Here’s another recent addition to my Middle East albums: a major color shift on Ajman stamp. As Michel does not illustrate all the (gazillion) stamps issued under the name of Ajman, I feared I might have some hard time identifying this one properly. Based on the looks of stamp as well as the 1 Rial face value, I decided to limit my search to year 1973 and work from there backwards. And boy, was I lucky. I found a match almost immediately.
Whilst adding some new stamps to my Middle East stockbook, I noted something funny on 1969 set of Dubai fish stamps. The stamps have two very different perforations. According to general catalogs I have, this series should exist only in perforation of 11. But I also have a set in perforation of 14 
One final post about Brazilian stamps (at least for the time being)… Way back in late 2009 I wrote about a Spanish stamp having doubled impression. Well, here’s few new similar additions to my stamp collection, but this time on Brazilian definitive stamps. I believe these are examples of slurred printing (also known as kiss print), where the dragging of the wet ink has caused the dots to elongate in the direction the press travel.
Every time I find something a bit more special, I enjoy a feeling of excitement and pleasure. Below is a modern (1999) definitive stamp from Brazil that put a big smile on face. From top it’s like most modern definitive stamps, but there’s a twist (like in all good stamp stories).
I’ve been receiving quite a many questions regarding the state of my stamp exchange, so I decided to deal with the issue before things get too heated. So yes, it’s now officially back!!! Before you jump out to sent me a big pile of stamps for exchange, I’d like to again highlight few minor changes in exchange rules for this season.
During the long weekend I finished organizing my collection of Brazil,and here’s one particular item I’d like show up. It’s a 1961 commemorative for 250th anniversary of city of Ouro Preto. But as usual with items I display, there’s a twist: notice the crack on left side of the nominal value I’m not sure if this one is a plate flaw/variety, or just some print abnormality (caused by dust or similar).
As long as I remember, I’ve been afraid of sorting Brazilian definitive series of 1920-1941 (also known as ‘Série vovó’). The facts for the series are quite frightening: 11 designs, 44 face different stamps (incl.overprints), 13 different papers. Depending on catalog used, there are 145-168 major numbers to collect. And that’s just the big picture. These stamps have a mountain of different perforations, color variations etc. These make a daunting identification challenge indeed! Anyway, I made myself a new years promise to get all the duplicates (as well as those already in my collection) properly organized.
Yet another year has gone by, and it’s time to look back for the year 2011 and what’s ahead in 2012 for my stamp collection. In 2011 my collection grew with over 6,600 stamps, and my worldwide collection contains now 70,519 stamps (listed with major catalog number in Michel).
During Christmas I worked my way through a small collection of Greece I had acquired earlier. At the same I put the specialized Hellas stamp catalog I have into proper use for the first time. All in all it was a very enlightening experience, as the specialized catalog had somewhat different view and lots more details than general catalogs. So let’s begin a journey into stamps of Greece with attractive ‘Hermes and Iris’ definitive postage stamps of 1911-1927.
Recently a reader of the blog asked if (pre-printed) stamp album pages provide spaces for all the issued stamps and (essential) varieties. My response to question was negative: if catalog editors can’t agree on simple facts on what to list as major/minor numbers, then how could those making album pages manage better on deciding what spaces to include on album pages? Here’s a simple example to prove how messy things can get: a 1963 Guatemala airmail stamp to commemorate the Spring Fair of 1960.
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