Don't cry for Argentina - 03 g National Heroes - Series III : half centavo plate III A/B/C

National Heroes, serie III "República" - plate III A/B/C

Plate I has 10 variations, plate II (A and B) leads to 20 variations, and now plate III exists of  3 parts, but luckily - only - 10 more variations.

plate III (A/B/C)

Plate(s) 3 were used to print 5 million half centavo stamps, 56.4% of all.

There are 10 variations that can be found :

var 3.01 : in the right upper corner, a white dot is found where the horizontal and vertical lines meet, the 1 of the right 1/2 is deformed

var 3.02 : under the RG of Argentinos, the inner oval and the middle oval touch eachoter (or are connected because of a dot) and the inner oval is incomplete just before the RG

var 3.03 : in the first 'armpit' of the T of Argentinos there is a white dot

var 3.04 : here there is a white dot under the R of Argentinos

var 3.05 : there are two lines, one leaving from the ornament above the G of Argentinos, downwards, a second one from the G of Argentinos towards the line between the right 1/2

var 3.06 : the inner oval line above CEN of centavos is irregular and formed by dots

var 3.07 : in the C of centavos, a line can be found in the middle of the C, making it look like an E

var 3.08 : in the C of centavos, it looks like someone tried to cut of a slice of the base line of the C

var 3.09 : in the first R of Correos, a dot is found towards the upper right part of the leg of the R

var 3.10 : a "-mark in the leg of the T of Argentinos

The stamps from plate 3 are devided over 3 sub plates :

plates 3A, 3B and 3C

to be continued ...

Don't cry for Argentina - 03 f National Heroes - Series III : half centavo plate II A/B

National Heroes, serie III "República" - plate II A/B

Second part in the 1/2 centavos story.
This time, we take a closer look at plate II.
Here there are no less than 20 possible variations.
In total there are - only- 1.2 million stamps printed on plate 2. From plate I there were 2.67 million and later from plate 3 even 5 million stamps.

First, I will explain the variations 1 to 10.

plate II - variations 1 to 10

var 2.01 : the darker part in the second O of Correos looks like a P rather than an I (dot at the upper part), there is also a dot in the white area above the CE in centavo

var 2.02 : the diagonal lines of the background are shorter towards OS and AR at the top, the white part between the oval line and the diagonal lines is wider than normal.

var 2.03 : The N in centavo is incomplete at the right corner below. There is something that looks like a white line in front of the 2 of the left 1/2

var 2.04 : In the T of Argentinos, we see a mark that looks like a small 7. The inner oval line is missing at the hight of the nose and eyes
var 2.05 : the right volute under the OS of Argentinos has an extra line

var 2.06 : There is a dot in the leg of the first R in Correos

var 2.07 : a white dot appears under the T of Centavo

var 2.08 : there are extra lines under the AV of centavo, hanging from the base line of the frame

var 2.08

var 2.09 : a extra blue line starting from the G of Argentina runs down the image towards the front of the face. After a smal interruption, the line continues for a while in front of the forehead of the image.
Just above this line, the inner oval line is interrupted between the O and S of correos

var 2.10 : in the left upper corner, a dot can be found in the leg of the 2 of 1/2. In the base line of the T of Argentina, an extra dot is connecting the T with the diagonal lines below

There are two parts on plate 2 (2A and 2B) resulting in the following variations :

Plate 2A and 2B - 1/2 Centavo - National Heroes series III

Since plate 2 has 20 different variations, so here are variations 11 to 20:

var 2.11 : there is a dot in the right part of the O of Medio, the inner oval is interrupted above the O of Medio and missing above the shoulder on the right side

var 2.12 : the inner oval is interrupted above the shoulder on the right side and looks like ___   _ _  ___, there are also two dots, one in the white part next to the right volute, a second dot in the same area, but now above the A of centavo

var 2.13 : there are dots in the N and the A of centavo, and the three oval lines below OS in correcos are intact, however the diagonal lines approching those 2 oval lines leave a lager withe area than supposed to be

var 2.14 : the inner oval line under the O of correos is missing, and there are dots in the first N of Argentinos

var 2.15 : here, the inner oval line is missing from the shoulder to the C of correos, under the NT of Argentinos, the inner oval line is missing too. The last diagonal line at the hight of NT of Argentinos appears thicker than in other stamps

var 2.16 : the inner oval line is partly missing on the right side, near the volute. There is also a white dot between the T and the A of Centavo

var 2.17 : a dot in the lower part of the S of Correos

var 2.18 : a dark comma above the S of Correos

var 2.19 : a comma shaped mark in the withe oval, where the shoulder reach the frame
(not indicated) dots and small lines in the base line of the 2 of the left 1/2

var 2.20 : a small with dot in the inner oval line above the right shoulder makes it look like __ __
(not indicated) a white dot above the C of Centavo, connecting to the white area above
(not indicated) under the EO of Correos, the oval lines are shortened

to be continued...

