Odd stamps : 06 p Stamps on cotton / silk

Recently I was lucky to find a stamp that emitted in Switzerland in 2000.
It is the world's first embroided stamp, face value of 5 Swiss Francs.

Even in 2000 it was not easy to obtain the stamp, and even collectors with a subscription to the new issues of Switzerland, sometimes had to wait to get this particular stamp.

the world's first embroided stamp

The 'stamp' is auto-adhesive and rectangular, without perforations. It has a flower design and the word HELVETIA (Latin name of Switzerland).
The stamps were emitted in blocks of 4, forming a sheetlet with an additional embroided border.

One week later however, my joy was complete, as a full sheet of this stamp also came to auction.
There were no bidders (although not many Switserland collectors have the full sheet in their collection), so I obtained this piece of art, for a very affordable price.

Full sheet of the embroided Swiss stamp (2000)

to be continued...

Currency Today : Venezuela 18

It has been a while since I have added some Venezolan notes.

More can be found under : Previous issues Venezuela

As a quick reminder, the series of banknotes, started with the Bolívares Fuertes (BsF), in 2007.
With a set of 2 Bolívares, up to a 100 Bolívares -note.
In 2017, the set was extended (replaced) by higher values of the BsF currency.
A set of 500 BsF to 100,000 BsF was in use.

Boliváres Fuertes 2007-2017

From 2018 on, the BsF was replaced by new notes, omitting 5 zero's.
The new 200,000 BsF became a 2 BsS-note (Boliváres Soberanos).
This set came at first with a 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 - note. In march of the same year, a 200 BsS-note, and in May a 500 BsS-note were added.

In 2019, they skipped a possible 1000, 2000 and 5000 BsS-note, and started emitting 10,000; 20,000; 50,000 BsS.
By 2020, they skipped a possible 100,000-note, and went straight away to 200MIL (200,000), 500MIL (500,000) and 1 Million (1,000,000).
 

2018-2020 Boliváres Soberanos

One year later, the Boliváres Soberanos were not coping with the inflation anymore, so another devaluation took place, now emitting 6 zero's on the notes.
The note representing 1 million BsS became 1 BsD (Bolívares Digitales) - or 10,000,000,000 BsF if you like.

The note was not reprinted, in the new currency, but the 1 of 1 Millión, was good enough to recognize it as a new '1' -note. Followed by 5, 10 and 20 in the new BsD-currency.

2021 Boliváres Digitales

 

On April 29, 2021, the set was completed with a new 50 and 100 Bolívares Digitales note.

50 and 100 Bolívares Digitales

 

Reverse - 200th anniversary of the battle of Carabobo

Evolution of the Bolívares-banknotes:

evolution of the Bolívares notes

Odd stamps : 06 p Stamps on cotton / silk

Once again, a new smooth stamp/sheetlet from Thailand.
Depicting two pets, a dog with a cat on his back, and printed on velvet paper.
Touching the stamp/sheetlet, it feels like petting the animals for real.

This sheetlet of 25 baht, is only issued on 300,000 copies. A rather small number for a country with almost 70 million people (2024).
It was issued on February 2024 to commemorate the 'Love your pet - day'.
The stamp was printed on velvet paper, to promote philately.

In the bottom corner of the sheetlet, we see a qr-code which leads to the website of the Thai post.
For those who don't speak phasa Thai (Thai), the site is also available in phasa Ankrit (English):

Thailandpost.co.th

to be continued....

Commemorative coins - San Marino 4

To complete the zodiac set of 12 coins, San Marino issued the last 3 coins in 2021.
The last set consists of the Capricorn, Aquarius and Pisces -coins.

Each of the 2021 coins has a mintage of 16000 brass coins.

The Capricorn-coin (It: capricorno)

Capricorn - coin 2021 RSM

The Aquarius-coin (It: acquario)

Aquarius - coin 2021 RSM

The Pisces-coin (It: pesci)

Pisces - coin 2021 RSM

With these 3 coins, the set is of western zodiac sign coins is completed.

to be continued...

