It’s been a while since I reviewed anything stamp related, so when I grabbed myself a copy of November 2010 issue of Gibbons Stamp Monthly (generally known also as GSM) from a Helsinki located bookstore I smelled a chance. I confess that I’m a highly irregular reader of GSM simply because new single issues are hard to get (so far I know only 2-3 bookstores in whole of Finland that sell GSM), and the somewhat high overseas price.

The reason I picked up this copy from the news stand was an article about North Korean stamps. It displayed some first hand information about real postal usage of North Korean stamps and postmarks used. All in all, it was a very useful and properly illustrated entry.

The main article, Queensland 1860 Chalon Head issues, was not too much of interest to me. After all, most of these stamps have a catalog value of 3-4 figures; and I don’t seriously expect to stumble upon any of them for a long, long time. But who knows, maybe in 20-30 years time (when I’ve paid all the mortgages etc) I’ll think differently.

Another high-end philately article on this issue focused on collectors and collections of Romanian Bull’s head stamps. The article itself was very interesting and well put, but I could not help wondering why on earth to spend so many pages on something that only very few collectors with deep pockets will ever have a change of acquiring.

Arapian Bey’s entry about Ottoman Philately was a pleasure to read. Once again I fear most of the displayed items would be way out of my budget and knowledge range, but I definitely loved his approach on subject. Instead of being boring and dry essay, this entry was in a form of witty tale about philatelic friendship. Highly entertaining writing IMHO.

Besides the above, the issue had articles for topical and postmark collectors as well. These covered postmarks of Malacca during KGVI era, art on Nigerian stamps, Churches of Croatia on stamps, Commemoratives of 1960, aviation pioneer Richard Pearse and Girl guides. All were well put and nicely illustrated, but nothing in them didn’t get me fully excited.

And as usual, GMS had the somewhat regular selection of news, adverts and new issues. One of the “more interesting than usual” ads was by Mark Bloxham Stamps on the back cover (see below)… Another highly interesting ad promoted the GSM Archive, a DVD-set containing all the back issues of GSM between 1890 and 2009. I’d definitely love to have one, but the price of £200 is simply way too much for my stamp related budget.

All in all, this issue kept me good company for the 4 hour train ride back home. I admit that some of the contents were too much “posh philately” for me, but I’m a tough person to please. LOL.

PS. And yes, I confess that I did shop around in Helsinki too… Besides buying some brand new stock books, I spent 25€ for 250 grams mixture of Thailand kiloware stating to consist of both large and small stamps. Though the price felt like a rip-off, I hoped the contents would turn out to be good enough to balance the price. Silly me As one can expect, the commemoratives were placed on the top layers and rest of the pouch was nothing but small definitives displaying King Bhumibol. Well, such is life… Next time I’ll try to resist the temptation to by any kiloware. LOL.

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