Call me by your number - 01c Black, red and blue pennies

From 1858 on, till 1869, new plates were issued, with red pennies, and blue 2 pence stamps.

Now the four corners have letters BA-AB for row A, column B.
There are 240 stamps in each plate, going from AA to TL.

For the 1 penny red:

Row R (18), stamp B (2)

Plate numbers are now mentioned in the left and right border decoration of the stamp.

The 1 penny red and perforated with 4 letters (one in each corner), had an extended life span.
They were printed from 1858 till 1879. Therefore, many plates were used, re-used, and retouched during those many years.

They started with plates 69 and 70, but due to many defects on the plate, those stamps were never printed. Same goes for plates 75, 126 and 128 - plate 77 was also rejected, but very few of the printed stamps did get into ciruclation and are therefore extremely rare.
A "77" is most likely a "117" or a "177",  or a completely forged stamp.

A much more challanging collection, is the compilation of a red penny (perforated) of each plate.
The total amount of issued, perforated red pennies, is 13,434,000,000 (55,975,000 sheets). 
So the amount of stamps is not the main problem.

But, first of all, plate numbers are not always very clearly printed, and greasy cancels will not make your search easier either. Plate numbers exist from plate 71 till plate 225.

Plate 225

With some help from the computer, the colours of the image can be altered, so that the contrast becomes more useful to determinate the plate number.
The stamp above leads me to plate 225 (or the last issued plate).

Two albums for possible collections :

plate numbers 1p

plate reconstruction 1p

For the 2 pence blue:

Row H (8), stamp F (6)

Plate numbers are now again in the left and right border decoration of the stamp.

Plate 8

The stamp above is from plate 8, the second plate used to print the 2 penny of this new series.
Plates 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 and 15 can be found.

These blue pence stamps are still affordable, and although 'old', they were emitted in such high quantities, about 196,824,000 (820,100 sheets), that they still can be found in (older) albums.

A full collection (240 of each plate), requires 1680 stamps.
More common is to compile a mixed sheet, with all plate positions.

However, feel free to collect them both : a reconstructed plate with all letter variations, and / or even more specific with stamps  .

Two albums for possible collections :

plate numbers 2p

plate reconstruction 2p

to be continued...

Call me by your number - 01b Black, red and blue pennies

A third variation of the Victorian pennies: are the perforated red penny and blue 2 pence.
They come in two variations, watermark small crown and watermark large crown, and perforation 14 or perforation 16.

As for now, all stamps mentioned here and in my previous post, have only two letters in the bottom of the stamp, and no plate number in the left and right margin.

These stamps are also called the red and blue 'star' penny.
The upper corners of the stamps don't have letters yet, but a decoration in a 'star' shape.
Again here, the specificy font of the alphabet, gives you an indication of the plate the were on, but plate numbers are not written on the stamps.

Also here, a sheet reconstruction is possible, compiling all 240 stamps from AA to TL.
It is also possible, to start two plate reconstructions for stamps with a large or a small crown watermark, as well as two plate reconstructions for stamps perforated 14 or perforated 16...

Red star penny plate reconstruction 

Blue star 2 pence plate reconstruction 

to be continued...

Call me by your number - 01a Black, red and blue pennies

A penny for your thoughts, but which one...
The 'first' (black) penny is unperforated, and has letters in the bottom corners only.

There were 11 plates, and plate I was divided into plate IA and IB.
It takes a whole study on its own, as the differences are found in the use of different fonts of the alphabet.

1 penny black

The total number of 1p blacks distributed in 1840 is recorded as 63,561,840... this isn't a low number, but in 1840 there were hardly people collecting stamps, and lots of stamps were lost.

2 pence blue

A 2 pence stamp was also issued in 1840.

It has the same features as the 1p, unperforated, letters in the lower corners only -> AA to TL

The total number of 2d Blues recorded as sold in 1840 is 5,382,240. (plates 1 and 2)

This 2p was issued again in 1841, now about 87,960,000 stamps (plates 3 and 4)

1 penny red

Second in line, are the inperforated 1p red pennies.

Total number issued over 2,588,000,000 of which it is estimated 120,000,000 were later perforated, leaving an approximate total of imperforate stamps of 2,468,000,000...

They were printed on plates 1 to 131, but the plate numbers do NOT appear on the stamps.

see link above for the album.

Therefore, I have made a 'basic' album for those who want to collect all letter combinations AA to TL, and another 'basic' album, for those who want to collect all plate number, regardless the corner letters.

full reconstruction of a sheet
source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penny_Black_printing_plates

I once had the opportunity to see a full reconstruction of a red penny plate. This was collected throughout many years, by one senior member of our stamp club, Peter.

