StampChat Archives

Archive:  December 16 - 31, 2003

• Last updated:  20 March 2004

December 31, 2003 John@MagnoliaStamps

anyway Happy New Year

John in Ms.

December 31, 2003 Jim Lawler

Hope you all have a Happy New Year.

December 31, 2003 17:49 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Sardinia Number 1
David K. There are two secret marks in Sardinia number one. The following relates to the genuine. In the string of pearls around the frame, there is a dot missing in a pearl betwen the T and E and also half way down between the las O of BOLLO and the bottom of the frame. In the number one, the lower left the corner pearl is missing. The squiggles touch together in the four corner ornaments. The inner frame line and the central oval frame merge at upper right. Those details match in the two links Daved B. showed. You may want to look at yours more closely.

December 31, 2003 David K.

Agreed, time to call their bluff!

December 31, 2003 17:00 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Sardinia Number 1
David K. Take a look HERE for verification.

December 31, 2003 4:54 Mel

Oval Cancellations
Paul Laniosz:

Yes that is exactly what I am talking about. If you have seen them on large envelopes and packages, then maybe that type of cancellation on a souvenir sheet is possible.

Many thanks for your input and link. I am still trying to figure out how to post a link.

December 31, 2003 paul laniosz

OVAL CANCELS
MEL------ i believe these are the oval cancels you are talking about . they were used on large enevolpes and packages , i have seen these many times the OVAL DOUBLE CANCEL......paul

December 31, 2003 David Benson

David K, there are many different forgeries, it is most probably one of the most forged stamps in philately.

David B.

December 31, 2003 David Benson

Away for a few hours, time to light the BBQ,

David K. It is the shape of the 0 in 05 that is the problem, the others are oval, yours appears to be circular. Like I said it may be best to let Paolo give advice. He is somewhere in Italy at the moment.

David B.

December 31, 2003 David Benson

David K,

another one to compare with

http://www.antichistati.com/800/sa/saen.htm

David B.

December 31, 2003 David K.

David B.
Of course this was compaired to known fakes prior to inclusion. Notice the paper shade and ink color as well as the fuzzy details especially in the triangle areas on the forgery. Corner balls are alinged on the original as well as the corner sword motifs are full and touching most borders; the fakes are poorly designed and have weak strikes to simulate aging. Tis a good chance for success here.

December 31, 2003 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

December 31, 2003 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

December 31, 2003 David K.

New Year's Joke
Ready for a smile? Scott's new 2004 Specialized US offers the same picture for the watermarks of 191 and 190! Any recalls or refunds out there? Good luck to all the new philatelists and especially to Scott's for winning the prised Goof of the year award.

December 31, 2003 David Benson

David K.

Have a look at

http://www.sandafayre.com/gallery/stamp_2621.htm

There appears to be vast variances in the shape of the letters and numerals. Paolo may be the best one to give advice about the possibilty of forgeries of these,

David Benson

December 31, 2003 frank

Cowboy rides off into the dusk
Two more clues and I'm out of memories on this guy who was quite pleasant if a rogue. He is/was a great movie goer and lived at home with his mother. I estimate for him a then age of 45-55. And we are going back some 10 years here.Best regards and a great New Year to all including the Cowboy.
 

December 31, 2003 David K.

Sardinia #1a
Always nice to share a new addition to the family. this
 

December 31, 2003 14:07 Jim Watson

Good for You!
Jim G.,
I must say, you do make beautiful pages. It's a shame that you're missing that one cheap stamp! ;-)

December 31, 2003 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

December 31, 2003 Matt Liebson

Lavar: L'Chaim!


Jim: that must be the one Munch had. I want to do a pointing hand marking on one (preferably with a middle finger, I think), with "addressee could not be found".

December 31, 2003 Lavar Taylor

Just received a call that I have been cast as Mordecai (the innkeeper) for our church's production of Fiddler on the Roof. Should be a nice break from the pressures of the legal world.

December 31, 2003 12:16 Jim Watson

Lawyers Needed
Matt,
Here's another lawyer cover which someone posted in the past.

December 31, 2003 11:42 Mel Bohannon

Oval Cancellations
PROMETHEUS: The ovals look the same, but they are "mute" as indicated below. Thanks

FERD W. and MATT LIEBSON: The cancellations are "mute" as you say, ie: no dates, writing or lines, just two plain ovals. My cancellations are on more modern Souvenir Sheets with no gum. I suspect that they may be CTO and the gum removed some way. I purchased them as used Souvenir Sheets and I am afraid that they were at one time mint and the gum was removed in water, dried and the oval cancellations added. If that is the case, not out a lot of $. Will be more careful next time.

THANKS EVERYONE. This is a great place to get good solid information.

December 31, 2003 Roger Heath

Roger

December 31, 2003 11:13 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Spain Number 1 Mystery
Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) I am trying to figure out what to do with THIS Wonderful Stamp and am at a loss for identification. Do you have any info on that particular variety?

December 31, 2003 Matt Liebson

Those "racetrack ovals" are, as noted, common on tags and were also used for registered covers and such. Perfectly legit in many cases but can be put to nefarious uses as well.

December 31, 2003 10:45 Ferd W.

Oval cancels
MEL-19th century double ovals were used for a varity of purposes and most were not "mute". In the 20th century 'mute' double ovals were frequently used on parcels and tags. They have been used on some 20th century FAKES and may well have been used on CTOs. FW

December 31, 2003 prometheus

Mel Like this
See Scan HERESONE

December 31, 2003 10:45 Dave F. (moderator)

December 30, 2003 Kevin LaFrance <sheetguy2>

PECKMORE ESSAY
FRANK & JOHN....The item in question is a PECKMORE ESSAY. Opening price is fair considering what I sold the last 2 I had for....single, no gum $51.00 (@eBay)and UR sheet margin, NH $85.00.

December 30, 2003 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

December 30, 2003 03:31 Jim Watson

Today in Postal History
Good Morning, Everyone!
Today's dated postal history item is a cover from Switzerland in 1912. It includes a used copy of a prized 1912 Pro Juventute forerunner.

This fills in the final open date in the year. For some reason or other, there are not many philatelic items out there that are dated December 30. Maybe nobody sends a letter on the next to last day in the year. They wait of New Year's Eve.

December 30, 2003 David Benson

re. Nelson Eustis, just double checked with with my wife who reported that when she contacted Betty Van T., she stated that Nelson's wife had died 3 years ago. I don't know where I got the other info from but it was wrong.

David Benson

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Alan, Nelson was a personal friend and when we heard he had passed away my wife rang Betty Van T. in Adelaide about the details and wanted to send a card to Nelson's wife. Betty said it was a waste of time as she has Alzheimers.

David B.

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Lavar, sorry no Kamerun or Samoa but some fantastic Austria, Hungary, Germany, France, Italy, Russia. Some of the material ended up in Gold Medal collections of well known international exhibitors.

David B.

December 29, 2003 Alan Payne <Jherek at bigpond dot com> Alan G Payne
 

Nelson Eustis
Frank

Theres no mention of family in the obit. David B may know more.

Alan

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Frank, Nelson acted as agent for all sorts of strange countries and was philatelic advisor to many. His wife is still alive but I doubt if she knows anything about his activities.

I wouldn't call Australia a home market for Tokelau as there is no connection here unlike in NZ which has a Tokelauan population (most probably many more than in Tokelau itself). There is virtually no interest in that area although there was a well known dealer who was involved in some speculative issues.

There would be more interest in the UK as many collectors are interested in Pacific Island areas especially the smaller colonies.

I have no idea how much that item would sell for here but as a guess it should be estimated/reserve about $250 and possibly it might sell for more if the demand was there.

David B.

December 29, 2003 Frank

Cowboy hats & Nelson Eustis
John- I'm sure it wasn't you. The cookiest cowboy hat I've seen was lime green, made of some kind of plastic and must have been a half meter from front to back or a foot and a half. I thought it was a good marketing idea. You couldn't miss him and you had to see what he had.
Alan- Sorry to hear Nelson Eustis is dead. I heard he was a colorful guy. Was he married do you know? Maybe in a year or so I'd like to contact his wife and see what memories she has of his acting as Tokelau sales agent for Australia.

December 29, 2003 Lavar Taylor

David B That correspondence going into Tripoli sounds wonderful. Too bad there was nothing from German Samoa or Kamerun. I guess they were not exporting very many prayer books at the the time.

December 29, 2003 John

Frank
Thanks....That dealer sounds like me!In years past I wore a black stetson and made the rounds to the different shows.But I do not remember getting drummed out of the dealers assoc.Nor ever having any of that particular essay....

thanks again
John

December 29, 2003 Alan Payne <Jherek dot bigpond dot com> Alan Payne
 

Nelson Eustis
Frank

Unfrotunately Nelson Eustis died in November.There was an obit. in Stamp News Australia one of our stamp magazine


Alan
 

December 29, 2003 Frank

US essay
John,
Hopefully others will weigh in on this item. I remember seeing a couple of sheets of this item and in different colors being shopped around by a satceleteer at one of the small New York City area shows.A satceleteer is a dealer who does not have a fixed booth and buys and sells to other dealers at a bourse/show. The dealer wore a cowboy hat and rumour had it he had been drummed out ot the American Stamp Dealers Assoc. for some infraction. The word was that these were of little value . He was asking a couple of hundred for some part sheets. I guess they stuck in my memory because they're colorful and of George Washington. I didn't buy them then and wouldn't now.

December 29, 2003 frank

D. Benson- Tokelau follow up
Hi David,
Sorry for the mixup on the scans. What would be a reasonable price in the home market, which is of course your country and NZ, for this item? I'm figuring the highest prices on the planet, barring a bidding duel, would be the home countries and I would offer this guy something below that. Also would you know if Nelson Eustis is alive and well? I would like to get in touch with him about his time as a sales agent for Tokelau. He did an overprint that caused a bit of excitement back in the 80s for a Aussie stamp show.
 

December 29, 2003 john

Somebody refresh my memory
While there is still time!what is it I remember seeing this somewhere ,but for the life of me I can not remember! I guess the mind will be the next thing to go.

December 29, 2003 21:05 Eric Dyck

Perf Gauges, Las Vegas

All

My perf gauge project is progressing nicely, now that, after trial and much error, I have discovered that my scanner’s linear accuracy is very good along the vertical axis, but is about +1% horizontally. So, I have to be sure to orient the gauge properly on the scanner bed. Initial efforts showed, due to the orientation of the perf gauge on the devices, that the US Specialized gauge was more accurate than Ken L’s German BSG gauge. Not wanting to draw Ken’s ire :-), I double checked and compared different scans, and discovered the systematic error I had introduced. This also means that I need to scan in each stamp twice, with different orientations in my scanner depending on whether I’m measuring horizontal or vertical perfs or overprints. Then there are diagonal measurements to consider. Oh, well, there is always this:HEREbigstampscanner! I’ll be out of town most of this next week, so won’t be able to work on it much until next year.

Speaking of being out of town, I’ll be in Las Vegas for a few days, including over New Year’s Eve. Should be like a quiet evening at home. Anyone have any suggestions for philatelic related activities there? (Bill W, don’t get started, I’m not a poker player!). My son is moving there for a new job, and I’ll be visiting often, most likely. I’ve never been before, except to change planes at the airport once.

Eric

December 29, 2003 Bill Dempwolf

Bill

December 29, 2003 Roger Heath

Hey, Jude!
I'm glad you feel OK. Your auction was especially interesting because random finds are many collectors hope to make during their collecting careers. I found a stamp on Ebay of which only one other is known. So I understand the nervousness and thrill of finding something special. It's OK if you sell stamps again on Ebay, and we welcome you here, especially if you have other interesting "finds".

Roger

December 29, 2003 Jude <anathama70@yahoo.com>

90 cents X 20 = $1425.00 ($5000)
David Frick, Thank you for taking the time and talking with me on the phone yesterday. Everyone else: Thank you for your time and efforts. I will NEVER forget this event. I do not believe that I will sell another stamp on Ebay. I spoke with the winning bidder on the phone today, and he still wants me to sell him the item. I got an email from another ebay offering me $5000. I deleted it without response. Stamp people really love their stamps. I wish I had a time machine and a pocket filled with change: I would make all you you happy.

December 29, 2003 prometheus

Any one going to OPEX 2004
millions and millions of postcards, plus tons of paper items
first big national show of the year jan 3-4 Maitland (orlando) FLA

December 29, 2003 prometheus

Roger a comment
one rule of thumb was "always consider the source."

I think that is one of the problems with the high feedback sellers of wonky stuff,
The unsuspecting look at the artificial Goodness of the scource
based on the numbers .

December 29, 2003 Roger Heath

Experts
Aloha Paul -
When I was studying art history where criticism is the normal course of events, one rule of thumb was "always consider the source." This meant that one could listen to the opinions of academicians, dealers, artists, collectors, or the man on the street. Many times the opinions expressed were determined by the financial involvement or competition between individuals. This has gone on since the Renaissance, but always the most valid discussions come from those who have had the most experience in the area of discussion. Experts are determined by consensus of knowlegeable persons who work in the same interest areas. This useally means that the man on the street is not considered the more technical the discussion.
When looking at this 90 cent stamp auction, I found it interesting that after enough peolpe had waded in and made points that the "group" arrived at a consensus opinion, which was slightly side tracked when technical information (size measurements) was inaccurate. I thought it was a good experience and proved once again that Ebay's old mantra, "it is not possible to determine authenticity from a scan", flamed out one more time. I believe that this forum is meeting the needs of all participants, and I think Ebay blew it completely when it stopped discussion of auctions on it's Board. What could have been more prestigious than Rob Chesnut announcing that Ebay Stamps Chat would be an open forum designed to meet the needs of the world stamp community, instead it closed the door in its self interest, the almighty dollar.
Experts are the nemisis of fraud, that's why we so often see ranting here from sellers who are caught. Less frequently we read about honest sellers who made an unknowing mistake and wish help in rectifying their error, which Ebay makes quite difficult (again in its pursuit of the almighy dollar). Free listing day, a joke. The experts, that's us, should tell Ebay Marketing Dept. free listing days should be accompanied with all $1 starting prices, this is an auction venue, is it not? Let the market take care of the final sales price.

Roger

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Richard, Gibbons note an issue for the Indian National Army typographed in Rangoon. I can't recall seeing any of them. They mention the genuine inscription and the forged inscription. What do you have of that issue.

David B.

December 29, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

Bob in WA First of all a minor question: "What makes one qualify as an "expert""? Secondly, I hope someone at least learned something about the basics of "reading" a stamp. I'm not an "expert" - at least to my knowledge - but, I do know how to read literature on printing processes, something everyone can if they want to. Debating things to the end, well even overkill, is what this forum is known for and the other forum was known for.

December 29, 2003 Richard W

David, Matt
Thanks for comments!

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Richard, most of the rarer Trident overprints have been heavily forged and it may be best if you just listed the lot together with description. The problem is going to be which catalogue is used to describe them and possibly Michel may be the best as it more used for that type of material. If you show scans of the better ones you may be lucky and get a few bids but otherwise it is a very difficult area to sell any of the better ones.

In other words, list and hope,

David B.