Don't cry for Argentina - 03 e National Heroes - Series III : half centavo plate I

National Heroes, Series III "República" plate I

The first stamp to examinate is a 1/2 centavo blue.

1/2 centavo - series III

This stamp was printed on 3 different plates, each stamp can be appointed to one of those 3 plates.Now, plate one has 10 characteristics, plate two 20 specific marks, and plate three again 10 specific features.

First I will discuss plate one. When none of your stamps have one of those 10 specific marks, the stamp might be from plate 2 or plate 3.
Beware that (heavily) cancelled stamps might make it more difficult to assign.

10 variations for plate I

var 1.01: the oval under the OS of correos is interrupted and formed by dots, not by a full line
var 1.01: there is a 'hair' hanging from the first leg of the N in Argentina, towards the head

var 1.02 : the inner oval around the main figure, is interrupted at the hight of the O of correos
var 1.02 : there is a dot in the base line of the E of centavo

var 1.03 : a curvy line occurs above the CE of centavo,
var 1.03 : as well as a triangular mark in the baseline of the E in Medio.

var 1.04 : in the 2nd N of Argentinos, a " ~ " can be found
var 1.04 : on the right side, below the ornament  at the end of Argentinos, a kind of 'hook' is hanging

var 1.04

var 1.05 : diagonal lines are interrupted under the CO of correos (not touching the oval)
var 1.05 : the outer oval is not a line, but 4 dots under the EN of Argentina

var 1.06 : the inner oval is interrupted under the OS of correos and the AR of Argentina
var 1.06 : the inner oval is also interrupted at the right side of the image, above the shoulder

var 1.06

var 1.07 : in the upper right corner, a dot can be found within the 1 of 1/2var 1.07 : the inner oval, left of the shoulder is incomplete and looks like ....____....

var 1.07

var 1.08 : in the second O of Correos, the dark part in the O looks like a dot and a bean "-)"
var 1.08 : under the TI of Argentinos, the line is interrupted and it looks as there is a white dot

var 1.09 : there is a white dot above the AR of Argentinos, in the middle of the ornament
var 1.09 : the inner oval is also interrupted under the EO of correos and look like a set of dots

var 1.10 : the inner and middle oval is interrupted under the RG of Argentinos
var 1.10 : in the O of Centavo a dot is found on the left side of the base line

If you don't find any of the 10 variations on your copy of this 1/2 stamp, it might be a plate 2 or plate 3 stamp.  For plate one, each variation occurs equally (10 times).

to be continued ...

Don't cry for Argentina - 03 d National Heroes - Series III

National Heroes, Series III "República"

series III have 'Correos Argentinos' as main text

This set is by far the most exciting set to work through...
If you only want to collect one of each face value, 12 stamps will be in it.
If you want all issued types (mentionned in most catalogues),  there are 14 stamps to collect.
If you're looking for all subypte (colour variation / perforation variations/plate variations) you'll end up with 27 stamps.
Having one of each plate variations .... gives a total of 354 stamps...
oh, except for the 6 centavos, all issues were printed on two paper types ... makes a grand total of 702 stamps...

National Heroes - series III

Let's take a deep breath and start with the 12 face values :
1/2, 2, 3, 5,6, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 centavos. = 12 stamps

some examples of Series III

The 2 and the 5 centavos come in two types. The catalogue of Argentina, therefore gives two different catalogue numbers to each value... two extra stamps makes 14 different ones.

Most stamps were printed on two, three or even 4 plates. In most cases, the stamps can be identified to which plate they came from. In the event you want each variation .... there are 354 different variation in total !
Finally, the experts will tell you paper differences, which almost doubles the number of variations. Leading to about 700 stamps.

In the future posts, I will go deeper into the the plate variations

Don't cry for Argentina - 03 c National Heroes - Series II

National Heroes, Series II "República"

The second series of the National Heroes emission of Argentina, is an extention of the first set.
Because the first set was still in use, some of the 1st set stamps were printed when the second set came out.
As said before, set I and set II are different from the later issued stamps, as they bare the text 'República Argentina'.

This second set comes in two versions, line rouletted and with regular perforation.
The french term 'percé' is often used for this kind of stamp perforation.

percé or pierced perforation

In set I, there is a 5 centavos stamp, with perforation, in set II the stamp comes rouletted.The 'percé-set' exists in 5, 8, 16, 20 and 24 centavos.

8 centavos - percé

16 centavos - percé

24 centavos - percé

Some of those stamps were issued with perforation 12 in 1877-1887; and reissued in 1884, slightly modified : 2, 8, 24 and 25 centavos - 2 and 8 modified.

24 centavos - with perforation

The 8 centavos looks identical to the 5 centavo (except for the face value of course) and comes rouletted in set IIa and later perforated in set IIb.The perforated version of the 8 centavos was reissued in 1884, and so there are 3 versions of this stamp.

8 centavos - National Heroes set II

The difference between the first and the second issue of the 8 centavos, lies in the slightly modified upper corner.
The original design of 1877 (12 million issued stamps), show a double line on the top of the coat of arms, above the left 8.

