Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
"If you are able to find one, Terra del Fuego could be considered the easiest area to collect. Only one stamp was issued and an interesting history to go with it. "
Got me thinking. What are the other really SMALL collections one can complete in say under 25 stamps?
Here is my contribution:
Ile Rouad. 16 stamps ( a few varieties). Complete! (but unfortunately could have a few counterfiet stamps, among #1 to #3)
Early in 1916 a civilian post office opened in Rouad (Arwad) with stamps of French offices in Levant overprinted Île Rouad. The first overprint (5 April) was locally hand-stamped and a speculation of the stamp dealer Félix Cohen. The definitive overprints arrived around Nov. 1916.
These were replaced in 1919 by the general issues for French-occupied Syria (T.E.O.).
Here is a fascinating informational link on Ile Rouad:
http://www.dcstamps.com/?p=11
So what do you have that is complete, unusual, and quite small? Please share it with us, including some peripheral information, if you can.
rrr...
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rrr, Here are a couple of French colonies that are complete with low issuance.
Senegambia and Niger and Moheli. Neither are very expensive to complete but they are not all that easy to find.
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Graham Land 1944.
Part of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Eight stamps produced, but I only have five of them. But I'll get there...
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Here are a couple more that I think fit the bill. I used to have the story behind these but have mostly forgotten it. I'm not even sure what album I have them in or it might be noted there. Anyway I think the first one was an only issue for Karpatho Ukraine. I believe it shows the main post office and was issued and sold for only one day. As I recall the Nazis took control right afterwards. If anyone can read German they should be able to sort it out. The second page I believe is from the same area but issued after the war. From what I recall the first set is quite rare and is listed in Michel
Hopefully someone can fill in the blanks.
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This is a fascinating page of stamps. 
It's also my understanding that the first stamp is the only one issued by the Carpatho-Ukraine republic.
The German description of the stamp says "Ukrainian wooden church in Jasina".
It's listed by Stanley Gibbons under Czechoslovakia (even though it was only valid in Carpatho-Ukraine) as SG 393c.
It's listed by Michel (as are the other stamps on the page) under Carpatho-Ukraine. This stamp is Mi 1.
Hungarian forces invaded Carpatho-Ukraine on 15th March 1939 (the same day that independence was declared and the day this stamp was put on sale in Khust in Carpatho-Ukraine and in Prague).
I recently read the a popular history book that I can recommend, Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe by Norman Davies. This tells the stories of many former European countries and it includes a chapter on the Carpatho-Ukraine republic.
I've not seen the next three stamps before except in catalogues. These are Mi 78A-80A.
The final set shown with the Soviet star design is a combination of two similar sets.
The 10, 40, 60, 100 and 200 filler stamps were issued first in June 1945 (along with a 20 filler stamp in the same design). These are Mi 81 and Mi 83-86.
The 20 filler has a design change with the date "1945" added. This was issued in July 1945 as noted on the page along with a ten filler stamp in the same design.
I particularly like the double perforation on the 100 filler value.
The first stamp is the only one in in my collection so far!
Corrected date above from 1940 to 1939.
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Thanks much for the info. I was pretty sure it was a one-off for a very short lived country. Are the other three and the star set to be considered from the same country or issuing authority?
Are there any more besides the ones I've shown?
I looked for my Czechoslovakia Album earlier because I think it was in there but could not find the album. I'll have to start looking where it doesn't belong. I store all my country albums in three large fire file safes (and no after 25 years I've never had a problem with a stamp sticking to the page). There perfect except I can't see them all at once like on a bookcase. They are full up and can get mixed up when the drawers don't shut. One book out of place and it can gets all messed up trying to find the right space for an album. Hopefully it won't take to long as it often does.
Did you translate the German text?
Could you please give me the at values on all of these?
Seems, I'm one of the few people here that care about the values. When Passing the collection on, my family needs to be able to easily identify the better stamps. Otherwise one stamp will be as good as another to them. I catalog early pages and other better ones then note the page value in bottom margin. As well as noting high value stamps.
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Scott considers the stamp for Carpatho-Ukraine differently. It is listed in the regular Czechoslovakia listings as Scott #254B. Scott had listed the stamp separately for a long time. However, Scott moved it to the regular listings several years ago when Scott found that the stamp, while intended for use in Carpatho-Ukraine Province, was also issued on the same day in Prague and valid for postage in Czechoslovakia.
