Collecting : my collection 03f

Yvert & Tellier is a catalogue that is used in France, Belgium.

The logo of the company is quite interesting too:

We see a snowflake on the left, and a sun on the right.
It's like winter and summer combined.
In French that becomes : "hiver, été liés" (winter, summer combined)
Phonetically pronouced as [yvert é télié] or Yvert & Tellier.


Now back to the catalogues ...
If you're a collector of all stamps, (or a theme collector with stamps from various counties in your collection), then you better have a well paid job.
The complete set of catalogues is not less then 20 (!) volumes!
Yvert isn't updating all catalogues very year (luckily I would dare to say), so some volumes might be a bit out of date, but they will be renewed in the near future.
An overview :

Catalogue of France by Yvert & Tellier

Part 1 : France (updated yearly)
Part 1bis : Monaco, Andorra, UN, french overseas territories (updated yearly)

Part 2.1 : French (former) colonies (2011)
Part 2.2 : Formerly french colonies in Africa : A - H (+ Laos and Cambodia) (2006)
Part 2.3 : Formerly french colonies in Africa : M -T (+ Vanuatu and Vietnam) (2008)

Part 3.1 : Western Europe : A - E (2006)*/**
Part 3.2 : Western Europe : E - L (2008)*/**
Part 3.3 : Western Europe : M - Y (2009)**

Part 4.1 : Eastern Europe : A - P (2010)**
Part 4.2 : Eastern Europe : R - U (2011)**

     * as it is a french catalogue : Germany is listed under A of Allemagne
        and Spain under E of Espagne.
     ** at the moment replaced by
          Part 3.1 (new) : Europe 1 : A - B (2011)
          Part 3.2 (new) : Europe 2 : C - H (2012)

Part 5.1 : Oversea : A - B (2011)
Part 5.2 : Oversea : C - D (2006)
Part 5.3 : Oversea : D - G (2006)
Part 5.4 : Oversea : G - L (2008)
Part 5.5 : Oversea : L - N (2008)
Part 5.6 : Oversea : O - S (2009)
Part 5.7 : Oversea : S - Z (2010)

There's an index catalogue (Tome de référence) (2007)

Example of Part 5.5 (Overseas)

And a very interesting catalogue "Classiques du monde 1840 - 1940" - with all stamps from the 'classic era' until 1940

Yvert : 'Classiques du Monde' 1840 - 1940

As you can see, some countries are updated till 2006.
Bad luck if you started to collect "Canada" from 2007 on ... as there's no catalogue for it.
Well, for those who are in need, Yvert & Tellier found a very good solution.

Each year, a small catalogue is issued, with all newly emitted stamps of that year.
Perfect to be used while waiting for a new complete catalogue.

Nevertheless, this 'small catalogue' has 690 pages ! (only for the year 2011)

Yvert : all new stamps of 2011

General impression :

+++ Nicely designed catalogue, especially usefull for France and colonies.
        Annual edition is a very good idea, especially for new collectors (young collectors)
        as the price for this catalogue is afordable, after several years the prices are a bit out of date,
        but by that time, you can buy a complete catalogue.
---    A bookshelf alone won't be sufficient to hold all catalogues.
        For collectors of a certain area (Scandinavia for example), you need to buy all european
        catalogues, as Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway, are in 3 different volumes.
        Information in the catalogues (except France / Monaco) is rather limited.

Please note, this information is 'as known' on May 2012.

to be continued ...

Collecting : my collection 03e

World catalogues, a blessing and a curse.
There are several 'world wide catalogues' and the most know are : Yvert & Tellier (FR); Michel (DE); Stanley Gibbons (UK) and Scott (US).
To have a paper version of those catalogues, you need a 'stamp catalogue' - catalogue!

Let's start with a catalogue that is mainly used in France.

the catalogue set

Yvert started a philatelistic magazine as early as 1887 already.
"L'Écho de la timbrologie" (The echo of stamp knowledge) still exists.
Nowadays it's issued by a private company, but it's still printed at the Yvert & Tellier press.

In 1896 the company emitted the first 'Catalogue prix-courant de timbres-poste par Yvert et Tellier' (first stamp quotation by Yvert and Tellier).

internet picture - not in my collection (1897)

At the same time, an album was issued with preprinted pages to insert the emitted stamps so far.
This idea is also used by other companies, and until today, it's an popular (but maybe conservative) way to organise stamps countrywise.

preprinted album

At that time, mint and used stamps were put together in those albums. One of the reasons why unused stamps are mainly hinged. In best cases, sometimes unused stamps were just attached with the gum to the albums.

hinged stamp

In Yvert & Tellier started to cooperate with the Parisian stampdealer Théodor Champion, 
Until his death in 1955 he made price listings for all stamps. Nowadays, a complete team of experts is doing this job.
Tellier left the company in 1913 and sold his shares to Louis Yvert. In remembrance of Théodule Tellier, both names are still used for the catalogues.
The family Yvert is still running the business, and two great-grandsons of Louis Yvert are managing the company : Christophe Yvert en Benoît Gervais.

