 #311 |
I need help identifying this stamp.
Posted by Davide Bertinotti on 8 July 99 |
ANSWERS:
Your stamp is from Japanese Occupation of China: North China, 1943
Stanley Gibbons No.167 = No.542 of China overprinted "Hwa Pei" [North China]. | |
 #312 |
I need help identifying this stamp.
Posted by Davide Bertinotti on 8 July 99 |
ANSWERS:
This appears to be a Japanese postal ministry offical seal (which is
what it says on it in Chinese characters) - mostly likely prewar from the
language and style of the name of the ministry. | |
 #313 |
I need help identifying this stamp.
Posted by Davide Bertinotti on 8 July 99 |
ANSWERS:
The stamps are from Manchuko (North China).
Scott #155 & #156 but I can not help you with the overprints.
Scott only mention that the Chinese and Japanese characters mean:
"Japan's progress is Manchukuo's Progress"
and that the stamps were issued as propaganda for the close relationship
of Japan and Manchuko.
The basic stamps of #313 is from Manchuria --1944, part of a set of
propaganda stamps about Japan's progress in Manchuria. Scott 155 and 156,
but the overprint is not mentioned. Could the overprint have something to do
with the end of World War II?
The base stamps are Manchuria (Chinese Provinces), 1944. Gibbons describes the issue as "Friendship between Japan and Manchuria". There were two values, 10 fen and 40 fen, each printed in Chinese or Japanese characters, the sheets containing alternate rows of each type. The two types are easily distinguished by the character in the bottom right corner: the "spiral" one is the Japanese character "no" = of, or used like the apostrophe in "Japan's". Thus your 10 fen is of this type and your 40 is in Chinese characters. Shiu-Hon Chan's Colour-illustrated Stamp Catalogue of China (1878-1949), 1992, lists these under Manchukuo, and translates the inscription as "Japan's prosperity is Manchukuo's posperity" (it reads downwards in rows from right to left). Manchuria became part of China again when Japan surrendered at the end of WW II, so the overprinted stamps must date from then. The top two characters (horizontal) mean "China" and look as if they are handstamped; the vertical characters also seem to be
handstamped (? separately from the others), and that would explain why the overprinted stamps are not found in the normal catalogues. I can't read the vertical characters - maybe they are a date, or something like "Victory over the Japanese", as the bottommost character (at least in Japanese) means either "day" or "-Japanese". Some of the Manchurian stamps were provisionally used for China after the war, with locally-applied handstamps such as this. Michel Asien-Katalog lists the base stamps, under "Mandschukuo" as nos.143-146 (yours are 144 and 145). At the end of this section, Michel states than more than 2000 different overprints are known, mostly handstamps, and yours is surely one of these.
No.313: The vertical overprints meant "For Temporary Use", i.e, after
the fall of Manchukuo, Rep. of China post office overprinted these
stamps and sold in face value (10 or 40 cents). Indeed the KMT Gov't
issued some local currency (and of course stamps) with 1:1 value to
Manchukuo currency. 10 or 40-cents stamps already went out of use in
China proper at that time due to inflation. | |
 #314 |
Iran perhaps? But what?
Posted by Ian Young on 9 July 99 |
ANSWERS:
Your stamp is certainly from Iran, as deduced not only from the currency "rials" in top
left circle, but also the remnants of the "Teheran" postmark. The top right circle
presumably gives the value, but I can't make this out because of the overlying postmark.
It is most like "panj" = 5; I can't think what else could fit.
It seems to be a charity label rather than a revenue stamp as it seems to have been
used on a cover. I would guess it is from the early years of the Islamic Republic when
the rial started its downward slide in value. | |
 #315 |
This Hungarian stamp is not in Scott. Can anyone help?
Posted by Ian Young on 9 July 99 |
ANSWERS:
This overprinted Hungarian stamp is from an area in Western Hungary which
was disputed between Austria & Hungary after WWI until the early 1920's.
It is listed in the Michel Europa catalogue under 'Westungarn'. 'Orgland'
is the abbreviation for 'Organisation Landesschutz', the paramilitary
organization which issued these overprinted stamps. | |
 #316 |
A Russian revolutionary issue of some sort? Does anyone
know more?
Posted by Ian Young on 9 July 99 |
ANSWERS:
N° 316 I quote from one of my favourite sources "Carl von Scharfenberg
and H.Werth attribute this bogus "commemorative" set to the Western Army.
The 50 k. value in a shade of orange and inscribed "In commemoration of
the Liberation of Russia" is fairly common. Von Scharfenberg's
collection also contained a single example of the 60 kop. depicting a
bugler in a similar format to the 50 kop. and a 70 kop. value in
horizontal format". H.Werth article was a contribution to British Journal of Russian Philately
in 1954.
This must be some kind of propaganda label, as the inscription translates roughly as
"Break open Russia's Liberation".
