 #511 |
Can anyone tell me if this is in the same category as the Foochow, Amoy,
Kewkiang etc. Chinese treaty port stamps? I don't have a catalog that lists it,
and I wondered since the others have way different designs. Is this a
revenue perhaps? Was it issued/used before or after 1922 when most
treaty port consular post offices were closed except the Weihaiwei one which
continued to operate until 1930?
Posted by Casper Boks on 24 Apr 01 |
ANSWERS:
This is the revenue stamp of 1922 listed by Barefoot as no. 2 at £30. Wei
Hai Wei was more than a treaty port; it was a leased area, like the New
Territories of Hong Kong. That is why it lasted until 1930.
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 #512 |
This stamp was on an old stamp album page titled Hamburg Local. I have not been able to identify it, could you help me.
Posted by Tom & Eileen Brown on 24 Apr 01 |
ANSWERS:
A Private Local Post from Germany. Many companies in many German and Prussian cities had private posts in late 19th century mostly.
The Hamburger Boten-Institute issued its first stamp in 1861. "Messenger stamps".
#512 is #10 in the Michel catalog, issued in 1863.
#512 & 513: There is doubt whether these 'Boten' issues ever saw proper use, and
reprints and forgeries abound!
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 #513 |
This stamp was on a old stamp album page titled Hamburg Local. I have not been able to identify it, could you help me.
Posted by Tom & Eileen Brown on 24 Apr 01 |
ANSWERS:
#513 The Hamburg local is a label for "Verein der Boten" / "Club of deliverers". A private issue.
A Private Local Post from Germany. Many companies in many German and Prussian cities had private posts in late 19th century mostly.
The Hamburger Boten-Institute issued its first stamp in 1861. "Messenger stamps".
#513 is #13 and last issue of this company, 1863.
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 #514 |
Does somebody know something about this provisional of R.S.F.S.R.?
It is like Michel 176 with horizontal overprint, wich was not in use,
but this one was in use and has some differencies. A pair of stamps with a similar overprint is shown here.
Posted by Panov on 24 Apr 01 |
ANSWERS:
According to Gibbons and Scott, the 7500/250 r. with horizontal surcharge
on ordinary or pelure paper was prepared but not issued. My edition of
"Pochtovie Marki Rossii i SSSR" confirms this and adds that there was a
printing of 20 million. The value of the pelure is 10 times that of the
ordinary paper.
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 #515 |
What is this SOHO LOCAL POST?
Posted by Rodrigo Baldassarre on 24 Apr 01 |
ANSWERS:
#515: I think this is from a private postal service authorised during the UK
postal strike in the 1970s. As the Post Office was effectively closed, the
Government took powers to authorise private services to run for the duration
of the strike (which would otherwise have been prohibited as a breach of the
Post Office monopoly). Not all of the authorised services (let alone those
who didn't bother to get authorisation!) operated genuine services (as
opposed to ones aimed at collectors), and I don't know which category the
Soho Post is in!
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 #516 |
I have an Albanian stamp which I would like to know more about. I was not able to find much info about it so maybe you
might help me. I think it was issued before World War II, but I am not sure if it was a real stamp or not and if yes was it
used during the 6 months of the revolution (June 1924 - December 1924) and what was written under the part that is now in
black?
Posted by Eno Damo on 24 Apr 01 |
ANSWERS:
As far as I know, that inscription (which I think means "Independent
Republic of Albania") was used only in 1945. This is almost certainly
a revenue stamp, but I have no catalog that lists these and thus I do
not know what is under the overprint.
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 #517 |
Royal Mail Steampacket Company:
where do these stamps come from? Where are they listed?
Posted by Jan Roelof Wolthuis on 24 Apr 01 |
ANSWERS:
These stamps were issued by the R.M.S.P. Co (at a period when the British mail contract was held by the Pacific Steam
Navigation Co.) 1875. For their services to and from ports in the Caribbean Sea, where they had agencies. The stamps were
in use until the end of 1880, and according to information suipplied by the Company, were used from Curacao, Surinam,
Santo Domingo, Puerto Plata, and Puerto Cabello. Issued perf 12 1/2 rose-carmen. A die proof in black is known. Forgeries
in both carmine and black were printed in Perf 11 and measure 22.75 x 18.5 instead of 22.5x18.5 m/m.
