Odd stamps : 06 l Stamps on cotton / silk

Is it innovation, creativity or just another way to make collectors pay a lot for stamps that are not really stamps, or at least not meant to be used as postal stamps...
Some countries tend to be specialised in one or more 'special' stamps each year.

Two stamps made out of woven tissue, were issued by the Austrian postal services to honour the tradional clothing of Styria (Steiermark).

Coat of arms of Styria (Steiermark)

Steiermark is a region that is mainly in Austria, but also partly in Slovenia.
Historically seen, the Dutchy of Styria, was part of the Holy Roman Empire. In 1806 it became part of the Austrian-Hungarian empire, till the end of world war I.
The treaty of Saint Germain, named after a village near Paris, where this treaty was signed in 1919, devided Styria in an Austrian part and a Yougoslavian part.
Since the split up of Yougoslavia, and Slovenia's independence in 1991, the southern part of Styria is now in Slovenia.

A typical, tradional hat in Styria, is the Styrian hat.
The colour also refers to the colours in the coat of arms.

woven stamp 'Styrian hat'

This Austrian stamp is made out of woven cloth, at the back it was made self adhesive, so it can be used as a postal stamp. The perforation is also created by the structure of the weaving.

A second 'stamp' emitted by Austria, also shows a piece of tradional clothing, although this is not exclusively an Austrian piece of clothing.
It is called - as in German - a lederhosen.
This specific type of pants is still used, especially for folkloric use. Besides in Austria, it's is also well know in Southern Germany, like Bavaria for example.

stamp made out of suede

Lederhosen were worn for hard physical work, they were more durable then a fabric garment. Traditional lederhosen are hand made of tanned deer leather, which makes the pants soft and light. The hat stamp mentionnes the country name in English, and the lederhosen-stamp does it in German.

There's only a very small chance you will find these stamps postally used. and if so, don't expect to see a nice cancel on the 'stamp'.

Lederhosen boys with (Styrian) hat

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 01 h

Ever played Lotto?
I didn't start my article asking if you ever WON Lotto, as the change on a positive reply might be more limited.  And chances, that is all about the lottery game.

People have played lottery games for ages.
And we can rufly identify three types of lottery games:

First type is a ticket with a unique number, your ticket has one number, that no one else has.
The winning number can be drawn in advance (your ticket number has to be scratched for example);
or the winning number is drawn after all, or most tickets are sold.
The odds depends on the numbers in play, and the numbers drawn.
If only one number is drawn and there are 1,000,000 tickets, your chance will be one in a million.

Such a type of lottery was already known in the 16th century !
A famous example of this lottery was introduced by Queen Elisabeth I, in 1566.
The tickets were sold over a period of 3 years and on the lottery tickets, the prizes were depicted.
Each participant won a prize, and among the prizes were silver plates, and other valuable commodities. The total amount raized was returned to the winners.
In fact, it was a type of loan the gouvernment needed to raize money for social works.
Rare, because in that era, most 'lotteries' were to raize funds for wars, or other personal interests of the rulers.

Queen Elisabeth I lottery ticket (16th century

Lottery ticket with a fixed number (19th century)

A second type of lottery is with multiple numbers.
Some with numbers that are drawn in advance, or with fixed numbers on your ticket.
Compare to the old Bingo game, where you play with fixed cards with several numbers.
Similar is the Keno game, that was known in ancient China.
It is said that the construction of the Great Wall was partly financed with money raized by Keno players.
In Keno, 20 numbers are drawn out of 80. The chance of winning the Jackpot (all 20 numbers) is aproximatly 1 in 3,535,316,142,212,173,800.000 !

Online (gamble) version of Keno

Finally, the last type, is where you choose your a set of numbers out of a total of possible numbers, hoping those numbers will be drawn at the end of the week.

I can write a lot about the odds, about the types of games, but as i'm not a "lotologist", you'd better find out those things is specialised websites.
Still I want to come to the reason I wrote this article : a special stamp edition of the Austrian post, displaying a lottery ball, on a round stamp! (how original)

25 years of Austrian Lotto (2011)

Attached to the sheet with the stamp, a voucher to get a free lottery chance.

Currency Today : Euro Common Design 01 d

The last set of TOR - coins only have few interesting marks, or even none at all.

Portugal and Spain

TOR Portugal 2007

Both countries have the logo of their national mint mark on the coin.
For Portugal it's :  INCM  "Imprensa Nacional – Casa de Moeda" (National Currency – Mint House) abbrev.

