Theme : Alphabets - 02b Thai alphabet - part 2

Next to the stamps in the middle of the sheet, some other signs can be found on the border of the frame.
Here we find the 'vowel' marks or other diacritics (tone marks)
In the chart below, we see some of the vowel(combinations) which are for untrained ears, sometimes hard to distinguish from each other.

The tone marks, indicate if it's a high, mid or low tone; a rising or a falling tone ...
Five examples of 'KA', each with their own meaning and pronouciation.

ka ka ka ka ka ...

Same with 'MA' in a different transcript

ma ma ma ma ...

Try saying 'nah-nana-naa-na' and you'll notice that we also pronounce words in different tones.
The meaning of the word however, stays the same most of the time, where in tonal languages the meaning changes.
Or say 'yeah' when you're excited, when in doubt, when replying recultantly... I'm sure you'll notice diffent tones too.

Burmese has 2 tones,
Mandarin has 4 tones,
Thai has 5 tones,
Laotian has 5 or 6 (depends on the dialect/region)
Vietnamese has 6 tones,
Taiwanese has 7 tones,
and Cantonese (Hong Kong for example) has 9 tones ...

what a ca-ca-ca-ca-caphony...

to be continued....

Theme : Alphabets - 02a Thai alphabet - part 1

One of my favourite modern stamps is a set of 44 alphabet stamps, issued by Thailand.
They were all depicted in two sheets, one of 24 and one of 20 stamps, in 2011.

The Thai alphabet has more letters then the latin (western) alphabet, 44 consontants and 15 vowel symbols that can be combined into 28 vowel forms in total.
In addition to this, Thai is a tonal languages, the tone in which a word is pronounced, changes the meaning of the word.

All consonant signs are being displayed in the central stamps.
In the border of the first sheet, we see 24 stamps of 1 baht.
The alphabet starts with Ko/Kai (of Go/Gai) - like the G in the french Garçon.

Sheet 1 : K/G ko/kai to th/thong

Each letter refers to a word, this makes it easier to remember Kai/Gai means 'chicken'

Ko/Kai - Go/Gai  - ก ไก่ (chicken)

Cho/Chang -ช ช้าง (elephant) 

The second sheet continues with N to H

Sheet 2 : N no/nu to H ho/hu

Po/Pla - ป ปลา (fish)

Lo/Ling - ล ลิง (monkey)

The vowels are partly included in the consonant sound - ba/da/fa/ga/ha/ja/ ....
The vowel signs or combinations, alter the original vowel - bo/do/fo/go/ho/jo/ ... and are less important than in western alphabets.
Therefore, this system is called an abugida, in which vowels have a lower status than consonants and its notation is secondary.
Unless a specific vowel is written or diacritics are added, all consonants have their own specific vowel sounds included. MBK* will be read as MoBoKo, unless mentioned otherwise.
*MBK is a shopping mall in Bangkok.

ล - L(o)
◌ิ - i
ง - ng
The ล which is normally 'lo' becomse 'li' because of the ◌ิ which is placed on the proceeding consonant. That's why it should be pronounced as : 'ling' (monkey): ลิง
Each stamp is issued as a 1 baht stamp.
Sending a postcard within Thailand used to be at the rate of 3 baht.
Sending a letter to Europe, you'll need 15 baht, which results in very colourful covers.

to be continued...

Don't cry for Argentina 2b - General José de San Martín

After discussing the stamps of Gereral José de San Martín with open background, a second (smaller) group, is the one with plain background.

At first we split up the values by checking if there is a 'dot' next to the face value, or not.

'dotted'

no 'dot'

remark : the peso-values don't have a dot !

For the 'dotted' version, we have to check the watermark. First we check whether it is a sun If so, we have group 10 (N°s 385-396).
If not, the watermark shoud be a horizontal hexagon, which means it's group 11 (N°s 397-400)

The undotted values, should have a 'sun' as watermark, there are many different subtypes.
All have n°s 405-417 (with A, B, C, D, E, ...... subtypes) - group 12.
When there is no 'sun' as watermark, the last option is group 13, with watermark AP (Ahorro Postal).

WM 'Ahorro Postal'

As explained in my previous post, I refer to Argentinian catalogue numbering.
Other catalogues have way less different types. To each catalogue their own system of course.

In most cases the watermark will appear clearly, but don't be surprised if many of your General José de San Martín stamps only show parts of watermarks, unclear watermarks or "something that looks like a watermark".

to be continued...

Don't cry for Argentina 2a - General José de San Martín

Similar to the 'labrador' issue, the second large series of Argentina is the one depicting General José de San Martín.
They were roughly issued between 1917 and 1927.
Most catalogues only mention the main types, and the Argentina catalogue mentions zillions of subtypes, paper varieties, ...
Therefore I made a determination table to distinguish the most common variations.

