Collecting : My collection 04 b

The next step in my XYZ-qualification is the Y-factor
As told in my previous article, I give a qualification 5 - 0 for 3 mayor aspects of my stamps:

X : perforation quality
Y : centering, margins
Z : gum or cancel quality

The Y-digit:

The second digit is for centering or margins
Some people will consider a good margin (of an unperforated stamp) equal to a good perforation.
In my opion, broad margins on an unperforated stamp doesn't mean the stamp is good quality.
And even stamps with broad margins, can be awfully decentered as well.
This is why I keep perforating as one item, and margins (centering) as the second qualification.

In this second item, again, I give scores from 5 (perfect) to 0 (defect)
But ... this time the 'zero' score, doesn't have to mean the stamp is worthless, on the contrary.

"5" for a perfect centering

X 5 Z

"4" nearly perfect centering, slightly decentered if you measure it

X 4 Z

"3" decentered but still 'acceptable'

X 3 Z

"2" obviously decentered, but image isn't touching the perforation

X 2 Z

"1" the stamp's image is touched by the perforation

X 1 Z

"0" part of the stamp's image is repeated on the other side, due to bad perforation

X 0 Z

If even worse, the stamp becomes interesting again, as then we're talking about a 'perforation error'

For 'margins' of unperforated stamps, the same classification stands,
"5" goes for 4 wide margins,
"4" for 4 normal margins
"3" is for 1 or more narrow margins
"2" when the image touches the border
"1" when the border has partially cut the image of the stamp
and "0" when more then one side is cut off, or the image is repeated on the other side

to be continued ...

Collecting : My collection 04 a

Collecting can be fun, but fun alone is not lasting forever.
There has to be some "excitement", or at least "temptation"  as well.

When you have a copy of a stamp/coin/note, and you're satisfied, fine with me.
But for me, the whole idea of collecting doesn't stop there.
In fact, it just started.

I would suggest each starter to buy a lot.
It doesn't have to be 'expensive', but it has to be enough to become tempting to investigate.

I use a 3-digit system to qualify my stamps.
XYZ

The first number (here X) stands for the perforation (or the margins for unperforated stamps)
The second number (here Y) stands for the centering
The last digit (Z) stands for the gum quality - or cancelation for used stamps

Each number is a scale from 5 to 0 (with 5 for the highest quality - 0 for the lowest).
In total a scale of 216 levels (555 to 000).
It's obvious that stamps labeled with 000 are more or less worhtless, and '555' stamps are ready to be shown in exhibitions.

The X-digit:

"5" is for perfect perforated stamps, all teeth are present, even the corners are there.

5 Y Z

"4" is for nearly perfect stamps, the corner teeth might be a bit shorter, but present
"3" is for good stamps, perforation is nerly perfect, at first sight no teeth missing,
      some might be a bit shorter

4 Y Z                         and                          3 Y Z

"2" is for stamps with several shorter, but no missing teeth
"1" is for stamps with several shortened teeth, torn teeth or missing teeth
"0" more teeth are missing

2 Y Z                                   1 Y Z                                 0 Y Z

... as a good collector, anything below "3" isn't worth the collection (some exceptions for very rare stamps)

How about specific perforations?

For unperforated stamps, the so called 'perché en lignes' ...
Here it's a bit more difficult to determinate the quatlity of the 'perforation, but again, the better the quality, the better the qualification you can give.
Again, a good stock to select from and some good samples of each type will help a lot.

to be continued...

Theme : Volkswagen Beetle - 20

When you collect very common themes, as flowers, insects, animals, famous people, ... your collection can be extended nearly every day.

Choosing a less common theme, or a very specific theme (like my Volkswagen Beetles) has a limited number of issued stamps, but whenever something new appears, the pleasure is double.

So for my next item from Spain.
A souvenir sheet of 4 stamps was issued in 2013.
Each of the stamps shows a 'classic' car.
We see a Mercedes Benz 190 (1962) - a Citroën 2CV (1948) and a Seat 1500 (1963).
The fourth stamp shows - of course - a Volkswagen Beetle.
Although each other model shows us the car from the mentionned year, the Beetle stamps indicates : "Volkswagen Beetle (1938)".
The first "Beetle" may then have been produced around 1938, under the name of KdF-wagen, the car depicted in the stamp is a 1966 model.

full sheet Spain 2013

In my - humble - opinion, a missed chance to depict a real old model, as the subtext is suggesting.
Or at least the marked year of 1938 could have been adjusted to the depicted model.

detail of the sheet, with left corner

Finally the choice of the colours of this sheetlet disspaointed me a little bit too.
The print under the stamp (back side of a red Beetle) is the only highlight in the rather tasteless design.
I think there was more creativity possible in creating this sheet.

