The Philatelic Database - Archive of Stamp Collecting Articles » Stamp Profiles

Scouting Gets First-Class Stamp of Approval

U.S. Postal Service — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 18:35:30 +0000

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service today awarded scouting its ‘stamp of approval’ to celebrate 100 years of the U.S. scouting movement. The 44-cent first-class Scouting stamp, available nationwide today, was dedicated at the National Scout Jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill, VA, where more than 30,000 scouts from around the nation set up camp for 10 days of premier scouting fun during the organization’s centennial anniversary.

“Scouting showed me the importance of protecting the environment,” said former Boy Scout Sam Pulcrano, who, as the vice president of Sustainability, oversees the Postal Service’s green initiatives. “That is why I am proud of the work we are doing at the Postal Service. We have a long history of environmental leadership and innovation. We were testing electric mail delivery vehicles during the horse and buggy days, and we were recycling long before there was a universal symbol for it. Just as the scouts are famous for serving others and helping their communities, our sustainability efforts are benefiting our families, friends and neighbors in the communities where we live and work.”

Joining Pulcrano in dedicating the stamp were Robert Mazzuca, Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America; Terry Dunn, 2010 Jamboree chairman; and Lt. Colonel John Haefner, U.S. Army Ft. A.P. Hill Garrison commander. Emceeing the event was 15-year-old Eagle Scout and Bloomington, MN, native Jeremy Biedny, who earned his stamp collecting merit badge shortly after becoming a scout and discovered a personal passion for stamps.

“We are appreciative that scouting’s centennial will have a place in history with the many great people and events that are commemorated on U.S. stamps.” said Mazzuca. “It is truly an honor to receive the distinction of a commemorative stamp, and we hope that it provides the entire country the opportunity to share in the milestone of our 100th anniversary.”

The design, created by illustrator Craig Frazier of Mill Valley, CA, depicts the spirit and outdoor adventure of scouting through a backpacking scout and a large silhouette of a scout surveying the landscape.

The Boy Scouts of America celebrated its 100th anniversary Feb. 8, 2010. To mark this milestone, the organization has undertaken celebration efforts nationwide that reintroduce the organization to today’s young people and families, reinforcing the value of scouting and reconnecting with the millions the organization has affected. For more information visit www.scouting.org. The Scouting stamp recognizes the contributions to society made by all U.S. scouting organizations.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

Ordering First-Day-of-Issue Postmarks
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others, and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Scouting Stamp
Postmaster
117 Milford Street
Bowling Green, VA 22427-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by Sept. 27, 2010.

Ordering First-Day Covers
Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

Information Fulfillment
Dept. 6270
U.S. Postal Service
PO Box 219014
Kansas City, MO 64121-9014

Philatelic Products
Four philatelic products are available for this stamp issue:

465461, First-Day Cover, 82 cents.
465465, Digital Color Postmark, $1.50.
465491, Ceremony Program, $6.95.
465499, Digital Color Postmark Keepsake, $10.95.

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Stamps of Honduras: Issues of 1931

William Cochrane — Thu, 27 May 2010 09:53:29 +0000

Here are some fine engraved stamps issued on Jan 2, 1931. They were recess printed by the American Bank Note Company. They are all P. 12 and unwatermarked. As you can see, within this one set there are topical possibilities for the thematic collector. Cities, Politicians, lakes, boats, palaces, Columbus, America, Ancient civilisations.

Note: During 1931, stocks of stamps were overprinted “T.S. de C.” to prevent the use of certain stamps, which had been stolen. Some catalogues regard them as controls and they are often not listed.

Below are a couple of samples of the overprints after the regular issues.