Commemorative coins - San Marino 3

The set of Zodiac coins of San Marino, coninued in 2020 with 3 additional coins: Libra, Scorpio and Saggitarius. Each of the 2020 coins has a mintage of 16000 brass pieces

The first coin dated 2020, is the Libra-coin (It: bilancia).

2020 Libra - coin  RSM

The second coin, is the Scorpio-coin (It: scoprione)

2020 Scorpio - coin RSM

The third and last coin for 2020 is the Sagittarius-coin (It: sagittario)

2020 Sagittarius - coin RSM

At the moment of wrinting this article, the 2020-coins, were still available on the website of the San Marino post, at the price of the face value. Each of the coins were delivered in a hard plastic holder.

The 2019 and 2018 coins were already sold out.

to be continued...

Commemorative coins - San Marino 2

In 2019, 4 coins were added to the set: Gemini, Cancer, Leo and Virgo.

Similar to the 2018 coins, is the obverse side, with the sun, all zodiac symbols and the country's name.

Gemini - coin 2019 RSM

 

Cancer - coin 2019 RSM

The Gemini-coin (It: gemelli) shows two mirrored toddlers reaching for the stars, while the Cancer-coin (It: cancro) depicts a crab.

Leo - coin 2019 RSM

The fifth coin is the Leo-sign (It: leone) and the sixth coin is the Virgo-sign (It: vergine)

Virgo - coin 2019 RSM

All coins have a face value of € 5, but sinde they are no longer available on the San Marino Post website, prices start to go up.

to be continued ....

Commemorative coins - San Marino 1

When paying in Europe with cash, the chance of spending or receiving a commemorative € 2 - coin, is not that uncommon. Till 2023, about 610 (!) different € 2 coins, other than the regular ones, are in use.

Also higher denominations are minted, but those coins are never seen in circulation.
First of all because they are printed in very limited numbers, or sold at a higher price than the nominal value.

One specific set of coins drew my attention. The set consists of 12 coins, issued over 4 years (in 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021). 12 coins, that sounds familiar ... indeed these 12 coins are dedicated to the 12 western zodiac signs.

In 2018, the first two coins were issued.
Each coin has a face value of € 5 and the reverse side is common to all 12 coins.

reverse side of the coins

The outer circle, shows all 12 symbols of the western zodiac.
In the second circle, we see the issuing country : "Repubblica di San Marino", and the designer's name A. Masini. The third circle shows all lunar phases, around the sun in the centre of the coin.
Behind the sun we see a compass rose, and the sun is surrounded by 3 feathers, a symbol of the San Marino Republic.

On the front side of the first coin, the Aries (It: ariete) or Ram is shown

Aries issue 2018

The second coin of 2018 depicts the Taurus (It: toro) or Bull.

Taurus issue 2018

Each coin shows the year of issuing (here 2018), the face value of 5 euro, and the name of the constellation. Also the stars are depicted, and the related symbol is repeated 10 times on the perimeter of the coin.

The set of 2018 coins have a mintage of 15000 coins (brass).
They are sold out on the official website of the San Marino postal services.

to be continued...

Theme : 1st issues : 11 Great Britain

I have posted many nr 1's so far, but the absolute 1st number one is of course the famous 'black penny'.

Issued on May 1, 1840, changed the whole postal system in use at that time.
No longer the one who received the mail had to pay, but the sender could buy a 'stamp' to pay for sending a message over mail to another person.

The first stamp did not bear any name of country, as it was issued in the UK only.
This privilege is still valid until today, as the United Kingdom, is the only country in the world, that has no country name mentioned on it's stamps.

1840 Black Penny

In the image we see Queen Victoria, designed by Charles Health, after a sketch made by Henry Corbould. He was inspired by an engraver named William Wyon, who made a medal for the Queen's visit to London in 1837.

The first stamp came in sheets of 240 stamps. 24 rows of 12 stamps. Nowadays, stamps are often printed in sheets of 100 or an equivalent of 100's. But in 1840, the British were not using the decimal system yet.
A 'pound' (£) used to be the value of a pound of silver (= 0.45359237 kg).
1 pound was devided into 20 shillings, and one shilling devided into 12 pence each.
Although the decimal system is more logical (we have 10 fingers), this predecimal system had many advantages too, as 240 can be divided by 2,3,4,5,6,8,10,15,16,20,24,30,40,60, 80 and 120, where '100' only can be divided by 2,4,5,10,20,25 and 50.

