Call me by your number - 01c Black, red and blue pennies

From 1858 on, till 1869, new plates were issued, with red pennies, and blue 2 pence stamps.

Now the four corners have letters BA-AB for row A, column B.
There are 240 stamps in each plate, going from AA to TL.

For the 1 penny red:

Row R (18), stamp B (2)

Plate numbers are now mentioned in the left and right border decoration of the stamp.

The 1 penny red and perforated with 4 letters (one in each corner), had an extended life span.
They were printed from 1858 till 1879. Therefore, many plates were used, re-used, and retouched during those many years.

They started with plates 69 and 70, but due to many defects on the plate, those stamps were never printed. Same goes for plates 75, 126 and 128 - plate 77 was also rejected, but very few of the printed stamps did get into ciruclation and are therefore extremely rare.
A "77" is most likely a "117" or a "177",  or a completely forged stamp.

A much more challanging collection, is the compilation of a red penny (perforated) of each plate.
The total amount of issued, perforated red pennies, is 13,434,000,000 (55,975,000 sheets). 
So the amount of stamps is not the main problem.

But, first of all, plate numbers are not always very clearly printed, and greasy cancels will not make your search easier either. Plate numbers exist from plate 71 till plate 225.

Plate 225

With some help from the computer, the colours of the image can be altered, so that the contrast becomes more useful to determinate the plate number.
The stamp above leads me to plate 225 (or the last issued plate).

Two albums for possible collections :

plate numbers 1p

plate reconstruction 1p

For the 2 pence blue:

Row H (8), stamp F (6)

Plate numbers are now again in the left and right border decoration of the stamp.

Plate 8

The stamp above is from plate 8, the second plate used to print the 2 penny of this new series.
Plates 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 and 15 can be found.

These blue pence stamps are still affordable, and although 'old', they were emitted in such high quantities, about 196,824,000 (820,100 sheets), that they still can be found in (older) albums.

A full collection (240 of each plate), requires 1680 stamps.
More common is to compile a mixed sheet, with all plate positions.

However, feel free to collect them both : a reconstructed plate with all letter variations, and / or even more specific with stamps  .

Two albums for possible collections :

plate numbers 2p

plate reconstruction 2p

to be continued...

Call me by your number - 01b Black, red and blue pennies

A third variation of the Victorian pennies: are the perforated red penny and blue 2 pence.
They come in two variations, watermark small crown and watermark large crown, and perforation 14 or perforation 16.

As for now, all stamps mentioned here and in my previous post, have only two letters in the bottom of the stamp, and no plate number in the left and right margin.

These stamps are also called the red and blue 'star' penny.
The upper corners of the stamps don't have letters yet, but a decoration in a 'star' shape.
Again here, the specificy font of the alphabet, gives you an indication of the plate the were on, but plate numbers are not written on the stamps.

Also here, a sheet reconstruction is possible, compiling all 240 stamps from AA to TL.
It is also possible, to start two plate reconstructions for stamps with a large or a small crown watermark, as well as two plate reconstructions for stamps perforated 14 or perforated 16...

Red star penny plate reconstruction 

Blue star 2 pence plate reconstruction 

to be continued...

Call me by your number - 01a Black, red and blue pennies

A penny for your thoughts, but which one...
The 'first' (black) penny is unperforated, and has letters in the bottom corners only.

There were 11 plates, and plate I was divided into plate IA and IB.
It takes a whole study on its own, as the differences are found in the use of different fonts of the alphabet.

1 penny black

The total number of 1p blacks distributed in 1840 is recorded as 63,561,840... this isn't a low number, but in 1840 there were hardly people collecting stamps, and lots of stamps were lost.

2 pence blue

A 2 pence stamp was also issued in 1840.

It has the same features as the 1p, unperforated, letters in the lower corners only -> AA to TL

The total number of 2d Blues recorded as sold in 1840 is 5,382,240. (plates 1 and 2)

This 2p was issued again in 1841, now about 87,960,000 stamps (plates 3 and 4)

1 penny red

Second in line, are the inperforated 1p red pennies.