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“First Lady of Cinema” Katharine Hepburn Honored on Stamp

PDb — Wed, 12 May 2010 21:41:46 +0000

OLD SAYBROOK, CT — The U.S. Postal Service immortalized one of America’s true cinematic treasures — the only recipient of four Academy Awards for Best Actress — on what would have been her 103rd birthday, May 12. The stamp issued today pays tribute to Katharine Houghton Hepburn, known to many as simply “Kate,” a great actress whose almost 50-year career made her an icon of the silver screen and a trailblazer for independent, progressive women.

The dedication ceremony took place at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook, CT, and the 44-cent, First-Class Mail stamp goes on sale nationwide today. The stamp, designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, captures the beauty and thespian brilliance Hepburn so distinctively personified. It is based on a publicity still from one of Hepburn’s Oscar-nominated movies, Woman of the Year (1942), photographed by Clarence S. Bull.

“With the Katharine Hepburn commemorative stamp as the newest in our Legends of Hollywood series, we continue our proud tradition of honoring the special people who epitomize our nation’s character and aspirations,” said Postmaster General John E. Potter. “Katharine Hepburn will be remembered for generations, for both her unparalleled acting ability and being a role model for women who chose to live life on their own terms.”

Potter was joined in dedicating the stamp by Actor Sam Waterston, who served as master of ceremonies and starred with Hepburn in a 1973 TV movie adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie; director Anthony Harvey, who directed her third Oscar-winning film, The Lion in Winter in 1968; and Chuck Still, executive director of the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center. Hepburn’s nephew, Mundy Hepburn, was also in attendance.
”Katharine Hepburn filled the screen in real life just the way she did in the movies. Meeting her and working with her was one of the best experiences of my professional life — it certainly made me a better actor; I hope it made me a better person. It was unforgettable fun,” said Waterston.

Born May 12, 1907, in Hartford, Hepburn was the second child and oldest daughter of Dr. Thomas N. Hepburn, a surgeon, and Katharine Houghton, an advocate for women’s rights. Hepburn’s progressive and freethinking parents contributed greatly to the development of Hepburn’s bold and adventurous outlook on life. They encouraged her to take risks, speak her mind, and challenge convention: “I was taught,” she has said, “not to be afraid of anything.”

Like her mother before her, Hepburn went to Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, and fell in love with acting. Soon after her graduation in 1928, she headed to Baltimore, MD, and then Manhattan to pursue a career on the stage. Her father was “heartsick over the fact that I wanted to act,” she wrote many years later in her autobiography, Me: Stories of My Life. Nevertheless, she had made up her mind.

With her freckles, mass of red hair, preference for wearing trousers and occasional quirkiness — such as draping a live gibbon around her neck — Hepburn stood out in Hollywood. She quickly found film success in Morning Glory (1933), for which she won her first Academy Award, and Little Women (1933), playing free-spirited Jo. Hepburn’s unconventional persona, both on and off the screen, occasionally drew detractors, and in the mid-1930s, several of her films flopped at the box office. In 1938, a poll of film exhibitors labeled her (along with Marlene Dietrich and several other stars) “box-office poison.”

In 1939, Hepburn was back on the New York stage, taking bows for playing Tracy Lord in The Philadelphia Story. Writer Philip Barry, who had received direct input from his star while crafting the play, had penned “Miss Hepburn’s ideal part,” wrote a reviewer for the New York Times. “It has whisked away the monotony and reserve that have kept her acting in the past within a very small compass.” With encouragement from her friend Howard Hughes, Hepburn made a shrewd business move and acquired the screen rights to the play. In relatively short order, filming got under way with Cary Grant and James Stewart. The movie proved to be a hit. It not only revived Hepburn’s career but ensured she would take her place among the greats of filmdom.

Over the course of her career, Hepburn made more than 40 motion pictures, including the comedy classic Bringing up Baby (1938) — with Hepburn as a leopard-owning heiress and Cary Grant as a paleontologist — and The African Queen (1951), in which she played a prim missionary spinster to Humphrey Bogart’s scruffy riverboat captain. She made nine pictures with her friend Spencer Tracy, starting with Woman of the Year. Hepburn received 12 Academy Award nominations for Best Actress and won four Oscars. In addition to her role as Eva Lovelace in Morning Glory, she was honored for playing Christina Drayton in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine in The Lion in Winter (1968) and Ethel Thayer in On Golden Pond (1981). She also received an Emmy for her performance as Jessica Medlicott in Love Among the Ruins (1975), a made-for-television movie.