Louis Yvert

Théodule Tellier

to be continued ...

Odd stamps : 08 Stamps with special cuts - 06 a

Although it was not mentionned to become a blog on 'odd stamps' alone, and I'm doing my best to post as many other subject as possible, but 'odd stamps' are very frequently googled and still very popular.

I wrote in previous articles about round, triangular, square and pentagonal stamps.

Another (new) shape is the hexagonal stamp (hexa = Greek for 6).

Hexagonal stamps have, as the name say, six sides.

A very easy shape, as hexagonal stamps fit together in a sheet perfectly, withou loss of space.

The bees knew that already long time ago.
If you ever visited a beekeeper, or enjoyed the tast of honey, you will have seen the honeycomb structure that can be found in a beehive and that is often depicted on the packing of honey.

Nature is smart and taught us how to use small spaces in the most economical way.
The special cuts at the 6 corners of the stamp, gives a special effect that can only bee seen when more stamps remain together.

Swiss honeybee stamp in sheet

A full sheet with 19 stamps was issued in 2011 by the Swiss Post.

Swiss honeybee full sheet (2011)

Because of this useful shape, many countries issued hexagonal stamps.
So...  to be continued ...

Collecting : my collection 03d

In my previous post, you will not have seen a German or a French catalogue.
Also not a Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish ... catalogue.
This has a reason.
For those catalogues can't be seen as 'local' catalogues alone.

Remember I talked about 4 types of collectors:

1. countrywise
2. regionwise
3. worldwide
4. theme collection

In the previous post, I showed some individual, local, country catalogues.
Now I put some 'region' catalogues under your attention.

Regions can be of various types:
- the scandinavian countries - very popular amongst European collectors - (Denmark, Norway, Sweden)
     (extended with Iceland, Finland and even Greenland, Faroer Islands, Åland, ...)
- Balcan area (Albania, Bosnia i Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro)
     (extended if wanted with Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, and even Romania and Turkey)
- Islands of the Caribean
- The Middle East
- ...

For those collectors there isn't much choice.
As there is no catalogue that only deals with a certain region.
Except the FACIT catalogue, that combines all scandinavian countries.

Facit 1998-99

This splendit catalogue is an amazing treasure for collectors of this part of Europe.
Not easy to find second hand, but this copy is.

Besides a regional catalogue, it can also (of course) be used as a local catalogue for each individual country.

Some worldwide catalogues, have the same benefits as this Facit-catalogue,
but I will explain that in my next post(s).

to be continued...

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

Odd stamps : 07 c Stamps (sheets) with special cuts

There is so much to post about 'odd' stamps...
And in one of the previous articles I wrote something about 'odd shaped sheets'.
The stamps on those sheets are regular, square or rectangle stamps, but the sheets have odd shapes.

Nowadays a stamp is more then before an item to impress collectors, or even to impress foreighn postal administrations.
Having an odd shaped stamp in your emission, is surely a guarantee to sell more, and to attract new collectors.
And I of course, see it as my duty to get those stamps and sheets for you, my dear followers.

I'm presenting 2 unique sheetlets with a special cuts, from Bosnia Herzegovina.
Both were emitted in 2011.

The first one doesn't look that special at first sight.
It looks rather 'spacial', well because it depicts Yuri Gagarin and we see the Vostok 1 who brought him in space on April 12, 1961.
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of this remarkable event, Bosnia i Herzegovina (the former Yugoslavian Republic) published this sheetlet.

Bosnia i Herzegovina (2011) - 1st man in space

We see a round shape in the left corner, that follows the shape of the earth, but when looking at the rocket, we see that the special cut is very nice.

detail of the rocket - special cut

Very impressive and beautiful.

But in the same year (2011), Bosnia i Herzegovina emitted another, even more impressive sheetlet.
This time on domestic birds.

The idea is similar to the previous sheet, at first you see a normal sheet, but at the left corner, there's a special cut. But this time, the cut follows the shape of the leafs and the bird.

Bosnia i Herzegovina (2011) - domestic birds

The choice of the colours of the sheet could have been better, as the main bird nearly dissapears between all the green-grey-brown shades, but the sheetlet itself is a collectors' item!

detail of the branch and bird - special cut

Impressive, stamp collecting is fun again.

to be continued...

Collecting : my collection 03b

In France, a similar project started.

In 1861 the first 'real' stamp catalogue appeared, as the "Catalogue des timbre-postes crées dans les divers états du monde".
It contained 1080 ! stamps and and 132 postal stationeries.
Alfred Potiquet, the author, had access to the stamp registration by Oscar Berger-Levrault, a bookshop owner in Strasbourg (France) who made the first stampcatalogue in the world. This book was not intended for public and Poitiquet added illustrations, and published the book.
However the book was far from complete.  Some stamps weren't know yet in 1861.
Among those 'missing' stamps, the blue and red Mauritius for example.