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Yes, I found my Czech album and another copy was there on it's own page in between Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia. Scott number 254B and it only catalogs for $11.00 in my Scott 2008 catalog. Like to have a newer price update on it. The pages shown in the previous post are from my handmade (by someone else)Russian collection in back Ukraine. I have never been able to find them anywhere in Scott. I have a noted value for them (probably Michel) at $410.00 from 1997. I like to have a new value on them as I would guess it has gone up quit a bit.
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Mitch, Carpatho-Ukraine is rather complex. Michel 2013 has listings as follows:
1. The 1939 issue as already discussed. Issued on March 15, 1939 after the declaration of independence. The next day Hungary invaded and annexed Carpatho-Ukraine.
2. Stamps issued in 1944 under the authority of the Czech government in exile in London, sold in a number of districts of the Carpatho-Ukraine. Hungarian stamps with an overprint reading 'CSP 1944'. Michel lists - including postage due stamps - 40 major numbers for this issue.
3. Stamps issued in 1945, when independence was again declared. These were issued under the authority of the Ukrainian National Council.
* The first set listed are overprints on Hungarian stamps. The overprint reads 'Carpatho Ukrainian Post' in Cyrillic. Michel lists 77 major numbers for this set.
* The second set are overprints - the same as the first set - on the 1944 issue, 12 major numbers.
* The third set is the set in your collection with the 'Broken Chains'. It is listed both perfed and imperf. Perfed the values are € 50, € 40 and € 50.
* The fourth set is the star set you have. The full set is six major numbers - you miss the 20 filler one. The full set is valued at € 120.
* The fifth issue is the star design with in addition 1945 inscribed. Two stamps of this type were issued. You have the 20 filler one, valued at € 40.
* Finally, there's a set of official stamps and a set of postage due stamps.
Aside from these issues Michel refers to local issues that are beyond the scope of Michel.
Hope this is of use.
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Great information, Gerben!
Scott #254B was valued (2015 catalog) at $25.00 unused / $90.00 used (note the italics).
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Gerban, Thanks much for all the great info and the email. I was not aware of the other stamps from the area, Guess I should have a look through all of the unknown imprinted Hungarian stamps I have to see if I have any of those. Looking at the values of those they must be quite scarce. Since they are not Scott listed, I'm not going to worry about collecting them but at least I'll know what they are if I run across any.
Michael, Thanks for the price update. That is the value I had in my head for that stamp making me think I must have seen a more current value before. I have a pretty good memory when it comes to numbers (catalog and Values) but it's a big world to keep track of.
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I recommend that anyone interested in seeing more Carpatho-Ukraine stamps should have a look at the lots on offer in Raritan Stamps's forthcoming auction sale.
This includes the specialised collection of Jay Carrigan who was the leading expert in this area. Sadly Jay is no longer with us but this gives some insight into the strength of both collection and his research:
http://www.raritanstamps.com/Cat/NewCatFrame.htm
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One complete country is the Portuguese enclave of Kionga. I luckily found it used complete years ago. As I recall I later came across a mint copy of the set which I traded. I collect used worldwide and colonial Africa.
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Nigel, It may well be that Jay was the first to provide me with info on these stamps.
I was not aware of his recent passing. He was a regular member of the late Ebay chat board.
When a few of us decided to start scanning our collections pages I used the format that Jay had come up with to build my website on. I really don't have much interest in thet area or any area that consists of mainly over printed stamps. They are simply to easy to forge and to hard to verify legitimacy.
Yesterday I won an auction lot with the 3 stamps that comprise the total number of stamps issued for the British protectorate of the Ionian Islands. I've been trying to get my hand on these for a long while. I think they are some of the more attractive Victoria heads ever issued and qualify as small and complete.
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This thread is absolutely fascinating.
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A-Ra very nice Ionian Is., especially since they are nearly impossible used.
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Here's my Ionian Islands
First is W/M 1 second is W/M 2 ,not sure about the other two I think the 3rd is a fake, number 4 not sure it has full gum but can't make out a w/M.
Any one have any ideas?
Brian
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My smallest collection is now Hungary. I don't have even 1 stamp, just a lone hinge remnant...
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Zululand is a former stamp-issuing entity that fascinated me when I started collecting world-wide. Why Zululand? Because it is the very last one when placed in alphabetical order; the last one in each world-wide album that I acquired. Because there was a limited number of stamps issued. And because of that movie that I remembered watching back in the 1960s with the name "Zulu".