Hepburn left her indelible mark in the annals of American film history. She is ranked the number one female in the American Film Institute’s “50 Greatest Movie Legends.” In 2003, at the age of 96, Hepburn died at her home in Fenwick.

The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at local Post Offices, at The Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop, or by calling 800-STAMP-24 (800-782-6724). They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Katharine Hepburn Stamp
Postmaster
36 Main Street
Old Saybrook, CT 06475-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the
mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by July 12, 2010.

How to Order First-Day Covers
The Postal Service also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and postal stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

Information Fulfillment
Dept. 6270
U.S. Postal Service
P.O. Box 219014
Kansas City, MO 64121-9014

Philatelic Products
There are six philatelic products available for this stamp issue:

465061, First-Day Cover, $0.82.
465062, First-Day Cover Full Pane, $11.30.
465065, Digital Color Postmark, $1.50.
465084, Uncut Press Sheet, $35.20.
465091, Ceremony Program, $6.95.
465099, Cancellation Keepsake, $10.95

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Stamps of Czechoslovakia: The Allegory of the Chainbreaker

PDb — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:06:27 +0000

We discovered this highly-informative article by W. L. Russell on the popular “Chainbreaker” issues of Czechoslovakia, which originally appeared in the Australian Stamps News (February 1, 1947). It gives detailed lists of the amounts printed and finally issued. There is even a useful list of the plate flaws. It makes for fascinating reading…

Has it ever occurred to you that, of all the allegorical designs shown on the stamps of Czechoslovakia, none more aptly portrays the spirit of October 28, 1918, than the “Chainbreaker?”

It reminds me of Macaulay’s lines, “Burst the curb and bounded, rejoicing to be free.” I confess to a fondness for this design, out of all proportion to its philatelic worth. Let’s see what we can discover about it.

Designed by Professor Vratislav Hugo Brunner, the “Chainbreaker” was first issued on June 18, 1920, and printed flat-bed by the United Czech Printing Co.. Originally it was proof-printed in gravure, but either because of protests by the designer, or because gravure was found unsuitable, the design was surface-printed. Four plates comprised the forme in each printing, each plate consisting of 100 subjects.

Czechoslovakia 1920 “Chainbreaker” issue

The allegory shows a figure of a woman, dressed in Slovak national dress, in a joyful posture of thanksgiving. In the background at base are shown Mount Rip (Bohemia) and Mount Krivan (Slovakia). The design is always found with the initials V.H.B. outside the southern frame of the stamp. These initials, by the way, are slightly larger on the 40h. and 250h. values than on the others.

Brunner’s design was first submitted in June, 1919, at a competition. Curiously enough, although it won first prize, it was not used. At that time it had a horizontally lined background and the date of the revolution on the left-hand side. At a later competition (3/2/1920) the design was again entered. This time it had a full-coloured background, two sets of value-figures. and no date.

	Issued.	Valid Till.	Originally Printed.	Finally Issued.
20h. red	22/6/20	30/4/21	61,070,000	58,370,000
25h brown	18/6/20	30/4/21	13,920,000	9,220,009
30h. violet	22/6/20	31/12/25	91,260,000	91,260,000
40h. brown	16/8/20	31/12/25	165,860,000	166,860,000
50h. red	17/9/20	31/1/23	41,840,000	41,839,900
60h. green	23/1/28	31/12/25	469,990,000	469,990,000
60h. blue	16/8/20	31/12/25	268,530,000	268,530,000
100h. brown	15/10/20	31/1/23	197,940,000	191,580,000
160h. red	10/4/22	31/1/23	10,000,000	6,070,000
185h. orange	17/9/20	31/1/23	21,100,000	10,800,000
250h. dk. green	15/10/20	31/1/23	24,900,000	24,900,000

Table 1

So far as I have been able to discover, the values, dates of issue, and quantities were as shown above (see table 1).