December 29, 2003 1:16 pm Bob in WA

90 cent block
I shared this discussion with a good friend whose knowledge in such matters I greatly respect. Here is part of his reply to me, FWIW. I claim absolutely no expertise in this area, and merely pass this on as food for thought. My friend has met the fellow with the block, as a result of a previous eBay lot some months back, and considers him honest (which is saying something, as my friend is somewhat cautious and mistrusting as a rule), but primarily knowledgable in currency rather than in stamps. Here is his comment to me:

Funny how many "experts" overlook the obvious. I knew they were fake before I had time to think about it, and those guys were debating it to the end! I was always surprised when I'd run across one I hadn't seen before, however, it happened so often I really shouldn't be. I mean, most of them may have never seen most of the common Fournier, Senf, Spiro, or any of the many emissions emanating from the bathroom of the guy who made the infamous 10 cent '47--this is nothing that should surprise them. Too bad Jim Beall is gone; Lawrence ought to know where his stuff ended up, and it's likely at least a single of this is written up, possibly identifiying the source (the makers of most fakes can't ever be identified). In fact, it's possible the APS reference collection contains one, and if not, should have a picture if Jim had one.

December 29, 2003 Matt Liebson

Richard W: no experience with tridents but I think it's a good general rule to sell better stuff individually (where someone who might appreciate it will find it) and sell the common stuff in lots. Best bet is to break the common into a few lots to try and reduce duplication.

December 29, 2003 Richard Warren

PS Just had a nice email from a seller who agreed to put his Myanmar illegals into "cinderellas" category and describe them for what they are. Makes a refreshing change! He is an Australian, I should add ...

December 29, 2003 Michael Walter

C Turner
That is a trimmed #24. You can tell by the broken label @ bottom and the ornaments that are cut away at the sides.

December 29, 2003 C Turner <caspian6@bellsouth.net>

Scott 15 and 7??
I bought these stamps recently off ebay as a Scott 15 and 7. I think the Scott 15 is ok, but the Scott 7 looks like a trimmed 24. Comments would be greatly appreciated.

Image

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Frank, got it now, you linked 2 items, I only noticed 1.

re. the Fakaafu cover, nice item, Philatelic of course and very unusual but IMO way overpriced even for an item as scarce as that as very little demand. Doubt it will sell. If you are desperate buy it, if not offer a more reasonable amount.

David B.

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Frank, must have been a mixup, the scan you attached to was just some 1966 issues cut from philatelic covers. You must have linked the wrong item.

David Benson

December 29, 2003 Roger Heath

That guy
Guy -
Rest assured I always capitalize proper names, places, etc. No confusion intended! The guy I was referring to had the $5 bill for sale, and unless you had one of those bills it's unlikely you could make a true color comparison. Testing procedures can also prove dangerous, if not followed precisely, resulting in lake of blood red.

Roger

December 29, 2003 Bill Weiss

Cut Square Essay
As usual, being gone all day yesterday to play poker (I won!) I missed a great discussion on the 90c Banknote block which, after all the good detective work done by other board members, appears to be a pretty good reproduction printing. The main thing I quickly notice is the too-narrow spacing between stamps vertically, the incorrect color, the poor printing versus real engraving, etc. It's still an interesting item.

The 40c cut square shown here is a known "bullseye" essay of the 1860s period. Listed by Thorpe-Bartels, Maisel and Undersander, they are fairly common and this is worth roughly $50.00 or so.

December 29, 2003 Matt Liebson

I found a cheap (but ugly) Geary at the Worthington Club show a month ago (Mike E has an image of it), and have found a few Gearys in dollar boxes over the years. Turn of the century Bradford PA and Olean NY postmarks should be checked carefully.

December 29, 2003 Mike Ellingson

Bill, Matt, Alan,

re: Geary

The Geary of machine cancel fame is James Geary of Bradford PA. Wife's name was Mary. See recently published Machine Cancel Society publication Anthology Volume 7, which gives about 60 pages of coverage to the Geary markings of US and Canada. Authored by Payne, of course..

December 29, 2003 Matt Liebson

I don't know much about Geary machines other than that I know 'em when I see 'em. I can check my literature to see what I can dig up on Geary himself.

December 29, 2003 7:59 Guy Trudeau <guy@stampemporium.com> http://www.stampemporium.com
 

To Roger Heath
Were you refering to me when you wrote what is below? I didn't think so but I wanted to be sure so others wouldn't get confused.

Guy

"December 27, 2003 Roger Heath
My 90 cents worth
Glad that guy doesn't sell stamps more often. He could get in real trouble with color descriptions. Our colors of red, scarlet, vermillion, pigeon blood pink, etc., are nothing compared to the color of the seals on a 1907 - $5 bill. I wonder which breed he's describing?

Roger"
 

December 29, 2003 7:29 Frank

to D. Benson- Tokelau forerunner
Hi David, I noted your comments that the Gilbert and Ellice cover used in the Tokelaus was nothing special and you would have thought I already had this type of philateliclly generated cover/covers. If I got that right I must tell you that I have had a hell of a time finding any pre 1947 Tokelau material in the USA market. Other than last day of issue items like the Peace issue canceled Union Islands not a thing. Do you know of any material to fill in the pre 1948 holes in my collection and or can you recommend an auction house I should be monitoring for that type of material? Was the price of $500 the seller is asking right? Many thanks. I've enjoyed the detective work on the USA 90 cents issue. Fake or not it sure looked splendid.

December 29, 2003 Bill Longley

Alan B. You might as Matt L if the Geary/Greary name is any relation to the machine cancels of the late19th/early 20th Century.

December 29, 2003 04:58 Jim Watson

There is also an update of a picture postcard from China which was delivered by the French Post Office in Peking.
 

December 29, 2003 03:20 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Alan Payne link
Here is Alan Payne link to cover

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Alan, try again,

David B.

December 29, 2003 Alan Payne <Jherek at bigpond dot com>

Curious Cover
This in itself isn't that rare a cover from the British Post Offices in Constantinople to San Francisco (received Dec 28 1897). It's the person it's addressed to
A Mr. M or N F Greary
Numistatist Philatelist

Any ideas who he might be?
Cover

December 29, 2003 David Benson

proof reader, wake up, not Tunisian community you idiot, Tripoli di Barberia, Libyan community,

David B.
 

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Lavar, about 6 years ago I broke up a huge accumulation of approx. 500 inwards cover and postcards to Tripoli di Barberia and it was disposed through the Philatelic Society of NSW, Postal History Auction which I was managing at that time. It consisted of mail addressed to Rabbi Saul Addadi in Tripoli from about 1880 to 1905 and came from about 30 countries ranging from Tunisia (which are now in my wife's collection), Egypt, then almost every country in Europe. They were virtually all written in Hebrew mainly about the importation of Jewish Prayer books for the Tunisian community. Most had the Italian PO arrival mark and a few French but only 1 had the Turkish cancel.

David B.
 

December 29, 2003 David Benson

Lavar, At that time Tripoli Di Barberia had 3 Post Offices, the Turkish which was hardly used and then mainly for mail to and from Turkey, the French Post Office which handled mail mainly to and from France and the Italian Post Office which handled the bulk of the mail. Yours has the Italian PO arrival cds. which is poorly struck as usual.

David B.

December 29, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

When it comes to posts and linked scans the relativity theory comes in handy. {;o)

December 29, 2003 Lavar Taylor

Oops
Reverse is here .

December 29, 2003 Lavar Taylor

Off topic post-- I am reading Persico's book on Roosevelt's Secret War, which is about how Roosevelt used espionage during WWII. In reading about William Donovan, who was the Coordinator of Intelligence and later became head of the OSS (which was the precursor to the CIA), the book notes that Donovan hired huge numbers of agents (which, along with other factors, caused lots of friction between Donovan and the military/FBI). My father was classified 1B in the draft and thus would never be drafted because his legal residence was in Utah, where there were too many healthy 1A boys. He went to the OSS while attending Duke University and said he would like to work for them. He had spent 2 years traveling around Germany in 1935-37 as a Mormon missionary and spoke fluent German. They told him that they did not have any money to hire him. I always thought that there might be other--unarticulated-- reasons (Dad did not travel in the same social circles as Donovan and his friends) why he was not hired. In retrospect it seems silly that they did not hire him on the spot. But I'm glad they didn't, otherwise I might not be typing this.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

A nice surprise,

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2974188526&category=693&rd=1

David B.

December 28, 2003 Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850)

Bill - That's a good tip about the perfs on the Quixote issue. The only detail that would tip me off with those is if it had a cancel other than a Madrid type of the period. Unfortunately, the forger also thought about that, so.....

December 28, 2003 20:50 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

detection
Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) In the first one the louzy printing gives it away. For the Quixote series, the forgeries have about 24 perfs at the bottom and the genuine have 28 or 29 perfs at the bottom.

December 28, 2003 20:48 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) You know, coming from me, those are all DEFINITELY forgeries.

December 28, 2003 Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850)

Bill - I think I'd feel totally uncomfortable bidding on anything from any of those 3 sets. I haven't gotten into them yet, and probably couldn't pick out a genuine one in a crowd of forgeries.

December 28, 2003 19:56 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Cool Pictures
Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) I was asleep at the wheel and forgot to bid on THIS GEM and also THESE and of course THIS ONE. Too bad.

December 28, 2003 nomad55

Pro - - back at ya
Belated Christmas Eve.
Smallest cover I've ever seen with an expo cancel.

December 28, 2003 Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850)

Bill - I try and keep up with the board every day.

I can't really see the point of glutting the market with cheap forgeries. There can't be that many collectors that specialize in them, and I haven't really seen too many people get hooked by dealers offering them (early Spanish forgeries) as genuine. I haven't even seen too many cheap Spanish forgeries being sold as forgeries, which tells me that even the collectors who want space fillers for the expensive holes in their albums, either already have what they want or just don't want them. About the only Spanish forgeries I see selling, usually being offered as "cinderellas" (and usually at unbelievably expensive prices), are by sellers with private feedback and private auctions, so you don't really know if a legitimate buyers I being taken or if there is some hanky=panky going on to try and create a "buzz" about them.

December 28, 2003 prometheus

a belated Christmas for nomad
Here PPIE

December 28, 2003 18:35 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Spain - One swell foop
Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) Nice you went that far back to see my post Spain - One swell foop as I have been following that SA dealer also. THis one is now on eBay and is from Spain, believe it or not. WHen someone gets the old printer cooking, might as well print a lot and hold back a few. WHen someone cleans out Addies shop, more of those will appear too.

December 28, 2003 prometheus

Things I dragged home today
My latest addition to my leap years 29feb1884

some german Stampless covers /envelope type things that have a wax seal that matches the cancels
Neato

Back of cover german

FRONT
I bouhgt a few of these , It looks like the post office actually folded the covers for you you put your stuff inside they sealed you paid the manuscript amout.
at least that is what I think


and a little gift for my 3 year old some triangles on a FDC Rattlesnakeisland
 

December 28, 2003 Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850)

Spain - One swell foop
Bill - Believe it or not, I was contacted a while back by a seller who was thinking about selling a Spanish collection for a collector. He asked me for my opinion on the authenticty of all the earlies. Looking at the scan he sent was alot like looking at the one you showed earlier. The collector had spent alot of money on supposed unused earlies, that turned out to be nothing more than Segui forgeries. Needless to say, it saddened me to have the dealer relay the bad news to this collector.
I don't know if you spotted it a while back, but one of those S.A. dealers on ebay sold a large quantity of Segui forgeries. I mean large, like in large blocks. There must have been thousands. I can't remember what they sold for, but I find it amazing that so many Segui forgeries find there way onto the market from S.A., especially since Segui was from Spain.

December 28, 2003 prometheus

interesting Day here thanks all
Not that I have figured out what any of it means.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Lavar, thanks, they are mysterious but there must be references somewhere. Glad to hear that you are about as much in the dark as me, I though it was only me and you would have better info on them.
I used to collect British Levant about 30 years ago and had a nice collection, about 40 covers with GB used on them and about 200-300 GB stamps with Levant cancels but never found a Orient Express label although saw some in Auction cats., bid but never successful, that was one of the reasons I gave up on them.

David B.

D2

December 28, 2003 Lavar Taylor

Orient Express
David B I have no answers to any of your questions about the labels. One of the many research projects for the future.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

David K,

it ended up not being a Kinderpost as the measurements the seller gave were incorrect.

David B.

December 28, 2003 Jim (jaywild)

Jim

December 28, 2003 David K.

Lost the address again.dang.....(hope this works)hyperlink text

December 28, 2003 David K. <eaglearts@aol.com>

Sleuthing The Impossible
JOB WELL DONE ON the Kinder Post!
Now, for another challenge if anyone is up to a possible 40c (dark blue or black) proof or fake, cut square. As you can see, the embossed portrait has not been applied yet.

December 28, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

90c
I'm having a real hard time believeing the object was printed with the original printing method (recess). #3 in the 4th row is actually overlapses #4 in the same row. By comparing the left anchor in the motif and the surrounding space within the motif - it simply isn't possible to overlapse that way with conventional printing methods. Both prints should be visible where the corners overlapse, but they are not.

December 28, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

90c
Ken Have a look at this scan and you'll notice the perforation ghosts are only present at some of the stamps - 1st row #3, 2nd row #3, division of 2nd and 3rd row, 4th row #2, 5th row #3 - only at the left side of the stamp according to the way motif tilts.

December 28, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

90c
Jude Could you tell us what the result is when you expose the object to UV (Ultra Violet) light - also known as black light? How does the paper react? (there's no harm to the object by doing so). Is there any gum (glue) to the backside of the object? What color would you say the paper has when seen in daylight? (Clear white/offwhite/gray)

December 28, 2003 Ken Lawrence

90-cent

I'd have to see the actual item to be certain, but I think the ghost perforations are probably a mirage, reflecting off the clear protector surface. If these are modern forgeries, they haven't much going for them. If they are old forgeries, they are either postal counterfeits or philatelic concoctions. We should recall that the Senf brothers in Germany were faking lots of Bank Note era United States stamps, notably the Newspaper & Periodicals issues (by embossed letterpress) and the bicolor dollar-denominated State Department official stamps (by intaglio). These are quite common, and frequently need to be culled from APS sales circuits. I haven't seen multiples of the Senf forgeries, so I don't know whether or not these are similar. But the credible gauge 12 perforations on this 90-cent block is suggestive of those echoes.

December 28, 2003 Jim (jaywild)

Bill Claghorn Nicely done juxtaposition. I’d like to point out something I didn’t notice at first, which are the “ghosts” of perforations—see the blue indicator line
here. I’ll bet this sheet was made by taking a photo transparency of a genuine stamp, making an offset plate from it then running copies on an offset printer. I’d suspect it was pretty recently made too.
 

December 28, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

90c
Jim That's the orange/brownish line I mentioned. Taking another look at Bill's comparison image, I would say that line is the remains of previous perforations (from a scan?) have a good look at the stamp to the right and it's left side perforations - there are some spots next to the actual perforations all the way down.

December 28, 2003 16:07 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90c discussion
Jim (jaywild) As things go, it is still a remarkable job.

December 28, 2003 Jim (jaywild)

Sveiki! Also, the repro stamps have a curious extra line (indicated with blue triangles here) that suggests the original image was cut from something, a catalog maybe.

December 28, 2003 15:56 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90c discussion
Bill Weiss I think the buyer may have gotten a very valuable and unusual piece, although not what he originally thought. Looks like he got a bargain after all.

December 28, 2003 15:52 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90c discussion
Jim (jaywild) I used PhotoShop to put the higher res image next to your good one. Here are Interesting Results. Paul is confirming my initial reservations about stamp spacing and uneven rows and columns. Interesting.

December 28, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

90c
When comparing the stamp Jim shows with the object, both have very clear engraving marks on the neck part, but only the stamp Jim shows has just as clear engraving marks on the cheek, hair as well.

December 28, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

90c
The object has a very clear white spot just below the zero on it's left side on every stamp. There is no such white spot on the 90c stamp Jim shows.

December 28, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

90c
The object has a bold line below the left anchor at the bottom of the motif in every stamp. The 90c stamp Jim shows hasn't got such a line.

December 28, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

90c
It looks like the motif in stamp number 3 and 4 in the 4th row actually collide in the bottom - if one follows the lines of the motif edge.