# 316 Speculative issue Wester Army - The "man who breaks the chains" is a speculative issue year 1919, supposed
to be of West Russian Army. It exists also with different overprints. It is
listed in many different Russian and German specialist catalogues and articles. | |
 #317 |
This should be from german occupation in France, but I could not find it in the
catalogues. The sheet reports: "La vente des timbres doit s'effectuer
uniquement en serie complete (la serie de 5 pieces Fr. 155) ou en feuillet
de 5 series (le feuillet Fr. 775)
Mallot-greve, imprimeurs, Vichy"
Values: Fr 1.50+3.50, 2.40+7.60, 5+15, 10+30, 20+60. Numbered 3052
Posted by Davide Bertinotti on 20 July 99 |
ANSWERS:
These are not Postal stamps: they are Vichy Government (France Libre, i.e. the "officially" unoccupied southern part) Charity (Bienfaisance) labels. Many sets were issued for orphans, post members orphans, war orphans, sailors orphans, etc.
-oops- I don't believe this can be a "Vichy" issue as the Vichy regime (L'Etat
Francais) never used "RF", having abolished the Republic.
It is undeniably true that the Vichy government abolished the 3rd Republic
on 12 July 1940. However, consider their output of postage stamps for the
first 12 months of their government - 44 stamps (SG 627b,667a-701, 703-707,
D314) of which only 7 (SG 690-693,701,703-704)are WITHOUT the RF logo.
Also consider the Colonial issues for which Vichy was (at least nominally)
responsible. They went through the (largely abortive) process of reissuing
colonial definitives without RF from 1942-1944. But in 1941 and the first
few months of 1942 they issued 60 colonial stamps (Dahomey SG 122-143d,
D143-152; Madagascar SG 154, 157, 106, 165, 167, 170, 173; Ivory Coast SG
144; Algeria SG 42, 170-173c; Indo-China SG 178, 180, 182, 190, 194, 203,
208, 212, D210) every one of them with RF. They also overprinted the RF
issues of IndoChina for use in Kwang Tchung without any attempt to
obliterate the RF. | |
 #318 |
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The Iran stamps look like what my SG simplified catalogue lists as
postal tax stamps, but these ones aren't in there.
The green+red one looks like their 50d. issue, with the exception that
mine doesn't have a '/' in front of the 50, which would make it
50r. in stead of 50d.
The two other ones (2r50 and 2r25 with o.p.) don't seem to be in there
at all.
Posted by Steven de Hoog on 21 July 99 | |
ANSWERS:
There is a note in the Michel Asia catalogue that other values of this set
(2.25 R and 2.50 R) were for telegrams and for that reason are not
catalogued. The 50 D tax was levied on letters and the 2 R on parcels to
raise funds for the fight against tuberculosis. Your overprinted stamp will
be a provisional 2.50 R on 2.25 R, issued when the tax on telegrams was
increased. | |
 #319 |
The o.p. on the Spanish stamps looks like the one used for
Spanish Guinea, but I couldn't find these stamps in there.
I've got 4 version of the overprint, 2 in red and 2 in black.
I'd also like to know what the stamps w/o the overprint were used for.
I've got them in 10 and 25 cts and 1 and 2 pta versions.
Posted by Steven de Hoog on 21 July 99 |
ANSWERS:
In the Catalogo Hevia de España 1972-73 under "Beneficienca" is listed a set of 13 of this set, #s 103 to 115, "Asuntos alegóricos al Correo. 1944-45, in 1946 they were overprinted and revalued as in the second stamp pictured as #319.
"Selos anteriores. Sobrecargos"... there are different colors to the overprinted 5 stamps.
Under this is written: "A partir de 1946, los sellos de Beneficencia astán sujetos a determinadas condiciones para no confundir su uso con los sellos de franqueo, y puede ya considerarse supermida su utilización postal"...
These issues end the category, none followed.
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 #320 |
Erasmus van Rotterdam on a finnish old testament stamp? A postage stamp or a pro biblical society label?
Posted by Casper Boks on 04 August 99 |
ANSWERS:
Stamp No. 320 is most probably a "pro biblical society label" and definitely
not a postage stamp. It has probably been issued before the
currency reform in the 1960s. Although I don't speak or read
Finnish, the inscription on top of it should turn out to mean
something like "Finnish Bible Society".
This is not a Finnish postage stamp. The Finnish PO issued a set of 2
values on 2.10.48 commemorating the 400th anniversary of the first
translation of the New Testament into Finnish. The translator was
Mikael Agricola. I suspect that your item is a label or essay for this
issue. The monogram 'MA' presumably refers to Agricola. The text in the
ribbon is 'Finnish New Testament 1548-1948'.
Item #320 was issued by Finnish Lutheran church and its purpose was raising funds for domestic
missionary work.
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