USA [12th Post ]

New Entries

Today was the day when I should be presenting my stamps of the 1922 Portrait series...but after many time spent with the classification of 246 stamps, I've still had some "loose ends"... there are stamps that don't fit in any of the categories listed in the catalogs or that just fit in one of those where the very expensive stamps "belong" ,so I decided to stop and wait more time before doing the post... instead,I've got some stamps from the 1932 "Washington Bicentennial" , an easier series to classify.....

I want to talk now about something that is troubling me for a long time... As You now I've got two blogs,this one and the other about stamp Designers... lately, I am spending much more time with this blog and I've been somehow careless with the other... in my opinion, the Research about stamp Designers it is much more important than the activity I have with this blog... the fact is that the posts seem to be increasingly larger and demanding much more work .... in order to give more attention to the stamp designers blog , I decided to decrease the size of the posts of 1967Stamps, to avoid having to simply finish it..! Yes, finish it.. because I don't have time for two such demanding blogs, and the other is as I said much more Important, not only for me , but I think for all those who collect stamps.... 

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This beautiful series commemorating the 200 years of the birth of George Washington, has  12 different designs , showing Washington in different parts of his life... the designs were made according to the works of 7 different Painters or Sculptors...to know :

1) after painting by Charles Wilson Peale

2) after bust by Jean-Antoine Houdon

3) after painting by Charles Wilson Peale

4) after painting by Gilbert Stuart

5) after painting by Charles Wilson Peale

6) after painting by Charles Peale Polk

7) after painting by Charles Wilson Peale

8) after painting by John Trumbull

9) after painting by John Trumbull

10) after crayon drawings of Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin

11)  after painting of William Williams

12) after painting by Gilbert Stuart

The series was printed using a Rotary Press Pinter, the stamps present the perforation 11x10.5 and were issued in 01/01/1932...

just look at the 6th stamp... it is very
different from the others.. not only the color, but the printing in general...it is also well centered.

There is not much to tell about this series...As in almost all the US stamps since the first issues of the 1850's, we must have in mind that a stamp with a good centering is always more valuable than others..I will present in the end , the stamp I think is the best centered I have among these ..there are 4 or 5 plate flaws and minor errors to now of , when we are dealing with this series... I will not present them because I don't have any stamp representative... 
however, I have a 3c stamp that has an error that is commonly know as "Broken top frame" ... it is an error that can appear to us with several different forms... the stamp I have has a "short top frame" and it matches one of the possible configurations of that error...

As You can see the top frame ends before it reaches the left external frame ,so there is a gap between them,, , they do not touch each other, as they should ....it is an error that don't give the stamp an extra boost in it's value , so it continues to value almost zero... the image presented at the right is an amplification of the desired part of the stamp....
I know that some of the stamps are not in the desired conditions, specially the 9c stamp.. I shouldn't post it  but it is the only one I've got an makes the series completed... 
Another aspect I wish to highlight is one that is often forgotten... we should always take a good look to the stamps we are classifying...if possible , in our modern days, always take scans of all the stamps, even the spares and the most insignificant and common ones... that is why I think it is important when we are studying a classic series , to have a large number of stamps of each value... the fact is we can be surprised by the appearance of unknown printing errors, unknown plate flaws , new shades, etc.... I am saying this by experience,because in the last days  I have taken scans of many stamps and I've been surprised two or three times... here is one example taken from one of the most studied series in the world..

it is a Franklin 1c from the 1922 series, that in a first view it is the most common of all stamps, nothing to distinguish it from the others, except the small plate flaw it presents... You can see it right from it's birth (1st Magnification ) above the white bottom frame below the "N" of "CENT" and reappearing between the "N" and the white ground of the label "Franklin".. it pop up again above the "i" of "Franklin"  and ( 2nd Magnification ) crosses some of the engraving lines to reappear again in Franklin's curled Hair..then it crosses some of the portrait background ( 3rd Magnification ) to find and damage the inner circular frame and  part of the "S" of "POSTAGE"  ( it then continues ,but I think this is enough...) ...
You can say, what do I gain with this stamp..??. I say ,nothing!!! I just have a stamp that is not so common after all !!!... I like discovering small stupid things like this one..It don't make me richer , but it sure makes me a Happier person !!!

