Theme : Esperanto 12

In april 1945, while Europe was still under the destructive influence of the second world war, a peace loving, universal congress took place at the other side of the world, in Brazil.

Rio de Janeiro, hosted the 10th Brazilian Esperanto congress, from April 14 till April 22.
On the occasion of this event, two stamps were issued, a 40 cent green stamp and a brown 1.20 cruzeiros stamp for airmail.

Brazil 1945 - 1.20  Cr. and 40 cent

This letter sent to an address in Brazil, didn't need the extra rate for air mail, but the value was good to send the letter by express service.

Express sending cancel

Letters sent by esperantists often show some extra labels, stickers, or even drawings of topic-related items.
For this 10th Brazilian congress, a rubber stamp printing was used, depicting L.L. Zamenhof 

rubber stamp cancel 'Zamenhof'

Often are those extra decorations in green, as shown above. The cover in my collection has the same decoration twice, once in green, once in the uncommon colour red.

The text, surrounding the image of L.L. Zamenhof says : "Rio de Janeiro - Brazil - 10th Brazilian Congress of esperantists - April 1945"

The back of the cover shows another cancel, from the day of arrival, April 17, 1945.
The cover was sent on the 1st day of issue of the two stamps. Most likely, a special post office was in office during the Esperanto congress.

1st day cover 16 april 1945 Brazil

to be continued ...

Odd stamps : 01d Perfumed stamps

I have posted previously some perfumed stamps.
Perfume smells good (or at least so it was ment to be), but there is more into a nose then picking up good odors.
No, I'm not talking about sticking your nose into someone else's business, actually the stamps I'm presenting today ARE everyone's business...

preserve nature - Brazil 1999

This set of stamps is special in 2 ways.
First of all it is printed on recycled paper, and that is of course a blessing for the already threatened forests, especially in Brazil.

Second special fact, is the centre of the 4 stamps.
Each of the 4 auto adhesive stamps shows a nature related image:
we see an ant eater, a flower, a leaf and the bark of a three.
One corner of each stamp is 'burning' and the four stamps together gives the impression that the middle part of the block is burned away.
The stamps warn us to prevent wildfires.

'smelly' centre of the 4 stamps

60 % of the Amazon rainforest are located in Brazil.
Wildfires (whether or not intentionally caused) are a threat to the deforestation of the largest green lung of the world, and in the end also the entire humanity.

The stamps do not only show 'fire', they also smell like burned items.

protect nature - detail

Stamps are printed as one big image spread of the 4 stamps.
The perforation is uncommon and absent towards the corners of the stamps.
The set was issued in 1999 by Brazilian postal services.

Theme : 1st issues : 04 Brazil

I have left you all waiting for a long time, but here it is, the 1st post of 2013.
No better way to celebrate a 1st post then with a 1st issue.

3 years after the first stamp ever was issued, Brazil was the second country to emit stamps.
In 1843, the first Brazilian stamp set (30, 60 and 90 réis) was issued.
Because of the shape of the design, it didn't take long before people started to call the set : the bull's eyes.
And that's the name the first stamp(s) of Brazil still bare.

Brazil N° 1 -  bull's eye

Similar to the first stamp in Great Brittain, this stamp does not bare the name of the country.
As there were only 2 countries at that time that issued stamps, it wasn't very hard to know whether the stamp was from Brazil or Great Brittain.
Besides, there wasn't many postal traffic either.
It lasted till 1866, then Brazil (and all other countries, except Great Brittain) put the name of the country on its stamps.

The name 'bull's eye' refers to the big oval shaped design, that looks like a bull's eye.
In Portuguese, the language of Brazil, they are called olho(s)-de-boi.
In German (also often spoken in South America) they are 'Ochsenauge(n)'.

This first issue of Brazil was printed on 1,148,994 copies.

more under 'Brazil'

Odd stamps : 05 c Stamps in braille

In 1974, Brazil already issued a sheet with Braille inscription.
The sheet isn't very colourful, and maybe not the highlight of my collection, but the fact that this is one of the first sheets printed with braille on, it's surely is an interesting sheet.

detail of the sheet, stamp of Brazil with braille

The sheet was issued for the fifth general assembly for the blind's welfare
On the sheet, under the stamp, an additional text is aded:
freely translated it means: "a blind man becomes a participating citizen"

full sheet - Brazil 1974

on the way to more ...

Odd stamps : 05 b Stamps in braille

In 1979, Brazil emitted a souvenir sheet dedicated to the blind.

The sheet is very colourful and there's embossed printing.
Reason for this sheet is the 150th anniversary of the first braille printing.
Thanks to the braille writing, blind people can participate in the world's evolution.

Full sheet in braille

detail - stamp out of the sheet

This was not the first braille sheet that was issued in Brazil..
more in my next post...

Brazil : 03c Early issues - Republic issues

After the Crux-stamps, a new stamp was issued in 1891.

This new stamp symbolises 'liberty' after the era with the Emperor.
The image of 'Liberty' is very similar to the French "Marianne" stamps, and other liberty-images.

