To be or not to be : CTO - The very obvious ones 01 b

As said in the previous article, most countries under communist influence, have loads of CTO stamps.
Sometimes the cancel is printed together with the printing of the stamp. Where the ink of the stamp stops, the cancel stops as well.

Most Eastern European stamps of the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's suffer from the same disease.
Sometimes it needs several copies of the same stamp to see the cancel was put on purpose.
Most of the stamps are still gummed, and they are 'cancelled' in the capital city in most of the cases.
All cancels are on the same date and often on the same corner of the stamp (you need 4 stamps to read the whole cancellation).
Or did you really think a very dedicated postman was cancelling all stamps at the same date, on the same way...

Especially with the stamps of the former Czechoslovakia, the gum is really nasty and can damage your albums permanently. Don't put them together in a box either, when the gum loosens, all stamps stick together.

How many reasons more to remove CTO's out of your collection!

Theme : Esperanto 06

I reported earlier about old Sovjet stamps on this theme.
But in this post, I'd like to go deeper into a special issue of 1926.

From the 6th till the 9th of August 1926, the 6th international congress of Esperanto-Proletarians was held in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg).

Except for the russian words "posta and CCCP", all other texts are in Esperanto.

6th international proletarians (6th)  Esperanto - Congress

On top of the stamp, you will see the green star (verda stelo), symbol of Esperanto, and "SAT"
Again, SAT is an esperanto abbreviation which stands for : "Sennacieca Asocio Tutmonda"
(world wide association of (the) nationless).

And there is even more to say about this stamp...
If you take a closer look to the oval, in which the monument of the Constitution is depicted, you will see something strange :

A lots of dots and dashes, ... in Morse-code :
telling us : "Proletaroj cxiulandaj unuigxu!" ... Proletarians of all countries (world wide) unite!
"cx = ĉ; gx = ĝ"

Truly, a stamp that has more to tell us then there is to see at first glance.

Theme : Esperanto 01

Esperanto was 'invented' by the Polish doctor Ludwig Zamenhof.
"Invented" however, is not the right word to use. Better is the 'author' or 'creator'.
Zamenhof didn't really 'invent' the language. After numerous attempts to 'invent' a language, he finally came to the conclusion that there are similarities in so many languages.
As he was born in Europe, he studied mainly european languages.
Esperanto might not be so universal for african or asian native languages.
However, Chinese and Japanese language is in another way connected, as the graphic symbols are put together to make new words.

The basic idea of Esperanto is the same. One starts with a basic (radix) word, and prefixes, suffixes are added.
The basic word can still be recognised, so there's always a connection with the basic word.
All used pre- and suffixes are combinable. No exception in the language at all.
A great idea, and if not usefull in daily use (since English is widly spread), it certainly helps to learn other languages, for the propadeutic value is undeniable.

For those who aren't convinced about the benefits of the language, at least an interesting topic for theme collectors:
 

I found a catalogue in Esperanto, about Esperanto.
In the catalogue there's a list of stamps in or related to the language.

Some the first Esperanto stamps were issued by the former Union of Soviet Republics.
A tribute to Dr. Zamenhof and his idea for worldpeace.