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Showing posts with label 1920. Show all posts

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Theme : Angels 01

What better topic on Christmas day then my collection of "angels".

To understand about the celestial orders/hierarchy it is important to know exactly what an angel is. Briefly it can be described as: a spiritual being that is believed to be much more powerful than a human. In Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other theologies an angel can be one who acts as a messenger, attendant or agent of God.

There are 9 orders of angels, starting with the 'angels' as the 12th (lowest) order, up to the Seraphins as the highest order. According more specialised information, there are even 3 higher levels then the Seraphins, and 3 lower levels (under the angels); although those last 3 (the confessors, the martyrs and the innocents) are not really counted to the 'angels'.
In this last group, the Saints, the Martyrs ... can be found.

The angels of the Twelfth Order of Angels are the messengers that commune with various life forms within the physical worlds.
These include also the Guardian Angels. Angels are generally depicted with wings.

There are almost 400 angels. The I want to start with, is the angel Bahram.
Bahram is the angel of Victory.

Bahram, angel of Victory

A very nice example is a set from the Barbados Islands, who issued a set of stamps to commemorate the end of the first world war.
A set of 11 stamps were issued in 1920, depicting the angel of Victory.
The full set is quite expensive (both mint and postally used). But it's not my purpose here to show all stamps of this set.
This topic about 'angels' is more like a teaser for collectors who ran out of ideas for a thematic collection.

Barbados - Michel n° 110

Barbados - Michel n° 111

Barbados - Michel n° 112

... to be continued

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Belgian banknotes King Albert I (part 5)

Some time ago I posted an overview of belgian banknotes issued under King Albert I.
More recently, I have talked about the single issues in individual posts.

Today I bring you the smallest note of the series : the 1 franc / 1 frank

Belgium - Krause n° 92

This banknote was issued in the 1920's and is in the same style as the other notes (5, 20, 100 and 1000 francs).
On the top, right from the middle, we find the printing dates.
These varie on many notes.
For collectors who search for printing dates, a great asset of course.

I don't have that many 1 franc notes, but still, I can show some of the printing dates :

twice 1920 - one time 1922

At the back of the note, there isn't much special. Of course, the 1 franc note is the lowest value of this set, so there isn't much special to put on it, as the note is quite small.(+/- 40 cm²).

Since the note is quite small, there's not place for a decent watermark. But the entire banknote is printed on paper with a certain watermark.
I tried to scan it with a backlight, but that's not easy with a normal scanner.
However I more or less succeeded in making a scan that allows you to recognise this watermark.

To make it more visible, I added some lines, so you can follow the pattern of wavy, flowerish lines.

Wavy lines as watermark on the entire banknote Krause Belgium n°92

Collecting is such an interessting hobby, isn't it :-)

Monday, July 18, 2011

Sweden : 09a Early issues 1920-34 Standing Lion ( 5 öre)

From 1920 on, a stamp with a standin lion (stående lejon) was used in several emissions.

Everyone who has a stockbook with swedish stamps will recognise them immediatly.

The stamps look quite simple, and come in 2 basic versions for the 5 öre (orange and green); 2 versions of the 10 öre (green and purple), a 25 öre in orange and again 2 versions of a 30 öre (brown and purple).

Untill I took a specialised catalogue, that kept me busy for days and days :-)

Let's start with the 5 öre green

There are 2 types of that lion, they can be sorted out easily for mint versions, with cancelled stamps it all depends on the place and the heaviness of the cancellation.

Type 1

the bottom line of the top stroke of the 5 goes up slightly

5 öre - type 1

In the leg of the lion, there are 4 lines, the bottom line is longer then the one above.

5 öre - type 1

Type 2

here, the 5 shows two parellel lines

5 öre - type 2

the 4 lines on the lions leg all have the same lenght

5 öre - type 2

Type 1 has a coil stamp (perf. 10) and a normal stamp (perf. 10)

both stamps come with and without watermark

Type 2 has 2 coil stamps (perf. 10 and 13) and a normal stamp (perf. 10)

In type 2, there is a version on white paper (normal stamp and coil stamp too), they were emitted in 1934-36.

here, the coil stamps (perf. 10 and 13) come without watermark on tainted paper and on white paper (1934);

and with watermark on tainted paper only.

the regular stamp (perf. 10) is without watermark, both on tained and on white paper.

Finally, there's also the 5 öre orange :

the two types are the same as in the green version :

type 1 and type 2

5 öre - type 1

5 öre - type 2

there are less subtypes for this issue

In type 1, you will only find a coil stamp (perf. 10), there's a version without and with watermark, and both are on tainted paper.

In type 2, a coil stamp (perf. 10) was emitted with and without watermark, again on tainted paper
the coil stamp (perf. 13) has also a version with and one without watermark, both on tianted paper.

Some examples :