The variation in the last two columns of figures is due to certain stamps being later overprinted for Postage Dues.

The 40h. is the only value that exhibits two types–one with and one without a small white dot over the lowest leaf of the Linden branch at right. Most of you will already know the explanation for the two types, but it is worth repeating. The plates for the “Chainbreaker” series were produced by the photo-engraving process, whereby the original large sketch of the design was, with the aid of photography, reduced and reproduced in the form of a zinc block.

There was only one original sketch for all the values in this series (excepting, of course, the 25h. value which had a lined background), and it showed the figure “30.” For the other values in the series the same sketch was used, the figure “30″ being simply covered over with a black patch on which the other figures of value were sketched in white.

By accident, during the photographing of the 40h. value, the covering shield was slightly misplaced, so that under it the lowest point of the “3″ at the right-hand side (which extends over to the lowest leaf of the Linden branch) peeped forth and appears on the 40h. as a white dot. This was later corrected.

The “Chainbreaker” series is fairly rich in plate errors. I have worked out a plan, based on those recorded in the specialist handbooks, together with others which I have established myself as being constant, which should enable you to easily locate them in the different values.

I don’t imagine that the list is a complete one, but it shows all those that I have seen, or know of. If there are others which are constant, I shall be glad to hear about them. For example, I have read that the 50h. red appears “without head,” but hesitate to record it, as a similar error in the 20h. was found to be a forgery.

One finds two kinds of paper in all stamps of the “Chainbreaker” series. It is either smooth white, or porous yellowish. The latter is caused through gum in the porous paper.

Perforation is usually comb perf. 14, but line perf. 13¾ is found in all values as well, not only in those which were prepared for stamp booklets and consequently are found tete-beche. Imperf. stamps cannot be regarded as other than essays, despite the fact that some did, for a short period, find their way to the Post Office unperforated (the 30h. in Brno and the 40h. in Pardubice).

Czechoslovakia “Chainbreaker” errors

Personally, I should like to see a re-issue of the “Chainbreaker” now that the Germans are driven from the country. The original design, steel engraved, and rotary printed, would very adequately proclaim the new-found freedom, and would also be a link with the happy days of 1920.