Nevertheless, a nice new item for my theme collection.

Theme : Tintin (Kuifje) 09

It has been a while again, but today I'm happy to add a new item to my theme collection.

This time, the postal services of the Pricipality of Monaco, issued a stamp on Tintin in 2012.
Besides French, the official language, Italian, Occitan and Monégasque are spoken in Monaco.
The reason for this issue is, that the editor of the Tintin comic books has issued it's third album in Monégasque language.

The album "de schat van Scharlaken Rackham" or "Red Rachham's Treasure" was issued in 1944, as the 12th Tintin album. The story is the second part of the two-part adventure 'The Secret of the Unicorn" (1943) and it's the album where professor Calculus is introduced.

Tintin and Red Rachham's Treasure (1944)

The Monégasque version of the album Red Rachham's Treasure (O Tresoru de Rakamu u Russu), is the third album issued in this language.
Previously also "The secret of the Unicorn (Le Secret de la Licorne)"
and "The Castafiore Emerald (I Ori da Castafiore)" were translated into Monégasque.

Stamp and left hand corner of the sheet (Monaco)

The stamp was issued on November 21, 2012; but the stamp self mention "2013" several times, as can be seen on the left hand corner of the sheet.
Also the micro text under the central image refers to 2013:

issued in 2012 ...

I hope many more translations will follow, and more nice Tintin stamps as well...

Odd stamps : 06 i Stamps on cotton / silk

For my next item, we go to Taiwan.
Officially, Taiwan is a province of the People's Republic of China.
Many Taiwanese people consider themselves however as being citizens of the 'independent' island of Taiwan, or the so called Republic of China.

Map of PR China, Taiwan (R.O.C. in red)

For any political interpretation, you'll have to search elsewhere, here I'm only talking about the beauty of the stamps, issued by this country.

And this truly is a beautiful stamp/sheet!

Most stamps/sheets printed on silk are already an example of exquisit printing.
Here, the stamp is superb.

silk sheet / stamp of Taiwan

If we look in detail, we see a beautiful bird, printed in embossed silk, with gold overprint.
To see the embossed printing, a picture of the back side shows us more :

back side of the sheet, bird and chinese characters are embossed

On the border of the sheet, we see some fibers hanging loosly.

loose fibers

If we zoom in into the stamp, we'll discover the fine design and embossed printing, together with the gold print on the back ofhte bird.

stamp out of the sheet

detail of the stamp

This sheet is truly a piece of art and as far as I'm concerned, to be nominated for the most beautiful stamp of the year.

If any Taiwanese reader of my blog, is willing to send me a postally used copy of this sheet, I'd be very happy.

Theme : Zodiac signs 13

The theme of zodiac signs has always been popular.

The fact that there are 12 zodiac signs (which is an easy number to make sheets) - gives lots of possibilities for stamp designers.

Canadian postal services once more made a lovely sheet on this topic.

full sheet zodiac signs Canada

Each of the 12 stamps are printed in black and one colour.
If you'd put each stamp next to the other, they form the colours of the rainbow.
(how convenient for my blog).
Starting with red (Aries) to violet (Pisces)

zodiac signs Canada, detail

But there is more to discover :
If we look at the designs line by line, we see the same backgrounds :

Row 1 : element Fire

1st row : signs related to the element Fire

Row 2 : element Earth

2nd row : signs related to the element Earth

Row 3 : element Air

3rd row : signs related to the element Air

Row 4 : element Water

4th row : signs related to the element Water

Let's pic out my sign to show in detail:

On the stamp we see a picture symbolizing the zodiac sign and a picture of the star constellation.
The same picture of the star constellation is repeated in the border of the sheet.

Gemini constellation in the border of the sheet

Another 'must have' from Canada.

Odd Banknotes - 07 Thailand

Once more, for my collection of odd banknotes, I will take you to Thailand.

In 2004, Queen Sirikit celebrated her 72nd birthday.
Counting in 'cycles' of 12 years, this means the 6th Cycle Birthday Anniversary.

