Soviet Court Fee stamps and an early Russian revenue

One of the most peculiar items I received from last years stamp exchange, was a set of three Soviet stamps. At the time neither I or the sender (Holger from Germany) did not know what they were, but Holger had a clue they might be court fee stamps. I finally had the time to [...]

Major color shift on Ajman stamp

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 [...]

Unlisted perforation variety on 1969 Dubai stamp – real or fishy?

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

I’m [...]

Slurred printing on modern Brazilian definitive stamps

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 [...]

Possible plate flaw on Brazilian 1961 Ouro Preto stamp

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 [...]

Some Chinese stamps – cancellation forgeries or something else?

These days stamps don’t get me confused often, but the below Chinese stamps have done that. These are from the same lot as the Japanese Taxe Percue cut squares I wrote few weeks back. The stamps are ok, but the cancellations… I’ve got a nasty gut feeling I’ve landed with a pile of [...]

Taxe Percue postmark

One final note relating to Japanese stamps (before moving to other topics)… Recently I acquired a small worldwide collection from dealer, and on back of the book section I found two square cut “BUREAU DE POSTE / SHIBA JAPON / TAXE PERCUE” postmarks. I remembered seeing similar items somewhere earlier, and after some Googling [...]

Unlisted perforation variety on Afghan airmail stamp

Last night I was going through an accumulation of Afghan stamp I acquired during the summer, and I came across with a bizarre finding that contradicts catalog information. As usual I’d be very grateful if blog readers could assist me in nailing this one.

The below design was used in 1960/64 on 3 different airmail stamps. [...]

Some color shifts and registration errors on Czechoslovakian stamps

I’m going back on topic of Czechoslovakian stamps for a while, as I’ve got few more (minor) color shifts / registration errors to display. If somebody has access to specialized POFIS-catalog, I’d be very interested to know if some of these are listed.

First I have a 1954 definitive stamp with minor perforation shift. The [...]

Some interesting Soviet stamps

For the past few nights I’ve been working with my collection of Russian and Soviet stamps. Mainly I’ve been moving the collection to a pair of larger sized stock books, but I’ve also added some new stamps. Anyway, this brings me up to few questions some more knowledgeable collectors of this area might know an [...]