The sheet of 240 stamps of this black penny, have letters in the lower corners. Each combination depends on the position on the sheet.

position of black pennies in a sheet

Each row of 12 makes one shilling, twenty rows of 1 shilling, make one pound.
The letter left on the stamp, indicates the row, and the one right the column.
The stamp shown above (B J) is therefore in position 22.

Although each stamp on the sheet has the same value, the ones in with double letters, i.e. AA, BB, CC, ... are sought. Stamps in the border of the sheet, often have better margins, some even with extra information.

From this issue, 286,670 sheets were printed, good for over 68,8 million black pennies. Estimated is, that about 1,3 million of them survived time.

Theme : 1st issues : 10 Nepal

This 'first issue' is a special one.

Nepal 1885

What is on the cover?

The stamps on the cover are genuine (Michel nrs 1Bc (light blue) - 2B (dull lilac) and 3B (yellowish green). The stamps were issued in 1881 on European paper. The cancels are genuine as well.

But the back side has handwritten text speaks of 1885.
We are talking about a registered mail with stamps from the 1st issue of Nepal (1881), and there are 3 different stamps on the cover, used in 1885...

This is what the experts say (CH - October 2022):

"The stamps are stuck at the bottom of an envelope with a handwritten departure stamp Parewadada March 12, 1885 on the back, and an entry registration of March 24, 1885. They do not belong on this cover and are intended to simulate an extraordinarily rare registered postage from the first edition."

Were the stamps added later on, to make it more valuable?
Never the less, the three stamps are real and postally used, which makes it a rare document in my collection.

Nepal 1Bc (blue) and 2B (lilac) according Michel

Nepal 3B (green) according Michel

to be continued...

Theme : Zodiac signs 21

Zodiac signs will always be a popular topic on stamps.
There are 12 (originally 13) zodiac signs in a year, according western astrology, and 12 animal signs in a 12-year cycle, according the eastern astrology.

In 2023, Mongolia issued two sheetlets, with one stamp each.
One is dedicated to western astrology, showing the 12 signs, around a circular stamp.

1st sheet - 12 western zodiac signs

In the middle of the circle with the 12 western zodiac signs, we find a round stamp, where the symbol for each sign is placed under the according picture above.

round shaped stamp with 12 zodiac symbols

detail gemini

Above each picture, we also see the star constellation

The second sheetlet shows the 12 animals in the easter zodiac circle.

2nd sheet - 12 asian zodiac signs

Here we find the more older symbols, that described someone's personalty based on the year of birth (starting around 4 February each 'western' year).
The word 'zodiac' is derived from the ancient Greek : zōdiakòs kýklos (ζῳδιακός κύκλος), which literally means 'circle of animals'.

This circle is binary composed, as each year is alternately male or female.
The 'male' years are Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse, Monkey and Dog, where the 'female' years are Ox, Hare (Rabbit), Snake, Sheep, Hen (Rooster) and Pig.

In the middle, we find a round shaped stamp.
Each of the twelve animals surround the central stamp. The animals are depicted as human forms, with the head of an animal.

sheet detail : Rabbit - Dragon and Snake

For the next years, here are the 12 zodiac signs, after that, the cycle restarts.

Jan 22 2023–Feb 09 2024	Rabbit
Feb 10 2024–Jan 28 2025	Dragon
Jan 29 2025–Feb 16 2026	Snake
Feb 17 2026–Feb 05 2027	Horse
Feb 06 2027–Jan 25 2028	Goat
Jan 26 2028–Feb 12 2029	Monkey
Feb 13 2029–Feb 02 2030	Rooster
Feb 03 2030–Jan 22 2031	Dog
Jan 23 2031–Feb 10 2032	Pig
Feb 11 2032–Jan 30 2033	Rat
Jan 31 2033–Feb 18 2034	Ox
Feb 19 2034–Feb 07 2035	Tiger