AND THE BEST CENTERED STAMP IS : 

[ ...In my opinion ,we must let our senses talk...they will choose the best stamp... The top and bottom margins are OK,but  the right and left margins are not proportional .. This is the best stamp  but not a great stamp..!] [just to say that in my old SG catalog this is one of the first series where centering doesn't give an extra value bonus...]

well,this is the new format I want to introduce to this blog...more and smaller posts... 
 just talking about one or two series or something Philatelic that is troubling me.... I think it is the best I have to do...

SeeYou

USA [ 11th Post ]

New Entries

When I thought in one more post with US stamps, I was thinking again in the 1922 definitive series...I have to start looking to these early series, because I have plenty of stamps from this period.. but it requires a lot of hard work and dedication, and in the last days I am feeling somehow "distracted", I cannot focus my attention in anything in particular.. it is a strange feeling and I hope it will pass in the nearby future...so , something more "light" was in order, and I decided to look for an important group of series that was issued between 1981 and 1995--- the Transport Issue --- ; in the 2nd part of the post , a small one , I have some of the stamps related to the American Revolution Bicentennial...I will not present the main 1976 series, but some of the other related series issued in previous and posterior years...a great part of these stamps are [Photo] printed , so in my opinion it is a big "Negative" point...

Before starting with the Transport Issue, I wish to present a small series of 5 stamps about American windmills.. As we all know, Windmills are a popular and Global topic, with series about them issued in many countries throughout the years...

(1)

You can see that the first stamp is presented in a smaller form , because it is a pair, and ... you know, these image bonding process I arranged , it is not yet perfect!!! the stamps are engraved by K. Kippermann and A. Saavedra (perhaps one in the vignettes and other in the lettering, I don't know....) and the overall result is a beautiful little series with also nice designs from Robert Sharpe...
1980 "American Windmills" (5) [Des (Robert sharpe)][Engr (K.Kippermann)(A.Saavedra)][Recess] Sc(1738,...,1742)
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The "Transports Issue" is a group of 4 main series and some reprints of previous designs with small differences between them...

The series present us designs of the evolution of transports from 1800 until the 30's and 40's of XX Century...the stamps are all of small size , with engraved pictures , [Recess] printed...

(2)

all the engraving seem particularly simple, but we have examples of excellent engraver work in the 17c stamp, for example...I don't have any of these series in it's complete form, and in this case , this first series has 14 stamps , so I have 5 of them missing (all of them will be bought briefly...) ; you can see that  some of the stamps are pre-Cancelled..Scott Specialized gives some information about these marks... in this case, these are "empty" pre-cancellations (untagged) made by BEP...

1981/1984 "Transports 1st Series" (14) [Des (David Stone 1c,2c,5.9c,10.9c,18c)(W.Brooks 3c)(J.Schriever 9.3c,20c)(C.Jacquays 17c) [Recess] Sc(1897,1897a,1898,1901,1903,1904,1906,1907,1908)

(3)

Here are some stamps from this 2nd series , issued in 1985/1987... again , some BEP Pre-Cancellations are visible and all the series has similar quality than the previous one..

1985/1987 "Transports 2nd Series" (14) [Des (William Bond, 4.9c,8.5c,14c,25c)(James Schlyer 6c,8.3c,10.1c,12.5c)(David Stone 5.5c)][Recess] Sc(2124,2125,2126,2128,2129,2130,2133,2134,2136)

(4)

I have only two stamps from this 3 rd series of the Transports Issue... the series was issued between 1987 and 1988...