December 28, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

90c
It's very interesting to see that none of the stamps on the object have more than one complete white margin. The stamp motif doesn't fit the space within the perforations. Is that normal? The stamps seems to have an orange/brownish stripe to the left of and top of the motif. The stripe tilts according to the way the motif tilts - not according to the paper or perforation. Very few of the motifs are completely horizontal.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Jim, back to square 1,

David B.

December 28, 2003 Jim (jaywild)

Jim

December 28, 2003 14:23 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Kinder Stamps
Dave F. (moderator) Here is a FIsher Price Post Office Made in USA with stamps.

There is even one with Barney the Dinosaur with 20 stamps.

Here is an Older British kit with lots of Lots of Stamps too!

THe older sets like THIS ONE (big image) are better. Here is an image of the SET (big image).

December 28, 2003 2:24pm Dave F. (moderator)

90-cent
Jude sent me a new scan of the stamps where he compared them to an example of a recent definitive, and they are actually closer to "normal" size. (I say that not knowing exactly what the dimensions of an original of this type are.) In his email he indicated that he must have measured half the stamp, and that the stamps are indeed 20 x 24 mm. (I'm not sure if he is just measuring the stamp image or perf-to-perf.)

Here is a reduced-size image of the sheet (125k):

http://www.pacificanalytics.com/stampchat/images/90centblock20_smlr.jpg

Here is a larger version of the same image (515k):

http://www.pacificanalytics.com/stampchat/images/90centblock20_full.jpg

And here is a cropped image of a single stamp (3rd row down, far right) (24k):

http://www.pacificanalytics.com/stampchat/images/90centblock20_single.jpg

 

December 28, 2003 Richard Warren

Chuck Harm
Chuck - CYE. Didn't notice you bought the Peacock journals. Great stuff (though I'm biased) - lots and lots of fascinating reading! And good to have a complete run. Alan Meech did a sterling job on those over 20 years. The bumper issue (18/1) on the 1945 military administration is a major reference in itself.

December 28, 2003 Jim (jaywild)

Jim
 

December 28, 2003 12:36 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Kinder Post
Dave F. (moderator) Let me look and see if I have a better example of Kinder Post. They were also made in the good old USA at the same time period. Hold on and I will look for examples.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Bill, just rereading the posts, like your comment NAIVE BIDDERS couldn't be more appropriate,

David B.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Dave, they were produced in Germany around 1880 to WWI as parts of childrens games. No one is going to mistake them for the issued stamps. Have a look at the one's Bill showed, they are inscribed Kinder Post instead of the name of the country but any other except German are usually the correct design but much, much smaller.

David B.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Jude, do not destroy it and definitely do not mark the back of the stamps, they are most probably genuine kinderstamps and fully collectable in their own right. No one is going to mistake them as genuine as they are much smaller than the original. Possibly that block is a unique item in that size as I have never seen a single before although I have seen others of the same period.

David B.

 

December 28, 2003 12:08 Dave F. (moderator) <stampchat@pacificanalytics.com>

90-cent
David B &/or Bill C: Were there kinderstamp manufacturers in the US? I ask because the perfs on Jude's example look much more "in proportion" to the stamp than those of the German examples Bill linked to.

Jude: Do you still have the original scan of the sheet of stamps (without the book) that you submitted to eBay image hosting? I ask because it's hard to get a good look at an actual stamp.

If you don't have a way to link to the image without using the eBay image hosting, feel free to send the jpg to me as an email attachment and I can upload it and post a link to it. If you don't mind.

Thanks!

December 28, 2003 12:06 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90c block of 20
Jude

Could you please humor us and post a link to a scan of one stamp at 300 DPI or 400 DPI full size? That would be much appreciated.

Thanks again.

December 28, 2003 12:02 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90c block of 20
Jude Nice Kinder Stamps sell for between $3.00 and $10.00 each. Yours are especially nice and should sell for more if properly described and sold over a period of time. If sold all at once, they would get less than the total as they are wholesale, but it still is a very desirable item. Ideally, the block should be preserved and treasured by someone who appreciates it for what it is. It is truly an unusual item, although not what some naive bidders in the original auction thought they were, not realizing the size.

December 28, 2003 Michael Walter

Jude
I am curious of who the high bidder is. If this person breaks up the block (if you do not destroy it) and sells each one as genuine there will be 20 very unhappy people in the near future. Any chance of marking the back of each stamp “repro” in ink?

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Bill and Jude, thanks, no problem although some of the bidders should have enquired about the size of the stamps or the gauge of the perfs.

David B.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Jude, if it that size then it is definitely a kinderstamp, still a nice item. Presumably German about 1880-1890. If the seller reneges, list it on Ebay again (with the size mentioned) and mention it is a kinderstamp. You will still get a good price for it but not as much as it went for.

David B.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Jude, if it that size then it is definitely a kinderstamp, still a nice item. Presumably German about 1880-1890. If the seller reneges, list it on Ebay again (with the size mentioned) and mention it is a kinderstamp. You will still get a good price for it but not as much as it went for.

David B.

December 28, 2003 11:54 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90c block of 20
Jude That settles it. They are Kinder Post and are perfectly legal as they can not be confused with legal tender. Thank you for being a gentlemen. Your professionalism is to be commended.

December 28, 2003 11:50 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

David B. We are all holding our collective breaths waiting for the measurements.

December 28, 2003 Jude <anathama70@yahoo.com>

Thanks for all of the comments and interest in my auction. And a sincere thanks for the warm welcome to stamp chat.
Size: 12 milimeters high by 10 across.
It does not appear to be coppied to me. There seems to be some embossing as is on currency. Nothing else in the book. I got the book from a Vancouver yard sale. I purchased it for $5 ONLY because I saw the stamps inside.

December 28, 2003 11:47 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Kinder Stamp
Here is a scan of a Kinder Stamp with millimeter gauge.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Bill, when the dimension of the printed area of the stamp are known it should be easy to tell what it is, up til then, just guesswork.

Kinderstamps are nice especially in good condition as a lot of them appear to have been handled by children with messy fingers,

In my opinion the top bidder should fulfil his obligation and pay as it was well described (although the size not mentioned).


David B.

December 28, 2003 11:45 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90c block of 20
Jude Would you be so kind as to measure the block in both dimensions in millimeters, or a single stamp, and let us know the size?

Thanks much.

December 28, 2003 11:44 Dave F. (moderator)

90-cent
A couple of things I should have included in my last post:

Unfortunately, because some of these people do follow stamps so closely on eBay, and have seen many abuses by sellers who, unlike yourself, are not well-intentioned, some people may sound a little cynical. Again, this clearly should not be the case with you.

I really commend you for coming here and seeking out sound advice!

 

December 28, 2003 11:40 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Kinder Stamp
D2 I like this Kinder Stamp set currently listed on eBay.

December 28, 2003 Jude <anathama70@yahoo.com>

90c block of 20
Thank you Roger for your response. Please read the following in the kindest of voice. I am not trying to be sarcastic or to cause trouble. I have decided a few months ago to make all of my auctions private. I wish that I had done this from the very start. If you check on the items that I sold last week, you will see that I sold about $9,000 in old U.S. currency. After a month, this info is erased from Ebay. In the past I had co-workers commenting to me on how much money I made on Ebay. I do not want folks to EASILY be able to track how much money I make (or don't make) on Ebay. My feedback is public, and you may decide to contact buyers from that list. I can list other reasons (tax and more) why my auctions are private, but I will stop here by saying that none of them have to do with deception. I am here to learn if I should destroy these stamps and not to validate why my auctions are private. I acquired (from my family) a large collection of US currency. I have sold almost all of it on Ebay. In that collection were old U.S. stamps. I have sold all of these first on Ebay. I did not have the time to learn much about the stamps that I sold; however, I learned a great deal about the currency. I now have a great enjoyment and appreciation for old U.S currency. Perhaps stamps were too difficult for my small mind to wrap around....or perhaps I just don't have the stamp gene. Additionally, stamps sell for only a fraction (5%??) of their magazine price, and currency often sells for 2 and 3X more than their book value. It is more interesting to sell what is more valued:). When I found the 90c block in the book, I thought it would be good to show the inner page from the book. I wanted to use the supersize option, and I was not able to do that with just one pic of the stamps. The book was not part of the auction. I did not want to clutter the auction with pics of the book. If I had wanted to be deceptive, I would have sold the book and added the stamps as a bonus to the winning bidder. Now that would have been something to chat about. Thank you again for taking the time to provide information. We are still learning. Kindes regards.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

90c.,

were there any other items in the book. Do you think it is a kinderstamp (stamp design in much smaller size).

David Benson

December 28, 2003 11:35 Dave F. (moderator)

90-cent
Jude: Welcome! Thanks for coming by.

The item you were selling obviously attracted a lot of curiosity and interest. Once the price really skyrocketed, it became clear that either some of those buyers thought that it was a legitimate block, despite your assertions to the contrary. Perhaps some of the other bidding came from others who thought that even if it was they were replicas, that they still had market value, probably by being broken up and sold individually, and perhaps without the cautions you indicated. Naturally, either of these situations is of interest to people who follow stamps seriously, and that's why it caught the attention of some posters here.

There are some very good people here who are extremely experienced in US stamps and can give good advice.

Again, thanks for coming here.

December 28, 2003 11:34 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Classic Spain
Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) Here you go, Classic Spain in one swell foop!

December 28, 2003 David Benson

90c.

It may help if you measured one of the stamps as it difficult to ascertain the size.

David B.

December 28, 2003 11:21 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90 cent block
Jude Welcome to the Stamp Chat board. This discussion has no personal interest in yourself, only a discussion of the item itself. We do have a few questions:

What are the actual dimensions of the block, preferably in millimeters or centimeters?

What are the dimensions of a typical stamp in the block?

A link to a bigger scan would also be much appreciated.

December 28, 2003 Roger Heath

90 cents
Jude -
I forgot to ask whether the stamps are engraved or are photo copies. An 8x magnifier will be good enough to see engraved lines, or dots.

Roger

December 28, 2003 Roger Heath

90 cents
Jude -
I don't know your reasons for having "private auctions" in the Stamps Category, but in the past that has been the cover for many non-authentic items being offered. It stopped anyone from asking questions of winning bidders or knowing whether or not there was shill bidding. These have been such serious offenses that you would find very few participants on this Board bidding on items in private auctions. There is no valid reason for offering stamps on Ebay as private. This is not meant to defame you or your motives especially since you stated right from the beginning this sheet was a replica. Discussions on this Board usually arise when there are inconsistancies presented in auction descriptions, such as the book these stamps were found in. "Why not show the German book?" is an automatic question. Others you have read here, and we are all interested in your answers.

Any time you have a stamp question there are experts here who can point you in the right direction prior to placing the items up for auction on Ebay or anywhere else.

Roger

December 28, 2003 jude <anathama70@yahoo.com>

The one who auctioned the 90 cent block
I saw the comments on this board, and I have some genuine questions. Please feel free to ask me any question, and I will provide an answer for all to see. I do not believe that these are real stamps. I am in the process of contacing the winning bidder to discuss the posibility of canceling the sale. I do not want to do anything wrong. If it is not legal to sell this auction, then please let me know, and I will take appropriate action....even if that means destroying the sheet of 20. I am gald that someone informed me about the discussion on this board...otherwise this talk would have all taken place behind by back. My auctions are pirvate for a reason, and that reason is not what was implied in a previous comment. Thank you for taking the time to read my comment. I will be very grateful for anything you offer. I will send this link to the winning bidder of the auction. My intent here is genuine and for the right reasons....to learn if I need to destroy these stamps or continue with the possibility of the sale.

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Frank, nothing special, I would have presumed that you already had those on full philatelic covers,

David Benson

December 28, 2003 07:48 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90c block
Ken I agree. If you look at the scale of the stamps and the book, there is something not right. Either it is a very large children's book or the stamps are smaller than normal. What bothers me is that the perfs look proportional to the stamps. Either the perfs are also small or the stamps are normal. Maybe it is an optical illusion, or too early on a holiday. I could be wrong. Normal stamps are about 22 mm wide. That would make the book 8 to 10 inches wide. There is a minor inconsistency. THe seller states that it was a German childrens book, but the illustration shows a London magazine in English. That is rather large for a magazine, but within reason. The seller does state that it is a novelty or replica item.

December 28, 2003 Bob Hohertz

Nice cancels, unusual locations and the rarer stamps are things to look for.

December 28, 2003 Ken Lawrence

90c block

I agree those are not genuine stamps, which means that they are counterfeits unless they are one third smaller or one half larger than genuine. The monetary amount of the transaction is too trivial to trigger a fraud investigation, but at the time the Hobby Protection Act was being debated in Congress, Postal Service and Treasury Department officials successfully opposed the inclusion of stamps in the Act as adopted by pledging vigorous pursuit of counterfeiters. I wonder if that still holds true.

December 28, 2003 Frank

Tokelau forerunner two
Dave: Here's the address:http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2974032291&category=263

December 28, 2003 Frank

Tokelau forerunner
To D. Benson: Hi Dave, Was looking at Ebay item 2974895843 and wondered if it looked OK and what you thought of his pricing. A bit enthusiastic?
Happy New Year to one and all.

December 28, 2003 04:34 Jim Watson

There is also an update of a picture postcard from Monaco to Poland in 1937. It proves there is something else to do in Monaco other than occupying a place at the tables of Monte Carlo!

December 28, 2003 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

December 28, 2003 Bill Langs

292 on ebay
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2974113684&category=676

How can someone offer a 292 as NH if it has disturbed gum?

December 28, 2003 David Benson

Lavar, nice item,

the " Orient Express " labels are intriguing and I don't know the full details. Do you know where they were sold, who issued them, who printed them, what do the various colors signify, what was the cost and where did the money go to, how, where and why they were used, did all covers that went by train need them or was it to cover a specific service.
I think I read somewhere that they were sold by the BPO in Constantinople but that doesn't seem correct as your cover never saw the BPO just the German PO.

David B.
 

December 28, 2003 12:18 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

The 90c "bargain"
Jim As stated originally, the low buy it now price and the description do indicate that the seller is honest. A very friendly and polite email to the seller could be sent asking for a report on results of the auction. We all would like to know more.

December 28, 2003 Jim (jaywild)

Suspectin’ Sam

December 28, 2003 23:20 Dana Krueger <dkrueger at kfl dot com>

Dana

December 28, 2003 Lavar Taylor

Michael WRegarding CTO stamps for Germany, CTO material is primarily from DDR. Most of these are easily spotted, especially after you look at a few which you know are postally used. Most of the DDR CTO's I remember seeing (I have not collected DDR in ages) have gum. In other areas, it is fake cancels (as opposed to CTO's done by the government) you need to watch out for. Inflation material in particular, but also some of the early German states. Best advice here is to buy only stamps expertized by the appropriate BPP expertizer. This is true even for the less expensive inflation material. Fake cancels abound. There is a publication available, I think from GPS, that illustrates many of the fake cancels on inflation stamps.

December 27, 2003 John@MagnoliaStamps

So Whats the problem?
They look like real 90 centers to me especially in a full size scan!Wow a real block of 20 what a find.I have not seen a block that size since Stanley Morycz @ Paramount sold that block of 50 #218's in 1975

December 27, 2003 Roger Heath

My 90 cents worth
Glad that guy doesn't sell stamps more often. He could get in real trouble with color descriptions. Our colors of red, scarlet, vermillion, pigeon blood pink, etc., are nothing compared to the color of the seals on a 1907 - $5 bill. I wonder which breed he's describing?