Total number issued over 2,588,000,000 of which it is estimated 120,000,000 were later perforated, leaving an approximate total of imperforate stamps of 2,468,000,000...

They were printed on plates 1 to 131, but the plate numbers do NOT appear on the stamps.

see link above for the album.

Therefore, I have made a 'basic' album for those who want to collect all letter combinations AA to TL, and another 'basic' album, for those who want to collect all plate number, regardless the corner letters.

full reconstruction of a sheet
source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black_printing_plates

I once had the opportunity to see a full reconstruction of a red penny plate. This was collected throughout many years, by one senior member of our stamp club, Peter.

First downloadable documents, are blank album, for all 240 pennies, with letters in 2 lower corners (imperforated).
The reason for this 'odd' number of 240, lies in the fact that till 1971, the imperial system was used.
1 British pound (£),  was worth 20 shillings, and one shilling was 12 pence.
Hence, each row of 12 black/red pennies, was worth one shilling, and all 20 rows together made the cost of one full sheet 1£.

Plate reconstruction 1 penny black

Plate reconstruction 2 pence blue

Plate reconstruction 1 penny red

It can be used for black and or red pennies, and also for the blue 2 pence stamps.
As the first stamps had no plate numbers printed on the stamps, it's very hard to compile a full sheet from the same plate.

to be continued....

Call me by your number - 00 b Introduction

From the 'black penny in 1840, till the emission of 1883, plate numbers can be found on the stamps.
Each of the plates had 240 stamps. Most of them were issued on sheets of 20 rows and 12 columns.

An option would have been to 'number' those rows and columns, but letters were chosen instead.
Rows went from A to T, and columns from A to L; resulting in 240 stamps from AA to TL.

The letters to determinate, are the ones on the bottom of the stamp.
Below is a stamp (plate 22) - position K D (not DK !) - so row 11, stamp 4

plate 22 - position KD

One special version of the black penny, is with letters VR by the way.
These do not appear on a 'normal' sheet of 240 (nor does RV), they refer to the Latin Victoria Regina (Queen Victoria) and were used as service (official) stamps. 

Not only one can start looking for all possible plate numbers of one particular issue, (not always mentioned in regular catalogs by the way), but also the different positions of each stamp within the different plates.

For the depicted stamp above, there were 17 plates with a pink 2 1/2d stamp, and 7 plates (17 till 23) with the blue version. A total of 5760 'different' stamps to search for...

to be continued ...

 

Call me by your number - 00 a Introduction

Numbers have always been appealing to people.
But for once, the question is not 'how many stamps do you have'... but which numbers do you have.

Collecting different images on stamps, and later discovering errors in those images, is already a very pleasing activity.
But what if it was made 'simple' ... just collecting the numbers appearing on the stamps.

In the beginning, british stamps were printed on numbered plates. Those numbers were however not printed somewhere at the top or the bottom of that sheet, but on the stamps theirselves.

On US stamp sheets, the plate numbers can be found in the border frame of the sheets.

Plate 170, with the name of the printing company

Only stamps with a certain part of the border paper, will reveil the plate number.
You need to be lucky somehow, to find the different plate numbers, as they are not part of the stamp, and might have been thrown away long time ago.

The british stamps however had their plate numers printed ON the stamp itself.
As there were many prints of the same stamps, over the years, identical looking stamps, had possibly different plate numbers.

a red penny - plate 107

Some plates got distroyed, due to failiures, damage, ... so various plate numbers became more rare than others. 

The perforated red penny, was first printed on plate 69, and ended with plate 225.
Plate 69 and 70 however were rejected (not issued), and also 75, 126 and 128 were destroyed.
3 more plates, 226, 227 and 228 were prepared, but never used.
The most notorious plate, plate 77 was also rejected, but some of the printed stamps did manage to come into circulation. Their value is now sky rocketing.

