletted series of 1876/1877 ...

The 7th stamp is a new entry from the rouletted series of 1876/1877 that share the designs with the first perforated series of 1866/1868 ( the previous 6 stamps were from this series..)

the last two stamp are from  the 2nd rouletted series of 1878/1879 , with new designs of an older Emperor, with white beard... SG talks about two varieties of this stamp,one with mauve color and the other with lilac color... if we see the two stamps in detail, we will find that the first is darker than the 2nd ,but I don't think that they are different colors, just different shades from the same color... it is another of the great things about this group of series, the diversity of colors and shades...Today is one of those days when I feel sorry for not having neither a watermark detector or a Color Selector... this last one is very cheap and I will buy one briefly...

I think the next post will be again about a South or Central American country...perhaps a "debut" in the blog... I don't know yet..

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Indian Feudatory States [1st Post (Hyderabad)]

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This will be my first post about the stamps from the Indian Native States, and I will start with the Hyderabad stamps..

To talk a little about the history of this region, I must turn back to the days where the Mughal empire ruled.. this Empire was born under Central Asia Turkish-Mongols guidance that had it's roots deep into the Genghis Khan ( founder of the Mongol Empire) and Timur (founder of the Timurid dynasty) Era...The region became part of the Mughal Empire in the 1680s, however, in 1724, when the empire began to weaken, a Mughal official, Asif Jah, defeated a rival Mughal governor to seized control of the empire’s southern provinces declaring himself “Nizam-al-Mulk” of Hyderabad ; In 1798 Hyderabad was added to the British Empire as one of the princely states of British India and in 1948, the government of India , using Military force , incorporated Hyderabad into the Indian Union...

please read (Excellent site)

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Now, speaking in Philatelic Terms, these Indian states could belong to 2 different categories:

A) Feudatory states : where all subjects related with the emission of stamps are treated by the Local Government, so these states issued their own stamps...

B) Convention states : where there were some protocols with the Central British India Government , regarding the emission of stamps...so overprinted stamps from British India were issued for those states...

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Hyderabad was one of the Feudatory States , and the emission of stamps began in 1869...I don't have any stamp from the 1st and 2nd emissions (1869 and 1870), with two different designs , non pictorial stamps...Unfortunately I don't know any of the regional languages, because that is an important detail for the correct understanding of these stamps (there are many native language labels in these first Hyderabad series, and we should be able to read them..!)

I will start this presentation with stamps from the 3rd series, issued in 1871/1909....it is yet a non pictorial series, but a very interesting one with lots of hot spots, color shades, errors, etc...

I want to say that all the stamps of this series are in very "bad shape", but  I have to show them.. it could be useful to someone, and above all they are my own stamps..!

in the picture above some "hot Spots" are shown, but I don't have any of them to present to you... so the stamp showed is a normal stamp, and the following explanations will help you to understand what is at stake..

A) if The small dot presented above the central inscription is missing...

B) if the 2nd leftmost dot is missing

C) if the top dot of the Circular Central Label is missing 

D) if The leftmost part of the Circular Central label is missing (in Blue)

 

 [Type 1] the Central Circular shape has a circular frame with ornaments (small circles)  and above that , another circular line (in the stamp's color) ; the ornaments touch the external  frame line .. 

[Type 2] The ornaments (small circles) don't touch the central external frame leaving some empty spaces.







I only have stamps from the first 3 values of this series (0.5A,1A,2A) , but I can say that the designs are altered from value to value.. not only the external frames and ornaments change but also the lined background of the Circular Center , chaotic in the 0.5A, horizontal in the 1A and Horizontally waved in the 2A...

Now lets focus on the next important subject related with this stamp... ; there are 3 main perforations to search for... 11.5, 8 or 9 and 12.5... my stamps are all 12.5 perforated and we could say that these are the least expensive and the most common among them...

for these 0.5 A stamps with 12.5 perf , the catalogs talk about  5 possible colors, plus several shades : red brown, orange, orange brown, brick red, rose red and the Magenta error...among the first group of 8 stamps above , there are several of theses colors...
The only one 1A stamp I present is in lousy condition, but the other I had was in even worst condition, with a great part of the perforation missing... I decided to present only this one. I think it is the drab (dull brown) variety ... 
The 4 2A stamps present us , the blue Green (1st), the Pale (Yellow) Green (2nd), the Deep (Yellow) Green (3rd) and the Deep Green (4th)...I must tell you that the first 3 2A stamps are from type 2 and the last one from type 1...
1871/1909 Series (Plates by Bradbury wilkinson)[Recess (Hyderabad)] Sc(4,5,6)


[Left] in 1905 this design was used for the first time.. we can see that  at a first view it seems identical to the previous one, but  with 4 main differences: the label "Postage" at the top, instead of "Post Stamp" , the inscriptions and design in the Central Circle ,an empty central circle background and differences in some of the labels ...this is an 1909/1911 official stamp, an overprinted version of this stamp...
[Right] this design appeared for the first time in 1915 with the top inscription "Post & Receipt".. it is also an overprinted version..