Roger




 

December 27, 2003 David Moser <stamphick@dospalos.org>

David

December 27, 2003 Bill Weiss

90c Block
BILL C; You are right, and I hadn't noticed that aspect before, I guess because the photo is so small in relation to actual stamp size. You have made me feel better already for not winning it! Now I am done for the night.

December 27, 2003 20:02 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

90c Banknote Block
Bll Weiss I am quite worried about the inter stamp spacing on the 90 cent sheet. The stamps are just too close together and the columns and rows are uneven. Genuine stamps are just not that way on a sheet, are they?

December 27, 2003 Bill Weiss

90c Banknote Block
So just what were those 90c stamps? I can't be 100% certain, but to me, they look like honest-to-God real stamps! That's why the bidding got so high. I confess, I was a bidder at $550.+, with my reasoning that even as reproductions they should be worth $50-75. each (assuming they are genuine contemporary counterfeits) and on the remote chance they ARE genuine stamps, well then the Scott value would be tens of thousands of dollars. Hell, I'm a gambler! Too bad I was so cheap! Or, maybe it was GOOD I was so cheap! I guess we will never know.

December 27, 2003 Jim (jaywild)

Oh brother.

December 27, 2003 Jim Lawler

Bookmark

December 27, 2003 Prometheus

more fresh stuff
Interesting Feldluft FREEFRANK

This I grabbed in case Jim WS needed it has something to do with Volcano's Vulcania
front of card Volcano

December 27, 2003 17:32 Dave F. (moderator)

Jim/jaywild: It certainly looks like the seller had no expectation that it was anything high value and has no intention to mislead. (I'm not saying that's your implication at all; just wanted to be clear.) In his description he indicates he'll throw in free shipping if anyone takes him up on a $9.95 buy-it-now price. I'm sure he's surprised that it has reached its current level. It'll be interesting to see what some of the US folks think of this item.

David & Marius: Thanks for your observations. I think when the time comes I'll put up some scans and ask for help. I suspect there are many people offering this material who genuinely are not aware of the differences, especially if it's one of the not-well-documented learning curve subjects.

December 27, 2003 Michael Walter

Germany collection
I am a total novice when it comes to international issues. I do own a complete set of the Scott Specialized catalogues. I was reading up on the German issues so that I am a little wiser when I receive the collection. My question is; how is the best way to tell a CTO from a genuine postally used cancel on German issues?
 

December 27, 2003 prometheus

Thansk Bob H
I never worry about value , I just ask to make sure it is a real item and to share what I find.
The one thing I find interesting about this hobby (stamps etc)
is that it seems that most are into a value basis for what they collect, me I buy things I like. That item cost me 2 dollars I had not seen a Blue rev on a photo before lots of the others
the blue caught my eye,
i buy.

December 27, 2003 Bill Weiss

It's A Facimile!
The proper description for what Kevin shows us is a Facimile. As indicated by others, when the U.S. Govt. stopped collecting taxes on Proprietary products, like Medicine, some of the companies felt that their products were associated with the Revenue stamps used on the product, so being ingenious folks, some continued to produce and use these Facimiles, which they tried to produce as close to the former Revenue stamps as possible without violating the law, so they usually eliminated the "USIR" from the design. Springer catalogs listed these and priced them years ago, but the prices are now obsolete. The one Kevin shows is among the most common, and I would say $5.00 would be fair. These are avidly collected by M&M specialists as collatewral material.

December 27, 2003 Jim (jaywild)

Curiouser and curiouser
Anybody have any idea what these are? The value of a genuine never hinged (apparently) block of 20 of any 90c Perry banknote would be stratospheric.

I take all responsibility for deeming them suspect! No blame for this opinion should accrue to the kind, generous soul who hosts this chatboard.
 

December 27, 2003 Marius

fiscals
Dave F. Just expanding on what D2 has said. If you are sorting higher values BC in particular, keep aside any coloured cancels (especially purple), oval cancels and manuscript cancels. Most of these will be fiscal. But wait! Don't toss them yet as about 10% of them will be unusual postal cancels, mainly from smaller offices which were not issued with regular implements. You can be certain that any cancels which mention banks, courts or duties will be fiscal.

December 27, 2003 David Benson

Dave F, there are no references I know of apart from experience. It varies from country to country, some are easy to tell and some are difficult. There are also many mss. marks from some areas that are postal but specialists have no problems differentiating between postal and fiscal usage. Apart from Revenue usage there is also telegraphic usage which also brings down the value considerably in some countries, especially India.

David B.

December 27, 2003 Bob H.

Pro: There are those who collect first issues on photographs - and the cancel is nice. Can't tell you what it would bring.

December 27, 2003 prometheus

more stuff
BANKCHECKREV
Used on Photo = normal type thing Bob?

Lavar = another JAFFA

and a new Censor mark from the SUDAN

December 27, 2003 Kevin L

What is it?
BOB....Is this item listed with a reference #? Springer? Any value? Thanks in advance....Kevin

December 27, 2003 Lavar Taylor

I will link some postal history from this area later.

December 27, 2003 Bob Hohertz

What is it?
Take a look at the page from one of my websites: http://www.rdhinstl.com/mm/rs101.htm

December 27, 2003 Prometheus

Interesting find fo the day
I did not know the Germans were in Palestine Herescan

December 27, 2003 Ken Lawrence

Chuck Harm
The original Linn's gauge was recalled based on a reported error of 0.04 (at gauge 8.29) to 0.08 gauge (at gauges 9.97 to 11.93) plus a parallax shadow amount. I believe the tolerance on the revised version was/is a parallax-free plus or minus 0.3 percent.

Stamp paper on U.S. intaglio prints is pretty stable after processing, though exceptional examples exist. Shrinkage occurred across the grain twice before perforating, first after the print had been pulled on dampened paper and dried, and again after gumming, so that by the time the perfs were added to the dry sheets, they didn't change much afterward even with repeated soaking. Shrinkage before perforating wasn't predictable enough to suit the POD, which led to the bluish paper tests in 1909, the star plates, and eventually the A plates. Booklet stamps were printed on opposite (horizontally) grained paper so that the shrinkage would occur in the vertical dimension, thus holding reasonable register for guillotine cuts along the vertical edges of panes in the stacked sheets.

These results are consistent with the ability of today's printers to achieve tight four-color register for successive wet-and-dry print combinations on sheet- or web-fed lithographic and gravure equipment.

I'd guess that the consistency of measurement also is because conditions of temperature, relative humidity, and atmosperic pressure probably are pretty similar in the places where people actually measure perforations.

Water has always been good for detecting watermarks, but it's useless on mint stamps and dries too slowly for practical use with used stamps. Water is especially good for photographing watermarks, grills, repairs, and so-called ribbed paper.

December 27, 2003 14:58 Dave F. (moderator)

fiscal cancels 101
David B: A quick question which I meant to bring up before when the mention of fiscal cancels came up. For the uninformed (including myself), what are the characterstics that identify a fiscal cancel from a postal cancel for Commonwealth issues? Do you know if there's a site that illustrates this? Was it pretty consistent for Commonwealth countries in a given era?

I ask because I could easily see myself in the same boat as those sellers when trying to sell off some used British Commonwealth at some point in the future.

Thanks!

December 27, 2003 David Benson

Free Listing Day problems,

just looked at some of the new listings of British Commonwealth & Australian States. Too many fiscally cancelled stamps listed with catalogue value of postally used to complain to Ebay about and what's the use. They didn't pull any of the other 150 lots that they were sent details of in the last few weeks. The non US Stamp Watch Committee must have taken an early Xmas break and forgotten to go back to work.

David B.

December 27, 2003 Kevin L

What is it?
BILL.......measures 19mm x 55mm

December 27, 2003 nick <kathmoon@aol.com>

what is it?
Bill, The stamp is Kevin's - not mine - cannot answer the size question. Nick

December 27, 2003 11:44 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

what is it?
Nick The stmps were often used to seal the bottle or box. They served both as a label and a stamp. Most were not as large as a label. WHat is the size of yours?

December 27, 2003 Kevin

What is it?
BILL...Thank you.

December 27, 2003 11:41 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

what is it?
Nick Back in the days of the civil war, there was a tax on medicine. A stamp was required to indicate payment of that tax. Normal revenue stamps were used for that purpose. Private companies were allowed to petition the government to print the stamps of their own design instead of using government revenue stamps. This saved the government the hassle of printing the stamps, which were in short supply.

After the war, the tax was discontinued. The medicine makers liked the stamps, so they printed their own, without the US Internal Revenue designation. Yours is one of those.

December 27, 2003 nick <kathmoon@aol.com>

what is it?
Kevin, Could it just be a label or part of the label that was on the bottle of medicine? The medicine was for the treatment of Tuberculosis - call "consumption" back then. Nick

December 27, 2003 11:33 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

What is it?
Kevin After the private die stamps were no longer necessary, many companies continued to print the stamps privately anyway to keep their trademark investment. Customers liked to see the stamps on the bottles as a seal of assurance and authenticity. Yours was printed later from a modified die. Those are not listed in Scott.

December 27, 2003 Kevin

What is it?
NICK...Please look at the wording carefully. It is not the same wording as RS 101...that is what has me wondering?

December 27, 2003 Chuck Harm

Random Topics
Happy holidays to everyone. Just catching up on the board after the visit home and now settling down to my presents of stamps. A few random questions.

I have been following the perforation discussion with interest as an engineer and understand the challenge of making a stable reference guage - it looks like accuracy to about 0.5% is what is being sought to make accurate perf measurements to 0.1. I have seen no one discuss the dimensional stability of the stamps however. Unless they are stable to at least the same degree, it seems like measuring them to this accuracy would have limited meaning. I find it hard to believe that the aper in stamps is dimensionally stable to 0.5% with aging and particularly exposure to various humidities, to say nothing of variation introduced in manufacture. Does anyone have any knowledge as to the dimensional stability of stamps?

I have noticed an odd situation lately when watermarking some commonwealth stamps. I could not read watermaarks with fluid, but when I soaked them in water to remove some hinge bits, the watermark was quite distinct.I had always thought that watermarks were more visible in fluid. Is fluid just necessary for stamps with gum?

Richard Warren will appreciate this. I am awaiting the arrival of a complete set of Burma Peacock Journals that I recently purchased. Should provide some good winter reading.

And last as I continue to sort my Ceylon bulk lot, I have seen a large double-ring CDS with just CEYLON as the place name on some high value 1950s stamps. I am assuming this is a revenue cancel. Does anyone know for sure?

Chuck

December 27, 2003 nick <kathmoon@aol.com>

proprietary stamp
Kevin, your stamp is a PRIVATE DIE PROPRIETARY STAMP - sometimes referred to as "Match and Medicine" stamps. Yours is Scott # RS 101. Scott values it at $18.00. Nick

December 27, 2003 Kevin L <sheetguy2>

HELP IDENTIFY!
ANY HELP....Can someone identify this item?
what is it?
 

December 27, 2003 David Benson

Michael Walter, just glimpsed through the Germany, looks like a good buy. I noticed an 1872 5g. with a Constantinople cancel. Scarce cancel on a scarce stamp.

David Benson

December 27, 2003 Richard Warren <rwarren99@yahoo.com> http://www.bilston73.freeserve.co.uk
 

(Interestingly, they share a number of design motifs (the portraits, particular chess pieces etc) with stamps produced a few years ago by a Swiss printer by the name of Impressor. Impressor's computer design files seem to have been put to less respectable use more recently by persons unknown doing design work for the manufacturer.)

December 27, 2003 Roger Heath

Swiss "classic"
Bill -
That's one reason I don't collect the Swiss issues earlier than the 1854 Strubles. Every single stamp must be compared to known and unknown forgeries, and since there were something like 16 stamps per stone, and 10 stones, which wore over time, etc, I never felt the urge to become an expert in this area. Even these Federal Issues should ahve a certificate, and should be "plated" to give one confidence that what one is buying is authentic. Buy from known reputable dealer would be another important consideration, not a dealer who gives their own guarantees, as there are very few non-Swiss dealers who are knowledgeable enough to make such guarantees to authenticity.

Roger
I do have Anton Kofranek's CD titled:
"A Study of the Swiss Federal Administration-Issued Stamps, 1850-1854, and theri Forgeries"
From the contents bvlurd:
In over 40 years of colelcting Swiss stamps, the author became interested in forgeries since there were so many obvious ones in old collections. In addition to studying forgeries, the author studied the original issue for details that wouold reveal charachteristics of the genuine stamps. Chapters 1-5 of this study are about genuine stamps. Chapters 6-9 are about forgeries.
Appendix A reproduces portions of the "Works by Sperati" published by the British Philatelic Association. Appendixes B-D describes material found in visits to the Royal Philatelic Society, the British Museum, and the Philatelic Museum in Bern. .....Over 400 stamps, figures, and cancellations easily accessed."

If you or anyone is interested in this CD, email me - rheath at kona dot net - and I will send you to the email address for the Society secretary.

December 27, 2003 10.13 am Colin Judd UK http://mysite.freeserve.com/xzephyr_Japan_stamps
 

Colin

December 27, 2003 Michael Walter

German collection
Thank you all for the help. I just bought the collection!!! The only downside is that I can not pay by paypal.
 

December 27, 2003 paul laniosz

GERMAN COLLECTION
MICHAEL------- i agree with KEN C. it looks like a nice collection for the price ,and looks to be easy to expand and enjoy it . as you develope the basic collection certain areas will look more interesting and more specialised information will be needed as BILL C. has suggested for a detail study . but everyone has to start with the basic collection before getting into the details .......paul

December 27, 2003 Ken C <kchrist499@aol.com>

Germany collection
Michael If you are just starting to collect Germany, this looks like a good collection and worth the price. Most of the stamps appears to be in very fine condition. Didn't notice any Berlin or many semi-postals, which will give you plenty of opportunity to add to it.

December 27, 2003 08:42 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Germany in General
Michael Walter I will not comment on that particular album or collection. My comments are in generalization and therefore not specific.

Germans are particularly critical about condition.
There is a lot of hanky panky, especially concerning cancels and repairs.
There are also lots of forgeries.
Germany requires a lot of study and specialized knowledge.
There are many good books on the subject.
Therefore this can be a very rewarding field for study.

December 27, 2003 Michael Walter <harfordstamps@comcast.net>

help needed with German issues
I specialize in and have only collected U.S. issues. I would like to expand my collection into some different areas now. I have my eye on what seems to be a really nice Germany collection. I do not really know anything about German issues. Can someone please tell me if this collection is a good deal for the “buy it now” price. Please comment on the stamps only and not the seller. If anyone has had a negative experience with the seller please feel free to email me instead of posting it. I will more than welcome any comments on the stamps that could help me. Thank you!!

 

December 27, 2003 08:08 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Switzerland Beauty
Roger Have you seen THis Beauty?. I never have seen one quite like it.

December 27, 2003 David K

Yeppers, that good old free listing day forced some 60 lots out of me.
Put up a super 1937 rare set of local Spain postcards with same for postage; pictures of generals on each card-interesting! Dumped a horde of French unused material. And, one nice Swiss cover. The Chinese and Hong Kong characters are being translated today. Then the info will be posted here for the lost and found department. Now, onward to taxes...gez!

December 27, 2003 07:51 Ken Srail

I'll go on record predicting site problems, not limited to placing bids and viewing items, along with "erratic" search engine performance on Jan 2, 2004. Oh yes, the IPIX picture hosting service will probably crash then as well. All are pretty good bets given eBay's history with FLD's.

December 27, 2003 Jim Lawler

Free listing day usually gets me more material to look over. I've often found items of interest. But, Most of my collecting areas are very focused and usually don't have much material.

Jim L.