1987/1988 "Transports (3rd Series)" (12) [Des (Richard Schlecht 3c)(Dan Romano 20c)][Recess] Sc(2252,2263)

(5)

All stamps of this group of series, are unperforated in one or two sides..they are what we commonly call "Coil stamps"...in the first 3 series the perforation is 10 VERT , but in this last series it turns to 9.5 VERT....

1990/1995 "Transports (4th Series)" (12) [Des (Susan Sanford 5c Carmine)(Paul Calle 5c RedBrown)(David Stone 10c)(Robert Brangwynne 23c)][Recess] Sc(2452,2453,2457,2464,2466)

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The next section of this post is dedicated to a group of series commemorating the Bicentennial of the American Revolution.... this group has it's central point in 1976 with the issue of a 4 sheets , each one with several stamps, at the Interphil 76 that took place in Philadelphia...I personally don't have these sheets , but the Philatelic commemorations of the Bicentennial started in the 4th July 1971 with the issue of a stamp with the Emblem of the bicentennial Commission...

I will start this small review with the 1973 series about the Colonial Communications...

(6)

This series is not completed , and it has the particularity of being [Recess] (the first stamp presented)  and [Litho/Recess] (the other two stamps presented) printed.. in the last two stamps, we can see the usual wrong displacements of the yellow color specially in the house's roof and in the arm of the man that is picking the Gun,  and of the Green color in the hands of the horse rider...I don't really understand why these printing facts occur, but they are very common in these [Litho/Recess] stamps... nice stamps...

1973 "American Revolution Bicentennial / Colonial communications" (4) [Des (W.A. Smith)][Recess (1st,2nd)][Recess/Litho (3rd,4th)] Sc(1477,1478,1479)

(7)

(8)

These are the first [Photo] printed stamps I have to present today and so the scanner detail was the adequate (less detail) ...the stamps from this series are printed in the back [(8)] , with some biographical details of the personalities represented...this printing in the back of the stamps was never a common procedure, but some examples turn out to be very famous , like the adds in the back of early New Zealand stamps or the Latin prayer in the back of the St. Anthony 1895 Portugal series ... 

The stamps commemorate the life's of four personalities who distinguished themselves during the Revolution days...

1975 "American Revolution Bicentennial / Contributors to the Cause" (4) [Des (N. Boyle)][Photo] Sc(1559,...,1562)

(9)

This is the first of several series with illustrations based on paintings of American Painters...most part of these stamps were designed by Bradbury Thompson, a very famous US stamp Designer...

now that we are talking about Stamp Designers, I like to make a small reflection on the subject "Who is the stamp Designer"...

[1st] we have to distinguish what is the type of  Vignette we are dealing with : we can see that the "Contributors to the cause" series have original illustrations made for those stamps in particular...but we could have also a stamp based on an ancient paintings (like (9)) , or a photo, etc... 

[2nd] we have to know that is also part of the work of the stamp designer to chose the labels, to place them in it's correct place in the stamp, to chose the lettering, etc... in the early days of Postage stamp Designing, most of the stamp Designers were Artists, and they idealize and execute all the stamps as one single work, with original vignettes, lettering and labels.. the stamp was idealized and executed by the Artist...with time , these stamps based in paintings from Known Artists ((9)) appeared, but the stamp Designer was not the famous Painter who painted the vignette...The stamp designer, as in this case , was the person who idealized the stamp.. so, he chose an illustration for the vignette and execute and place the labels where he think they fit better...I think that  nowadays the stamp Designer is the man (he don't need to be an Artist) who idealize the stamp, using whatever he needs for his creation (photo, Computer Labels and Lettering, paintings, original drawings and paintings, logotypes, etc) .. Today, Stamp Designing is much more a Graphic work  (compose  items from different origins to build or represent an idea) than  a Painter or Illustrator's work.. 

1975 "American Revolution Bicentennial : Battle of Bunker Hill" (1) [Des (Bradbury Thompson after a painting of John Trumbull)][Photo] Sc(1564)

(10)

stamps representing the Military uniforms of the American Army and militia during the Revolution days...I must highlight that the symbol present in some of these "Revolution" stamps is the Emblem of the Bicentennial Commission....