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Let us now go to the 1931 series, that contains non pictorial and pictorial stamps...some of the designs are very good and beautiful, but I only have two of the values to present ....

The overall design of this 4p is very beautiful and well engraved by De La Rue...I want to say that a strong Turkish influence exists in this stamp, with the Crescent Moon and star in prominent position...  it is a great disadvantage the fact that I cannot read the inscriptions, because it should  be of great help in all of these stamps...we can see that even in these black stamps, there are some different shades, perhaps due to the different printings...
Another fact related to these inscriptions is that in the Muslim world there are great Calligraphy specialists, even now in our days ( some of them are also stamp Designers in the countries of North Africa) , and it is perhaps one of the oldest Arts taught in the very old Muslim Universities...You can see the responsibility that the British engravers of De La Rue and other companies had when they were doing their engraver work , doing something that others learn for a long time and where the position of lines and dots is essential and the minor fault had enormous consequences..This was "the  precision work"  by Excellency if We can say this from the already highly detailed work of an engraver...the stamps of the 2nd group are Official stamps, overprinted in 1934/1944...

These are my 1A stamps, representing the Charminar

As you can see several shades of brown are presented, and many more exists...the details of this beautiful design are more or less visible in each one of the shades possible...the two last stamps are again Official stamps overprinted and issued in 1934/1944...

1931/1948  "Views of Hyderabad" (9) [Plates by De La rue][Recess (Hyderabad)] Sc(39,41)

1934/1944 "Overprinted stamps from the 1931 'Views of hyderabad' Series"  Sc(O46,O48)

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I don't known nothing about these stamps.. they are revenue stamps, but I only found one photo in Ebay, but nothing about the issue date or any other technical data... there is no information in the catalogs, of course....if you know something, please release me from my ignorance..!

It is the end of this first and short post about these very interesting Hyderabad stamps... AH..!(please take a look at the rightmost stamp above , and to the top right corner's frame... something happened there...I almost forgot to talk about this...)

SeeYou

Guatemala (1st Post)

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Starting this post about Guatemala is a happy moment for me , because another country entered my Collection... Yes,finally I have some stamps from Central America... Until now, only Mexico was "aboard"... This lot I bought recently has many stamps from these Countries,and particularly from their Classic Periods...

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The Independence of Guatemala was declared in 1847, after a brief existence as a part of the Republic of the United Provinces of Central America (1823/1838).

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The two first series of Guatemala , present us designs with coats of Arms... they were printed in Paris and London...

We can say that the ABNC direct influence in the printings starts in 1875 and goes until 1898, when Waterlow takes the primary role in the Printings, along with occasional printings of other British Companies and of ABNC...this period ends in the beginning of the 30's with the appearance of local printings, but another period that goes from 1935 to 1945 starts , this time with solo influence from the Dutch company Enschedé and Sons and its [Photo] Printed stamps...

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These are the first stamps of Guatemala... it is one of the first times I have the nº1 of all catalogs... the design represents the country's Coat of Arms... the famous Quetzal is not presented yet ,because it was during this same year, in the presidency of  Miguel García Granados that this Bird was taken as National Symbol...
1871 "Coat of Arms" (4) [Engr (F. Joubert)][Typo (Paris)] Sc(1,4)

This series of 4 stamps, show us in the vignette a portrait of a Native Indian over a lined background...a more complex frame , with plant branches and fruit ornaments born above the value and currency labels, below the vignette...and now we enter in the realm of the Unexpected...the bad quality of the printing is notorious and the engraving is not  a master piece...well, who would say that we would find , here in Guatemala, another one of the works of Eugene Mouchon..?!!?.. Yes , the engraving is part of his work but I don't have any data about the designer ...If we compare this Work with others he made 20 years later in Europe, we surely could say that this was not one of his best moments..! in my opinion, the face of the Native has a poor engraving work, specially in the region surrounding the eyes.. it is not a well accomplished work...That's Life..some time better, some times worst..! I spent some time , trying to find Mouchon's name somewhere in the illustration,but I could not find it...some crude forgeries were made of all the 4 values...perhaps these two stamps are simply forgeries!!

