Theme : Zodiac signs 04

From a friend in India, I got a sheet with 12 stamps.
Unfortunatly, the sheet was torn (to fit into the envelope).
All individual stamps were still undamaged, but still, what a shame to ruin a beautiful sheet for that purpose.

Yet, I want to post the sheet the way I got it, and it made it easier to show the individual stamps.

In the middle of the sheet, a perforated field with all start constellations is shown. On the sides of the sheet, all 12 zodiac signs are drawn in a very colourful (indian style) way.

Let's have a closer look, starting on top :

This sheet was emitted in 2010 by the Indian Post.
A very nice contribution to the theme of Zodiac Sign stamps.

Collecting : My collection 01 g

In my search, to make a complete (?) list of all countries, territories, and states, ... that have issued stamps, I came up so far with 375 different entries, plus about 50 for UN and European themed issues.
However, there are many items in my books that are bogus, not recognised, only partially recognised, pure fantasy stamps, cinderellas, and so on.
Unfortunatly, the list of those "countries" is way longer then the real countries.
In most collections however, those 'fakes' are present, but luckily only as a minority.
However, collecting (or better 'keeping') those cinderellas, can be fun too. Especially to see what moves people to print and emit stamps.
Some were made just for fantasy only, some were made in order to draw the attention to their battle for independency, some are political inspired, to protest against a gouvernment, some are really intended to be sold as 'real' and to mislead buyers and collectors, some are intended to harm official postal services (as being emitted privatly, but with the same layout as the real stamps)...

In fact 'bogus' or 'fake' stamps are in a way interesting as well.
I have noticed that previous entries on bogus stamps are quite well visited, so why not give my list of those all...
(all means : all I found so far)

How this list is built :
I started to number this category with (0)8
second number is given to each different existing country the issue is related to.
(0)801.. = AI (Anguilla)
(0)802.. = AO (Angola)
(0)803.. = AQ (Antartic Region)
the last 2 numbers refer to each different emission of that 'region'

Quite a list, right?

Didn't expect it would be that long, right?

(0)86702 (ZA -South Africa) is the last country with bogus issues in the list,
from ZB (0)89101 on, we're really talking about fantasy items, labels, private issues and so on.
so the story goes on ...

Mark, the list might not be complete, for example, "East Timor" has been recognised recently.
However, there are many bogus issues emitted under the name of "East Timor", sames goes for a certain number of Russian states, who aren't recognised yet, or only by some countries. (or like East-Timor, who has non-official issues, before they became recognised (O'zbekistan, ...)
What about Libya, who has an 'old' and a 'new' regime... will there be 2 kinds of stamps in the future...
This might be a never ending list.

Help is welcome ;-)
All help if possible with a link to a website or a copy of the stamp (see my address)

Collecting : My collection 01 f

In my search, to make a complete (?) list of all countries, territories, and states, ... that have issued stamps, I came up so far with 375 different entries.


Some stamps are issued by an organisation, like the United Nations.
They aren't really belonging to a country, unless you consider the territory of the UN in New Your, Geneva or Vienna, as being an independent country.

Therefor I have listed such stamps under a new category.
After I sorted out all countries to their continents (using 1 to 5), I made a new list starting with 6...

In this 6th category, there are stamps issued by the UN (VN because my list was made in Dutch).
(0)60201 = UN New York
(0)60301 = UN Geneva
(0)60401 = UN Vienna
(0)60501 = UN Interim Administration in Kosovo

Some stamps were issued related to suborganisations of UN, and I have given them an individual number as well, for those who collect themewise stamps related to UN.
(0)60901 = International Labour Organisation (ILO)
(0)60906 = UNESCO
(0)60910 = UPU
and so on

A bit similar, but yet different is my 7th category.
These are stamps issued by existing countries, but for a special purpose, like the CEPT-stamps I posted before.
CEPT is only one type of European stamps that are emitted by several countries, before 1956, a cooperation existed between the Belgian, Dutch and Luxemburgian gouvernment, forming BE-NE-LUX.
Older belgian catalogues mention a number of stamps that are related to a specific european theme.
Like 'balcan cooperation, 'baltic cooperation', 'NATO', 'EFTA' and so on.
Therefore, I made a list of those 'themes' as they are collected in Europe.

I will post more on those specific themes later. As for now, I have plenty to post about the CEPT issues.

Theme : Esperanto 06

I reported earlier about old Sovjet stamps on this theme.
But in this post, I'd like to go deeper into a special issue of 1926.

From the 6th till the 9th of August 1926, the 6th international congress of Esperanto-Proletarians was held in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).

Except for the russian words "posta and CCCP", all other texts are in Esperanto.

6th international proletarians (6th)  Esperanto - Congress

On top of the stamp, you will see the green star (verda stelo), symbol of Esperanto, and "SAT"
Again, SAT is an esperanto abbreviation which stands for : "Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda"
(world wide association of (the) nationless).

And there is even more to say about this stamp...
If you take a closer look to the oval, in which the monument of the Constitution is depicted, you will see something strange :

A lots of dots and dashes, ... in Morse-code :
telling us : "Proletaroj cxiulandaj unuigxu!" ... Proletarians of all countries (world wide) unite!
"cx = ĉ; gx = ĝ"

Truly, a stamp that has more to tell us then there is to see at first glance.

