 #261 |
I received these stamps from a collector in Lithuania. They are not in my
Scott catalog. They all have dates on them of 1990 & 1991. Can anyone help
me identify them?
Posted by Tricia Richmond on 25 Mar 99 |
ANSWERS:
These are in Stanley Gibbons, all issued in 1991:
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 #262 |
I have purchased several Greece accumulations recently and have
found one puzzling stamp. I have several copies of the red brown 20
lepta stamp from the 1896 Olympics set, but also have a similar 20 lepta
stamp (vase depicting Pallas Athene) which appears bister in color. I
have attached a jpg file of the stamps. Is the bister stamp
counterfeit, revenue, altered, or......? I would appreciate any
thoughts. It doesn't appear to be listed in any catalog- Scott, Michel,
Vlastos.
Posted by Don Bowden on 31 Mar 99 |
ANSWERS:
The bistre coloured stamp looks like a colour changeling.
I have stamps from other countries where the red ink
disappeared after prolonged exposure to sunlight. | |
 #263 |
This 'stamp' says "Za Edinuyu Rossiyu" and I believe has a portrait of Admiral Koltchak.
Does anybody know what was the purpose of it?
Posted by Stefano Adinolfi on 31 Mar 99 |
ANSWERS:
These stamps were propaganda for the White Army. The set contains six I think,
including General Denikin. Look in Michel catalog under Russia and you will
see a picture of a similar stamp. It is described as "Machwerke".
The stamp is from a set of seven, showing portraits of Russian National
Heroes of Civil War, fighters against communists: Kolchak (two different
stamps), Alekseyev, Kornilov, May-Mayevsky and Denikin. Issued in 1919 as a
propaganda stamp. Very small circulation. Almost all of them have been destroyed
in Russia for fear of KGB. Now these stamps are in a big demand in the world
and especially in Russia. | |
 #264 |
I haven't been able to find this stamp in any of my three stamp catalogues
for Greece and Crete. What can it be?
Posted by Stefano Adinolfi on 31 Mar 99 |
ANSWERS:
These are revolutionary stamps issued by the Venizelist government.
#264 were supposed to have been produced by a stamp dealer in Athens at the
end of November 1920. He intended to place them on the market after the
election had been won by the Venizelists who were in power. They lost. | |
 #265 |
I don't particularly like revenues of any kind, but after having had this one in the
unknown section of my stamp collection for years, I think it's about time to know at least
where does it come from.
Posted by Stefano Adinolfi on 31 Mar 99 |
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This one is an Egyptian airport tax stamp issued in 1964 (Feltus has a
question mark after the date). He lists it as # 498. He also lists two
similar 1 pound stamps, one watermarked and the other not. He says that
everyone flying abroad from Cairo Airport had to pay the exit fee, and
then a stamp was affixed to the passenger's airline ticket cover. By 1977, they
had raised the fee and discontinued the stamps. | |
  #266 |
As you can see, on the back of this soviet stamp it's written "Pamiatnaja Marka", "patriotic stamp" maybe?
What is it in any case?
Posted by Stefano Adinolfi on 31 Mar 99 |
ANSWERS:
#266: The top of the stamp says "3rd All-Union Sports Meeting". At the
bottom: "At technical kinds of sport". On the back: "Memorial stamp". | |
 #267 |
This stamp (if it is one) is very similar to the (Jammu and) Kashmir stamps.
I'm just very bad in determining which one, to determine what face value it
has etc. Can anyone help?
Posted by Casper Boks on 31 Mar 99 |
ANSWERS:
This is the ¼ anna value of the 1867 set printed for use in Kashmir, Gibbons #90.
The value (in Persian script) is in the upper part of the central oval. There
are 5 varieties as the sheets of 10 consisted of 5 x ¼ anna in the top row and
5 x 2 annas in the bottom row, each separately engraved. These stamps were printed
in watercolours - yours seems to have run a bit!
David Heppell's identification is correct. This is usually known as
the Second Composite Plate of Kashmir. In spite of its fuzziness I think it
is clearly stamp 1/1 (top left of the plate). The clue is in the outer band
at about 3 o'clock where there is a wide gap between the two inscriptions.
In nos 2/1 - 5/1 as well as in the forgeries the gap is small or
non-existant. I enclose an illustration (kashmi01.jpg 23Kb) which may help.
| |
 #268 |
A modern Bangladesh stamp with an unknown overprint. Is your Bengal so
good that you can confirm it says "revenue"?
Posted by Casper Boks on 31 Mar 99 |
ANSWERS:
#268 The overprint is illustrated in my
Scott catalogue with the translation "Service", so it's an offical
stamp, not a revenue. The base stamp is shown in my 1998 Scott, but
not the overprinted variety, so it must be more recent.
The overprinted Bangladesh stamp is Gibbons #O47, issued 29 November 1990.
It should probably be #O47A of Scott, but that has been omitted for some reason,
and the stamp is also omitted from Michel Asien Katalog.
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 #269 |
What can this strange object be?
Posted by Vagn Andersen on 09 Apr 99 |
ANSWERS:
I think these "stamps" were issued by the United Kingdom. I have seen similar ones but with
"for testing purposes only" as text over the 'egg'. I read they are called "poached eggs".
These stamps, without any franking value, were issued to the Post Office
engineers in the UK who went out to repair or maintain coin-in-the-slot
stamp vending machines. The labels were made in exactly the same way as
real stamps, so that they would act in the same way within the machine,
but with the different design. The engineers therefore did not have to
worry about security or accounting, as they would have to with real
stamps. Once they had finished fixing a machine, they would take out
their test stamps, and put the real ones back in.
However ..... there have been occasions (I think in the 1930s) when the
"poached egg" stamps were left in the machines in error, and people
bought them and used them in good faith. At times, because of this, the
Post Office has allowed them to go through the post without surcharge.
More "poached eggs". I thought you might show these on your site as a reference.
| |
 #270 |
I found these in my father's old collection. They were mixed in with some
20's and 30's USSR stamps, if that helps.
Posted by Don Knowlton on 09 Apr 99 |
ANSWERS:
These OKSA stamps are listed by Yvert et Tellier as North West Russia Army.
They are also listed in Stanley Gibbons. OKCA stands for Osobiy Korpus Severnoy Army (Special Corps Northern Army) | |
| A very useful reference book: |
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