Posted by Henk Wallays on 19 Jan 01

After leafing through my 1998 Edition Michel Catalogue I could fine no Belgian issues resembling these. I therefore assume that these are Cinderella stamps. That is to say that these are trial printings of design concepts that never did quite make it to full production/release. In Australia these sorts of things are generally destroyed by the time the final concept is decided. The King Baudouin stamps date from about the early 80's, the sports item, possibly mid-late 90's. Again these are just assumptions based on similar designs, and or face falues of other issues of the particular periods.
Marcello Pittau (19 Apr 01)

Posted by Jan Langenberg on 19 Jan 01

"Sea Jug Post" or "Long Drift Mail" applies to letters consigned to bottles on the high seas. These cinderellas seem to originate from the 1950's era. One UK dealer has offered postal covers as follows:
My guess would be that they are from a sailor philatelist.
Lot 42195 1954 USA cover MV California First SEA JUG POST since April 1951, postmark "Sea jug post overboard Atlantic Ocean", with West Palm beach postmark on reverse, hand address £10.00
Lot 42196 1954 USA cover SS John W Powell, SEA JUG POST, postmark "Sea jug post overboard Atlantic Ocean", with "ships mail overboard at Cape Cod" hand stamp, West Palm beach postmark on reverse, hand addressed to GB slight foxing around stamp £7.50
Lot 42197 1954 USA cover "SS John W Powell" special postmark "Sea jug post overboard Atlantic Ocean", with "ships mail overboard at Cape Cod" handstamp, West Palm beach postmark on reverse, corner tear £5.00
While an American dealer has offered:
http://www.baxleystamps.com/bp/ry_sea-post_520814.jpg
US (Ryukus) 1952.08.14 3c US "Sea Jug Post - Long Drift Mail" etc, weird cover with Navy 13933 Br receiving cancel. $20.00
Blair Stannard (13 Mar 2003)

Posted by Jan Langenberg on 19 Jan 01

This is a regular postage stamp from Albania. It's the second issue of the People's Republic from 1946, the highest value in a series of five, each existing perforated and imperforated and it was printed without gum. Its issue was on the occasion of a women's congress. In Michel this stamp is listed as number 395.
Jan Roelof Wolthuis (05 Feb 01)

Posted by Casper Boks on 19 Jan 01

The overprint on the India stamp was a private commercial handstamp used as a means to deter theft. Companies in India, and Singapore, (and perhaps other British Commonwealth countries) were permitted to do this. The story is that the office boy who was to take the mail to the post office would peel stamps off the letter to sell; much like perfins, the handstamps prevented this. This did not cancel the stamp, as a postal cancel was also required.
Rudy Roy (05 Feb 01)

Posted by Taters on 19 Jan 01

Posted by Antonio Arillo on 19 Jan 01

This item is probably a cut-out from an envelope, issued January 1, 1958. There were two variants: one was for registered mail to the Tax Collector's Office, the other was for the reply mail from this office. The first variant was on yellow-gray paper, the second on white paper. (Info from Michel Ganzsachenkatalog Europa-West 1990). The scan seems to point to the first variant.
Dick van der Knaap (05 Feb 01)

Posted by Jan Roelof Wolthuis on 19 Jan 01

This is a Tasmanian revenue stamp which is also found with the overprint inverted.
David Stirling (05 Feb 01)

Posted by Olivier Lafarge on 05 Feb 01

The issue is a precancel of the 1898/99 issue as listed in the 1997/98 Michel Stamp Catalogue on page 1579, top right hand corner of the page.
Marcello Pittau (19 Apr 01)

Posted by Dick van der Knaap on 05 Feb 01

By an odd coincidence a similar query has been published in this month's (May 2001) edition of India Post, the journal of the India Study Circle: an "On H M S" overprint on the Queen Victoria 3 annas brown-orange, in this case with a squared circle datestamp "ADEN FE.27/89". As in your example the overprint is non-standard in that there are no stops after the letters H, M and S, and additionally the three lines of the overprint are not parallel to each other. The question was whether this was a local printing or a faked overprint. The opinion given was that, as the 3 annas value was never issued for Service use, it is probably a fake on a used adhesive, probably just to create a "rare" Indian stamp. It should be possible with a lens to see, in your example, whether the "overprint" is over or under the postmark.
Although from the scan your stamp seems to be another example of the common 3 annas brown-orange, I think it must actually be the rarer orange shade first issued in 1882. The brown-orange shade was not introduced until 1890 while the numbered obliterators were not used, as far as I know, after 1884. The B-19 series was used in the Surat District of the Bombay Presidency, but I do not know which town corresponds to B-19/3.
David Heppell (08 Jun 01)

Posted by Alexander N. Korolev on 05 Feb 01

This stamp was issued for use on the mail boat services of the Company Skargards Trafik Aktiebolaget (Finland) between Helsingfors and the islands of the neighboring arachipelago. The 25 penni was issued in both red and blue, and brown and blue the later being the most rare. It was issued in 1887, perf 11 1/2,with white gum , different shades of the red and blue exist, red and deep blue, rose red and deep blue being the hardest to find and rarest.
Jerry Eller (04 May 01)