8 centavos (1877) type I

In the renewed version of 1884, the double line is gone (22 million stamps)

8 centavos (1884) type II

on top : Type I - below type II

Also the 2 centavos green (issued in 1877) was reissued in 1884. Both versions were issued on 50,000 sheets of 100 stamps.
The difference between type I (1877) and type II (1884) is minor, and lies in the size of the image, and is dark green in type I, yellowish green in type II.

Type I - 2 centavos 1877:
image is 19.9 mm by 24.9 mm
Type II - 2 centavos 1884:
image is 19.8 mm by 25.3 mm (so slighty taller)
The catalogue values type I in mint condition a little higher then the later type II - used they are rated equally.

2nd Series - 2 centavos

to be continued ...

Don't cry for Argentina - 03 b National Heroes - Series I

National Heroes, Series I "República"

in this first set of stamps, the text on top of the image is "República"
The set was issued between 1867 an 1879

series I and II 'República'

In 1867, a 5, 10 and 15 centavos were issued, and already shortly after the 5 centavos was emitted, a correction was made to the design.
In the first design the background consists of horizontal lines only. ===
In the redrawn design, the background is made out of horizontal and diagonal lines  ###

Serie I - 5 centavos 1st and 2nd design

Each plate had 100 stamps (10 x 10).
500 sheets (or 500,000 stamps) were printed from the first type,
170,000 sheets (or 17,000,000 stamps) were printed from the second, redrawn type.
Value for the first type is 10 times the value of the second type.

Republica 5 centavos - type 2

A 10 centavos green and a 15 centavos blue, complete this set.The blue can be 'royal blue' or 'clear blue'.

In 1873, the set was complemented with a 1 and 4 centavos stamp (lilac and chocolate brown). These stamps were reprinted in 1878/79 in (1) dark violet and (4) reddish brown.

1 centavo lilac and dark violet

4 centavos chocolate brown

by the end of 1873, 3 more stamps were added : 30, 60 and 90 centavos (catalogue pictures)

catalogue pic 30, 60 and 90 centavos

Since most stamps have relatively high face values, and the need for smaller amounts, the 5 and 10 centavos were overprinted in 1877:
1 and 2 centavos on 5 centavos (all type 2)
8 centavos on 10 centavos

overprint 1 on 5 - 2 on 5 and 8 on 10 (catalogue pictures)

In 1882, the 5 centavos was overprinted with 1/2 centavo.
This issue comes as a bisected stamp (horizontal perforation in the middle of the stamp) and non-bisected.  This overprint also mentions "(Provisorio)" provisional. (catalogue picture)

provisorio overprint and bisected

provisorio overprint not bisected

to be continued...

Don't cry for Argentina - 03 a National Heroes - intro

Between 1867 and 1891, 4 series of 'national heroes' were emitted in Argentina.
In the most minimalistic version, there are 54 stamps with perforations and 5 with pierced perforation.
However, the sheets and plates are that well documented, that each plate easily can give us 10 or more variations.

Series I and II have 'Republica' as top text on the stamp,
Series III have 'Correos' as top text,
and Series IV have 'Correos y Telegrafos' as top text.

The National Heroes series I
8 face values - 1 redrawn image - 3 colour variations (12 stamps)

face values are : 1, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, 60 and 90 centavos - 1, 4 and 15 come in a color variation, 5 centavos has 2 different designs.

series I and II (republica)

The National Heroes series II a
5 face values - unperforated but pierced - 5, 8, 16, 20 and 24 centavos

The National Heroes series IIb
4 face values, same as IIa, but perforated - 2 variations (design difference) - 2, 8, 24 and 25 centavos

series IIb (republica) pierced

The National Heroes series III'Correos Argentinos' - 17 face values - multiple plates per design
1/2, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40 and 50 centavos

series III (correos argentinos)

The national Heroes series IV
'Correos y telegrafos' - 21 face values with perforation 11 1/2
1/4, 1/2, 1 (2), 2, 3, 5(3), 6, 10, 12, 40, 50, 60 centavos
1, 5, 10*, 20 and 50* pesos. * are not emitted
11 values come with perforation 11 1/2 x 12 too.

series IV (correos y telegrafos)

finally, from series I and II, various overprints exits and some stamps were bisected to be used as half value.

to be continued...

Theme : Alphabets - 02b Thai alphabet - part 3

Last item on the Thai alphabet stamps is about the border of the second frame.

In the top border, there are 4 diacritics, signs that indicate a tone of a 'vowel'.
Thai is the only tonal language where actual signs (diacritics) are used to indicate tones.

In the left and right border, thai numerals are depicted.

We also see 3 more, older diacritics that are omitted now, but can be found in ancient texts.

2015 Thailand - thai numerals

Each stamp has a face value of 3 bath.
The number you might encounter most is "9"
This number refers to King Adulyadei Bhumibol (rama IX) - the ninth king in the Chakri dynasty).
It is a prefered number for commemorative banknotes (always series '9') too.