Here is an obliteration of HOLY ISLAND, near Berwick-on-Tweed in Northumberland. The population is only 180. This is a tidal island, as there are also Mont-St.-Michel in France and St.-Michael's Mount also in England.
There are lots of small islands around the coast of the UK and some of these have their own stamps. Most of them are cinderella's (unofficial stamps without postal value). As far as I know there is only one island that uses official stamps for postage to the mainland only, and that is the island of Lundy. More on Lundy later.
Here I am again, with another chapter of my collection. One of my favourites : the British postmarks. I will start with some pictures, because you can write more than one book on this topic.
I have several albums with "location"-obliterations. One could sort them on date, but I have sorted them on county, and then on location. Other albums contain "slogans", wartime and military obliterations, first day obliterations (most of them FDC's, but also stamps used on the first day) and some miscellaneous. This one is from Beccles, Suffolk, EastEngland.
It is always fun when you have pictures (hence I love postcards) from the place your stamp is used. Locating it on the map is even more fun. And then we have the final question : when is it used ? This is a numeral obliteration. Sometimes you have a duplex, a numeral with on the left side a round stamp with placename, date and time. But on the postal stamp, you can not have both (sometimes partial).
First investigation is to know in what period the postal stamp was valid. Second is to research during what period the obliteration was used. Combinig both you have a window between two dates.
The post offices, in the past, had stampbooks. A stampbook is a register that contains a mark of each handstamp with the date of the first use and the date when it was put out of use. It happens that digitalised copies of these books are online, but that is very rare.
May 5th : I was noticed today that the cancellation is NOT Beccles, Suffolk. It is a 159 from Glasgow, Scotland. (Thanks Ian !!! )
The Downey Head is the George V stamp from Great Britain that is first seen in 1911. It is very interesting to study because it has been re-engraved and has had different printings with different watermarks. And as always with the old stamps, the search for flaws and printing errors is very tense. So far I have only studied the 1p (there is also a 1/2p), but one of this weeks I will also look at the 1/2p and then mount them in one of my ordners.
As the British were not very satisfied with the first printing, the author made a re-engraving of the plate. There also exist different types of the two dies. More : different printings were made on paper with different watermarks.
You will also find upside-down and sideaways watermarks. Unlike sometimes pretended on e-bay etc. ,these are not errors. Stamps for booklet-panes were printed on paper with upside-down watermark and stamps for coils on paper with sideaways watermark.
A detail picture : of a flaw. You can clearly see the red dot at ths side of the king's head.
Another topic in my collection are the MACHIN stamps. You have Machins from England, Wales, Scotland, Northern-Ireland and even from Hong-Kong.
This is the 1976 6,50p.
I suppose that no-one really knows how many stamps of this type exists, if you count the different prints, color-shades, plate- and printing errors, etc. And that is why I like them so much as it is a never ending job to completion.
Also it does not take a lot of money to build a comprehensive collection. I have bought mine online for about 1,5 /kilogram (on paper). So now I have about 10 kilograms. My beloved and much respected wife has soaked them, dried them an sorted them by face value and color (indeed: you have lots with the same face-value but different color). All the enveloppes are in plastic boxes and fill a small wall.
And now, when I am in the mood, I investigate and compare them one by one. I do not collect them in stockbooks, neither do I print album pages. I mount them with hinges in cheap ordners, on paper. Hence I can add text and pictures, sometimes stamps on complete enveloppes, cards, FDC's, stationnary, etc.
I wish I was cat, I'm afraid it will take me another eight lives to complete my search.
An example of what I am looking for is in the difference of the pictures above. These are details (of course) of different printings of the same stamp. Now on the search for the printing date and the printer.
Most of the sources are on the web. I give you one link to start with, a very good site. There are also FB-groups and blogs on Machins. Also you have Stanley Gibbons specialised catalog and the masterpiece is the DEEGAM catalog.
There must have been ten boys and twenty girls. The number of bows girl to girl was therefore 380, of boy to boy 90, of girl with boy 400, and of boys and girls to teacher 30, making together 900, as stated. It will be remembered that it was not said that the teacher himself returned the bows of any child.
Dear visitor, above is the solution of a puzzle I have published on my facebook-page, only to make people visit my blog. If you want the puzzle, then visit my FB-page.
I have lots and lots of stamps for exchange. Over 200 different countries, lots of thematic stamps. Given the fact that I started collecting at the age of 9 or 10, and that I have become an elderly person these days, you can conclude that I collect for (over) 50 years now. Imagening that my collection does not fit in an album - nor in a bookcase - any more you understand that I decided to get rid of my doubles and of all the material that does not fit in what I call my "new collection".
Hence I put some stamps for exchange here. But when I looked at my boxes, albums and enveloppes I realised I was trying to move a mountain. So I deleted the posts. They are still on my facebook-page where you can consult them.
If there are stamps you need then please contact me. Send me an e-mail (see right-side) or contact me on facebook.
Another decision that I have made is not to sell stamps. So : exchange only. When you have stuff that interests me the better, if not then send me what you can send me keeping an eye on the quality and quantity. Catalog value is not important for me, exept for the very rare items.
Here is an obliteration of HOLY ISLAND, near Berwick-on-Tweed in Northumberland. The population is only 180. This is a tidal island, as there are also Mont-St.-Michel in France and St.-Michael's Mount also in England.
Here I am again, with another chapter of my collection. One of my favourites : the British postmarks. I will start with some pictures, because you can write more than one book on this topic.
And as always with the old stamps, the search for flaws and printing errors is very tense. So far I have only studied the 1p (there is also a 1/2p), but one of this weeks I will also look at the 1/2p and then mount them in one of my ordners.
of a flaw. You can clearly see the red dot at ths side of the king's head.