After the black, red and blue pennies, plate numbers restarted from 1 again.
Some of them are very visible, others are more difficult to find, especially on used stamps.

Other examples :

plate 14

plate 22

plate 14

plate 8

plate 18

 

plate 15

plate 1

plate 2

 

plate 13

 

a difficult one ... plate 13

to be continued...

Theme : 1st issues : 12 Guatemala

Guatemala is a Republic, located in central America.

In the North, it has a border with Mexico, in the East with Belize, in the South East with Honduras, and in the South with El Salvador.

It is the native land of most of the Mayan culture. Until 1821, it was under Spanish rule, till it became 'independent' as part of the Mexican Empire.

Together with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua, they formed thé federal Republic of central America.
Around 1839, this republic was dissolved and Guatemala became it's first own constitution in 1841.

Although the national bird, the Quetzal, is on many stamps, the first issue of 1871 depicts the coat of arms.

1 st stamp of Guatemala, 1871

Guatemalan stamps are in general not expensive, and certainly worth collecting.

Odd stamps : 06 q Stamps on cotton / silk

In 2017, Hong Kong emitted a set of 6 stamps, dedicated to fashion of the 1920's to the 1970's.
The stamps came as single stamps, but also as a sheet, with 3 of each.

set of 6 fashion stamps Hong Kong 2017

Hong Kong fashion 2017 sheet of 18

For this post however, I need to show the two addional values of this set.

The first one, a $10 stamp was issued on an another miniature sheet, holding only that one stamp.

Here we see a lady, and the stamp is in the shape of a dress.

$10 stamp fashion week

Finally, also a $20 stamp was issued, again in a souvenir sheet, but this time, the issue is emitted on silk. The shape and design are identical to the $10 stamp, but with a silver, glowing image.

$20 souvenir sheet

odd shape, odd texture

Odd stamps : 02h Silver / golden stamps

Another gold foil stamp came to my attention, right at the moment that a good friend of mine was in Luxemburg.
In 1923 a statue was inaugurated, as a remembrance for the victims of the first world war, in Luxemburg, and those who volunteerd for Luxemburg in that time.
However, during the second word war, the nazis took down the momument.

It was fully restored in 1984, and is now a symbol of independence for the people of Luxemburg.
The sculptor, Nicolas (Claus) Cito, born in Luxemburg, and educated in Brussels, never saw the complete restauration, as he died in 1965.

Claus Cito, by August Macke (1906-1907)

The figure, a golden lady ("Gëlle Fra", in Luxemburgish), is inspired by Niké, the greek godess of Victory, it is a gilden bronze statue, on a 21 meter tall granite obelisk.

Gëlle Fra (Golden Lady)-monument

100 years after the first inauguration of the monument, the Luxemburg postal office, emitted a stamp to commemorate and honour the statue and the scultor.

No better way to do so, was to emit a stamp with golden overprint.
Thanks to my friend Eric, I got a postally used stamp.

postally used Gëlle Fra-stamp

But even greater was my surprise, when we met for real, and the gave me a commemorative sheet of 4, with a certificate of authenicity.

100 years of the 'Golden Lady'

this certificte states, that real gold was used

Thai banknotes and their signatures 06b - King Rama IX - 1948 issue /2

Four more signature combinations can be found on the notes issued as the 9th series (Rama IX - 1948 issue). For the others, see : thai-banknotes-and-their-signatures-06a.html

King Rama IX - 1948

Signature combinations 31 - 34 came in circulation by the end of 1949.

For a while, the signature of Mr. Dej S(a)nidvong remained on the notes, as Governor of the Bank of Thailand, until the reappearance of Mr. Serm Vinicchayakul. (sign. 25, 26 and 34)

Combination 31 : MoF :  M17 Field Marshal Plaek Piboonsongkram [13 Oct 1949 - 18 Jul 1950]
                             BoT :  B11 M.L. Dej S(a)nidvong [4 Aug 1949 - 29 Feb 1952]

Field Marshal Plaek Piboonsongkram

Field Marshal Plaek Piboonsongkram was prime Minister of Thailand, during the second world war.
He had strong bonds with the facist parties of Italy, nazi Germany and Japan.
After WWII, he became prime Minister again, but with the young and unexperienced King Rama IX on the throne (represented by various regents), he installed a de facto dictatorship. He had the highest rank in the army, the navy and the royal air force.