1878 "Native Indian" (4) [Engr (Eugene Mouchon)][Typo (Imprimerie Centrale des Chemins de Fer, Paris)] Sc(11,12)
   

This design was used for the first time in 1879, with the issue of two stamps of 1/4r and 1r ... the 1st of the 6 stamps I present is from this 1879 series...You can see that , together with some differences in the frames, the label in the oval frame is different from the other 5.. in fact, this one presents the label "Correos De Guatemala" and the others "Union Postal Universal Guatemala"...

1879 "Quetzal" (2) [Recess (ABNC)] Sc(15)

The main reason that led me to present individual scans of these 5 stamps is a game I want you to play... Just find the differences between the 5 frames.. I know that they seem identical, but all of them are different from each other...

1881 "Quetzal" (5) [Recess (ABNC)] Sc(21,...,25)

This is a series of 14 stamps, commemorating the Central American Exposition  that has taken place in the Capital city of Guatemala in 1897...The design is complex ,with many interesting points to the Topic collectors...there is a Steamship, a train, four Coats of Arms and flags (El Salvador, Honduras, Nicarágua and Costa Rica) , and a portrait of President Barrios, side by side with the already familiar Quetzal...the Design was work of Manuel Maria Girón ,an Architect who became famous in his country with the construction of the First Minerva Temple in the city of Guatemala..the temple's construction ended in 1901 , so a picture of the recent temple appeared in the 1902 series below.(6c stamp) [ it is also curious to know the history of the man behind the strange re-appearance of these temples ,back from the Roman Era, in Guatemala...]
1897 "Central American Exposition, Guatemala City" (14) [Des (Manuel Maria Girón)][Recess (ABNC)] Sc(60,61,62,63,73)

A beautiful series Engraved and printed by Waterlow and Sons...the series has 11 different illustrations, with different frames... SG talks about a great number of Color shades and this fact must be absolutely correct , because the only spare stamp I have from this series, is from a different shade.. (note the 12.5c stamps..).. Another interesting fact is the possibility of perforations between 12 and 16....

Let us now focus on the engraving , to tell that all the buildings and non living things have a good or very good work...the same thing does not occur when we talk of the human and animal figures... Waterlow have always been a very successful Company in what concerns the designs, engravings and printings.. We could say that we get used to a high Level of quality in their Work, but unfortunately , the 2c and the 12.5c are examples of what we don't want to see in a stamp...the 2c design is good (except the face)  , but the engraving is so bad and banal that we think "How, What happened here??!!..".. in the 12.5 ,we find not only this very weak engraving but also a terrible drawing of the Human faces (they look like Zombie creatures with empty eyes..!).. so we have here two bad examples , like stains in a white robe, of the work of Waterlow... In the contrary , the Frames are simply Excellent, all of them!!

1902/1907 "UPU/Historical Moments and Famous buildings and monuments" (11) [Recess(Waterlow and Sons Limited, London)] Sc(114,...,123)

The period from 1924 to 1929 is characterized by a succession of re-engravings of former motifs by 3 of the main British Printing Companies... some of the designs used in the 1902 series (above) are used, together with some new ones and some new portraits...first , we have this 1924 series , with Printing and Engraving or Re-Engraving by Perkins Bacon & Co. Ld, London....the series has 9 stamps,but I only have 5 of them to present...
1924 "Portraits and monuments" (9) [Engr (J.J. Harrison)(H. Scott)][Recess (Perkins Bacon & Co. Ltd, london)] Sc(212,213,217,214,218)

The 3rd of these series was Engraved and printed by T. De La Rue & Co. Ltd, London...the complete series has 12 stamps and unfortunately I only have 8 to present...I will not show any of the stamps of the 2nd of these series , printed by Waterlow ,because this post has shown already many stamps,and so I will leave the presentation for a future post....
1929 "Portraits and Monuments" (12) [Recess (T. De La Rue & Co. Ltd, London)] Sc(233,...,238)(240,242)

I couldn't lose this opportunity to find some differences between engravings,because I've got some of the designs , engraved by 2 or even 3 different companies : let us see:
(A different color in the Central vignette corresponds to the original from 1902, with engraving and printing by Waterlow...)

in this case , I also want to propose you one more easy task : finding  the Major difference (effectively, a different detail...) between the two frames...(it is very easy...)

This time , there are two Major differences...

Well, I've had much fun doing this post, and that is a good thing...

Seeyou