December 27, 2003 03:05 Jim Watson

There is also an update of an airmail cover from Thailand 1953. Unfortunately, I don't have a scan of the front so I can't tell where it was going. :-(

December 26, 2003 Roger Heath

Buying from Spain
Richard -
I sincerely recommend you bid on Spanish auctions if they are items you want for your collection. I will bet the seller will be more than happy to mail your winning lots to the US. The usual postage costs are about 2 Euros to the US, and if there is no mention of S/H to US in the auction, offer that amoint when you request information from the seller after the auction ends. I think you wil be pleased.

Roger

December 26, 2003 Anne

Good night to all and to all sweet dreams of winter vacations (off to Fla tomorrow, Spanish plates (with or without the paella), and free listing days with goodies to find.

December 26, 2003 Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850)

Bill - On your 4c of 1854 page, what is the designation "POstal Forgery 4F" signify? Is it the numbering system from the Graus book of Spanish Postal Forgeries, possibly? Are you going to limit them to postal forgeries or are you going to add philatelic as well?

I notice on your "37, 41 & 45" page, the forgeries appear to be in order according to type, is this correct? I don't have the Graus book, but my Tort guide lists them in roughly the same order. I believe the Graus book uses numbers while the Tort guide uses letters. Your forgeries, in order of the Tort guide, are types A-G, which is all it goes up to.
Looks good so far, I know quite a few collectos who would die to have some of those Postal forgeries. Some are rather elusive, according to my fellow Spanish collectors.

Free listing day - I added to the mayhem with 12 of my own. Also, I just got done going through one of my daily searches for Spanish material. I had to go through 29 pages of newly listed items, where there are normally only 4-5 on a daily basis. Unfortunately, it's all stuff I don't want, such as FDC's, MNH year sets, and other non-interesting items to me.

December 26, 2003 prometheus

4,000,000,000
4 million listings so far and three hours or so to go.
everyone has been busy

December 26, 2003 prometheus

Over 45,000 covers listed in the bay
Nice week to peruse the Postal History available.
and to get a real Idea of what the low end is really worth.
maybe even buy some gold stamp FDC.

Did any one use the Blank auction method you know the old post an empty slot and fill later in week method.

December 26, 2003 Roger Heath

Free Listing Day
Aloha -
I hope everyone had a good feed and received presents that are useful (stamps, perf gauges, etc. );>0

I've just scanned the Board and I think free listing day is ________. ( congested, idiotic, doesn't save enough to make a difference to anyone except Ebay, one week of being unable to find "new material") You choice to fill in the blank.

The typical week returns about 3000 Swiss items of which 1000 are not Swiss!, Today my search shows 5600 Swiss items and I don't have time to look, so free or not, the enormous amount of material offered can only dilute the dollars spent or make it impossible for regular searchers to find item that meet their needs. Good luck and happy New Year.

Roger
 

December 26, 2003 Bill Weiss

Free Listings
OK, so now I went back and changed about half of them to 10-day listings on the advice of you good fellows here! So now let's see what happens - if anything.

December 26, 2003 Lavar Taylor

As a seller (something I don't do all that often) I am making all of my listings 10 day auctions. Only costs a dime, your lot sticks around after the "bulge" disappears, and your auction ends after lots of people have returned from holiday travels.

December 26, 2003 Bill Weiss

Free eBay
KEVIN; I listed about 35 items that had not sold in at least two previous tries, but on the other hand, I have lowered the start bids to less than my cost - in some cases MUCH less than my cost. I wasn't going to waste my time, but I figured I could learn from it. If at least 25% of the items don't sell, I'll never bother again. I'll let you know via this board how I made out. PROMO's suggestion of using the 10-day listing and paying the 10c fee sounds like a great idea, but I'm not going to take the time to go back and change all of them. Maybe tomorrow I'll change half of them and then compare the results!

December 26, 2003 prometheus

Well I guess everyone is Free listing
Sheetguy = over 3.5 million Items listed already today,
25 thousand in the stamps cat I think it makes it harder to find the better stuff,
Noticed on the other board someone noted that they had relisted 17 items that did Not sell the first 2 times they tried .
But I'm sure some items will sell. I have seen the reccomendation that if you take advantage you pay the 10 cents fee and list them for 10 days that way it's cheap and they end after all the others have gone on by.

December 26, 2003 Kevin LaFrance www.stores.ebay.com/sheetguy2
 

eBay FREE listing
ALL...Has anyone been taking advantage of the eBay FREE listing day?
What do you think?
Does it flood the auctions with over priced junk?
A advantage to the seller? or eBay?
Opinions welcomed. Thanks....Kevin

December 26, 2003 11:40 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Spain Scott 37
Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) Here is a start on Scott 37, 41 and 45 . Documentation to follow.

December 26, 2003 10:42 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Spain Postal Forgeries
Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) No. I was just checking about the book.

What do you think of This Page work in progress?

December 26, 2003 Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850)

Plating Spain number 1
Bill - Yeah, I got the Galvez book on plating #1. Also, virtually the same information is found in the Tort guide, only condensed. Are you wanting to add plating information to your page?

December 26, 2003 07:19 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Plating Spain number 1
Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) I am surprised. Dont you have that 175 page book exclusively on plating Spain number 1? It gives all the plates and how to fly spec the plate positions!

December 26, 2003 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

December 26, 2003 02:54 Jim Watson

Gifts: Eye Candy! My, but these taste even better than they look.

 

December 26, 2003 Alan G Payne <Jherek at bigpond dot com>

Free Listing Day
I take it this is the equivalent of the Boxing Day sales, a thing to be avoided :P

Alan

December 25, 2003 David Benson

FREE LISTING DAY STARTS IN 90 MINUTES,

David B.

December 25, 2003 David Benson

FREE LISTING DAY STARTS IN 90 MINUTES,

David B.

December 25, 2003 Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850)

Bill - Had a look at your page. Looks good so far. But, if you plan on adding many more forgeries you might consider making the clickable scans smaller (thumbnails?), clickable to the larger version, just to make the page a little more condensed. Alot of those forgeries I'd never seen before and didn't realize existed. Your Forgery #1 is a Segui product, which is about the only one I can readily identify.....except that cool looking "fantasy" at the bottom. I'm not sure if adding any more identifying characteristics to most of those, beyond what you have, would be necessary. Most are easily identified when compared to the known genuine. The Segui product is probably the most commonly found forgery and probably the best looking and most convincing to the untrained eye. I also have some scans of Peter Winter forgeries, for that issue, if you don't have any yet. Let me know and I will email them to you.

I'll be glad to help you in any way I can in developing your page. Just let me know what you are looking for as far as information goes.

 

December 25, 2003 frank

Holiday greetings
Hi, All,
Wishing one and all a Merry Christmas and happy holidays. Thanks to the moderator for the gift of this board. It's a present we can open every day. And it validates a long standing tradition of fellow stamp collectors generosity to each other. Helping each other and enjoying each others company.

December 25, 2003 16:19 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Spain Number 1
Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850) Please take a look at my new Spain Numver 1 Page and give me your comments. I am considering greatly expanding Sapin and need your help.

December 25, 2003 Jim Lawler

Mom's Birthday party is over and the Christmas rounds are completed.
I'm ready for a "restfull" weekend of unpacking boxes and sorting "stuff."

Just wish it was all stamp stuff. :^(

December 25, 2003 paul laniosz

CHRISTMAS FOR MANY WEEKS
NOIP----the family just got finish with the presents, giving and the opening of presents . the wife and my two daughters were overjoyed with opening boxes and packages , i also was happy with what i received . then we all when out to eat ,after the three of them left to see some decorations and if a store was open . i took my gifts upstairs to real enjoy the day . upstairs in my stamp room are boxes and boxes of recent purchase auction lots still unopen . the rest of the family has one day to open up packages and get surprised , but i have many many days of christmas ahead of me maybe a few weeks with each day like christmas .......merry christmas.....paul

December 25, 2003 13:18 Jim Watson

Blue Canyon
Pro,
Helbock lists a Blue Canyon from Washington state which ran from 1892 to 1905 in Western Post Offices.

 

December 25, 2003 David K

HONG KONG SITE
prometheus :
China and Hong Kong use similar characters; if your browser is IE; you need to upgrade this. Hence, My ME (2000) system automatically upgraded when China was opened on eBay-took 5 minutes at 2.8M download.
Hope this works for you!

December 25, 2003 Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850)

Pro - I peruse them about once a month. The problem I've found with the ES site is that alot of the sellers of better material will only ship to Spain and select European regions. I tend to stay away because I know I'll find stuff I want but can't get. Out of sight, out of mind.

December 25, 2003 prometheus

Richard B
There is a Blue Canyon Location in Idaho white water rapids
rafting etc, cna't seem to find if it was ever a lived in location.

How often do you view the Ebay espana stamps listing on the ES site seems some decent olders show there often enuf.

December 25, 2003 prometheus

richard b
Yes I thought that might be it But guessing that maybe the person knew if they were in Idaho or not.
The direction of travel would be two completely seperate directions would have to go south west to Blue canyon cal,
and North for Idaho .

December 25, 2003 Richard Ballhagen (spain_1850)

unknown Doane
Prometheus - There is a Blue Canyon listed on the California list, which might fit your unknown one, assuming some of letters are simply missing.

December 25, 2003 prometheus

Never Mind
Middle coloumn of little boxes 4 th set down STAMPS
maximum card s etc Neat
Hong Kong Dollars = ???

December 25, 2003 prometheus

Is there a way I can access the ebay site
The new one in Hong Kong all I get are little boxes any computer folks know how to get the characters set I would like to at least see the photos.
hongkong

December 25, 2003 prometheus

Here is Unknown Doane
Linked right -----> HERE

December 25, 2003 prometheus

Bill D
I have family currently in San Antonio
great Uncles and cousins in Houston,
and in the El Paso area.

December 25, 2003 prometheus

25th December Cancels from the US
Heres a Vintage Santa Card mailed
25thDec
Here is the CDSRENO

The following is an UNKnOWN Doane at least I Can not find it anywhere in the west of United states even though the card message says In Idaho I have NOT be able to locate where this might be
Not in any book on even unfound but issued doanes cancellers (helbock western doanes book) and not on the internet Doane list But where ever they were working the 25th of December 1906
???????
Front of card clearly indicates the sender was in IDAHO (twice)
unfound Nice giant railroad Bridge post card. IDAHO???

December 25, 2003 Bill Dempwolf

Bill

December 25, 2003 05:11 Jim Watson

December 25, 2003 Jim Lawler

And thanks to Dave for his daily present of keeping up this moderated board.

December 25, 2003 00.56 Knud-Erik Andersen

December 24, 2003 Anne

Good night to all and to all sweet dreams of a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, and a peaceful and prosperous New Year.


 

December 24, 2003 Michael Walter

Brian R
I found your ebay user name in the other group and emailed you an invite

December 24, 2003 Michael Walter

Brian R
This is a brand new group that I started about 2 days ago. Posting as I tip-toe the presents downstairs for my children....SHHHHHH....

December 24, 2003 Brian R

This is only a suggestion, I certainly don't advocate spaming the place, with reports about smelly auctions. Just a nice optional place to guide someone, who is genuinely interested in topics, that would quickly disappear on the chat. Either way, i'll make it a point, to visit there more often. BTW-- Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2003 Michael Walter <harfordstamps@comcast.net>

Happy holidays to all!!!

December 24, 2003 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

December 24, 2003 17:57 Jim Watson

Christmas Eve in Southwest Florida
Tonight will be cool (59° F.) here tonight. No sign of snow. I don't think that many of the kids will be getting sleds here tomorrow. More likely something electronic from BestBuy or some store like them.

History says it has snowed here. I'm not sure if the record said the snow actually covered the ground. While we don't see moonlight on the new-fallen snow, we do hear the breeze in the palm fronds and the reflection of the moon off the pond. I think that beats shoveling snow most any day.

Pro,
Thanks for posting the Fort Myers cover for me. It provides a neat opportunity to repost the early history of Fort Myers. Not many are aware of how close to frontier we are here. You can go a few miles and find places no one has visited for a century, if at all. Thanks again for finding a nice fit.

December 24, 2003 17:44 Dave F. (moderator)

Happy Holidays (of all sorts!)
Happy Holidays to all posters & lurkers!

Thanks to those who posted holiday-related images! (If you're all in agreement, the prize goes to Anne for the twofer -- a veritable multicultural experience!)

Please feel free to post relevant images over the next few days, especially as we move towards the New Year.

My best wishes to all of you and your families,

-- Dave

P.S. Bob in WA: Your post is here in spirit!

And to translate Nomad's special wish for all the non-Latin speakers on the board: Peace be with you!

December 24, 2003 Bob Hohertz

Happy Holidays

Of whatever persuasion - just keep them Happy.

December 24, 2003 nomad55

A Merry Christmas to All the Boad Participants....
....and lurkers.

And thanks to Dave for providing this forum.

Pax Vobiscum!

December 24, 2003 Roger Heath

Interesting Card
Something philatelic -
After the Swiss PO determined that the design of Mr. DeCoppett's razor canceller was satisfactory there was only one question remaining. Could Güller, the contractor to the Swiss PO, mass produce these cancellers for distribution to all first class POs? A test was required, therefore, four new devices were ordered to be manufactured in a "mass production" test. Chaux-de-Fonds, Basel 2, Grenchen, and St. Moritz Dorf were chosen to receive this new design. They were distributed in late 1903, and deemed successful.
This card was mailed from St MoritzDorf September 6, 1905 to Kobe, Japan, (arriving Oct 6, 1905) where it was forwarded to Yokohama receiving a Japanese cancel. I'm assuming the red script is the address in Japanese.

Roger

 

December 24, 2003 David K

Thanks..I just couldn't see this one. HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!

December 24, 2003 David Benson

DK, it is Denmark 1854 4sk. Orange Brown,

David B.

December 24, 2003 David K <eaglearts@aol.com>

Early Foreign Stamp ID
No, Brian, it does not break the inner circle. Your conclusion is what I felt about these. Thanks! But Patton's does make reference to the bottom two! Real or fake...hm?
Any ideas on this Unknown stamp? Thanks!

December 24, 2003 1:50 pm Bob in WA

I still can't get my scanner drivers to work on the replacement hard drive, so I can't show the 18th century Dec 25th cover I wanted to share. But Merry Christmas to all, and also Happy Birthday to Greg, if he still looks in.

December 24, 2003 Roger Heath

Off Topic - Gov Officiousness
I find the story completely believable.
Twice in my life I've been confronted by Government Officials who had nasty attitudes.
Both times I was still a British citizen with US residency, where the assumption of the official was he could deny me something using minute details of regulations in a threatening manner.
When travelling by ship to England in 1964, we stopped in Miami and everyone lined up in the appropriate lines to go ashore. The official told me my green card had a photo that was outdated and he could stop me from going ashore claiming the photo didn't look like me! I said fine, I'd been living in Los Angeles for 10 years, and couldn't imagine Miami being much different. He realized his threat didn't hold up, so mumbled and let me go ashore.
Another time during my Naturalization process an interviewer basically interrogated me for not attending "citizenship classes." After attending American schools from 4th grade through college graduation, it seemed to me I should understand the concepts of American Democracy. He almost denied my application, but relented after I said the wanted to be a citizen so I could be an officer when I was drafted!
My brother never became a US citizen because each time he applied there was some individual government official who used minute details to make him jump through hoops, which if explained, would be considered ridiculous to all. So, his wife is American, his children are American, but he refuses to play the game anymore. It has never made a difference in his life other than he doesn't get to vote.Top Secret clearances, Airborne infantry officer, Headquarters exec officer in Danang, but not a US citizen because he couldn't get appropriate references! Go figure.

Roger

PS Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
This Board has been one of the best presents one could have.Thanks Dave for your efforts. I hope the elves outlast the goblins this year.