First downloadable documents, are blank album, for all 240 pennies, with letters in 2 lower corners (imperforated).
The reason for this 'odd' number of 240, lies in the fact that till 1971, the imperial system was used.
1 British pound (£),  was worth 20 shillings, and one shilling was 12 pence.
Hence, each row of 12 black/red pennies, was worth one shilling, and all 20 rows together made the cost of one full sheet 1£.

Plate reconstruction 1 penny black

Plate reconstruction 2 pence blue

Plate reconstruction 1 penny red

It can be used for black and or red pennies, and also for the blue 2 pence stamps.
As the first stamps had no plate numbers printed on the stamps, it's very hard to compile a full sheet from the same plate.

to be continued....

Thai banknotes and their signatures 01

When it comes to different signatures on banknotes, there are few countries who have more variations, than the Thai banknotes. Often, signatures are hardly readable, but for non-Thai speakers (readers) the various signatures really are hard to distinguish.

The first real Thai banknotes appeared in 1892. Until 1928, there are 2 signatures on the notes.
Between 1928 and 1945 (with one exeption) there is only one signature on the notes. After WWII, again 2 signatures appear on the notes.

Most of the time, one signature is from someone of the Bank of Thailand, while the second signature comes from the Ministry of Finance.

The first period is under the rule of King Rama V (King Chulalongkorn) 1868-1910.

King Rama V (1868-1910)

4 combinations of signatures appear on the banknotes, until 1910.

In the first column, we find signatures of authorized members of the Bank of Thailand (BoT),
in the second column, the signatures of members of the Royal Tresury (MRT)

Combination 1 :  BoT :  B1 Prince Rajchanee Jamjarad
                            MRT : T1 Prince Mahisorn Rajharutai

Combination 2 :  BoT :  B2 Pra Suwanpakdee
                            MRT : T1 Prince Mahisorn Rajharutai

Combination 3 :  BoT :  B2 Pra Suwanpakdee
                            MRT : T2 Praya Suriyanuwat

Combination 4 :  BoT :  B2 Pra Suwanpakdee
                            MRT : T3 Prince Chantaburinarunat 

BoT: 

Both Prince Jamjarad as Pra Suwanpakdee, were head of the 'banknote department'

B1 Prince Rajchanee Jamjarad (great-grandson of Rama II) [7 Sep 1902 - 5 Mar 1903]

Prince Rajchanee Jamjarad

B2 Pra Suwanpakdee [5 Mar 1903 - 21 Aug 1909]

Pra Suwanpakdee

MRT:

Under the rule of Rama V, 3 different Ministers of Tresury signed the notes:

T1 Prince Mahisorn Rajharutai (son of Rama IV) - founder of the first commercial bank of Thailand. [26 Aug 1896 - 1 June 1906]

Prince Mahisorn Rajharutai

T2 Praya Suriyanuwat [1 June 1906 - 17 Feb 1907]

Praya Suriyanuwat

T3 Prince Kitiyakara Voralaksana, Prince of Chandaburi (12th child of Rama V) [17 Feb 1907 - 31 Mar 1907 and 1 Apr 1908 - 17 Jan 1922]

Prince Chantaburinarunat

to be continued...

Egypt classic cancels 02 - General cancels T6 - T12

In this second part of eary Egypt cancels, I continue in the year 1877.
Egypt's chief postmaster, and founder of the Egypt postal system, Giacomo Muzzi, resigned in 1876.

He was succeeded by Alfred Caillard - of French origine - in 1877, and under his supervison, Egypt's handstamps changed from Italian to French.

Type VI

Type VI

Type VII

In 1878, a duplex cancel was introduced, similar to cancels used in the British Empire.
These duplex cancels had a regular cancel in French and Arabic, and next to it, a mute cancel with the letter A. This cancel type was only used in Alexandria.

Type VII - duplex cancel Alexandria

Type VIII

In 1880, Caillard was succeeded by Walter Halton Pasha, who introduced next to French, also the English names on the cancels.
This type, has the English or French name on top of the cancel, and the Arabic name at the bottom.
see also Type XII, where the two languages changed place, giving preference to the Arabic name.

Type VIII

Type VIII pair

Type IX

Also in 1880, a hand cancel with bars was introduced.
For this type, there are several subtypes. The inner ring has bars on both sides, both up and down. There are variations with only bars in the top part, or only on the bottom part.

The number of bars vary as well. Going from 3 bars, up to 11.
Furthermore, some bars  are attached to the inner circle, other cancels have bars that are not attached.

Type IX.1

Type IX.6

Because of the similar design with swiss cancels that were in use at the same time, this type is also called the 'Swiss type'.