1975 "American Revolution Bicentennial : US Military" (4) [Des (E. Vebell)][Photo] Sc(1565,...,1568)

(11)

unfortunately the scan is not the best, because some parallel vertical lines appear (I repeated the scan several times, but there was nothing I could do about it).

1975 "American Revolution Bicentennial / Battles of Lexington and Concord"  (1) [Des (Bradbury Thompson (after a painting by H. Sandham)][Photo] Sc(1563)

(12)

Excellent Stamp, Excellent printing!!

1976 "American Revolution Bicentennial / Benjamin Franklin" (1) [Des (Bernard Reilander --- Canadian Artist -- )][Litho/Recess] Sc(1690)

(13)(13a)

I am sorry to say it, but this is a good example of a bad printing... we cannot have a "decent" and good clear view of Washington's face, because the level of detail simply doesn't allow it..! two stamps are presented , just to highlight that the rightmost stamp is much darker than the other...to have a reference point, you could look to the cannon.. you can see that in (13a) we have a dark brown cannon and in (13) we have a much lighter brown...this could be another result of  different printings...

1977 "American Revolution Bicentennial : Washington at Princeton" (1) [Des (Bradbury Thompson (after a painting by Peale)][Photo] Sc(1704)

(14)

stamp representing a scene of the Battle of  Oriskany... once again the printing present us lack of detail..

1977 "American Revolution Bicentennial / 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Oriskany" (1) [Des (Bradbury Thompson (after a painting by F. Yohn)][Photo] Sc(1722)

(15)

this time we have a better printing ten the average from this group of series...I am beginning to feel very curious about the 4 sheets of 1976.. the printing cannot be as bad as the last one's... 

1979 "American Revolution Bicentennial / John Paul Jones" (1) [Des (Bradbury Thompson (after a painting by Peale))][Photo (ABNC Fergusson)] Sc(1789)

(16)

1983 "American Revolution Bicentennial / Paris Treaty" (1) [Des (D. blossom)][Photo] Sc(2052)

It is a pity to end the post with this kind of low quality printing , but chronological requirements oblige it...

Seeyou

Update] there are many problems in this post with the size of the letters... I simply cannot  arrange it today.. Blogger isn't cooperating..I don't know what's happening..! maybe tomorrow.. Sorry!!

USA Stamps (10th Post)

New Entries

Today I have more US stamps... the stock keeps bigger and bigger and from times to times I have to update my New US entries...A small selection from stamps of the 60's,70's,80's and even 90's is presented in this post ,particularly some nice engraved stamps... in the last two posts , a vast majority of the stamps were [Photo] printed, so this time the choice was obvious...

Classifying US stamps is an immense joy,not only because of its diversity ,but also because there is a large amount of information about all the little details that "fill" our collectors day to day...I recently bought the Scott 2013 Scott Specialized Catalog,but I didn't had the chance of using it in my classification work, because there was no need...this catalog really makes  the difference when we are talking of the early classics,with lots of those small and "difficult" details...

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A 1st group of stamps from the 60's where I want to highlight the Mixed printings of some of them...it is very rewarding to know the evolution of the printers in BEP (Bureau of Engraving and Printing).. I will leave here a small transcription of  the 'Mystic 2006/2007 US Stamp Catalog' where in resume this evolution is described : "In 1847 , when the presses first began to move, they didn't 'roll', they 'stamped'.. (..) by 1926 , all denominations up to 10c (..) were printed by Rotary Press (..) until the Giori Press was introduced in 1957, all bi-color stamps were printed in two runs on flat presses...The Giori Press utilized rollers to apply different colors of ink at the same time to a plate. the rollers put the ink only where it was needed ,rather than coating the whole surface, so that only one printing run was needed(..)" [ Text ]   

For a very good and detailed Article about this subject , please read "Linns" 