Theme : Zodiac signs 03

In order not to please only stamp collectors, I 'm happy to post a special set of coins, related to the Zodiac theme.
It's a set issued by Somaliland in 2006.
Somaliland is not the same as Solamia. Those two are neighbouring countries, altought...

Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards the territory as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of Somaliland, before uniting with the Trust Territory of Somalia (the former Italian Somaliland) later the same week to form the Somali Republic.
Somaliland is bordered by Ethiopia in the south and west, Djibouti in the northwest, the Gulf of Aden in the north, and the autonomous Puntland region of Somalia to the east.

In 2006 a set of 12 (obviously) coins were emitted, KM#7 to KM#18, depicting the 12 zodiac signs.
The design is nice, and the coins are minted in stainless steel.
Each coin has a face value of 10 somaliland Shillings.

Weight : 4,80 gram; Ø 24,9 mm
Catalogue value (2011) 1 USD / coin for unused condition.
Mintage, unknown.

Collecting : My collection 01 e

For the last continent, Australia (or the Oceanic region) I chose green as the colour in my excel file and also green for all albums with oceanic stamps.
The list might still be incomplete, but it's a good start.
There might be discussions about what island belongs to the Oceanic area, and which one to Asia.
I did my research on wikipedia, and we all know that might not be entirly correct.
Suggestions are welcome.

Some of the countries or territories on my list haven't issued stamps, but are recognised as independent territories, or belong to a certain country. Some are listed in red, because I'm still working on that list.

As this is my fifth listing, it starts with a 5.

Examples :
(0)50101 = Australian States : New South Wales
(0)50102 = Australian States : Queensland
(0)50201 = Australia
(0)50704 = Vanuatu

...

Collecting : My collection 01 d

Next listing is North and South America.
I'm aware of the fact that also this list might not be complete yet.
All additions are welcome of course.

As for the list itself, it starts with (0)4 - 1 to 3 were already taken.
And the colour is RED. The albums I use for stamps of this region are also red coloured.

Example :
(0)40101 = Canada
(0)40102 = United States
(0)43601 = Dutch Antilles, Bonaire
(0)43602 = Dutch Antilles, Curaçao
(0)43603 = Dutch Antilles
(0)44002 = American Territories, Virgin Islands

...

Collecting : My collection 01 c

In my struggle to find a complete list of all countries and regions, I completed Europe an Asia.
My third list is from all african countries.
After 1 and 2, this list starts with (0)3.

I chose black for the excel list, and to keep the logic, I use black albums for all african countries.

The list might not be complete, since I 'm still working on african stamps.

Example :
(0)30101 = Morocco
(0)31801 = Ivory Coast
(0)33001 = Belgian Congo
(0)33002 = Congo Republic
(0)33003 = Katanga (territory in Congo)
...

Collecting : My collection 01 b

Of course there aren't only european stamps in this world.
After I completed the list of european states, countries, regions... I searched the internet for all asian countries.
The list was not less impressive.

There might be discussions if a certain number of states should be european countries or asian.
Same for some islands that can be considered in the asian or the oceanic continent.
Pardon me, if your country is (according my list) in the wrong continent. I got my information mainly from the internet.

The colour is yellow in my excel file, but the albums for all asian stamps/coins/banknotes is brownish.
The list starts with a 2 (1 was taken for Europe already).

example :
(0)21001 = Iran
(0)21501 = U.A.E. Abu Dhabi
(0)21502 = U.A.E. Ajman State
(0)22401 = India - as a British colony
(0)22402 = India after independency
(0)22501 = India princial states ...
(0)22601 = India feodal states ...

and so on...

Theme : 1st issues : 02 Luxemburg

Guillaume III had very few direct dealings with Luxembourg for most of his reign. On February 5, 1850, he appointed his brother, Prince Henri, as his lieutenant in the Grand Duchy, and Henri took on most of the responsibilities of a governor. Prince Henri became a very popular personality as he governed Luxembourg under this authority until his death on January 13, 1879.

Indeed, Guillaume III (or Willem III) is the same ruler as the one in The Netherlands at that time.
He was the 963rd Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in Spain in 1842, the 777th Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1882 and the 72nd Grand Cross of the Order of the Tower and Sword.
 
He died in Het Loo in 1890.
Of William III's legitimate children, only three reached adulthood, two sons from his marriage to Queen Sophie and one daughter from his marriage to Queen Emma. Because Wilhelmina (his daughter) had not yet reached adulthood, Emma became regent for her daughter. She would remain regent until Wilhelmina's eighteenth birthday in 1898. Because the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg could only be inherited through the male line at the time, under Salic law, it went to Adolphe, the former Duke of Nassau.

The first Luxemburgian stamp was emitted in 1852, same as in the Netherland.
The picture of Willem III, Guillaume III, is facing to the left on the Luxemburg stamp, and to the right on the Dutch stamp.

n° 1 of Luxemburg - cancelled (1852)