So about 15 years ago I set about trying to form a complete set of used stamps from Zululand. I didn't try to get a complete mint set because the higher value mint stamps were much more expensive that their used versions. It took a few years of diligent searching and finally was completed when a copy of the 5 Pound stamp showed up in auction on ebay. That was a case where I did not put in low bid trying to get the stamp as cheaply as possible, but rather bid a sufficient amount to make sure that it would be mine. It was a case where I did not worry about what percentage of Scott I was going to pay for that stamp.
The result is the following page:
I would like to replace that 4 Shilling stamp on the last row since the green is faded. If anyone has a copy that is in better shape that they are willing to part with, let me know. I check in the online auctions periodically to see if I can find one, but one never seems to be available.
In case anyone is curious about the actual album page that houses these stamps, this is a Subway Vintage Reproduction page, a copy of the old Scott Brown album page from their 1840-1900 album. It may help to give you an idea what those pages look like.
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Nice page! They are hard to come buy, doesn't really seem to be a lot of them out there.
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All of the Zululand stamps above 1 Shilling in face value tend to be difficult to find. And when you can find one, much like my 4 Shilling stamp, the quality may not be the best.
I like pursuing the "small countries". I have been trying to complete a few such as Ubangi-Shari, Moheli, French Equatorial Africa, Diego-Suarez and Cape Juby. The former French colonies are much easier to find with complete colony collections sometimes available at auction. Cape Juby, however, appears to be a completely different case. I have never come across anything close to a complete collection of that former Spanish entity, just individual stamps, partial sets or a sparse collection of the entire run of issues with many more blank spaces that filled ones.
Another difficult country to collect is Equatorial Guinea. They issued tons of wallpaper right after independence and especially in the 1970s. That wallpaper are about the only issues that you can now find for sale anywhere. Starting in the 1980s they became much more conservative in their stamp issuing policy with only a few issues each year. But those issues are almost impossible to find. And actual used stamps are impossible; the only "used" stamps that I have ever seen for sale are CTO. Certainly not a popular area to collect, but its difficulty makes it all the more interesting and challenging.
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Retired Ap. Book Mod, Pres Golden Gate Stamp Club, Hi Tech Consultant
02 May 2016
01:08:05pm
From Mich's fascinating recent post in A-Ra's Page of the Day Part VII:
"If you are able to find one, Terra del Fuego could be considered the easiest area to collect. Only one stamp was issued and an interesting history to go with it. "
Got me thinking. What are the other really SMALL collections one can complete in say under 25 stamps?
Here is my contribution:
Ile Rouad. 16 stamps ( a few varieties). Complete! (but unfortunately could have a few counterfiet stamps, among #1 to #3)
Early in 1916 a civilian post office opened in Rouad (Arwad) with stamps of French offices in Levant overprinted Île Rouad. The first overprint (5 April) was locally hand-stamped and a speculation of the stamp dealer Félix Cohen. The definitive overprints arrived around Nov. 1916.
These were replaced in 1919 by the general issues for French-occupied Syria (T.E.O.).
Here is a fascinating informational link on Ile Rouad:
http://www.dcstamps.com/?p=11
So what do you have that is complete, unusual, and quite small? Please share it with us, including some peripheral information, if you can.
rrr...
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
rrr, Here are a couple of French colonies that are complete with low issuance.
Senegambia and Niger and Moheli. Neither are very expensive to complete but they are not all that easy to find.
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02:07:01am
re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
Graham Land 1944.
Part of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Eight stamps produced, but I only have five of them. But I'll get there...
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
Here are a couple more that I think fit the bill. I used to have the story behind these but have mostly forgotten it. I'm not even sure what album I have them in or it might be noted there. Anyway I think the first one was an only issue for Karpatho Ukraine. I believe it shows the main post office and was issued and sold for only one day. As I recall the Nazis took control right afterwards. If anyone can read German they should be able to sort it out. The second page I believe is from the same area but issued after the war. From what I recall the first set is quite rare and is listed in Michel
Hopefully someone can fill in the blanks.
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
This is a fascinating page of stamps.
It's also my understanding that the first stamp is the only one issued by the Carpatho-Ukraine republic.
The German description of the stamp says "Ukrainian wooden church in Jasina".
It's listed by Stanley Gibbons under Czechoslovakia (even though it was only valid in Carpatho-Ukraine) as SG 393c.
It's listed by Michel (as are the other stamps on the page) under Carpatho-Ukraine. This stamp is Mi 1.