The banknote that was issued for that occasion, is in fact a banknote with 2 front sides.
At first, I even thought that 2 different banknotes were issued.

Side 1 shows the royal couple, King Rama IX is standing and his wife, Queen Sirikit is sitting next to the king.

Side 2 shows the queen alone, with scenes from her life.

side 1

side 2

Thai people honour the royal family very much.
Also the banknote design has been well overthought.
For example, the size of the note is 72 x 162 mm.
It's the queen's 72th anniversary and 1+6+2 = 9 fererring to King Rama IX.
The serial numbers on the banknote start at 0000001 and end in 7299999.
Again we see the 72 and the number 9.

Mark the serial number, it starts also with a '9' : typical for the commemorative notes issued under King Rama 9.

young Queen Sirikit of Thailand

Odd stamps : 01c Perfumed stamps

One of my first postings on odd stamps, was dedicated to perfumed stamps.

Not many countries issue this kinds of stamps, but luckily, Belgium continued this good tradition.
And what flavour is best to add to belgian stamps... of course chocolate!

The chocolate is almost dripping off of the sheet, and a strong chocolate perfume makes you almost bite into the sheet.

We see on the sheet different kinds of presentations of chocolate: sprinkles, solid blocs of chocolate, pralines, chocolate spread and a regular chocolate bar.

The small globe on the stamps shows that the stamp is not intended for use within Belgium or even within Europe.

The sheet contains 5 stamps for sending standard letters from Belgium to any country outside Europe.
Knowing that the rate (anno 2013) for one 'world' stamp is € 1,34. (€ 1,24 if bought per 5 minimum); the sheet itself costs € 6.20 each (+/- $ 8)

http://www.bpost.be/site/nl/residential/pricing/prices.html
http://www.bpost.be/site/fr/residential/pricing/prices.html#

As the sheet doesn't fit into an standard (small) sized envelope... It costs 3 of those stamps to send it abroad. (+ € 3.72 ($ 4.80))

Belgian chocolate is delicious, but at those rates, you have already half a kilo of real belgian pralines...

Banknotes : Security marks 3b

On the back side of the new 5 euro notes, we find some new items:

We see a new type of serial number with two letters and 10 numbers (in stead of 1 letter and 11 numbers).

old (top) and new (bottom) 5 euro note

Belgian serial numbers (check code 9) jump 9 numbers each time

For the first time, we see a part of the searial number is repeated on the note.
The last 6 digits of the serial number are reprinted vertically on the note.

part of the serial number is repeated on the note

Since the European Union is expanding, new countries and languages are introduced.
Bulgaria is using the cyrillic alphabet, and therefore, "EBPO" (the bulgarian way to say EURO) is added on the notes.

3 ways to write "Euro"

A security feature that was used in the first series, and that is repeated in this set, is a gold print on the back of the note.
The number 5 and the Euro symbol (€) is visible when you hold the note on it's side.

 5 € 5 € 5 €

The other banknotes will be renewed in the future too...

Banknotes : Security marks 3a

Le beaujolais nouveau est arrivé...
Wine lovers will know this expression, when the new beaujolais wine is introduced every year.

I'm not going to talk about wine however, but about the new '5 euro' banknote, and it's security features.

I had to take a picture from the internet, as it's impossible to scan the banknotes I have.
(Of course that's the purpose of the security features, that scanning becomes impossible).

the new 5 euro note

First thing we notice is the silvery stripe (1) on the right hand side of the note.

We see the head of the Greek godess Europa, and holding the banknote in the light, the same head apprears as watermark.

watermark (Europa) in detail

Secondly, the code that refers to the printing company (2), is now clearly visible next to the silvery stripe on the right hand side of the note

A third (3) new thing, is the colour shifting 5
Previously only € 50 notes and higher, got a colour shift ink. Now this feature is also used for the 5 euro note.

colour shift in the 5

The ink on both ends of the note's front side palpable and will help blind and impaired people to recognise the notes better (see 4). Also the large "5" on the front side of the note, is printed in the same way, and is palpable.

detail of the 5 euro note

For the first time, a year (2013) is printed on the notes (5).
We also notice more abbreviations then before on the note. Bulgarian and Czech is added. (6)

Finally, (7) the signature of M. Draghi, gouvernor of the European Central Bank has been put under the European flag.