The idea is simple, start at the top, if the answer is YES, follow the green line, if the answer is NO, follow the red line, until you reach the according (sub)type. I used the Argentinian numbering, as they mention most types.
The table can be useful for other catalogues too, if you alter the catalogue numbers of course.

Determination table 'José de San Martín

So, let's start at the top:
The stamps to determinate are of course the ones depicting General José de San Martin (in a rectangled frame - not in an oval frame).
First image is an open background, second image is a full colour background.

We follow first the 'green line' and come to the second question... does the stamp mentions '1816-1916' or not?
If 'yes', we arrive at the first type of stamps, if 'no' we continue to the next question.

Left we see '1816-1916' at below the image, right we see 'CENTAVOS' (or PESO).
The 1816-1916 stamps got catalogue numbers 282-290.
For the second type (more common), we go to the next question.
Is the watermark a vertical hexagon (honey comb)?

vertical hexagon

If 'yes' we found the second group (N°s 291-298), if 'not' we contintue again.
Is the watermark a horizontal hexagon?

horizontal hexagon

If yes, there we have the third group (N°s 299-312), if 'not' we keep on searching...

4th question now is, if there is no watermark at all...

no watermark

for 'yes' (there is NO watermark), we end up in group 4a : N°s 314-320 or 4b : N°s 383/84.

If there is a watermark, but not the hexagons we discussed before, the watermark is some kind of 'sun' or it is a text.

First we answer the question, is it a 'sun'?

multiple sun

RA sun

All 'suns' lead to the 'yes' side, all others (texts or partial texts) leads to the 'no' side.
New question : do we see a 'multiple sun', like the 1st picture above (sun with a face)?
If 'yes' we are in the 5th group of stamps N°s 339-345.
If no, check if the sun has RA in stead of a face (see 2nd picture above).
Do we hear a 'yes' , then it is group 6 (N°s 373-378).
If there is no RA but a different type of sun, we have a 'fiscal sun' and group 7 (N°s 350-354)

fiscal sun

If the watermark is no sun at all, but something that looks like text, we have two more possibilities:
If the text looks like SERRA BOND it is type 8 (N°s 326-328), if the text looks like Wheatley Bond, it's the last, 9th group (N°s 329-337)

SERRA BOND watermark

Wheathley Bond watermark

Without any doubt, these watermarks can be difficult to distinguish.
In my next post, I'll explain more about the 'General José de San Martín' with plain background.
Stamps that were not discussed in this article.

to be continued...

Don't cry for Argentina - 01 c

A second group of Argentina 'labrador' stamps, are  those with the honeycomb watermark.

There are two version, each with two sub versions.
The main difference between those stamps, is whether the honeycomb is placed vertically, or horizontally.

vertically placed honeycombs or horizontally placed honeycombs

Type 3 or 5

When we see the honeycomb (or hexagonal) placed vertically, we need to check if it's type 3 or 5.
Type 3 (and later also type 4) are German printings, type 5 (and later also type 6) are Italian printings.

1st bold hexagonals - 2nd fine hexagonals

The difference between type 3 (or 4) and 5 (or 6) lays in the thickness of the hexagonals.
In most cases the German types are easily to recognise, as the watermark is clearly visible.
The hexagonals appear as broad, fat, rounded, where the Italian hexagonals (type 4 and 6) are more refinded, thin, angular.

If the watermark isn't clearly 'narrow and fine' we're dealing with a German printing (type 3 or 4)
If the watermark is more difficult to see without a watermark detector, clearly angular and fine, it's the Italian printing (type 5 or 6)

Type 3 (vertical - broad)

 

Type 5 (vertical - small)

Type 4 or 6

Same remarks as above, but now the hexagonals are placed horizontally.
The Italian printings are more fine as can be seen in the picture.

1st bold hexagonals - 2nd fine hexagonals

Type 4 (horizontal - broad)

Type 6 (horizontal - small)

to be continued ...

Don't cry for Argentina - 01 b

In my previous post, I have started to explain the main types of the Argentina 'labrador' (plower).
There is a large version (5c and 12c) - as a separate type (Type 0),  and a smaller version (in all denominations) known as Type 1 to 7.

Type 7 is unwatermarked (but hard to distinguish from the accidentaly unwatermarked versions of the Type 1 - 6 stamps.

Types 1 and 2 are the ones with a 'sun' or 'sunbeams' as watermark.

type 1 and 2 'sun watermark'

The French catalogue 'Yvert et Tellier 'only mentions 'sun watermark'.
Luckily most other catalogues are a bit more accurate.

Using dry-cleaning naphta, the watermark reveils easily.
In the picture we see a sun with straight beams and one with undulated beams.