#517 appears to be a forgery of the 1875 Royal Mail Steam Packet stamp
issued by the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company for use on mail between
England and those West Indies served by the company. The genuine stamp
was lithographed by De La Rue and Co and is perforated 12.5. The
forgeries are either perforated 11 or are imperforate. For more
information see "The Private Ship Letter Stamps of the World, part 1,
The Caribbean".
#517: Another useful reference is Danish West Indies Mails 1754-1917 ed. Engstrom
(1982) and particularly Chapter XV Stamps of the West Indian Navigation
Companies by Denwood Kelly.
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 #518 |
Italian stamp with two overprints:
this normal Italian stamp has a first overprint for the post offices for
Janina, now Ioannina, in NW-Greece (Epirus) in Turkish currency. The
additional overprint though, is not listed in any catalogue I know. The word
SANTIMO could be a phonetic variety to the French Centime. Who could tell me
anything more?
Posted by Jan Roelof Wolthuis on 24 Apr 01 |
ANSWERS:
I think the hand overprint reads "SANTI 40" which was the italian name of the town of Sarande in Southern Albania
(or Northern Epirus, the greek name of the town being Agioi Saranta). The name of the town refers to the Forty Holy Martyrs of Sebaste,
not an indication of face value then. A most interesting item indeed, I never heard of an italian P.O. in Santi 40 (usually spelled Santi Quaranta).
Stefano Adinolfi's explanation is a good one. I would like to add that
I do not think 'SANTI 40' is an overprint, but actually part of the cancellation,
which appears to be a totally dumb 'wheel' postmark. Maybe there was a
rural sub-PO or collecting point without a proper datestamp. 'SANTI 40'
accidentally came on the stamp instead of in the centre of the postmark,
or, may be more likely, it is a cancellation as such. Both Janina and Santi
Quaranta belonged to Turkey up to 1912, i.e. during the period when that
stamp was issued, and the distance is not big.
Two similar items are listed in the catalogue for the 17th June 2001 Karamitsos
auction. The "SANTI 40" mark, of which there are two types illustrated,
is indeed treated as an overprint. Its status is, however, not described,
and as it is unlisted in standard catalogues (not even a footnote) it is
probably something less official. The "wheel" cancellation can be clearly
seen in the catalogue picture and it is a negative postmark (text in white).
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 #519 |
New South Wales, unlisted official? This looks like a common New South Wales postage stamp. Yet, it has the
letters OS (most likely meaning Official Stamp) imprinted in circles, instead
of overprinted, like the official listed in Stanley Gibbons. The paper is too
thin for a square cut.
Who knows more?
Posted by Jan Roelof Wolthuis on 24 Apr 01 |
ANSWERS:
In #519 you have a cut-out from a postal stationary.
It was reported in "Senffs Illustriertes Briefmarken Journal, XVII Jahrgang
1890, page 91".
There were two Service envelopes, both having the inscriptions "On Her
Majesty's Service", "Printed Matter Only" and The Accountant - Department
of Public Instructions - Sydney.
The envelope size 230x98 mm also has "Public School Savings Bank Returns
Public School 188".
while the envelope size 120x90 mm has the inscription "Medical Board of New
South Wales - Sydney 18..
This is a cut-out from official envelopes, it is mentioned in Higgins and
Gage under nr. 8 (1888) the complete envelope has a cat. value of GBP 2,50.
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 #520 |
If this stamp were black I'd say it was Sardinia #1, but why is this copy green? I checked all my catalogues and none of them
mention any shade variety for this stamp. And the paper is too thin to be a square cut. Help!