Type IX 5 bars and 6 bars

Type IX 7 bars and 8 bars

Type X

The 10th type came out in 1882, and is sought because of its limited use (less then 40 known locations), mainly in the north of Egypt, and some of them in Sudan.
Specific for this type of hand cancel, is the star and crescent under the city name.

Type X - star and crescent

The last known use of this cancel type is 1919.

Type XI

Similar to type X, but now with only a star, is this type XI.

This cancel type was in use between 1907 and 1923.

Type XII

The last type, type XII, is similar to type VIII.
Where in type VIII, the French or English name is on top of the cancel, and the Arabic name on the lower part, the Type XII stamps have the Arabic on top, and the 'foreign' language at the bottom of the cancel.

Type XII - Arabic name on top

to be continued...

Egypt classic cancels 01 - General cancels T1 - T5

When it comes to cancels on stamps of Egypt, the work of R. Seymour Blomfield is the basic catalog for all collectors.

For all cancels in the 'classic era', roughly from 1860 - till the first World War, an extended description is given for regular (postal use) cancels and special cancels.
In this first post, I will start with some of the 12 basic types - regular cancels.

Types I to V have one thing in common, they all have the Italian name of Egypt (Egiziane) on the cancel.
Often however, the key text on the upper part of the cancel, is incomplete or missing.

In this case, the name of the month - also in Italian - can help determinate wheter the cancel is one of the first 5 types or not.

gennaio	January	luglio	July
febbraio	February	agosto	August
marzo	March	settembre	September
aprile	April	ottobre	October
maggio	May	novembre	November
giugno	June	dicembre	December

Type I and II

In 1865 Type I was introduced. All cancels have "Poste Vice-Reali Egiziane"

Type I

From 1867, Type II was also used, here we find : "Regi Poste Egiziane" - Regi means 'Royal'

Type II

Type III

With the introduction of the 3rd type, both Type I and II were used no longer.
Type III has the text : "V.R. Poste Egiziane" - V.R. stands for Vice Reali (Vice-Regal)

Type III

Type III cancel on 1 Piastre - 28 Jan 1875

Type IV

In 1873, a 4th cancel type was introduced, along the remaining Type III.
This time, the text is "Poste Khedeuie Egiziane" - Khedivial Post.
This type comes with a single or a double outter ring.

Type IV - single ring

Type V

The last type with Italian writings, is type V.
The main text here is (only) "Poste Egiziane". It was issued in around March 1873, till June 1880 - next to types III and IV.

Type V

Type V on 5 paras - 21 Feb 1877

Important for this type, is that one of the subtypes (Type V.4) has Arabic text in the middle of the cancel.
The date therefore is in Arabic and not in Latin script.
Those cancels were only used in upper Egypt and the Sudan area. All of those cancels have identical sizes (no matter the amount of text that needed to fit in).

to be continued...

French cancels - 01 n Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées)

see also: https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/02/french-cancels-01-c-paris-numbered.html

Variations on the star itself:

mute star (no number)

mute star

mute star cropped

cropped mute star

mute start blank center 

blank center

If you like to collect the numbered stars, there are various ways to do so.
You can search for all numbers, regardless on which stamp they occur, or you can look for each stamp (between nr. 1 to 60) to find 40 different cancels each time.
I'm sure, the last option will get you a lifetime achievement award, as you'll be looking for 2400 stamps.

The page I made (see link) has 6 pages:

page 1 is a list of each of the 40 offices
page 2 is an album page that can be used for each of the 40 star cancels
(this page can be copied many times, if you like to collect the cancels on different stamps)
page 3/4/5/6 are pages where you can put all variations of the star cancels.

I also added a mute start cancel, a cropped mute cancel, and an empty center star cancel.

link to the pdf-file

French cancels - 01 m Paris numbered stars (étoiles chiffrées)

Some variations on the étoile 3:

see also https://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.com/2023/02/french-cancels-01-c-paris-numbered.html

For the star nr. 3, there are also few variations.

étoile 3 - normal version

In the first variation, the dot on top of the 3 is missing.

étoile 3 - plein

The second variation is similar to the first one, but the horizontal line in the middle of the 3 is extended and connected with the dot in front of it. As if an extra dot is placed in front of the 3.
This variation is called the 'parasite 3'.

étoile 3 'parasite'

Two more variations on the 3-star exist.
For those 2, an improvised 3 cancel was used. The font is different than the one used before.
The handstamp was however not very strong made, or used the wrong way, as not only this improvised cancel, but also a worn out - version of this cancel can be found.

étoile 3 - improvisé (1st state)

étoile 3 - improvisé (2nd state)

Below, the 'original' étoile 3 cancel.

to be continued...