Type 1 : straight beams

Even with only a partly visible watermark, it is not too hard to see whether the beams are straight or undulated.
When the watermark is nicely placed as in the picture above, we can proceed our hunt.

The watermark can be found standing or inverted, in relation to the front image of the stamp.
(this also goes for the Type 2 : undulated sun)
In the image above, both stamps show a standing watermark - to be recognised by the 'nose' of the sun which appears as a -u- in the upright position and as an -ñ- in the inverted position.

Subtypes of the Type 1

sun with straight beams (16)

With a fully visible watermark, it becomes easier to see the face of the sun (here upright) and 16 straight beams. This is the regular version of the stamp.
Also with a partly visible watermark half or even a quarter, you can figure out if the vertical line (beam 1 to 9) is identical to this stamp.
With a quarter visible, you can check the quadrant from beam 1 to 5.

In the event of less beams, you have found  a variation.
Possible are : 14 or 15 beams (Variation1) or 12 or 13 beams (Variation 2) - these are more rare.
A sun with less beams than the normal 16, will show a more ovally shaped face, and not a round one, like in the example above.
The less beams, the more beans, as they are more valuable then the regular ones.

All types (1, 1 v1 and 1 v2) can be found with inverted watermark too - same value.

There are 9 stamps from Type 1 (5c red and 12c blue - were here issued as type 0 (larger version)).
The Argentina catalogue, has way more stamps (i.e. subtypes) than any other catalogue, therefore, the numbering (picture above) is way beyond the common numbering in other catalogues.

Type 2 : undulated beams

From this type, regular and inverted watermarks can be found.

sun with undulated beams (partially covered)

The Argentina catalogue puts the type 2 'labrador' before the type 1, and therefore, the catalogue numbers are before the previous ones.

All stamps are perforated 13 1/4 * 12 1/2 - watch out for the 209 B, perforated 13 1/4

Type 1 and type 2 are German printings.
From type 2, unwatermarked stamps exist too, but here a specialists eye is needed.
Stamps of other issues, on the border of a sheet, can be unwatermarked too.

in my next post, i'll deal with the honey comb watermarks...

Don't cry for Argentina - 01 a

I recently got focussed on my Argentina collection of stamps.
There is a lot of good and illustrated information online on classic Argentinian stamps.

In my first set of posts about Argentina, I will try to help you through a very common stamp, known as 'el labrador' 'the plower' - not the dog.
The stamp is similar to the french 'la semeuse', 'the sower'

La semeuse - France 1903

The plower is part of a rather limited number of stamps, issued in a limited time frame.

Unlike the French 'semeuse' which was repeated over and over again.

el Labrador - the plower - Argentina 1911-1912

Yet there are many interesting variations to be discovered in this inexpensive set.

So grab that box of Argenina items, and hunt for the 'labrador' stamps.
To make it easy, check the front side of the stamp.

It is always easier to compare multiple stamsp, then to examinate one single item.

The first selection can be made on the size of the stamp.
Is it a large stamp or a smaller one? 

If you only have one item, check if there is a signature at the bottom of the stamp or not. If so, you have the first issue (Type 0) - which only came as a 5c (red) and a 12c (blue).

Easy peasy so far.

All other values (but also the 5c red and the 12c blue) come in the smaller stamp.

For further investigation, we'll have to see for the watermark on the stamps.

Although most stamps have a clearly visible watermark, I use dry-cleaning naphta to help me out.

dry-cleaning naphta

If you are not familiar with the product (harmless for stamps - even mint stamps - but to be used with caution, in a ventilated area, as it evaporates at room temperature - and don't use open fire or smoke nearby the product !)

Use the product in a dark dish or lid - not too wide, as the larger the surface is, the faster it will evaporate.

Instantly the watermark will reveil and few seconds later the stamp will be dry again, without any damage to stamp or gum.

Now there are 3 possible watermarks to be discovered :

• a sun / sunbeams 
• honeycomb stucture
• noting at all

The watermarked stamps are easy to disover, the ones without watermark are the tricky ones, as theoretically they can be a type on their own, or be a subtype of the watermarked versions.

sun watermark or honeycomb structure

stamp without watermark

The first two types (sun and honeycomb) will be discussed in my next post.
The 'unwatermarked' stamp is subject to specialist.

Ther is a number of stamps that were issued withouth watermark (called Type 7).
But all watermarked stamp sheets, have also unwatermarked stamps. Those stamps occur on the border of each sheet, and miss the watermark 'by accident'.

In the event you find a pair of stamps from a watermarked type, there is a small chance you have pair, with one with watermark,  and one without watermark.

Pairs or multiples without watermark have a bigger chance to be of the 'Type 7'- group.

Types 1 - 6 will be explained in my next post...