December 24, 2003 Brian R

Michael W Your care package of an abused CSA #3 arrived yesterday. The poor thing! How an unused stamp, could have been subjected to such vile treatment, is completely beyond me. It will be safe from further offences, tucked amongst friends, on my "wounded soldiers" page. It appears to be an overinked late printing too....a real shame. Thank you.

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Darm It missed on the train lovers too
Here is trainFlag

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Jim Watson
OOps forgot to put the right link in
Here is FTMYERSCENT

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Various scans for multi peeps
For Jim Watson
a xmas greeting from your neck of woods FLA

for Nomad couplePPIE
the lower card has a note to a guy in Montana complaining abou the Airships , can i safely guess that he means Blimps in 1912.

For Bill D TEXAS
where my parents, grandmother,cousins, etc and Daughter are now celebrating without me. :-(

For Jim G

CenteredNot

For Jim W-S and David F (moderator)
a combo Volvano /Nippon
NEATOSan

For the Train lovers
RPOFLAG

and One more Christmas Card that got there late see aux handstamp
badaddress

Back in a while with my Postal Disappointments from the last year.

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Mysterious Queen post cards
I have a few of this kinda thing
I'm sure made up by someone I liked the " unclaimed at CBS stamp" and the se-tenant pair of machins
FRONT
and the BACK
you have to read it to get the HA HA part.

December 24, 2003 Anne

Off to brave the last minute crowds so that the Offspring can return a Playstation cable that doesn't work)

December 24, 2003 11:48 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

US Scott 10 and cancels
Make that twenty five years ago.

December 24, 2003 11:42 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

I remember travelling to the New Jersey and Pennsylvania stamp shows especially to pick out fancy cancels from Bill Weiss stock fifteen years ago when Bill made the bourse circuit as a seller. I especially picked out all the NYFM SOTN cancels. Nice to see you again, Bill.

December 24, 2003 Lavar Taylor

Dogs
Dave P -- Ouch!! Do you know what you get when you cross Lassie with a watermelon? Melancollie Baby.

December 24, 2003 Anne

Scott 10, 11 etc
Comments on the margins on this guy? Those don't look like 2 mm to me--is this. It's being listed as an either/or. Back later.

December 24, 2003 Dave P

Buckingham Palace
Anne, it is a dog-eat-dog world out there.......

December 24, 2003 David Moser <stamphick>

David

December 24, 2003 Bill Weiss

Plating
ANNE; #11 can be plated as can MANY early US stamps, but not all can be plated. Plating involves the accurate assignment of constant/repeating plate marks to specific positions on the plate and many early US stamps do not have enough such marks. Some have more than enough, some have almost enough, and some have virtually none.

Plating, by the way, leaves me cold. While I consider myself to be a fairly advanced philatelist/student, I just can't get excited about being able to assign a specific stamp to a specific plate position! It is a sport which was, at one time, far more popular than it is now and I believe the recent generations of collectors feel much like I do and prefer to watch grass grow rather than plate stamps (I'm being overly dramatic, of course!).

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Card that never went
here's a nice cancel (flag) unfortunately she forgot the stamp and the Christmas card was returned-for-postage

December 24, 2003 Anne

'Tis not a merry Christmas at Buckingham Palace.

December 24, 2003 David Benson

There has been many reports in the various Australian papers about mistreatment at US Arrival airports for minor problems which are usually solved by a phone call to Consular Staff. I presume every major airport around the world gets many Visa problems every day and most are solved without delay. It looks like this person was wrong but the US is not a 3rd. world country with strict controls over journalists and should have solved the problem without taking draconian methods.

David B.

December 24, 2003 Anne

Appalled
I think I'm in the appalled camp on this one. While the journalist admittedly was not following the proper procedure (which she claims she was unaware of and that other journalists routinely violated--from the accounts, it sounds like this was the journalistic equivalent of speeding), I can't see any justification for treating her as badly as she says she was treated. Ok, if you're going by the book, then fine--detain her while you investigate, etc etc. But treat her with respect and humanity while you're doing it. Get the woman some edible food, for instance, and be pleasant to her. Sounds like some lower level power freak got carried away here.

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Thanks Bill W
Have just finished checking a stack of my early/pioneer cards.
started on my s-1's (ux1) and after getting used to "seeing the watermark" have now started in my S3's+S4's your numbers ux 4's ux 5's .
When did the number 2 get deleted from the books my 1955 george martin has it listed.
it shows the s-3 your 4, S4 your 5 .
Do you know why the deletion
 

December 24, 2003 Lavar Taylor

PS Happy Holidays!
PS Happy Holidays to all! Every day I wake up I give thanks for all the blessings bestowed by our Maker. I wish all of you many blessings in the coming year.

December 24, 2003 Anne

IF 10s can be plated, I assume that means that 11 and later issues can be as well?

December 24, 2003 Roger Heath

PC stamp location
Pro-
You may remember the cards I showed going to a German soldier in China. It seems exchanging postcards was very popular at the turn of the century and people belonged to clubs. One of the correspondents specifically asks Mr Kruger to place the stamp on the front of the PC. He was expecting the exchange to come from China, but Kruger was returning to Germany and was unable to reciprocate. I have a couple of cards where stamps are on the front and then cancelled with razor cancels. I look for them as they will add color to my exhibit pages.

Roger
 

December 24, 2003 Lavar Taylor

Barbara Olshansky, deputy legal director at the Center for
Constitutional Rights, a civil liberties group that is suing the
federal government on behalf of detainees, said the report "is
astounding confirmation of what we've alleged all along. This goes
into exactly what kind of physical and verbal abuse there was."
 

December 24, 2003 COVERWIZ

Re: Appalled
Just build the wall, and no one in or out but US Military. Including those Chinese and Japanese that own 50% of our national debt and thus are protecting our tax cuts and life style. No wonder all those second class foreigners hate us. Can you imagine the coverage if a FOX News or Washington Times reporter was treated the same way in Sydney or London? Hope it happens.....

On a philatelic note, tbe strong Euro is padding my wallet with results like this. But they better not pick them up in person....

December 24, 2003 prometheus

I guess i can determine
which of you guys had already done your shopping
and are not out there in the last minute crush/frenzy of gifting.

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Thanks Bill W
I use the G&K brand of benzene free fluid when this gallon runs out am going to try that Clarity stuff.
The fumes from lighter fluid make my nose run.

December 24, 2003 Bill Weiss

UX4/5
PROMO; No it won't harm anything. I use lighter fluid for watermarking (although it's not the most highly recommended by experts) and just squeeze it onto the card until it's soaked, shake off the excess, then hold the card up to direct light. Using this method I am generally able to see any watermark in a postal card, no matter how faint, or at least the suggestion of a watermark. After you have determined if it is or isn't wmkd, I shake the card rapidly to speed up the drying process (blowing air on it helps too). No harm done.

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Bill W
Is the watermark fluid going to disturb the printing on back
most of mine are advertizing/commercial type cards??

December 24, 2003 Bill Weiss

UX4 and ANNE
PROMO; I don't think I said it was the "easiest" way to seperate them, but very often UX4s are on darker card stock. If I see a dark UX4/5 it catches my eye and then I check for a watermark. Seeing a watermark is still the definitive test.

ANNE; Sorry I couldn't respond quickly to your questions but I see you got good advice from Bill C., who weas correct in all he said. Frankly, I have found it easy to buy #10s on cover on eBay, where they often sell very cheaply ($15-30.). Why buy one on cover? Simple. Any 3c 1851 dated after July 1 and before about October 6, 1851 MUST be #10 as #11 wasn't issued yet, so any dated cover in that time span guarantees you a #10. You really need not worry about the 1857 issue being trimmed to resemble the 1851 issue because trimmed 1857s are easy to spot because they must be cut SO close to the design that they are obvious trimmed stamps. The 1857 issue only had about 2mm space in between designs so trimmed copies have virtually no margins to speak of. Back in the "old" days board members here would link onto obvious trimmed 5c 1857 stamps made to resemble 5c 1851 (#12) or cheap 1c 1857 type V (#24) trimmed to resemble much more expensive 1c 1851s. I would recommend that you go onto eBay under 19th Century stamps and find some certified copies of 1857 stamps and then you will see the small amount of spacing in between stamps. If you can find any pairs or larger multiples to look at then you can REALLY see the narrow spacing. What you can easily do is go to a 19th C. U.S. listing and do a search for "certificate" and it will pop up all of the certified stamps in that listing and you can then easily locate some 1857s to view.

December 24, 2003 David K. <eaglearts@aol.com>

Locals & CSA
The Moodie's and Hunt's are mentioned in Donald Scott Patton catalogue volume 1. The Brown is common. But, any info on the others would be great, thanks! this

December 24, 2003 prometheus

picture post card for Jim WS
nice formations on this card
1915

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Jim W-S
Thanks for the link to the Swedish Stamps code site.
It seems I have a few of those.
Thanks again.

December 24, 2003 Prometheus

Thanks David M
I did look back at some of their Other articles
the only one I found useful (ha) besides the squirrel haikus was this

9 Most Useful Items in a Tornado

1 Scissors
2 Compass
3 Chair
4 Camera
5 Second, smaller tornado
6 Finnegans Wake
7 Endorphins
8 Bobbing-head ceramic tchotchke
9 Soy milk

which goes to the heart of the overall output .
 

December 24, 2003 Jim Whitford-Stark

Looks like whatever repairs eBay tried this morning didn't work, liveworld is semi-comatose.

December 24, 2003 prometheus

more cancels
nice recieved here stationBwavy

Nice bold cancel staT

even the Austrians put them on the picture side sometimes PARAs
this is the way i like my overprints on something

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Bill Weiss ?
You mentioned to Brian R
That sometimes the easiest way to tell UX4 from a 5 was the color of the card staock like this difference.
seenhere

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Cancel question machine
is the 3 in this cancel a station number WASHINGTON

 

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Bill D
If you have time you might be able to transribe HERE

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Bill D
Nice pickups
I see and have a few folders that were free Franked so I guess that was normal .
to the cowboy card neat/cute/risque

On the shorthand I have a couple of those must have been secretary to secretary (admin assistant (pc))

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Best part of our system
Jim we can agree to disagree and I don't have to go postal on ya.

I also disagree with your statement - democracy - we are a Republic .

And Maybe Just Maybe the Journalist was trying to flaunt the rules just to get caught.
It makes a far better story than another in the 1000's of olivia breast cancer stories (not slighting the importance of that info)

happy HanuRamaKwanzMas everyone.

 

December 24, 2003 Bill Dempwolf

Bill

December 24, 2003 prometheus

relink of reciever
HERE

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Cancels from my pile
here is a nice state Fair cancel wish the last number was in date
192?

None of the Belgian Expos were on the wrong side
1910

and 1913
a nice recieved mark 1904

 

December 24, 2003 06:24 Jim Watson

I Remain Appalled
Pro,
I doubt if the rules, which are most likely in answer to 9/11, represent what America is all about. Special considerations to identify visiting journalists smacks of state-controlled information and 'escorts' from the politburo. I am sad about the waves of paranoia and insecurity which have swept over this country recently. It is not representative of a confident democracy. We really are better than all of that.

Unbending rules are the province of unthinking bureaucrats who know no one was ever fired for either following the rules or making dumb rules. They exist to avoid the possibility of thinking on the part of those who are constrained by them. They are the province of auditors who need to find non-compliances to justify their existence. Without them, auditors would have to think, too. As in the design of software, it's easy to make rules and procedures but tough to write the practical exceptions to them. And rules which do not have a useful purpose just create friction which degrades productivity.

Just my ½¢

Dave F.,
I won't be distressed if you delete this.

December 24, 2003 David Moser <stamphick@dospalos.org>

David

December 24, 2003 Trevor Perrons <admiralstamps--AT--sympatico--DOT--ca>

Immigration Woes
I am also inclined to side with the US Homeland Security officers. Front-line officers aren't responsible for making the policies. They merely enforce the rules as equitably as possible. Remember that we see only the journalist's interpretation of the events. I'm sure that there is much more to this story, but most governments are tight-lipped on the details. Customs and immigration officers have a very difficult (and thankless) job to do. Much of what they do is viewed as a "hassle" by the travelling public. To be able to visit a foreign nation is a priviledge, not a right. Being argumentative with an officer will NOT (contrary to popular belief) expedite your passage through the process. I suppose that the moral of this story is to do your research BEFORE you travel. Remember that it is the responsibility of the traveller to provide any appropriate documents and to prove that the trip is legitimate. No sympathy on this end. And I am not an American.

Happy holidays to all.

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Wrong side stamps
lars I should have included the Japanese numbers as well
85 cards 23 on "other side"

December 24, 2003 prometheus

Lars B
Thanks for the reply on my Wrong side of the card stamp query.

Because I am spendin he holidays alone and am sorting i did a check last night of some cards already sorted and found the following.

Out of 96 French postcards 5 were picture side
125 german postcards 4
86 belgians 75 were picture side
110 italian 8

not that these numbers mean much being such a small sample
but it seems that the Belgians did it more than anyone.

December 24, 2003 Victor Horadam <horadam1@airmail.net>

Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year to all.

December 24, 2003 prometheus

I'm Not apalled
Sorry to disagree Jim But just as we wish that some folks would just follow the rules on the different Venues we vet here ,
I think that if she had just followed those rules that applied to her profession she would have avoided the whole problem.
I feel bad for the working dudes who more than likely caught some flak for just following the letter of the law.
And as a person who transmits facts to the rest of us Don't you think she should have known the facts.
It does not matter what transpired before , the previous customs guys were just slackers if you look at it closely.
 

December 24, 2003 Guillaume van T.

And a warm thank you to Dave for being our gracious host.<>

Guillaume
 

December 24, 2003 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

December 24, 2003 03:18 Jim Watson

In another thought, let me wish everyone a memorable holiday season with the pleasure of friends and family.

December 24, 2003 03:00 Jim Watson

Eric,
Surely, you can call me jimbo just don't call me late for dinner! :-) I'm known as jimbo only on eBay. It came about during the 'old' days. I thought your good health summary was excellent. It was a good 1 page summary of taking care of oneself.
 

December 24, 2003 David Benson

Dave, that is the only collection of them that I have ever seen. I have seen them illustrated in Auction catalogues but that is not the same as someone explaining the joy he has had in collecting them over half a century. I never knew that he collected them as I presumed he was a strictly classical, classical collector who only collected and studied the very early colonial classics.

I think he mentioned that he owned a factory in Manchester,

David B.

December 24, 2003 Dave P

Xmas cancel
David B
Lee's collection of "Posted in Advance" marks was the finest, and most complete, ever. I saw them at a GBPS display he gave. One interesting aspect is that records of the number of items posted at each office were kept, and in many cases they were in the low hundreds. I don't collect them as such, but Manchester was the only office to use a machine cancel so it is part of my machine cancel collection. There are actually a couple of variations but they are very illusive and I am still looking.

December 24, 2003 23:02 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

10 and 11
Anne Here is a real number 10. Note the clarity of the lines. The scanner was a little orange so the color is not exact.

December 23, 2003 22:57 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

10 and 11
Anne THey are both number 11. THe number 10 are early printings. The lines in the stamp should be sharp. Look at the toga button on the shoulder. There are lines going from that button down to the left. Those lines should be very clear and sharp in a genuine number 10. True number 10 stamps are determined by plating and not color. With that said, the orange brown color should be fairly intense and shout out to you. Yours are too pale also, but that is not the determining factor. Plating is the determining factor.

December 23, 2003 Anne

Good night to all and to all sweet dreams of late night posts (my normal hours), Xmas down under (and a merry one to all) and neat looking perfin covers.

