Banknotes of Russia 04

The 10 rubles note of the 1905-1912 set, is another colourful note.
It was issued in 1909 only and comes with 3 State Bank Directors' signatures.

Russia N°11 - 10 rubles

date of issue 1909

The note has a full serial number (common for all original issues).

full serial number on N°11

The value of the note depends once more on the signature of the State Bank Director.
Where the oldest note, again, has the highest value .

3 possible signatures on N° 11 - 10 rubles

Besides the first signature, a large variety of cashiers' signatures can be found too.

signature of the cashier

Each of the 1909 issued notes has also a watermark. This is each time the value of the note in numbers.
For this issue, the number '10' is watermarked all over the note.

The back side of the note looks more like a colourful Persian carpet.
If a jigg saw puzzle was made out of this design, it would take days to complete the puzzle again.
Not only because of the beautiful colours and ornaments, but as well for the cyrillic text.

back side of N°11 - Russia 10 rubles

to be continued...

Banknotes of Russia 03

Previously I wrote something about the 3 rubles banknotes of Russia, issued between 1905 and 1912.
In the same set, there's also a 5 rubles note.
This note has exactly the same size as the 3 rubles note, but there is more to say about this note.

5 rubles 1905 - N°10

This note was issued in 1909 and in 1917. Basic design is the same for both notes, and they are easy to recognise by the serial number / series number.

On both issues 1909 (N° 10) and 1917 (N° 35) we see the date 1909 on the top ornament (detail 1).

detail 5 rubles

For the first issue (similar to the 1 ruble note of 1898 and 1915), the oldest note has a full serial number, where the later issue has a series number (see detail 2).

full serial number - N°10

series number - N° 35

For the 1917 issue, series numbers start at YA 001 till YA 043
Higher series numbers (such as in the example above, YA 044 - 200 and Yb 401 - 500 were issued under Sovjet Government.

The first issue comes in two signatures of the State Bank Director, Konshin till 1912 and Shipov.

Konshin and Shipov signature

The oldest signature (Konshin) is worth more then the newer signature.
Besides one of those signatures, a variety of 13 cashiers' signatures can be found.

Signature variations on N°10

Signature variations on N°35

Finally a picture of the back side of the note, that is again the same for both issues.

back side of N°10 and N°35

to be continued ...

Banknotes of Russia 02

In 1905 a new set of banknotes was issued.
As the notes previous to 1905 are quite expensive, and not (yet) in my collection, I go from n°1 directly to n°9.  A banknote of 3 ruble.

3 is not a common denomination on banknotes. But in Russia, and also in Bulgaria, a 3 ruble note (3 leva in Bulgaria) has been issued.
Did  you know by the way, there was once a 4 dollar bill in Canada?

Back to the item of today...

Russian banknotes in the early 20th century are a pleasure to look at.
Very colourful and with an overwhelming bombastic design.

This note, unlike the one in the previous post, only comes in one shape, but with 3 different basic signatures.

3 rubles 1905

If we take a closer look, we see at first (n°1) the monogram of Czar Nicholas II.

Monogram of Czar Nicholas II

N°2 shows the serial number. This banknote only comes with full serial numbers.
N°3 is the signature of the State Bank Director, wich comes in 3 varieties.

The oldest signature, equals the most valuable note.
Again, like in the previous post, the Shipov signature is the most common.

Konshin signature

Shipov signature

Don't be unhappy however if the banknote in your collection bares a Shipov signature.
Here again there are 13 different signatures of a cashier (n°4).

different cashier's signatures

The back side of the banknote is as well worth taking a closer look :

Krause N°9 back

This is only the smallest denomination of the 1905 set.
All further notes in this set are bigger, and more impressive than this, already beautiful note.

to be continued...

Banknotes of Russia 01

Old Russian banknotes are among the largest banknotes I have in my collection.
But before I get there, let's start the proper way with number 1.

The regluar catalogue starts numbering 1898. Notes previous to that date are Russian Imperial notes and are classified with A-numbers.
As those notes are a bit harder to get, I start this item with notes issued in 1898 and later.

The first note is already worth looking at more closely.

This is the basic type of several banknotes :

sample of note n°1

As you see, some areas are blurred, and numbered.
This is a help to determine which note it is exactely.

The easiest way is to look at n°1 (the date printed on the note).
You can find 1887 - 1889 - 1894 or 1898.
Look if the monogram (n°2) is AIII (Czar Alexander III).
In this case it is an Imperial note. According the year, you will find 4 different signatures under n°4 and many different signatures under n°5
Those notes are quite valuable.

sample A54 Russian Imperial note

The same design was used under Czar Nicholas II.
Those notes all bear the date 1898, even if they were printed later.
Here, the monogram will be NII.

monogram N II

Those notes are most commom, but still worth exploring, as there are still many subtypes.

Now we have to take a closer look at the serial number.
The 1898 issue, has a full serial number (n°3) :

full serial number note n°1

Newer notes, (also dated 1898) have series numbers (2 letters HA or HB and 1, 2 or 3 numbers).