Posted by Stefano Adinolfi on 04 May 01 |
ANSWERS:
You may have an unofficial "reprint". According to Billig's Philatelic
Handbook (Volume 15, p. 140), the Sardinia 5 cent stamp was unofficially
"reprinted" from 1855 through 1861. The "reprint" has the same design, but
the centerpiece is embossed. To quote Billig's, "there are no official
reprints. The firm which printed the original stamps used the plates for
reprints. The colors differ greatly from the colors of the originals, and
the sizes of the design are not the same as in the originals. Reprints were
also made from Usigli, Rome; and from Cohn, Berlin". Billig's provides the
following description of the 5 cent "reprint": "yellow-green, emerald,
blue-green, olive-green, bronze-green. The inner upper frame line is broken
in the right corner. The bottom cross bar of the letter "Q" is connected
with the upper part and appears slant to the right".
Scott lists these green shaded varieties as later
printings issued from 1855 to 1863. The colors
start as Sardinia #10 (green, 1862-63) 10a
(yel grn, '62-'63), 10b (olive grn, '60-'61), 10c
(yel grn, '55-'59), 10d (myrtle grn, 1857) and
10e (emerald, '55-'57). Earlier printings are on
smooth thick paper with sharp embossing,
while later printings are usually on paper varying from thick to thin
and of inferior quality
with embossing less distinct and printing blurred.
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 #521 |
My question concerns the top one of these 2 stamps from Nigeria. The perforation of this stamp is 11 and its paper has no
watermark. It's quite different from the bottom copy which is on watermarked paper and perforated 14, just as what my catalogue
for Nigeria says about this issue. The overall look of the top stamp makes me think that it was xeroxed, yet the cancel is genuine
thus it was used for postage. I would think that it was a forgery that eventually fooled the postal system, were it not that I also
have other stamps from Nigeria with the same xeroxed appearance. Could it be a later and much rougher print unlisted by
stamp catalogues?
Posted by Stefano Adinolfi on 04 May 01 |
ANSWERS:
#521 is probably a forgery as you suspected. There are many known issues that go together with the great Nigerian postal
scam. Seems the people trying to obtain your money by fraud also stoop so low as to avoid paying for their postage. Several
thousands of letters have been sent but now much of that mail is intercepted and destroyed.
There are a number of articles on the web.
One site I found is www.glenstephens.com/nigerian.html.
I indeed believe this to be sort of a xeroxed forgery. Down at my office
we regulary recieve letters franked with these kind of stamps, mostly
with a letter in to propose some sort of a joint venture with a european
company, the only purpose being the plundering of the bank account. This
mispractice is widely known, only few people care to save the letters,
since they form an interesting stage in real criminal postal forgery.
Postal forgeries made by simple methods abund in present day Nigeria. They
are quite collectable items.
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 #522 |
The stamp is your usual Scott #218, however the 'fascist' OP I have not seen. Is it private?
Are there many cancelled private overprints around?
Posted by Claudio Fiorani on 07 Aug 01 |
 #523 |
The attached file is a jpeg image of a stamp which I have been trying to identify for quite some time.
It appears to be some sort of a local issue or a packet ship issue.
Have you ever seen anything like this before?
Can you give me any information on this stamp?
Posted by John Chrusciel Jr. on 07 Aug 01 |
ANSWERS:
This is a bogus/phantom stamp first reported in 1865, according to Melville's
Phantom Philately. It is quite rare and valuable today, but unfortunately
your copy is a contemporary forgery, which is also illustrated by Melville.
Even the forgery is of some value.
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 #524 |
I am sending you my difficult stamp. Is it a stamp from a Portuguese colony? It says "Correios Bateken / Angella 10 Angella". Help!
Posted by Fernando Bergillos on 07 Aug 01 |
ANSWERS:
This is a bogus/phantom stamp originally reported from Lisbon in 1897, according
to Melville's Phantom Philately. It is rare today and of some value to
cinderella collectors.
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| A very useful reference book: |
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You can reach us by e-mail at:
s.adinolfi@raster.it