Theme : Esperanto 11

It has been a while since I posted some Esperanto theme related things;
Going through my Israel collection, I remembered that this country issued a stamp in 2006 to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the language Esperanto (in 2007).
In 2007 it was also the 90th anniversary to the death of L.L. Zamenhof.

Stamp with tab - Israel 2006 / 2007

On the stamp, with the mandatory tab, the portrait of Zamenhof is made up of Esperanto text.

detail

“Zamenhof naskiĝis en la Ulica Zielona 6 en [Biali]stoko (tiam en la Rusa Imperio de la caroj, nun en Pollando). Lia naski tago estis la [3-a] de decembro la* la julia kalendaro, la 15-a de cecembro la gregoria kalendaro kaj la 19-a de kislew la* la juda….”
* The double 'la' should be 'de la' or 'en la', not 'la la' 
  
Translated it means : Zamenhof was born (naskiĝis = past tense of naskiĝi: to be born) in 'Zielona street nr 6' in Bialystok (at that time in the Russian Imperium of the tzars, now in Poland).
His birthday was the 3rd of December in the Julian calendar, the 15th of December in the Gregorian calendar and the 19th of kislew, in the Jewish (calendar).


In the mid 19th century, the Russian Empire still used the Julian calendar.
That's why the October Revolution was actually in November.
Since Zamenhof was Jewish - and this stamp is issued by Israel, also the Jewish calendar is mentionned.

All Israeli stamps are issued with a 'tab', often they contain extra information, a logo, or the image continues on the tab.
Not all stamps in a sheet have this tab, so there are less 'tabbed' stamps than stamps without tabs.
The catalogues mentionnes both stamps, but stamps with tab are more sought and more worth.

In this case, the tab does give some extras:
the image continues through tab and stamp and on the tab we also see the Esperanto flag, known as 'la verda stelo' (the green star). 

tab on Israeli Esperanto stamp (detail)

"Sur la tuta tero estis unu lingvo kaj unu parolmaniero... Genezo 11.1"
On the whole world, there was one language and one way of speaking .... Genesis 11.1

Green stands for hope, and 'Esperanto' means 'hoping', but I wonder if Zamenhof got this idea from the street where he was born, 'Ulica zielona' (Polish) = green street' ...  

Zamenhof, Esperanto flag and 'peace in the world'

 

Theme : Zodiac signs 02 b

It's been a long time since I posted something on Israeli stamps, regarding zodiac signs.

The set I posted earlier : http://rainbowstampsandcoins.blogspot.be/2011/05/theme-zodiac-signs-02.html

Now I proudly present two FDC's with the full set of stamps cancelled on Feb. 27, 1961.

Honestly, I'm not a big fan of FDC's, as they are all CTO cancels, but on the other hand, it's a good way to collect clear cancels on all stamps of a certain set.
An FDC (First Day Cover) also gives you some extra information.

As you might know, Hebrew's language is written from right to left.
Therefore, you can see that the set starts in the right hand corner and values add up gowing to the left.

All stamps have their TAB. This is very typical for Israeli stamps.
On each tab you can see the latin name of the zodiac sign, as well as the circle with all 12 signs.

Cancel both on stamp and on tab

I noticed it before, but also here you can see that the tab on 2 stamps (Virgo and Leo) is shorter then on the other 10 values of the set.

short and longer tabs

Collecting : my collection 03c

When you are an absolute beginner in stamp collecting, an absolute 'pro', or, as most of us somewhere between a small collector and a collecting lunatic, in all cases, a catalogue is mandatory.

But then ... which one to choose ?

A lot depends on what kind of collector you are...

Are you a collector of your own country alone ? Then better look for a catalogue of your own country.
The numbering system is unique for your country, and it will tell you lots of details about your stamps, variations, printing errors, plate numbers, ....
Some countries used to have colonies in the 18th till 20th century and they might be included in the catalogue.
I call them 'local' catalogues, and I will come to that later on.

Maybe you don't collect only your own country, but also the neighbouring countries. Or specific regions, like the Scandinavian countries, Balkan area, Benelux, South America, the Middle East...
Then you're better of with a world wide catalogue, and some are perfect for this type of collectors.
But 3 or 4 'local' catalogues could help you out as well.

Or you're a idealist and you collect everything that comes your way... then a world wide catalogue is mandatory, as not all countries have their own catalogues, and with over 200 countries and many dissapeared countries it's impossible to buy each individual catalogue, unless you're a trillionaire.

And maybe you're not bound to countrywise collecting, but you have a weakness for theme collections.
Then you have several items from several countries, but buying a world wide catalogue is too much information for what you really need.

So let's start with some 'local' catalogues.

Belgium

the Netherlands

Italy

Greece

Israel

Turkey

some latin american ones :

Argentina

Brazil

some asian ones :

P R Lao (1st ed.)

Japan

These are 'country' catalogues, I call them the 'local ones' ...

to be continued

Theme : Zodiac signs 05

In 1957, an international philatelic exposition was held in Israel.
For that occasion, a sheetlet was issued on the theme of zodiac signs.

1957 Israel sheet with tabs

On the side of the sheet, there are 4 tabs, each belonging to one stamp.
A closer look to the centre of the sheet we'll see that the square in the middle is in fact a combination of 4 unperforated triangular stamps.
Unperforated isn't the right word, in fact the stamps are line pierced (percé en lines) which makes it easy to remove them out of the sheetlet.

percé en lignes - line pierced

1957 Israel sheet (detail without tabs)

The four stamps denominated 100, 200, 300 and 400 are very nice designed triangular stamps (see older post).

Part of the sheetlet - cancelled

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 02 c

After previous topics on triangular stamps of South and Latin America, I take you to the African continent.
Triangular stamps are as popular there as in the rest of the world.

As it's impossible to show all triangular stamps of all african countries, I'll just give you a peek preview of what is out there.

And there are plenty more ....

Finally, some triangular stamps from Northern Africa, including the Middle-East

Theme : Zodiac signs 02 a

For my second post on zodiac signs, I go back in time.
Israel issued a set of 13 stamps in 1961.
12 stamps show the 12 zodiac signs, a 13th stamp is dedicated to all signs together.

The set was extended in 1962 with 3 overprints on stamps of the first set. The colour of the original stamps had changed too:

Anyone who's familiar with Israeli stamps, will know that most of the stamps are issued with a TAB.
Tabs that are on the bottom, top or sides of the sheets, are often decorated or the design of the stamps goes over in the tab. Stamps with those tabs are normally more wanted and therefore more expensive.
Some examples for this series:

On the last picture you can see that the tab on the 'cancer' stamp is slightly shorter then the one next to it.
I noticed that this not only due to the fact that the two stamps are different (from another sheet).
Also on similar stamps, I found two different kinds of tabs.

Mark the short and the longer tab on two stamps with overprint.