Series number HA *** - note n°15

In case of the full serial number, the banknote has catalogue number 1.
If there is a series number like above, the note (is cheaper and) is printed in 1915 or later.
Notes baring series number HA - 1 to HA 127 were printed in 1915.
All higher series numbers are notes that were printed under the Provisional Government or even the Soviet Government.

note n° 15 - printed after 1915

Finally, let's have a look at the signatures.

The notes, dated 1898 have 4 different signatures.

The 4th signature, of the State Bank Director (Ivan Shipov) is the most common,
as they are also on all notes, printed after 1898.

Under Shipov's signature, a variety of 13 different signatures of cashiers can be found.

The back side of all notes are always the same :

to be continued...

Odd stamps : 10 b Stamps on/in wood or cork

Anyone who ever opened a bottle of wine, will have seen the cork stopper, sealing the bottle.
Cork is a natural material, that comes from the Cork Oak (Quercus Suber). There are about 2,200,000 hectares of cork forest worldwide; 32.4% in Portugal, and 22.2% in Spain. Annual production is about 300,000 tons; 52.5% from Portugal, 29.5% from Spain, 5.5% Italy.
Cork can be harvest every 9 - 10 year. So it takes up to 10 years before the Cork Oak has rebuild its trunk.The first harvest can start at the age of 25 years. A cork oak can live for 200 years, so cork can be harvest 17 to 18 times from the same three.
Other then cork stoppers, cork is used for tiles used in flooring, an some conductor's batons have a cork handle.

However, and that's why it's in my blog, in November 2007, Portugal was the first country in the world that issued a stamp on cork!

Two years later, Ecuador issued a similar stamp on cork.
This to celebrate 200 year of independence. Also a tasteful designed stamp, showing a fingerprint, a feather and 200.

Both stamps I have in mint condition. They might be very hard to find in postally used condition, because the texture of the stamps is very fragile, and the stamps might be damaged when taken off of the envelopes.

Odd stamps : 10 a Stamps on/in wood or cork

You can hardly imagine the types of material can be used for stamps.
This 10th subitem is dedicated to stamps made out of wood or cork.

For the first article, I am taking you to Africa, to the republic of Djibouti.
Djibouti is a small country, in the Horn of Africa (North East).
When this part of Africa was colonised in the 19th century, the whole area was divided between the French, the Italian and the British.
The French, who claimed the most northern part of Somalia, renamed the area into Afars and Issas, until it became independent in 1977 and was renamed into Djibouti.

Stamps of Djibouti are hardly amongst the most wanted stamps in the world, (except maybe those from Afars and Issas). The ones you will find are most likely to be CTO (cancelled to order).
Nevertheless, fort this item on wooden stamps, this is a very special issue...

Djibouti block 2 - CTO

The sheet above and below are printed on a thin wooden plate (0,2 mm). At the back there is glue like a sticker, protected by a paper foil.
Although both blocks are cancelled, the paper foil at the back is not removed, which means both block were never postally used.

Djibouti block 6 - CTO

Djibouti block 6 - back side

Block 2 was issued in 1983, block 6 in 1987.
Catalogue price (Yvert) for both blocks is around € 50.

to be continued...

Theme : 1st issues : 07 Bulgaria

Until 1879, Bulgaria was part of the late medieval Ottoman Empire, and therefore using Turkish (Ottoman) stamps at first.
From April 28, 1879 it became a principality until 1908 when it became an independent kingdom.

From 1879 on Bulgaria thus issued its own stamps.
For two years they used the french denomination 'centimes and francs' - 'САНТИМ - ФРАНКЪ'
The first set of 5 stamps (used between 1879 and 1881) are : 5C - 10C - 25C - 50C - 1FR.

In the second set of 1881 some of the values are replaced by the 'stotinki' - 'СТОТИН.' denomination.

Bulgaria N° 1 - 1879

    

MI 0001 - santim.

Mi 0007 - stotin.

Theme : 1st issues : 06 Costa Rica

Costa Rica, a country situated between Nicaragua and Panama in Central America, issued its first stamps from 1862 on.

The first set of stamps consists of 4 (or 5) stamps, and 3 forgeries.

The official stamps, 1/2 (medio) réal is considered according Michel Catalogue to be n° 1, altough they were issued in 1863 and in 1875 -  blue or dark blue.
A 2 réal stamp equaly was issued in 1863, the 4 réal and 1 peso (orange) stamps appeared a year later.
2 and 3 cent and 1 Peso (brown) are fanasy prints.

Michel states that there are two versions of the 1 stamp (aparently both in the 1863 and 1875 printing).
The difference can be found in the background of the image :

Costa Rica 1 - without lines

Costa Rica 1 - with lines

Its clear that one stamp has horizontal lines behind the five stars, the other stamp doesn't have those lines.
It raises the question of there were 2 different plates of the stamp, where on one of the plates the lines were missing, or added afterwards.
However it's more likely that the background lines were supposed to be on all stamps, but worn out plates made later stamps look incomplete.

A nice example I found on another stamp, where have of the image shows a background without lines, the other (darker) half, the lines are clearly visible again.

Costa Rica 1 - with and partly without lines

Another nice thing about this last stamp is, that in on the side, the printing company is mentionned: American Bank(Note Company).

This first set of stamps is very cheap, but good quality of cancellations is not easy to find.
Cancels 'SAN JOSE - COSTA RICA - 10 EN '83 are forgeries.