1) The first stamp show us the portrait of Sir Winston Churchill , prominent figure of the WWII Allied movement...a nice engraving by C.A.Brooks in a very famous stamp...
1965 "Honoring Sir Winston Churchill" (1) [Des (Richard Hurd)][Engr (C.A.Brooks)][Recess] Sc(1254)
2) the 2nd and 6th stamps are part of the "American Artist" series.. one stamp for year was issued in this series where a painting from a particular Artist  appear...in this case, the Artist was Mary Cassatt and the painting highlighted was "The Boating Party"...this is a fine example of the usage of the Giori Press (GPP).
1966 "American Artists / Mary Cassatt" (1) [Des(Robert J. Jones) after the painting 'The Boating Party'][Recess (GPP)] Sc(1322)
3) The "Airlift" stamp was used for parcels sent to US servicemen in foreign countries...in this stamp , a usual combination of [Litho] and [Recess (GPP)] printing was used ...
1968 "Airlift" (1) [Des (Stevan Dohanos)][Recess (GPP)][Litho] Sc(1341)
4) A nice stamp representing the Exploring Adventure of  Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet through the Waters of the Mississippi river...

it is a nice stamp, well designed , but like many others in this and subsequent periods has problems with the printing work , where it is visible a small displacement of some colors...

1968 "Father Jacques Marquette and the Mississippi River Exploration" (1) [Des (Stanley W. Galli)][Recess GPP)] Sc(1356)




5) 1968 "75th Anniversary of the Opening of Cherokee Strip to Settlers" (1) [Des (Norman Todhunter)][Engr (J.S.Creamer)][Recess (RPP)] Ac(1360)


(excerpts from a movie from the 20's about this subject)

6) Another stamp from the 'American Artists' series.. the Artist in focus is John Trumbull and his painting 'The Battle of Bunkers Hill'... a beautiful stamp, with printing by GPP..
1968 "American Artists : John Trumbull" (1) [Des (Robert J.Jones)][Recess (GPP)][Litho] Sc(1361)
7) 1969 "Bicentenary of California" (1) [Des ((Leonard Buckley)(H.C. Mildner)][Recess] Sc(1373)
8) The last of this small group of stamps from the 60's is dedicated to the commemoration of the Exploration of the River Colorado by John Wesley Powell in 1869...
1969 "Centenary of Colorado River Exploration" (1) [Des (Rudolph Vendelin)][Recess (GPP)][Litho] Sc(1374)

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                                                                             70's                                             
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The only 3 space stamps from the 70's I have to show today...all of them are commemorating the departure of Space missions to other planets in our system...

1)2) 1975 "US Unmanned Space Accompliesments" (2) [Des (Robert T.McCall 1)(Roy Gjertson 2)][Recess][Litho]  Sc(1558,1557)

3) 1978 "2nd Anniversary of the Landing of 'Viking 1' on Mars" (1) [Des (Robert T.McCall)][Recess][Litho] Sc(1759)

In my opinion , to get a good final result from a portrait engraving is much more difficult than in a landscape or other kind of Engraving ... the portrait really enhances the Master qualities of the engraver.. I must say that neither of the two portraits now presented are master works.. in fact they are far from it ... In the first stamp, representing the Poet Robert Frost , the engraving is very conditioned by the difficult design of Paul Calle , but in the 2nd we should expect something much better , because the design is very helpful (with a clear and linear background and where the usage of the usual engraving Technics for the portrait of Adolph Ochs was possible..)... the design of this 2nd stamp is work of Bradbury Thompson , a very influential Artist in what concerns to stamp Designing in this period...I will focus later in this post to his collaboration with the Engraver Thomas R. Hipschen with the presentation of 3 or 4 important and famous stamps...

The 3rd stamp is a simple commemoration of the Movie Maker D.W.Griffith and in 4th place we have a se-tenant pair of stamps commemorating the Banking and Commerce Activities.. it is very well designed and engraved...