Combination 32 : MoF :  M18 Pra Manupanavimonsart (Chom Jamornman) [18 Jul 1950 - 28 Nov 1951]
                             BoT :  B11 M.L. Dej S(a)nidvong [4 Aug 1949 - 29 Feb 1952]

Pra Manupanavimonsart

Combination 33 : MoF :  M19 Gen. Pao Pienlert Boripanyutakit [8 Dec 1951 - 30 Mar 1953]
                             BoT :  B11 M.L. Dej S(a)nidvong [4 Aug 1949 - 29 Feb 1952]

Combination 34 : MoF :  M19 Gen. Pao Pienlert Boripanyutakit [8 Dec 1951 - 30 Mar 1953]
                             BoT :  B08/12  Mr. Serm Vinicchayakul [1 Mar 1952 - 24 Jul 1955] 

see signature combinations 25 and 26

to be continued...

Thai banknotes and their signatures 06a - King Rama IX - 1948 issue

From 1948 on a complete new set of banknotes were issued.
This is known as the 9th series of banknotes. They were printed between 1948 and 1955, and were in use at the time of the coronation of King Rama IX in 1950. Rama IX was officially installed at the age of 18.

In the video above, you find a British newflash of the coronation of King Bumibol (Phumiphon) in 1950.

For this 9th series of banknotes, the signature on the left is from the Finance Minister, the one on the right, of the governor of the Bank of Thailand.
The first set of notes, bare signature combinations 27 to 34.

Although all notes have two signatures again, there is one note (50 satang), that has only one signature.
'Combination' 27, therefore only appears on one single banknote.

Combination 27 : MoF :  M13 Prince Vivadhanajaya [11 Nov 1947 - 8 Apr 1948]
                             BoT : -

Prince Vivadhanajaya

Prince Vivadhanajaya (grandson of King Rama IV). He was Govenor of the Bank of Thailand, then minister of Finance, then again Governor of the BoT, to end as Finance Minister again.

Combination 28 : MoF :  M14 Prince Vivadhanajaya [11 Nov 1947 - 8 Apr 1948]
                             BoT :  B09 Leng Srisomwong [25 Nov 1947 - 2 Sep 1948]

Leng Srisomwong

The 1, 5, 10 and 20 baht-notes, come with red and black serial numbers. Those with red serial numbers are more rare, thus more expensive.

Thailand Pick 069b - signature combination 28

Thailand Pick 069b - signature combination 28

Thailand Pick 069b - reverse

Note: the right signatures is printed on the area of the watermark.

For combination 29, Prince Vivadhanajava becomes Governor of the Bankt of Thailand, and his signature moves to the right, a new minister of Finance, Visut Tonavanik (noble title: Praya Tonavanikmontri) signs to the left

Combination 29 : MoF : M15 Praya Tonavanikmontri (Visut Tonavanik) [15 Apr 1948 - 30 Nov 1948] 
                             BoT :  B10 Prince Vivadhanajaya [11 Nov 1947 - 8 Apr 1948]

Praya Tonavanikmontri (Visut Tonavanik)

Combination 30 : MoF : M14/16 Prince Vivadhanajaya [30 Nov 1948 - 13 Oct 1949]

                             BoT :  B11 M.L. Dej S(a)nidvong* [4 Aug 1949 - 29 Feb 1952]

Here, Prince Viviadhanajava reappears as Finance Minister, and a new Governor of the BoT is added.

M.L. Dej S(a)nidvong

* For Thai speakers, the combination "s+n" is hard to pronounce, they will add an 'a' to make it easier.

to be continued...