Hungarian forces invaded Carpatho-Ukraine on 15th March 1939 (the same day that independence was declared and the day this stamp was put on sale in Khust in Carpatho-Ukraine and in Prague).
I recently read the a popular history book that I can recommend, Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe by Norman Davies. This tells the stories of many former European countries and it includes a chapter on the Carpatho-Ukraine republic.
I've not seen the next three stamps before except in catalogues. These are Mi 78A-80A.
The final set shown with the Soviet star design is a combination of two similar sets.
The 10, 40, 60, 100 and 200 filler stamps were issued first in June 1945 (along with a 20 filler stamp in the same design). These are Mi 81 and Mi 83-86.
The 20 filler has a design change with the date "1945" added. This was issued in July 1945 as noted on the page along with a ten filler stamp in the same design.
I particularly like the double perforation on the 100 filler value.
The first stamp is the only one in in my collection so far!
Corrected date above from 1940 to 1939.
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Thanks much for the info. I was pretty sure it was a one-off for a very short lived country. Are the other three and the star set to be considered from the same country or issuing authority?
Are there any more besides the ones I've shown?
I looked for my Czechoslovakia Album earlier because I think it was in there but could not find the album. I'll have to start looking where it doesn't belong. I store all my country albums in three large fire file safes (and no after 25 years I've never had a problem with a stamp sticking to the page). There perfect except I can't see them all at once like on a bookcase. They are full up and can get mixed up when the drawers don't shut. One book out of place and it can gets all messed up trying to find the right space for an album. Hopefully it won't take to long as it often does.
Did you translate the German text?
Could you please give me the at values on all of these?
Seems, I'm one of the few people here that care about the values. When Passing the collection on, my family needs to be able to easily identify the better stamps. Otherwise one stamp will be as good as another to them. I catalog early pages and other better ones then note the page value in bottom margin. As well as noting high value stamps.
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
Scott considers the stamp for Carpatho-Ukraine differently. It is listed in the regular Czechoslovakia listings as Scott #254B. Scott had listed the stamp separately for a long time. However, Scott moved it to the regular listings several years ago when Scott found that the stamp, while intended for use in Carpatho-Ukraine Province, was also issued on the same day in Prague and valid for postage in Czechoslovakia.
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
Yes, I found my Czech album and another copy was there on it's own page in between Bohemia and Moravia and Slovakia. Scott number 254B and it only catalogs for $11.00 in my Scott 2008 catalog. Like to have a newer price update on it. The pages shown in the previous post are from my handmade (by someone else)Russian collection in back Ukraine. I have never been able to find them anywhere in Scott. I have a noted value for them (probably Michel) at $410.00 from 1997. I like to have a new value on them as I would guess it has gone up quit a bit.
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
Mitch, Carpatho-Ukraine is rather complex. Michel 2013 has listings as follows:
1. The 1939 issue as already discussed. Issued on March 15, 1939 after the declaration of independence. The next day Hungary invaded and annexed Carpatho-Ukraine.
2. Stamps issued in 1944 under the authority of the Czech government in exile in London, sold in a number of districts of the Carpatho-Ukraine. Hungarian stamps with an overprint reading 'CSP 1944'. Michel lists - including postage due stamps - 40 major numbers for this issue.
3. Stamps issued in 1945, when independence was again declared. These were issued under the authority of the Ukrainian National Council.
* The first set listed are overprints on Hungarian stamps. The overprint reads 'Carpatho Ukrainian Post' in Cyrillic. Michel lists 77 major numbers for this set.
* The second set are overprints - the same as the first set - on the 1944 issue, 12 major numbers.
* The third set is the set in your collection with the 'Broken Chains'. It is listed both perfed and imperf. Perfed the values are € 50, € 40 and € 50.
* The fourth set is the star set you have. The full set is six major numbers - you miss the 20 filler one. The full set is valued at € 120.
* The fifth issue is the star design with in addition 1945 inscribed. Two stamps of this type were issued. You have the 20 filler one, valued at € 40.
* Finally, there's a set of official stamps and a set of postage due stamps.
Aside from these issues Michel refers to local issues that are beyond the scope of Michel.
Hope this is of use.
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Great information, Gerben!
Scott #254B was valued (2015 catalog) at $25.00 unused / $90.00 used (note the italics).