The Plate Errors.
No. on diagram.	Description of Plate Error.	No. on diagram.	Description of Plate Error.
20h. RED.
1	P of POSTA filled in.	26	Angle of left 2 filled in.
37	Right hand without fetter.	21	Left hand with “glove.”
35	Right hand with “glove.”
Inscription blurred.
32	CESKOSLOVENSK (without final A).	24	White ring above left value.
21	Left hand with six fingers.	37	“Burning” fetter.
46	Right figure 20 blurred.	17	No P in POSTA.
30h. VIOLET.
20	Four fingers on left hand.	23	White “stone” hanging to chain at left
39	Head and neck joined at right by thick white line.	33	ENSKA joined to fingers.
26	3 and 0 joined at left.	46	3 and 0 joined at right.
20	Double line on the left hand.	37	Right arm without fetter.
46	White line across right 30.
40h. BROWN.
12	Broken frame above V of SLOVENSKA (T. I).	34	“Burning” chain under SLOV (T. II).
8	Broken O in CESKO (T. II).	25	Dot over 40 at left (T. II).
38	“Pimple” on arm at right (T. I).	10	Long L in SLOV (T. II).
6	C of CESKO joined to chain (T. II).	14	E of ENSKA joined to fetter (T. II).
Blurred inscription.
44	Right 4 with line through it.	36	White “C” shaped fleck above right chain.
50h. RED.
43	Ring above right 50.	15	White dot under S of SKA.
30	Egg in girdle.	37	Arm without fetter.
11	SLQV.	15	SK in SKA joined.
3	SLA instead of STA.
50h. GREEN.
30	Egg in girdle.	5	Dot between A of POSTA and C of CES.
35	Right hand white.	45	Coloured dot in front of right 50.
60h. BLUE.
Inscrption blurred.
21	Six fingers on left hand.	2	Small ring in O of POSTA.
18	K and A joined with white line.	27	Broken outline to left 0 of 60.
29	Inner frame line broken at left below 60.	19, 35	Both hands white.
22	White dot under left hand.	1	P of POSTA filled up.
40	Hair extending right to frame.	9	White dot over head.
42	White ring above right 60.	46	No incline to right 60.
44	Broken 6 at right.	27	Broken 0 of 60 at left.
100h. BROWN.
4	Semi-circle under A in POSTA.	10	L missing from SLOVENSKA.
48	Second 0 in right 100 broken at base.	35	Four fingers on hand at right.
25	First 0 of left 100 with white dot above.	49	Broken inner frame below right 100.
19, 35	Both hands white.	20	Fourth and fifth fingers joined at left.
4	Long A in POSTA.	26, 44	No serifs to 1’s in both 100’s.
43	White dot over first 0 in right 100.	28	White dot under first 0 in left 100.
35	“Boil” on right hand.
150h. RED.
18	Left hand with long thumb.
185h. ORANGE.
25	8 open at top (left).	44	8 closed at top (right).
35	White hand at right.	13	White dot in V of SLOV.
250h. DARK GREEN.
28	Double line under left 250.	31	Broken knee.
26	Dot between 2 and 5 at left.	7	Dot under K of CESKO.
41	Mutilated breast.	47	“Burning” branch.

Table 2

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Stamps of Gibraltar: Centenary of King George V Accession

PDb — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 09:02:33 +0000

26th March 2010, the Gibraltar Philatelic Bureau issued a set of stamp celebrating the centenary of the accession to the throne of King George V.

George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 1910 through World War I (1914–1918) until his death in 1936. He was the first British monarch of the House of Windsor, which he created from the British branch of the German House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

From the age of twelve George served in the Royal Navy, but upon the unexpected death of his elder brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, he became heir to the throne and married his brother’s fiancée, Mary of Teck (known as “May” to her family after her birth month). Although they occasionally toured the British Empire, George preferred to stay at home with his stamp collection and lived what later biographers would consider a dull life because of its conventionality. George became King-Emperor in 1910 on the death of his father, King Edward VII. (Wikipedia)

First Day Cover

Pack Set

Sheetlets

To order please visit Gibraltar Stamps.

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Cartoonist Bill Mauldin Immortalized on U.S. Postage Stamp

U.S. Postal Service — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:43:46 +0000

SANTA FE, NM — Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Bill Mauldin has received one of the nation’s highest honors in being featured on a U.S. postage stamp. The 44-cents stamp was dedicated at the New Mexico History Museum in Santa Fe, NM, and went on sale nationwide March 31, 2010.

During World War II, Mauldin’s cartoons, appearing in Stars and Stripes, made him a hero to many in the military. His sympathy for “dogfaces,” the slang term for soldiers in the infantry, was clearly expressed through his characters Willie and Joe, who gave their military audiences a hearty laugh and civilians an idea of what life was like for soldiers.

In 1945 Mauldin won the first of his two Pulitzers “for distinguished service as a cartoonist” and the Allied high command awarded him its Legion of Merit. His illustrated memoir, Up Front, was a bestseller. That same year, his “dogface” Willie appeared on the cover of Time.

In 1958, he took a job as a cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the following year he won a second Pulitzer for his cartoon portraying Boris Pasternak, author of Doctor Zhivago, as a Soviet prisoner.