First the stamp(s) :

The stamp was issued in 2 colour variations and can be determinated quite easily.
Both variations have the same value in most catalogues.
Perforation vary from 12.5 to 14.

Liberty issue 1

Liberty issue 2

When we look at the bonnet of the Libery woman, we see similarities with the French Marianne :

French "Marianne" on a 1992 coin

Liberty (Marianne) - painted by E. Delacroix

Thistory of the red bonnet, and the special shape of the bonnet, is older then the Brazilian stamp (1891) or even the French Revolution (1789).

The story goes that the mythical King Midas was the first who wore the cap.
King Midas - the king in Greek mythology who turned everything he touched into gold - was one of the last kings in the dynasty of Phrygia (now Western Anatolia, in Turkey).
One day, the Greek mountain god Tmolos organised a competition between Apollon and Pan, to decide who was the best panflute player. Apollon - god of music - was given the victory, but King Midas disagreed and claimed that Pan was a better player.
As usual in Greek mythology, it's never smart to insult the gods, so Tmolos condamned Midas. As Midas was not worth having human ears, he was given donkey ears.
To hide his ears, he wore a so called Phrygian cap.

Phrygian cap, as worn by King Midas

We can encounter this Phrygian cap also in the national symbol of Argentina:

coat of arms of Argentina

But even in Brazil self, the cap is not unknown. However in another background.
In Brazilian folklore, the "Saci" is known, as a little gnome.
He has only one leg, smokes a pipe, and ... wears a similar cap.

Brazilian "Saci" with phrygian cap
a naughty one legged gnome

He's responsible for small incidents and accidents in and around the house.
Taking his cap, is also taking his power.

Finally, and maybe I'm too far away from the original idea, but as we are talking about gnomes...
The Belgian Smurfs might be related to them too... at least Papa Smurf has a red cap and is a kind of gnome (but a good one).
And isn't Papa Smurf fighting for liberty for his little smurfs ...

Papa Smurf - with red phrygian cap...

Brazil : 03b Early issues - Republic issues

After my introduction to the 'Southern Cross' in my previous article, now to the real reason why I posted it.

The southern cross is not only present on the flag of Brazil, it was a topic of the first stamps that were issued after the republic was declared in Brazil.

There are 8 stamps with the 'Crux' issued in 1890.

1890 issue

One stamp, emitted in 1887 has this cross too, but the stars are way bigger.

1887 issue with big stars

A stamp similar to the set of 8 bares the name 'Brazil' in stead of 'E.U. do Brazil' - emitted in 1889.

This 100 réis stamp with "Brazil" in stead of "E.U. do Brazil", is rare. (not in my collection)

"Brazil" in stead of "E.U. do Brazil"

So roughly said, there are 10 different 'Cruzeiros'.

The 8 stamps of the 1890 set, consist of the following values :
20, 50, 100, 200, 300, 500, 700 and 1000 réis.

The highest values are also the most valuable stamps.
However, these stamps were issued in various perforations:

Most common is perf 13-14

A second type is perforated 11-11.5 (here the 1000 réis is inexpensive)
The 100 réis in this type will be in my next post, as it’s has many plate errors.

The third set of perforations is mixed : 11-11.5 x 13-14 (500 réis as most expensive).

Type 1 : perf 13 - 14

T1 - 50 réis

T1 - 100 réis

T1 - 200 réis

T1 - 300 réis

T1 - 500 réis

T1 - 1000 réis

Type 2 : perf 11-11.5

T2 - 20 réis

T2 - 50 réis

T2 - 200 réis

Type 3 : mixed perforations 11-11.5 x 13-14
rare and more expensive

to be continued...

Brazil : 03a Early issues - Republic issues

When you put your collection aside for a while, and go outside at night, you should have a look on the stars.
Depending on where you are on earth you will see the northern or the southern hemisphere.

This southern hemisphere was described in 1500 by physician-astronomer Mestre João Faras in his letter of May 1, 1500, to King Manuel I of Portugal from the newly discovered land of Brazil.
The smallest of all constellations (Crux); was than described as "Las Guardias" (the Guardians).

'las guardias' (now Southern Cross)

The constellation might be the smallest, it's one of the most important on the southern hemisphere, as it helps us to find the South.

southern hemisphere  - determinating the South

northern hemisphere - determinating the North

The Crux (Southern Cross) is the most important constellation.
If you continue the virtual line between the α-star and the γ-star, and you take the bisector between the α-star and the β-star of the Centauri constellation, the crossing of those 2 lines will indicate more or less the south. α-centauri is the nearest start to Earth, after the Sun.


For the north, you have to prolonge the last part of the 'Urs Major' (Big Dipper / Great Bear) 4 and a half times, you can find the north.

The 'southern cross' can be found in many flags of countries of the southern hemisphere:

southern cross on flags

And of course, for the purpose of this topic; also on the flag of Brazil...

can you find the southern cross on the Brazilian flag?

The reason for this article will be clear in my next post...