Long lasting series 02 - Tunesia 'Halfaouine'

For my second post on 'long lasting series', I stay in Tunesia.
Together with the 'El Djem' series (see post : El Djem ), another stamp was issued between 1926 and 1949. It depics the (Youssef) Saheb al Tabaâ mosque in Tunis.
But it is know as the mosque on Halfaouine Square.
This set of stamps and its overprints is less extended than the El Djem - set, but still good for 53 stamps in total. Qualified for the requirements of my 'long lasting series'.

Halfaouine Mosque Tunis

The first set was part of a larger set of stamps, issued between 1926 and 1928.
Where the 'El Djem' stamps represented the higher values, this Halfaouine mosque - stamp, were used for lower values.

Halfaouine mosque 1st series

The design has the monogram RF (République Française) on the right bottom corner.

In 1931, an almost identical set was issued, but the denomination is here in a square shaped box.
The text boxes left and right are white, and also the sky behind the minaret is white. 
Therefore the design is too different, and not included in this set.

The same design of 1926, was re-used in 1934, again in combination with the 'El Djem' stamps.
Again, the design was used for the lower valued stamps.
Between 1941 and 1945, two additional stamps were issued, but without the RF monogram.

design without RF monogram

In the emissions between 1945 and 1949, 19 stamps (with RF) were added, as part of a series with the 'El Djem' stamps.

Also 5 stamps were overprinted as precancels.
This type of precancel is also used on various French stamps.

The complete set including the precancels and the overprint consist of 51 stamps.

Good luck!

The 'album' can be found here : Halfaouine Mosque 

More to follow...

Long lasting series 01 - Tunesia 'El Djem'

In my post on 'long lasting series', I will try to post some information, as well as downloadable album pages, for series with identical stamps (with or without overprints) from the same countries.
Not every stamp that was issued in two or more face values will be considered as a 'long lasting serie'.
I will try to stick to some basic rules, to make it worthwhile collecting separately.

* stamps have to be issued in the catalogues (I prefer to use Michel catalog)
* stamps have to be from one country (and it dependencies) only
* a large serie that was only issued on one particular date is not a 'long lasting series'
* over the years a minimum of 50 stamps need to be issued
* identical design can mean really identical, but a minimal adjustment is allowed, such as
    - removing a detail (cfr. Tunesia without monogram RF)
    - overprints or surcharges
    - additional info such as 'airmail' / 'service' is allowed, if the main stamp design is not affected
    - small modifications in texts such as new spelling, signature change, ...

As soon as the design is clearly a 'new' design, it will not be added to the series.
Also series with Kings, Queens, Presidents, .... that are not identical designs, will not be taken into consideration.

Some types of stamps (definitives) are issued over a longer period of time.
Sometime, values were added in later years, values were reprinted in other colours, some got overprints over the years, ...

In regular year-collections, those stamps are often spread over multiple years, sometimes series got split up because the overprinted stamps are stored separately, and so on.
Only in topical collections, the stamps can be found together, but since the image is identical, often only one stamp is represented.

In addition to the previous, I made albums for those type of collections.
It's not a 'common design', as the stamp are not only identical, they also are only issued in one country, where common designs or joint-issues are issued by multiple countries.

The first album is dedicated to the El Djem in Tunesia, a city in the centre of Tunesia.

photo from : www.locationscout.net

Under the Roman Empire, an amphitheatre was built in the 3rd century of the Western calendar.
The site is under protection of UNESCO World Heritage, and is also know as the Grand Colloseum of Tunesia. The remains are as beautiful as it's famous (larger) brother in Rome.
Where the Rome Colloseum could host 50000 people, the amphitheatre of El Djem offered place for 35000 spectators.  
It has been used for the movie 'Gladiator' in 2000.

Tunesia's colloseum has been on many stamps, but the first large series started in 1926 and the last issue came to the public in 1949.
In total 62 different stamps were issued (stamps + stamps with overprints).

Two variations on the 'El Djem' issue

The first sets (53 stamps) are with the monogram RF (République Française) - the last set (9 stamps) have a star and crescent moon in replace.
From the first type, 35 stamps are issued with regular values, 18 stamps have an overprint.
The second type is not know with overprints.

Download the album here : Long lasting series : TN El Djem 

Good luck...

More to follow...