“In a very real way, Bill Mauldin chronicled the path taken by the Greatest Generation — a generation that spoke, not with pompous words, but through noble deeds,” said Mickey Barnett, member of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors. “As we honor him, we honor that generation and all that it did for our country.”

Joining Barnett to unveil the stamp were Santa Fe, NM, Mayor David Cross, New Mexico History Museum Director Dr. Frances Levine, U.S. Postal Service Vice President for Government Relations and Public Policy Marie Therese Dominguez, author Todd DePastino, Mauldin’s biographer, and Bruce Mauldin, one of Mauldin’s seven sons.

“Our father was fiercely protective of Willie and Joe, and was never completely comfortable with the notoriety that they brought him,” said Nat Mauldin, another of Mauldin’s sons. “As a result, he tended to shy away from tributes involving his work. But this is different. It’s a wonderful honor, and he would have been very proud.”

“The men and women of New Mexico who served in World War II were the kinds of people Bill Mauldin honored in his work,” said Levine. “They were, most of them, ordinary people who became extraordinary heroes and, in too many cases, gave their lives. Mauldin taught us the importance of remembering those ‘ordinary’ people when telling our history.”

U.S. Postal Service art director Terry McCaffrey chose to honor Mauldin through a combination of photography and an example of Mauldin’s art. The photo of Mauldin is by John Phillips, a photographer for Life magazine; it was taken in Italy on Dec. 31, 1943. Mauldin’s cartoon, showing his characters Willie and Joe, is used courtesy of the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City, OK.

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark
Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, at The Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop or by calling 800-STAMP-24. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes to themselves or others, and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Bill Mauldin Stamp
120 South Federal Place
Santa Fe, NM 87501-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by May 31, 2010.

How to Order First-Day Covers
Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic Catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

Information Fulfillment
Dept. 6270
U.S. Postal Service
PO Box 219014
Kansas City, MO 64121-9014

Philatelic Products
There are four philatelic products available for this stamp issue:

466061, First-Day Cover, $0.82
466065, Digital Color Postmark, $1.50
466091, Ceremony Program, $6.95
466099, Digital Color Postmark Keepsake, $10.95
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.

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Stamps of Australia: Sturt Issue (1930)

PDb — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:25:14 +0000

This article originally appeared in the “Australian Stamp Monthly” (July 1, 1930).

It gives detailed and useful information on this early Australian commemorative. Collectors of Australian Commonwealth stamps should find much of interest here.

AS EXPECTED, THESE stamps were duly issued throughout Australia on Monday, June 2. We must take this earliest possible opportunity of congratulating the Stamp Printing Branch of the Commonwealth Bank upon the excellence of the issue. Not only is the design first class and the engraving excellent, but the production of the stamps leaves nothing to be desired. For instance, there is not one variety of any importance on the whole of the ten plates. There are one or two minute flaws, but to date we have been unable to find anything worthy of mention. Certainly the paper is still too soft, in our opinion, but this is probably a deliberate choice, as a soft paper means a soft impression. Certain sheets we have handled are, moreover, badly perforated, but a perfectly centred perforation cannot be expected in 100 per cent. of the issue, particularly as single line machines were used.

All the plates used for this issue were numbered in the usual way, the plate number appearing over the first stamp of the sheet. The numbers were 1 to 8 of the 1½d., and 1 and 2 of the 3d. At the centre of the base of each sheet appeared the usual two-line Ash imprint, and it is to be noted that the distance between this imprint and the bottom of the last row of stamps varies somewhat between the plates. This distance varies between 6½ mm and 9 mm, and could be used as a means of identification of the plates in the absence of plate numbers. They are:–Plate 1: 6½ mm Plate 2: 7 mm; Plate 3 7½ mm; Plate 4: 7 mm; Plate 5 7 mm; Plate 6: 9 mm; Plate 7: 9 mm; Plate 8: 8½ mm; for the 1½d.; and Plate 1: 7 mm; Plate 2: 7½ mm, for the 3d.