For Spain it's : "Fábrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre (National Factory of Currency and Stamps)" logo
 

TOR Spain 2007

The last 3 coins don't have any mint mark at all


Austria, Ireland and Slovenia

TOR Austria 2007

TOR Ireland 2007

TOR Slovenia 2007

Odd stamps : 06 c Stamps on cotton / silk

Austria is the leading country in Europe when it comes to 'odd' stamps.

Another example is the following 'stamp'.
This sheetlet isn't really a sheetlet either.

It's a rectangled gummed sheet, but the oval stamp in the middle isn't really a separate stamp, since the perforation is printed and not real.
The design is embroidery and is at least one mm thick.

This embroided texture was glued to the sheet.
Face value of the sheet / stamp is € 2,65.
So far, I haven't seen any postally used versions.

It's not easy to find those odd stamps, as they are quite expensive, and wanted.
This item was made in 2010.

Austria embroided sheetlet

To be or not to be : CTO - The difficult ones 04 d

Like all good 'never-ending' stories, this one continues.

Some time ago I received a very nice letter from someone in Slovenia.
Seeing the envelop with very nice odd shaped stamps made my heart jump.
Unfortunatly when I opened the letter, i only found CTO cancelled stamps.

They are all very nice, good quality stamps.
But the fact that they were just cancelled for philatelistic purpose only, and never had been used for sending letters, made me sad.
All stamps and sheets are still where they were when I received them... In the envelop.
Despite the effort this person did to send me a nice collection of stamps, it was not at all what I m collecting.

This often leads to discussions in swapping.
One presumes (s)he sends a nice collection of cancelled stamps, the other person can 't use any of the items in the collection. Then the first person gets angry because the sending was 'valuable' and swapping stops.

Slovenia CTO stamps and souvenir sheets

Another European country, known for high quality engraved stamps.... Austria.
You wouldn't expect it, but they have CTO as well.
Some examples who didn't make it to my collection, although clearly, nearly perfect cancelled.
Sorry... for me, return to sender ...

.... maybe it's me...
maybe I'm to difficult...
or not ?

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 02 f

Before leaving the triangular stamps for what they are, I can't skipp the european issues.

Small countries as Monaco, Liechtenstein, San Marino and the Vatican City, are known to issue lots of stamps for commercial reasons. However, the quality is outstanding.
As it comes to triangular stamps, I have chosen one issue of Monaco, and two of San Marino

Other countries with triangular stamps :
The Netherlands with an issue of 1936 (mind the cancellation : ADRESSEER VOLLEDIG : meaning: write down the complete address)

The Hungarian contribution to triangular stamps :

 And finally a stamp issued by the Royal and Emperial Austrian Post ...

 ... and a more recent version of Austria

And yes, there are many many more triangular stamps, but it's time now for a new page in the world of 'odd stamps' ....

Odd stamps : 03a 3D stamps (moving)

My thrird post on odd stamps, is really 'odd'.
There are some stamps made in 3D, where a small movie is shown.
One of them, a Ddutch stamp of 2011, is recognised as the 'shortest' movie in history.
It's a 3D stamp, showing a lady that puts her finger in her mouth. Not really an education story however.
The actress (Carice van Houten) puts her middlefinger in her mouth. The movie last about 1 second.
For those who like odd stamps, or odd movies, it's a thing to have. For the rest... i've seen better.

Another, better example, is an Swiss stamp, showing a group of people sitting in the park.
The story starts when the first person whispers something in the ear of the person next to him. Then the whispered  message goes further on, until the last person in the row. Very nice stamp and a lovely presentation of 'communication'. It last a bit longer then a second, to see the whole 'movie' but, i choose this story above the previous one.

Another good version is an Austrian stamp. A footballplayer (Andy Herzog) is depicted, scoring a decicive goal for Austria. the stamp is devided into 2 parts. One for the footballplayer whilst scoring, the other side of the stamps shows the goalkeeper, missing the ball. One fine example of an odd, but still tasteful stamp.

Finally another sport-stamp. The French postal services emitted a rugby player on a 3D stamp.
Here you see the ball leaving the foot of the player, until he kind of get kicked out of the stamp.
Amazing what  is possible on a stamp. And a very nice tribute to the world rugby games in 2007.

All stamps are printed on cardboard paper and are quite tick. Because of their rather unusual character and facevalue, they are of course selden seen in used condition. They are also made out of some kind of plastic, which means that cancellations have to be done with firm ink, or else the cancellation might be dissapearing after a while.

For those who love it, a must, for those who don't love it, rather a gimmic, but fun for sure.