1) 1974 "Birth Centenary of the Poet Robert Frost" (1) [Des (Paul Calle)][Recess] Sc(1526)
2) 1976 "Adolph S. Ochs (Publisher of New York Times)" (1) [Des (Bradbury Thompson)][Recess] Sc(1700)
3) 1975 "Griffith Commemoration" (1) [Des (F.Otnes)][Recess][Litho] Sc(1555)
4) 1975 "Banking and Commerce" (2) [Des (V.J.Ruther)][Recess][Litho] Sc(1577,1578)

3 more stamps from the 70's , the first two from the same series of 1978...nice engraving work..
1)2) 1978 "Bicentenary of Cook's Visits to Hawaii and Alaska" (2) [Des (R.F.Szabo)(J.Katalan)][Engr (E.P.Archer)(J.S.Wallace)(R.G.Culin)][Recess] Sc(1732,1733)
3) 1977 "50th Anniversary of the Opening of the Peace Bridge" (1) [Des (Bernard Brussel-Smith)][Recess] Sc(1721)

As promised above , here are 4 stamps representing some of the joint effort work of Bradbury Thompson and Thomas R. Hipschen ... it is clear the quality of both the design and engraving... 3 of the 4 stamps are already from the 80's but I decided to show them now in a separate section 
1) 1979 "John Steinbeck" (1) [Des (Bradbury Thompson)][Engr (Thomas R. Hipschen)(J.C.Masure)][Recess] Sc(1773)
2) 1984 "Herman Melville Commemoration" (1) [Des (*)][Engr (*)(R.G.Culin)][Recess] Sc(2094)
3) 1982 "Birth Centenary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt" (1) [Des (*)][Engr (*)(T.J.Bakos)][Recess] Sc(1950)
4) 1984 "Eleanor Roosevelt" (1) [Des (*)][Engr (*)(Robert G.Culin Sr.)][Recess] Sc(2105)

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 1)2)3)4) the first 4 stamps are obviously from the same 1981 series about Desert Plants...the stamps were designed by F.J.Waslick) and  Engraved by J.S. Creamer and R.G.Culin .... the series is [Recess][Litho] printed Sc(1942,...,1945)
5) Another Hipschen engraving, a truly excellent one!!..please see that  the work remind us of an old document  or an ancient engraving , but the illustrations were made by Richard Schletch of Virginia for this joint issue of US and Germany...


1983 "300th Anniversary of the First German Settlers" (1) [Des (Richard Schletch)][Engr (Thomas R. Hipschen)(T.J.Bakos)][Recess] Sc(2040)
6) stamp commemorating the life and work of the Novelist Horatio Alger.. the design was based in the cover of one of his books...
1982 "150th Birth Anniversary of Horatio Alger (Novelist)" (1) [Des (Robert Hallock)][Engr (G.J.Slaght)(G.M.Chaconas)][Recess] Sc(2010)
7) Horace Moses was the founder of the Junior Achievement Training Organization...his portrait was designed by Dennys Lyall and has another competent engraving work by Thomas Hipschen.  Sc(2095)

Two stamps commemorating the Veterans of the Korean and  I Word Wars...The first stamp was engraved again by Hipschen and the 2nd by the Polish Engraver Czeslaw Slania, considered by many as the world's best Stamp engraver...The designs are respectively of  Robert A. Anderson and Richard Scheaff ....Sc(2152,2154)

To end this post , I've got a small section dedicated to a PDSMID (Please Don't Show Me In Detail) stamp...

in a first view you can see a normal and somehow appealing stamp, but if you click on the picture to see it's detailed view, You will find a very weak design work,where all the faces in the crowd seem like pictures of a bad comic book...

1983 "American Sports Personalities Series [Babe Ruth]" (1) [Des (R. Gangel)][Engr (J.S.Wallace)(G.J.Slaght)][Recess] Sc(2046)

and now a "Cinderella" stamp

SeeYou