The stamps were exceptionally well printed, and very few prominent printing fiaws (smudges, etc.), have been seen. There is, however, one variety commonly met with caused by the paper being sometimes slightly too damp during printing. In these, the heavier portions of the engraving–particularly around the value tablet–that not “taken up” properly, with the result that white spaces are left in the design. The most usual place for this variety to appear is just to the left of the value tablet, where a white spur is often visible above 1830. Similar flaws can, however, be found elsewhere. For some reason these varieties are most commonly met with on Plate 5, but we have seen them on all other plates also. They are not regular, and are really more interesting than important. Many other minor varieties have also been called to our notice, but the great majority of these are irregular and unimportant. One or two hair lines and similar minor flaws can be found on certain plates, but these are all slight, and, we feel, not worth chronicling.

The perforation is 11, throughout the issue, single line machines only having been employed. The perforation varies slightly between small and large holes–evidently more than one machine was used–and also between clear cut and rough. To date no varieties with missing or double perforations have been reported.

In short, the whole production of the stamps is excellent, and we repeat our congratulations to the printer. The stamps have been most favourably received, the 3d. in particular being much admired, and frequently described as “our best issue to date.” At the time of writing, the issue is already practically exhausted, and it is unlikely that the stamps will be on issue beyond the end of June.

Sturt Centenary Stamps Sales
In the first three days after June 2, during which Sturt Centenary Stamps (1½d. and 3d.) were on sale in the capital cities of the Commonwealth, the receipts were £5,00 above those for the normal sales of stamps.–(“The Argus.”)

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A Lepidopterist’s Delight in West Africa: Butterfly and Moth Stamps of Gabon

William Cochrane — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 08:19:49 +0000

This little hunt for butterflies in West Africa requires neither net nor mosquito repellent, so forget your pith helmet and take a relaxing look at the beautiful and exotic stamp issues of Gabon.

Please note that all the stamps shown are quite inexpensive and can be afforded on a budget.

Gabon is a republic in West Africa with Cameroon to the north and Zaire to the south and east. It has a tropical climate, which is hot and humid and much tropical rainforest. It is a place where many butterfly species are to be found.

On May 26 1971 Gabon issued a set of four stamps featuring butterflies and moths Photo (Perf. 13):

5f. Charaxes smaragdalis
10f. Euxanthe crossleyi
15f. Epiphora rectifascia
25f. Imbrasia bouveri

On 23 February 1973 there was a set of six stamps featuring butterflies Litho (Perf 13):

10f.Charaxes candiope
15f. Asterope pechueli (Eunica pechueli)
20f. Cyrestis Camillus
30f. Charaxes castor
40f. Charaxes ameliae
50f. Pseudacraea boisduvali

On July 4 1978 a set of five Postage Due stamps featuring butterflies was issued. They are a nice departure from the rather conservative and official-looking stamps one comes to expect from Postage Dues. They are Litho. (Perf. 13):

5f. Charaxes candiope
10f. Charaxes ameliae
25f. Charaxes camillus
50f. Charaxes castor
100f. Pseudacraea boisduvali

On September 10 1981 four attractive butterfly stamps were issued Litho (Perf 14 ½ X14):

75f. Hypolimnas salmacis
100f. Euphaedra themis
150f. Amauris niavius
250f. Cymothoe lucasi

On September 18 1986 a butterfly and a Moth stamp Litho (Perf. 15X14) issued:

150f. Papilio machaon (Machaeon)
290f. Chrysiridia ripheus (Urania)

On June 10 1992 two butterfly stamps were issued (Perf. 15X14):

100f. Graphium policenes
715f. Acraea regina

We hope you enjoyed looking at these lovely stamps and are perhaps inspired to collect some more butterfly stamps from other countries.

If you are interested in thematic/topical stamps, may I suggest you consider joining the American Topical Association?

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