The Philatelic Database – Archive of Stamp Collecting Articles

The National Museum of Reykjavik was 100 years old on February 24, 1963 and on the occasion of this anniversary the Icelandic postal authorities placed on sale two commemorative stamps.

This imperf sheet issued for the NABA Stamp Exhibition measured 61 x 75 mm. 4 x 50c. red, black and blue. It sold for 3f and released March 11, 1971. It was designed by E. Schnell. (With a name like that he probably worked fast!). Printed typo PTT, Berne. A must for the stamp on [...]

Here are some fine engraved stamps issued on Jan 2, 1931. They were recess printed by the American Bank Note Company.

Adhesive stamps were introduced in Nova Scotia in September 1851, in denominations of 3d., 6d. and 1s. They were recess-printed by Perkins Bacon in a diamond-format featuring the heraldic flowers of the United Kingdom and the mayflower of Nova Scotia, with the imperial crown in the centre.

Recently I noticed two British New Guinea/Papua items offered in the Cherrystone Auction 20 Jan 2005. The question that these items gave rise to was about the status of these so-called proofs…

Highly-informative article by W. L. Russell on the popular “Chainbreaker” issues of Czechoslovakia. It gives detailed lists of the amounts printed and finally issued. There is even a useful list of the plate flaws.

The following account of the first New York Stamp Exhibition was written by Fred J Melville and originally published in “The Postage Stamp”, 1913.

It is a truism that political considerations have affected every stamp issuing country, some more than others.

This souvenir sheet was issued on July 30, 1938 for the Third Philatelic Exhibition of Liechtenstein celebrated the Birth Centenary of the composer Josef Rheinberger. It was designed by L. Hesshaimer and printed by from a photo by Courvoisier. Size: 99¾ x 135 mm. External links Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Rheinberger Arkivmusic: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/Name/Joseph-Rheinberger/Composer/10069-1 Allmusic: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=41:7888~T00 Liechtenstein map: http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=liechtenstein+map&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-GB:official&client

It is 63 years since the Van Acker issue of stamps and postal stationery surcharged -10% occurred.

[Published by kind permission of the author.] South Australia was effectively the last of the Australian colonies to introduce stamps for the prepayment of postage. This happened at the beginning of 1855, five months after Western Australia, 14 months after Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and five years after New South Wales and Victoria had followed [...]

This colourful series from Netherlands Antilles, issued on March 27, 1985, featured football (soccer) players. They were designed by Edwin Ayubi and printed by Joh. Enschedé & Zonen.

One of the confusing aspects of modern Australian stamps is the large number of printing firms that have been involved in stamp production.

The engraved portion (effigy) of stamps printed from the new Swiss Wifag press in 1951 were soon observed to be some 0.4 – 0.5 mm shorter than those previously printed using the old US made Stickney press. Notwithstanding the different perforation (now 11½ x 11½ rather than 14 x 13½), we shall examine why this [...]

Thailand’s first postage stamps appeared in August 1883, Waterlow and Sons recess-printing printing different designs and using different colours to denote the values: solot (½ att), att, sio (2 atts), sik (4 atts) and salung (6 atts).

This article was taken from “Gibbons Stamp Monthly” (October, 1956). It contains some interesting material concerning the early issues of the Elizabethan reign and the printers and designs of these issues. It should be of interest to all of our West African enthusiasts. To the Gold Coast goes the honour of being the first British [...]

The seventeenth anniversary of UNICEF was marked by 50 satangs and 2 baht stamps, issued in January 1964. The stamps reproduced the mother and child emblem of UNICEF and were designed and printed in photogravure by the Japanese Government Printing Bureau, Tokyo.

The first stamps of the united kingdom of Italy consisted of the series of Sardinia with perforations added.

Haiti’s first stamps, depicting the head of Liberty, were typographed from electrotypes, made from a die engraved on wood. They were in use from 1881 to 1887, when they were replaced by a series, recess- printed by Skipper and East of London, portraying President Salomon (below).

Greece’s first postage due stamps were issued on March 1, 1875. Curiously enough the Greek postal authorities had always had their postage due stamps printed in Vienna until 1902, although their ordinary issues had been printed at various places, but never at Vienna. Above: 1875 1 l green & black. Above: 1876 Redrawn with “Lepton” [...]

One of the major stamp printers in Great Britain.

De La Rue prepared a series of essays using the key plate designs of Queen Victoria, but with the word “Imperium” in place of the name of the country. They were printed in various colour combinations to show the effect and availability to colonies ordering stamps.