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Gerban, Thanks much for all the great info and the email. I was not aware of the other stamps from the area, Guess I should have a look through all of the unknown imprinted Hungarian stamps I have to see if I have any of those. Looking at the values of those they must be quite scarce. Since they are not Scott listed, I'm not going to worry about collecting them but at least I'll know what they are if I run across any.
Michael, Thanks for the price update. That is the value I had in my head for that stamp making me think I must have seen a more current value before. I have a pretty good memory when it comes to numbers (catalog and Values) but it's a big world to keep track of.
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
I recommend that anyone interested in seeing more Carpatho-Ukraine stamps should have a look at the lots on offer in Raritan Stamps's forthcoming auction sale.
This includes the specialised collection of Jay Carrigan who was the leading expert in this area. Sadly Jay is no longer with us but this gives some insight into the strength of both collection and his research:
http://www.raritanstamps.com/Cat/NewCatFrame.htm
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
One complete country is the Portuguese enclave of Kionga. I luckily found it used complete years ago. As I recall I later came across a mint copy of the set which I traded. I collect used worldwide and colonial Africa.
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
Nigel, It may well be that Jay was the first to provide me with info on these stamps.
I was not aware of his recent passing. He was a regular member of the late Ebay chat board.
When a few of us decided to start scanning our collections pages I used the format that Jay had come up with to build my website on. I really don't have much interest in thet area or any area that consists of mainly over printed stamps. They are simply to easy to forge and to hard to verify legitimacy.
Yesterday I won an auction lot with the 3 stamps that comprise the total number of stamps issued for the British protectorate of the Ionian Islands. I've been trying to get my hand on these for a long while. I think they are some of the more attractive Victoria heads ever issued and qualify as small and complete.
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This thread is absolutely fascinating.
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
A-Ra very nice Ionian Is., especially since they are nearly impossible used.
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
Here's my Ionian Islands
First is W/M 1 second is W/M 2 ,not sure about the other two I think the 3rd is a fake, number 4 not sure it has full gum but can't make out a w/M.
Any one have any ideas?
Brian
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
My smallest collection is now Hungary. I don't have even 1 stamp, just a lone hinge remnant...
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Zululand is a former stamp-issuing entity that fascinated me when I started collecting world-wide. Why Zululand? Because it is the very last one when placed in alphabetical order; the last one in each world-wide album that I acquired. Because there was a limited number of stamps issued. And because of that movie that I remembered watching back in the 1960s with the name "Zulu".
So about 15 years ago I set about trying to form a complete set of used stamps from Zululand. I didn't try to get a complete mint set because the higher value mint stamps were much more expensive that their used versions. It took a few years of diligent searching and finally was completed when a copy of the 5 Pound stamp showed up in auction on ebay. That was a case where I did not put in low bid trying to get the stamp as cheaply as possible, but rather bid a sufficient amount to make sure that it would be mine. It was a case where I did not worry about what percentage of Scott I was going to pay for that stamp.
The result is the following page:
I would like to replace that 4 Shilling stamp on the last row since the green is faded. If anyone has a copy that is in better shape that they are willing to part with, let me know. I check in the online auctions periodically to see if I can find one, but one never seems to be available.
In case anyone is curious about the actual album page that houses these stamps, this is a Subway Vintage Reproduction page, a copy of the old Scott Brown album page from their 1840-1900 album. It may help to give you an idea what those pages look like.
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re: Share Your Smallest Complete Collections
Nice page! They are hard to come buy, doesn't really seem to be a lot of them out there.
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All of the Zululand stamps above 1 Shilling in face value tend to be difficult to find. And when you can find one, much like my 4 Shilling stamp, the quality may not be the best.
I like pursuing the "small countries". I have been trying to complete a few such as Ubangi-Shari, Moheli, French Equatorial Africa, Diego-Suarez and Cape Juby. The former French colonies are much easier to find with complete colony collections sometimes available at auction. Cape Juby, however, appears to be a completely different case. I have never come across anything close to a complete collection of that former Spanish entity, just individual stamps, partial sets or a sparse collection of the entire run of issues with many more blank spaces that filled ones.
Another difficult country to collect is Equatorial Guinea. They issued tons of wallpaper right after independence and especially in the 1970s. That wallpaper are about the only issues that you can now find for sale anywhere. Starting in the 1980s they became much more conservative in their stamp issuing policy with only a few issues each year. But those issues are almost impossible to find. And actual used stamps are impossible; the only "used" stamps that I have ever seen for sale are CTO. Certainly not a popular area to collect, but its difficulty makes it all the more interesting and challenging.
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