December 23, 2003 Anne

Bill: Can I take you up on your kind offer of help? I'm going through the odds and ends of material from different box lots and such and trying to put them in order. These two I think are 10 and 11, with 10 on the right. 10 is supposed to be a richer shade and more detailed in the design than 11. Do I have the ID right or are they both the same? And what should I be looking for in the way of recuts and such? I have a note saying that the one on the left has a partial Richmond cancel, but I don't have a clue as to the cancel on the right. Also, is there a problem with later perfed issues of the same design being trimmed down to imperfs? Any help you can give will be more than appreciated. Thanks.

December 23, 2003 Lavar Taylor

nomad55-- Matt is correct. Only time I would chase a cover like that would be if it was it great condition and the price was right (probably mutually exclusive circumstances). I have quite a few examples of a straight 5c usage to Germany, no weird markings or routings, from that era. I collect German perfins but not US.

December 23, 2003 David Benson

Dave P.,

Your Post Early for Xmas Card reminded me of something I had forgotten. In 1986 I had the privilege of going to dinner at the home of Mr. R.A.G. Lee and after dinner he showed me his collection of CGH Triangles and also his collection of Post Early for Xmas covers. He was more proud of them than his Cape Triangles as he said it was a lifetimes work to collect what he had. From memory he had about 50 and every one was in impeccable condition with clear markings. Most probably the finest collection ever. Don't know what happened to them but possibly his wife still has them.

David B.

December 23, 2003 818 prometheus

Southern Christmas Card
We ain't got the Snow to play in so we normally
celebrate LIKE-THIS

December 23, 2003 Matt Liebson

Nomad: I'm more worried about the perfin guy who's already bid than Lavar, who already will have many, many 5 cent UPU rates to Germany in this era. It's too bad about the condition, but I didn't know that Hampden used a perfin -- I have a very similar ad cover but from 1898 (so no perfin possible there).

December 23, 2003 nomad55

Stirring up the pot a bit.....
This cover should appeal to both Lavar and Matt.

Bidding war??

December 23, 2003 nomad55

Stirring up the pot a bit.....
This cover should appeal to both Lavar and Matt.

Bidding war??

December 23, 2003 prometheus

Dave P
Quite a Rarity OOOHH NOOO
I have passed those by looking for readable cancels.

December 23, 2003 16:37 Eric Dyck

Perf Gauges

Ken L, Jim W-S, and Jim W (May I call you Jimbo?)

Thank you for your suggestions. I’ll measure the perfs using the concavities. Actually, that is what I usually do, but the perf tips of the stamp pictured lined up so nice on the old Instanta that I just left them that way. The US Specialized and new Scott’s/Linn’s Multi-Gauge arrived today (that makes 7 gauges), so it’s off to work I go. I’ll try to find some panes of stamps with various perf sizes for Ken’s method. I know that I have some later US issues (Wildflowers, Celebrate the Century, Greetings, etc.) so perfs in the 10 – 11.5 range shouldn’t be too hard. Multiples of stamps less than perf 10 or more than perf 12 are going to be more difficult for me. Need to go shopping/begging.

Eric
 

December 23, 2003 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

December 23, 2003 Roger Heath

Christmas cancel
Dave P -
I almost got out my old German alphabet to read that card, then looked at the stamp. );>) The postal clerks sure had it rough in the old days deciphering handwriting!!!

Roger

December 23, 2003 Dave P

Christmas Cancel
My contribution to the Christmas theme. This card was cancelled in Manchester in 1907 by the Columbia machine using the special die for the "posted in advance" Christmas delivery scheme, quite a rarity.

December 23, 2003 Roger Heath

Favorite Christmas Item
Needless to say my favorite Christmas item involves a "razor" cancel.
101 years ago today, A. Cooper mailed a postcard of Church Street, Liverpool, to Miss Olga de Bereuds, in Geneve.
The card was posted at the Wavertree PO on December 23, 1902, and received a Geneve Rue du Stand PO razor cancel on Christmas Day at 10am. Apparently the Hotel where Miss Bereuds was staying for the holidays was not served by this branch office, therefore, the card was forwarded to the Rue du Rhone branch, which received the card one hour later. I assume it was delivered to the hotel later during Christmas Day.
The note says it all - "Kindest wishes to all and hopes for a Happy Xmas and New Year."

Roger

December 23, 2003 Brian McInturff <philatelist at earthlink dot net>

Christmas Seals
Nice couple of cards with seals Prometheus.
I'll post some of mine in the morning. I've switched ISP's and am also switching computers so I've got to transfer a lot of data.

December 23, 2003 Jim Whitford-Stark

I've seen this somewhere as an English version, but anyway here is Scandinavian version of stamp positioning code.

December 23, 2003 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

December 23, 2003 Lars Boettger <alpha2 at pt dot lu>

Stamps on Reverse
Brian R

What a shame... As for stamps on the back of postcards, I have the vague and unproved suspicion, that they were sometimes used to transmit a certain message, as many postcards were sent at printed matter rate, which allowed only five or so written words.
 

December 23, 2003 Brian R

part 2
a perfect illustration of what I ment in the prior post. Although, I suspect this one is still quite collectable, as it is a nice strike of a pre-war cancel, that has been modified from "3 cents" to "5".

December 23, 2003 Brian R

Lars
In the US, its the upper right corner, the same on the reverse of postcards. Obviously, this is a rule that wasn't present, or was widely flaunted, in the early days. Evidence of this, is the high number of US classics one sees, that are torn in half and repaired, following precisely the dimensions of envelope backflaps. :o(

December 23, 2003 10.17 am Colin Judd UK http://mysite.freeserve.com/xzephyr_GB_Machins/
 

Colin
 

December 23, 2003 Bill Weiss

Sunny Day
ANNE; And I assure you, just as sunny here in PA! So sunny, in fact, that in 20 minutes I am going to play golf - which I do year round - so long as snow doesn't cover the course. Golf & Poker, my two recreational activities in my old age.


Glad to hear of your interest in classic U.S. material, which is not as complicated as folks like to make it. If you ever need any help with identification, or whatever, feel free to ask.

Lastly - aren't you usually a late night poster? Must be vacation time? Happy Holidays.

December 23, 2003 Lars Boettger <alpha2 at pt dot lu>

Stamp on the wrong side
prometheus

Don´t know on which side you guys in the US put your stamps, but in Europe it was quite common on postcards to put the stamp on the picture side or to seal a letter with a stamp. You just had to write a note for the P.O. to look on the other side (like in your example), or the postcard was in for postage due. Of course, it was against regulation, but what the heck, it was tolerated in most cases.

Best regards from Luxembourg,

Lars

BTW, Jim L. has forgotten Luxemburgish: Schée Feierdesch an e gudde Rutsch an d´néid Johr!

December 23, 2003 Anne

BUT I am starting to see the allure of classic US & am drooling over Jim's website. Beautiful stamps. It takes a lot of delayed gratification to maintain a quality as consistently high as that.

December 23, 2003 Ken Lawrence

Eric Dyck

If you begin with a proven standard, each instrument will speak for itself. The method I proposed earlier is foolproof. If you take a strip of perforated stamps, measure a 20-centimeter distance along the perf row, count the holes/teeth, and divide by ten, you will know the exact measured gauge to the nearest tenth. The extent to which the measuring gauge and person reading it differ from that number is the degree of error for that device. If you repeat the procedure for several spacings, you'll see whether the reported error is consistent up and down the scale.

December 23, 2003 Jim Whitford-Stark

Eric
I agree with Jimbo, it is easier to align detector with internal concavity of perfs than perf tips. Additionally, it is less likely that damage would have occured in that area.

December 23, 2003 Matt Liebson

Eric: at least it is not one organization for all items! :) Actually, for stamps and coins they have the top US organizations identified (of course, there remains the obvious issue of foreign expertization of foreign material).

December 23, 2003 07:17 Eric Dyck

eBay FYI

Received notification of this page from eBay today. Stamps, coins, sports cards, and Beanie Baby expertization!

Eric

December 23, 2003 Jim Lawler

AND A


Afrikaans - Geseende Kerfees en 'n gelukkige nuwe jaar

Afrikander - Een Plesierige Kerfees

Amharic - Melkam Yelidet Beaal

Arabic - I'D Miilad Said ous Sana Saida

Argentine - Felices Pascuas y Feliz A=F1o Nuevo

Armenian - Shenoraavor Nor Dari yev Pari Gaghand

Azeri - Tezze Iliniz Yahsi Olsun

Malaysia - Selamat Hari Natal

Basque - Zorionak eta Urte Berri On!

Bengali - Shuvo Baro Din - Shuvo Nabo Barsho

Bohemian - Vesele Vanoce

Brazilian - Boas Festas e Feliz Ano Novo

Breton - Nedeleg laouen na bloav ezh mat

Bulgarian - Vasel Koleda; Tchesti nova godina!

Catalan - Bon nadal i feli=E7 any nou!

Cantonese - Seng Dan Fai Lok, Sang Nian Fai Lok

Chinese -

(Mandarin) Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan

(Catonese) Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun

Choctaw - Yukpa, Nitak Hollo Chito

Cornish - Nadelik looan na looan blethen noweth

Corsican - Pace e salute

Crazanian - Rot Yikji Dol La Roo

Cree - Mitho Makosi Kesikansi

Creek - Afvcke Nettvcakorakko

Croatian - Sretan Bozic

Czech - Prejeme Vam Vesele Vanoce a stastny Novy Rok

Danish - Glaedelig Jul

Duri - Christmas-e- Shoma Mobarak

Dutch - Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

Egyptian - Colo sana wintom tiebeen

English - Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Eskimo - Jutdlime pivdluarit ukiortame pivdluaritlo!

Esperanto - Gajan Kristnaskon

Estonian - Rmsaid Julup Chi

Euskera - Zorionak eta Urte Berri On

Faeroese - Gledhilig jol og eydnurikt nyggjar!

Farsi - Cristmas-e-shoma mobarak bashad

Finnish - Hyv Joulua or Hauskaa Joulua

Flemish - Zalig Kerstfeest en Gelukkig nieuw jaar

French - Joyeux Noel et Bonne Annee!

Frisian - Noflike Krystdagen en in protte Lok en Seine yn it Nije Jier!

Gaelic - Nollaig chridheil agus Bliadhna mhath ur!

Galician - Bon Nadal e Ano Novo

German - Froehliche Weihnachten undein gluckliches Neues Jahr!

Greek - Kala Christougenna Kieftihismenos O Kenourios Chronos

Hausa - Barka da Kirsimatikuma Barka da Sabuwar Shekara!

Hawaiian - Mele Kalikimaka & Hauoli Makahiki Hou

Hebrew - Mo'adim Lesimkha. Shana Tova

Hindi - Shub Naya Baras

Hungarian - Kellemes Karacsonyiunnepeket & Boldog vet

Icelandic - Gledileg Jol og Farsaelt Komandi ar!

Indonesian - Selamat Hari Natal

Iraqi - Idah Saidan Wa Sanah Jadidah

Irish - Nollaig Shona Dhuit

Italian - Buon Natale e Felice Anno Nuovo

Japanese - Shinnen omedeto. Kurisumasu Omedeto

Jerriais - Bouan Nou et Bouanne Ann

Jiberish - Mithag Crithagsigathmithags

Klingon - toDwI'ma' qoS yItIvqu'

Korean - Sung Tan Chuk Ha

Krio - Appi Krismes en Appi Niu Yaa

Latin - Natale hilare et Annum Nuovo!

Latvian - Prieci'gus Ziemsve'tkus un Laimi'gu Jauno Gadu!

Lausitzian (Sorbisch)- Wjesole hody a strowe nowe leto

Lithuanian - Linksmu Kaledu

Macedonian -Streken Bozhik

Malay - Selamat Hari Natal

Malayalam - Puthuvalsara Aashamsakal

Maltese - Nixtieklek Milied tajjeb u is-sena t-tabja!

Mandarin - Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan

Manx - Nollick ghennal as blein vie noa

Maori - Meri Kirihimete

Marathi - Shub Naya Varsh

Mongolian - Zul saryn bolon shine ony mend devshuulye

Navajo - Merry Keshmish

Norwegian - God Jul og Godt Nytt Er

Occitan - Polit nadal e bona annada

Oriya - Sukhamaya christmass ebang khusibhara naba barsa

Papiamento - Bon Pasco

Papua New Guinea - Bikpela hamamas blong dispela Krismas na Nupela yia i go long yu

Pashto - De Christmas akhtar de bakhtawar au newai kal de mubarak sha.

Pennsylvania German - En frehlicher Grischtdaag unen hallich Nei Y aahr!

Pig Latin - Errymay Hristmascay and Appyay Ewnay Earyay

Plattduetsch (Low Saxon) - Heughliche Winachten un 'n moi Nijaar

Polish - Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia

Portuguese - Boas Festas e um feliz Ano Novo

Punjabi - Nave sal di mubaraka

Pushto - Christmas Aao Ne-way Kaal Mo Mobarak Sha

Rapa-Nui - Mata-Ki-Te-Rangi. Te-Pito-O-Te-Henua

Rhetian - Bellas festas da nadal e bun onn

Rumanian - Sarbatori vesele

Romanche - Legreivlas fiastas da Nadal e bien niev onn!

Rumanian - Hristos s-a Nascut si Anul Nou Fericit

Russian - Pozdrevlyayu s prazdnikom Rozhdestva is Novim Godom

Sami - Buorrit Juovllat

Samoan - La Maunia Le Kilisimasi Ma Le Tausaga Fou

Sardinian - Bonu nadale e prosperu annu nou

Scots Gaelic - Nollaig chridheil huibh

Serbian - Hristos se rodi

Serb-Croatian - Sretam Bozic. Vesela Nova Godina

Singhalese - Subha nath thalak Vewa. Subha Aluth Awrudhak Vewa

Sorbian - Wjesole hody a strowe Nowe leto.

Somali - ciid wanaagsan iyo sanad cusub oo fiican.

Slovakian - Sretan Bozic or Vesele vianoce

Slovak - Vesele Vianoce. A stastlivy Novy Rok

Slovene - Vesele bozicne praznike in srecno novo leto

Spanish - Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año Nuevo

Swahili - Krismas Njema Na Heri Za Mwaka Mpya

Swedish - God Jul och Gott Nytt

Sudanese - Wilujeng Natal Sareng Warsa Enggal

Tagalog - Maligayang Pasko at Manigong Bagong Taon

Tamil - Nathar Puthu Varuda Valthukkal

Thai - Suksan Wan Christmas lae Sawadee Pee Mai

Tok Pisin - Meri Krismas & Hepi Nu Yia

Trukeese - Neekirissimas annim oo iyer seefe feyiyeech!

Turkish - Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun

Turkish - Neþeli Noel ve a mutlu yeni yýl! (variation?)

Tuvaluan - Ke Manuia te Kilisimasi mote Tausaga-Fou !

Twi - Afenkyapaa

Ukrainian - Veseloho Vam Rizdva i Shchastlyvoho Novoho Roku.

United States - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Urdu - Naya Saal Mubarak Ho

Vietnamese - Chuc Mung Giang Sinh - Chuc Mung Tan Nien

Welsh - Nadolig LLawen a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Xhosa - Siniqwenelela Ikrisimesi EmnandI Nonyaka Omtsha Ozele Iint sikelelo Namathamsanqa

Yayeya - Krisema

Yoruba - E ku odun, e hu iye' dun!

Zulu - Sinifesela Ukhisimusi Omuhle Nonyaka Omusha Onempumelelo

Yugoslavian - Cestitamo Bozic




From Jim L.

December 23, 2003 03:07 Jim Watson

Eric,
That's quite a website you've put together. I find that the Instanta type gauges are easier to use if you align the lines on the gauge with the bottoms of the perforation holes rather than the tips.