From then on, more countries started to publish their own 'world catalogues'.
As I can't mention them all, I want to add one special one, that appeared in 1862.
It was issued in Belgium by Jean-Baptiste Moes. Member of the city board of the city Elsene (near Brussels). As a 15 year old boy, he organised the first stamp sale.
As he was working as a dealer, he's known as the first stamp dealer in the world.
He published several manuscripts on stamp collecing and one of the first world catalogues :  "Manuel du Timbromane".
Among his customers, was Philippe de Ferrary, one of the world greatest collectors. He was impulsive in his buying and seemed to be indifferent to price, so dealers and counterfeiters took advantage of him. Exceptionally dangerous forgeries gained the nickname, "Ferrarities".

J-B Moens was also the first publisher of a book on forgeries. This book, "Manuel du Collectionneur de Timbres-Poste" was translated the same year into English by E. Doble.

Jean-Baptiste Moens

JB Moens on a Belgian stamp + label (1973)

Collecting : my collection 03a

Collecting should be fun, and the financial part should always come on the last place.
First you should enjoy obtaining your stamps/coins/notes/... without wondering if a set is complete or not. Quality of an item doen't matter at first, and damaged items can be replaced by better ones later on.

That's how collections start, that's how collectors start.

In fact if there weren't catalogues, people would be happier, as they would not know what they DONT HAVE and only what they HAVE.
But of course the purpose of a catalogue is not only to know how small your collection is, or how worthless the stamps you have in that collection.
No, a catalogue is a treasure, a 'Fundgrübe', a history book, a cook book, a manco list provider, ...
a holy book,... !

Having such a 'holy book' depends mainly on the place you were born.
And for most people it' s often the only 'holy book' they read.
Sad, because every catalogue has its own value, it's own truth and it's on (dis)advantages.
Those who have read all those books can decide what book is best according their needs.

So...
in this third part of 'my collection' I will try to tell you more about catalogues, their (dis)advantages, their use ...

But first things first ...
who started the fire ?

As we all should know, the first stamp was emitted in the United Kingdom, in 1840.
The 'black penny' was the first stamp that was put on a letter, to pay and prove it was paid, for sending letters.

And this is the country where I like to start.

John Gray was the first 'philatelist'. When the black penny was sold on May 6, 1840, he bought a couple of stamps to keep them. He collected stamps from all over the world and in 1861 he was the first to emit a kind of catalogue, named the Hand Catalogue of Postage Stamps.

John Edward Gray

In this first work, there were no pictures and the 'catalogue' wasn't ment to be used as a reference for individuals either.

first 'catalogue 1961'

There were 5 editions of this catalogue (second edition in the picture).
On auctions, a copy like this one for 1,000 USD is a bargain :-)

Odd Banknotes - 03 Philippines (supplement)

To complete the article on the 2000 peso banknote (see previous posts).
I want to show the special box that was made to hold the large note and the certificate.

cover of the box : Central bank of the Philippines

inside the cover : place for the certificate

inside the box : place for the banknote

Again a warm thank you to my pinoy friend Alex, who managed to send me the box without any damage.
Maraming salamat, po.

Odd stamps : 04d 3D stamps (static)

I wasn't sure if should post this article under 'static 3D' stamps, or make a complete new category.
In fact the stamp I'm prensenting you today, is not really 3D itself, it's a stereoscopic stamp that needs special tools, (glasses, container) to create the 3D effect.

Maybe some of us played as a kid with a 3D toy called a 'view master'.
It's a kind of binocular where a paper disc can be inserted.
Each image on the card, is printed twice and are shown simultanously when you see through the binocular.
Both images have small differences and as you 'see' only one image, the differences between both pictures create a 3D effect.

viewmaster with discs

viewmaster disc

same images

 This technique was used to create a 3D image of the Titanic stamp on a belgian sheet, issued in 2012.
At the 100th anniversary of the trip of the RMS Titanic.

The sheet can be bought separatly (2 stamps for non-standard mail to the world) @ 7,74 € face value! (prices 2012)
The stamps are 'forever' and facevalue will go up in the coming years.
The additional 3D glasses need to be bought separatly!

Full Titanic sheet

folder with glasses, stamps inside

To see the 3D effect, the stamps have to be taken out of the sheetlet and inserted to the holder.

This effect is created because the 2 stamps are slightly different from eachother...

In blue, the border of the ship is nearer to the the border of te stamp in the first stamp.
In red, the iceberg is smaler on the first stamp
In yellow, the mast goes between the I and E of "België" ; in the second stamp only behind the E
In purple, the smoke runs through the I and Q of "Belgique" ; in the second stamp, only through the Q
In green the last iceberg is smaller in the second stamp.

If you wish to see the 3D effect AND keep an intact sheet, you need to buy 2 sheets already.
And not to mention the 2 slightly different stamps on the sheet that are needed individually in preprinted stamp albums.

Total package : around 25 €

Expensive, yes, but yet, for those kinds of stamps, ... my heart will go on and on ...