December 22, 2003 22:49 Eric Dyck http://www.KansasFolks.net
 

Perf Gauges

I now have five of the six gauges I plan to study: Linn’s Multi-Gauge-new, Linn’s Multi-Gauge-old, BSG gauge (the latter two on loan from Ken Lawrence, thanks Ken), and old and new Instanta gauges (on loan from Jack Jonza, Guatemala philatelic expert). I have also ordered a US Specialized gauge.

Here are examples of what I have planned: This is an image of Sc 199d with the new Linn’s Multi-Gauge. This is the same stamp with the old Instanta gauge. Multi-Gauge = about gauge 15.1, old Instanta = 14.9. I plan to put together the same type of image for each of the six gauges with various different stamps, and then post them on my website for all to view. Any suggestions on stamps to choose, or other ways to approach this to compare the gauges are welcome.

I don’t think my method is precise enough to make the accurate comparisons that Ken would like to see, but my goal is to identity gauges that are readily available and accurate enough to use for measuring stamps for the next update of The Postage Stamps of Guatemala. And, I would like to know the extent of the discrepancy between the gauge we choose and the old Instanta, so that folks are aware of the situation when measuring perforations on older Guatemalan stamps with one of the newer gauges to compare with the perfs listed in our older philatelic reference material, which were measured using the old Instanta. Inexperienced folks may think they’re finding new perf varieties otherwise. The difference between perf 15.1 and 14.9 for the stamp discussed above isn’t important, as there are no other perf varieties identified with the old Instanta close for this stamp, but there are stamps from this era where a gauge difference of 0.1 – 0.2 is important to the specialist. I’ll probably use Ken’s German BSG gauge as the “gold standard” and hope that one or more of the readily available gauges fits our needs.

I agree with Ken that a study by the Salm Foundation is a good idea, especially for the precise evaluation needed by expertizers. Stability of the gauge materials is another issue that also needs to be addressed.

Eric
edyck at kc dot rr dot com
 

December 22, 2003 David Moser <stamphick@dospalos.org>

David

December 22, 2003 nomad55

earthquake
Felt ABSOLUTELY NOTHING up here in the bay area.
The Ross Stein presentation on TV was excellent.

December 22, 2003 prometheus

My Favorite US Christmas Seal
I think the 1912 seal is the best 1912
Front of card here

Heres a Christmas card with a crystal clear boldly struck cancel Vanderveersta

December 22, 2003 prometheus

Christmas Cards/greetings scans 1
Here is one from Belgium Seal
Not tied by the CDS but I thought the company imprint neat
Front of Card with stamp StNickNatBank
why did the Belgian folks put the stamps on the wrong side??

December 22, 2003 16:52 Jim Watson

Earthquake
I hope everyone got a chance to listen to the US Geological Survey press conference regarding the quake given by Dr. Ross Stein of the Menlo Park facility. He was great. You could see that he loved what he was doing and was knowledgeable and articulate about his subject.

December 22, 2003 Anne

I grew up in Portland, Oregon and was used to the periodic little tremors we got up there. But those were always harmless oddities. To live through a real quake must be a scary thing.

December 22, 2003 Anne

Favorite holiday stamp
This one's a twofer.

December 22, 2003 15:56 Jim Watson

Older Christmas Greetings
NOIP but Dave F., in particular,
Will this do for some older Christmas Greetings? It's from the mid 1990s.
 

December 22, 2003 15:29 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Power Seller
John in Ms. A seasoned Power Seller is offering This Obvious Forgery which anyone knows should look like THIS . We still have a long way to go.

December 22, 2003 15:10 Dave F. (moderator) <stampchat@pacificanalytics.com>

favorite holiday stamps?
Since it's both Christmas week and Chanukah, does anybody have any scans of favorite holiday stamps, cancels, Christmas seals, old Christmas postcards, etc., that they'd like to share?

If there's another faith's holiday (Eid?) or cultural celebration of the season (Kwanzaa) that should also be included, by all means please join in as well.

(Still best to post links rather than direct images. I can host images if you need; just email them to me at the link above.)

Happy Holidays !

December 22, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

I mean NOT required. *silly me* {;o)

December 22, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

I didn't feel anything even though I was motionless in bed at the time. Perhaps it's because I didn't bid on that auction where only elegant behaviour when leaking surplus fluids is required. *duh!*

December 22, 2003 David Benson

Just noticed this a sellers terms and conditions, must have been a translation problem,

Will ship to United States, Australasia, Canada
Seller's payment instructions & return policy:
SHIPPING BY REGISTERED 4$.I SHIPP TO USA,CANADA,UK,GERMANY AND AUSTRALASIA ONLY. NO PISSING-ELEGANT BIDDERS PLEASE.

David B.

December 22, 2003 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

December 22, 2003 prometheus

Glad it was not worse
Dave Glad you're OK ,I was in the middle of a phone call when the end in California went dead.
About an hour later my cousin called on her Cell phone and we finished the conversation , she said just the normal stuff off the shelves kinda thing.
 

December 22, 2003 12:59 pm Dave F. (moderator)

Prometheus: I can't speak for the other locals, but where I am is about 150-200 miles away from the epicenter, and still I felt it. Actually, I thought I was feeling a little dizzy, then thought it must be a little quake, but there was no noise (rumbling, building creaking, etc), as is customary, so I really thought I was little light-headed (and hungry!). It was only about 15 minutes later that I heard on the radio that it had been an earthquake.

If the magnitude remains at about 6.4-6.5, then that really is quite significant: about the same as the Sylmar earthquake of 1971, which was quite significant.

December 22, 2003 David K. <eaglearts@aol.com>

Clean up!
In most computer systems; duplicate files are stored and need to be cleaned out as well: most Microsoft formats. Go to: Programs, then accessories...then system tools, then DISK CLEANUP! And see what your computer is storing that you don't need. Check the file boxes you want to say good-bye to and then dump them! I never found a need for any of these files to be saved. On AOL too: go to Settings, then Internet options or properties and clear the buggers. Last of all, don't forget to DEFRAG your computer at least once every month! ( go to where system tools were and check defrag)! This may take as long as 6 hours to get your computer running well if you have never done it before! There, my tips for the week. And, yes, one former position was with NASA as a computer operations engineer-by gone days.

December 22, 2003 prometheus

Anyone in Southern California
Did the earth move for you??

December 22, 2003 Chip G

Rotating Monitors
Roger: Many monitors allow you to rotate them between Landscape and Portrait modes - wide for looking at pictures or images, tall for looking at documents.
here is one from Dell
Sometimes, you need to obtain software so that when you rotate the monitor, the text does not also rotate.

Chip

December 22, 2003 John@MagnoliaStamps

Bill Claghorn
Yep they are fakes.Just compared them with some real ones.Its S.O.S.D.D. Now its off to N.J. Oh boy another Christmas on the road.

Ya'll have fun now ya hear!

Merry Christmas to all

John in Ms.

December 22, 2003 prometheus

interesting
Over one third of the established "Stamp Sellers" that are highlighted on the stamps overall category page at the Bay,
ARE dealers that are/have been discussed over and over for their wonky items.
Yes I am sure that Things will improve
AND
I love you
The checks in the mail

December 22, 2003 07:21 Bill Claghorn (claghorn1p) http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p/
 

Good Seller
A & S It is nice to see the seller of These Fourniers relist them from $299.99 to $49.00 and revise the listing to say that they are "possible forgeries by Fournier???" after I informed him. Nice to see an honest seller.

December 22, 2003 03:40 Jim Watson

There is also an update of a registered cover from Germany to Bulgaria in 1922. Already, inflation was beginning to appear. This cover required 100m postage.
 

December 22, 2003 Jim Lawler

Jim L.

December 21, 2003 Anne

Good night to all and to all sweet dreams of reading German fluently (which I don't), good buys in bulk lots, and our Moderator who fixes our html mistakes (thanks Dave).

December 21, 2003 21:53 Bjorn Munch

German
Oops... My German is more limited than my English.

Anyway, my Michel Spezial '96 gives a price of DM 40,000 ($25,000) for Sachsen #1 on cover.

I need German not just for Michel, but also for the "Katalog über die Stempel der Norwegischen Bahnpost" ("Catalogue of the Norwegian railway cancels") and of course buying and selling on eBay.de
 

December 21, 2003 Roger Heath

Translation
Thanks Bjorn,
Now I know who to ask about Swiss questions! );>)
The cat is out of the bag - meaning - once a translator always a translator.

Roger

December 21, 2003 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim
 

December 21, 2003 21:29 Bjorn Munch

German
Not "wrapper" but "printed matter". Not "and the entire piece belongs" but "and belongs on the entire" or whatever you'd say, meaning it has not been added. The sentence after "AUS SACHSEN": Only a few entires with Nr. 1 are known with this additional cancel.

Now off for Christmas vacation, back on the 28th.
 

December 21, 2003 Jim Griffith <griffith@dweeb.org> http://album.dweeb.org
 

Jim

December 21, 2003 18:57 Bill Claghorn http://www.geocities.com/claghorn1p
 

Anybody Read German?
Roger Thanks

December 21, 2003 Roger Heath

Translation
Bill-
This is the best I can do with my two dictionaries.:

Saxony Michel Nr 1a, 3 pfennig, dark cinnobar-red Plate V, Typ15 on "wrapper" with 2 circle cancel Leipzig 13 Jun (51)

Genuine

and the entire piece belongs
The stamp is fresh color, left and upper border line visible, “Saxony” line discernable.
The card has the red Prussian cancel of origin “AUS SACHEN”. It has part of the date cancel on the card (tied?).
The stamp is repaired, through painting the cancel is unshaped (Cancel filled in a little/). The card is trimmed on the right, left torn.

Roger

December 21, 2003 Chuck Harm

Dave
Thanks Dave. This also means that I got a good deal on a bulk Ceylon lot I bought recently. They are relatively expensive stamps.

December 21, 2003 16:56 Bill Claghorn

Anybody Read German?
Anybody Read German?

December 21, 2003 David Benson

Chuck, they're OK, but usually heavy which detracts from the appearance, but that is about the only way your going to get them postally used.

David B.

December 21, 2003 Chuck Harm

Ceylon George V Rupee Stamps
I am looking at some 1-5 rupee Goerge V stamps from Ceylon and am trying to sort out any postally used examples. Several appear to have a CDS that says PARCEL OFFICE across the top. Is this a normal parcel post cancel for Ceylon? Usually OFFICE in a CDS worries me with all of the STAMP OFFICE cancels from Malaya.

December 21, 2003 Jim Lawler

The unpacking continues

December 21, 2003 Richard W

back to normal
Only cookies & temp i'net files found were today's, from after the last clean-out. But clearing out the crap again seems to have worked, though not immediately - a sort of gradual resumption. Still can't quite figure out what that was. Scary. Thanks for your help, everyone.

December 21, 2003 Roger Heath

Origination of HTML
Sveiki! -
I believe you just explained the creation of HTML. You only left out the Aussies, who, I've been led to believe, write upsidedown.

Jim-
Thanks, I knew there was a technical reason, but had Radius Monitors in my head. Now I know why they didn't catch on.

I'm matting and mounting photos today, which takes me back 25 years. Could be the fun is back in photography, where I will most likely be shooting horizontal pictures 99% of the time, the others tilted at 45° to accomodate wierd net surfers.

Roger

December 21, 2003 Richard W

thanks
Thanks for suggestions. Sveiki! - no I didn't click on it, thank goodness. I'm on my wife's pc for the moment, as mine now denies me all internet access, including the access I need to update the virus scanner! Thanks anyway, I'll have to see what I can do. Thought I'd emptied temporary files and cookies earlier, but will try again. Bye for now.

December 21, 2003 13:39 Jim Watson

Panoramic vs. Portrait Format (Horizontal vs. Vertical)
Roger,
You may already know the answer but there is a reason why the monitors use a panoramic format rather than a portrait format.
In the early days of computing, people wanted a better display than was available from just the little neon minilights on the panel. The answer was in figuring out how to use a cathode ray tube (CRT) which was used in instruments to show waveforms and the like. The step involved developing a character generator which created little pixelated letters which could be shown on the screen as the raster scanned from top to bottom and from left to right. (Remember the screens of 80 characters by 20 lines like the TRS-80 used?)
The next step was to find a display. Televisions were a good source because they had worked out the problem of vertical and horizontal scans. Guess what, televisions were portrait format because movies were (also most people's view of the world is panoramic, too). Rather than work out new components for their computer display, they just took the TV systems and drove them from their character generators.
So now, with few exceptions we are driven by TV proportions rather than book proportions.

December 21, 2003 1:39 pm Dave F. (moderator)

Richard W: I am not as expert as a lot of folks here about computer stuff, but I'm wondering if your IE cache has gotten full. As David K pointed out, deleting the cookies will cause you to have to re-sign in a lot of places, and deleting the temporary files will mean that pages will seem to reload more slowly the first time you go to them, but it also means that you more or less start with a clean slate when browsing.

If you use Internet Explorer, click on "Tools", then "Internet Options". Not sure which version you may use, but in IE6 the first tab under options, "General", has buttons to delete cookies and temporary files. (I seem to recall that in older versions it was a little more well-hidden.)

The other recommendations that the others have made are also good.

Failing that, I'm wondering if you should run your anti-virus application (having checked for updates first) and see what turns up. (I note that Norton sent out an email a couple of days ago alerting to a virus that is now at an important alert level.)

Good luck, and please feel free to use the board's resources this way. Most of us have been in your shoes.

December 21, 2003 David K. <eaglearts@aol.com>

Richard W.
Empty/delete all your temporary files, pages and cookies(!) on your server(files stored by AOL eg.) and computer; use Scan Disk to repair your own computer. Then restart and see if the problem is fixed. Deleting cookies may make you sign in again on all sites, but it is worth it to get rid of unwanted eyes.

December 21, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

Richard Did you click that Czech link posted earlier?

December 21, 2003 Bob Hohertz

Suggestion
Richard, sometimes it helps to use the Secure Sign In link a bit below the regular sign in when eBay is acting up. You will have to sign out first. Worth at try, anyway.

December 21, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

Up or down - my head is spinning!
Roger You're most welcome to tilt your screen 45 degrees. Perhaps the horizontalness of a PC screen is the result of cultural mixtures? Perhaps a Chinese Jew (or is that Jewish Chinese) living in an Arabic country with parents from India and Russia invented the whole concept and experimented on his conventional TV set? The rest is just history and big business.

December 21, 2003 Richard Warren

still having problems
I don't want to go on about this, but I'd welcome any suggestions that might help me figure this out. This is now one of the few sites I can get, and I seem to have now lost eBay UK as well as the main eBay site. Oddly, I started by losing the images on eBay UK, and now I notice that the gif at the top of this page is missing, though it was showing earlier. On the other hand, gifs and other images on sites I can get seem to show OK, so my browser appears to be accepting images. Any suggestions (before I give up and go watch TV?)

December 21, 2003 Roger Heath

Scroll(ing)
Sveiki! -
Notice the convention became vertical rather than horizontal. Can you imagine reading right for 10 feet of parchment, then rolling it up to read the second line. Top to bottom is my rallying cry!!!

Anne -
Orange
Illegal

Roger

December 21, 2003 12.06 Knud-Erik Andersen

December 21, 2003 sveiki! <philaweb at (remove) yahoo dot dk>

Reformist, eh?
Roger So you're a Gutenbergian reformist? Prior to Gutenberg most text came in... (sc)rolls of paper. Wonder why some didn't join the munkery for handwriting classes, but became innovative businessmen and invented the printing machine?

December 21, 2003 Anne

ORANGE

December 21, 2003 Anne