Philately

Agathon Fabergé, Portrait of a Philatelist — di Kaj Hellman e Jeffrey C. Stone
Questa stuzzicante biografia include dettagli delle sorprendenti acquisizioni fatte da Fabergé rivelando retroscena e altarini finora poco o per nulla conosciuti. Tra i maggiori acquisti svetta su tutti quello della collezione de Ferrari di Zemstvo incredibilmente orchestrato per via epistolare quando Fabergé era ancora negli artigli dei bolscevici.

LOMBARDY-VENETIA FORGERIES TO DEFRAUD THE POST OFFICE
(FALSI PER POSTA)
The stamps of Lombardy-Venetia were not only the first to be issued in Italy, they were also the first to be forged.  In April-May 1853, Gaetano Alberti, nicknamed “the Count”, a Verona-based forger, produced a few thousand counterfeit recess-printed 15c and 30c stamps. In September the gentleman was arrested and sentenced to two years in jail.
In 1857-1858, well-executed letterpress forgeries of the 15c, 30c, and 45c were produced by an audacious, but circumspect Milanese forger who was never apprehended. His strategy was to print small batches and then work on a new “imitation”. This resulted in two different types of forgeries of  the 15c; three types of the 30c; and six types of the 45c. The higher the denomination, the more the tracks-covering tactics induced the forger to prepare a new forgery.  In two instances, the postal authorities in Verona issued detailed circulars to the various post offices warning them about the Milanese forgeries, as well as giving clues and characteristics which would help in the detection of the counterfeits.
It is quite ironic that the excellent workmanship of the engraver of the Milanese forgeries and his penchant for perfectionism were ultimately responsible for the detection of these nearly foolproof imitations. The engraver painstakingly copied the design in its complex details, but he reproduced the coat of arms on the chest of the double-headed eagle to perfection overlooking a couple of microscopic details which the Viennese engraver had executed in a mediocre fashion.

This paper shows examples of the 1927 “Exhibition Issue” of air post stamps of France, Scott C1 and C2.  The stamps were produced by applying a typographic overprint to an earlier regular issue stamp, as a special offering in connection with an aeronautics exhibition.  Because a substantial difference in value exists between the regular issue stamp and the air post overprinted stamp, several excellent counterfeits are known.  This paper describes the attributes of the genuine overprints, and explores features of known forgeries and possible forgeries to assist the collector in distinguishing real from fake.

Since the days of the Roman Empire the Emperor’s image used on his coins exuded sovereignty, authority, prestige, glamour and determination; portraits of the ruler were sent to the mints throughout the Empire to ensure uniformity of intents of the image.
Ambition, vanity, a dose of narcissism and the crucial importance of an imperial “image” that would impress the Emperor’s allies and loyal subjects on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, as well as his enemies are part of our story.
In November 2019 the posts of Luxemburg and Austria commemorated Charles V in a joint issue of a miniature sheet featuring a famous portrait of the Emperor by an Austrian artist.
Jakob Seisenegger was born in the northeastern region of his country in 1505; in or before 1530 he married Susanna Tscherte, the daughter of a master builder. It would appear that he started as a miniaturist and later worked for or was influenced by the Danube School; in 1530, his first major commission came from Archduke Ferdinand I of Austria  - brother of Charles V

In December 1933 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) appointed the Reverend Harold Wilde as pastor for the island of Tristan da Cunha (Tristan). His role also encompassed that of Administrator and Postmaster. In this, the second of three articles on Tristan, we look at 1935 Silver Jubilee stamps on covers mailed from the island.

Jean-Martin Charcot was one of the most celebrated French physicians of the 19th century. A masterful teacher and a captivating lecturer, Charcot created the foundations of neurology as an independent discipline, and transformed the Salpêtrière hospital, in Paris, into one of the world's greatest teaching centers for clinical neurologic research. His name is attached to the distinct pathologic entity, Charcot's joint disease, that he so meticulously described. This article reviews the highlights of Charcot's career and his clinicoanatomic studies of patients with tabetic arthropathies.

This paper suggests that stamp dealers can attract and retain customers by following the principles of Bernshteyn's "Value as a Service," focusing on offering distinct and measurable value rather than selling mere commoditized objects that buyers cannot differentiate from any other source.

A little-known group of printed labels resembling postage stamps are identified as essays (proposals) for postage stamps of Mexico.  The essays are the product of H.C.Kosel (1867-1945) and his son Herman Kosel (1896-1983) of Vienna, Austria, apparently working together.  The elder Kosel was court photographer for Austria and his son also was an artist, best known for his art-deco travel posters.  Their Mexican stamp essays which appear to date c. 1935 are illustrated, together with an original artwork used for one.

As 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the 1st manned Moon landing, Walter M. Hopferwieser’s 2016 handbook and special catalog on rocket mail and space mail has been translated into English by Dr. Annika Backe-Dahmen. Revised and updated, it replaces the Ellington-Zwisler catalog, which for the last 50 years has been the only work of reference on this topic. Non-philatelists, too, will find this lavishly illustrated book authored by one of the most renowned experts in the field highly interesting reading material. Its chapters Pioneer Rocket Mail, Space Mail of Manned Projects, Space Mail of Unmanned Projects, and Signatures of All Space Travelers bring the history of space travel to life in detail.

For more information on Annika Backe-Dahmen's services (translating and editing) in the field of Arts and Culture, please visit her website at https://www.abd-kommunikation.de/

One of the more challenging topics within the subject of Auxiliary Markings is Jusqu’à marks. The commonly-seen mute, parallel purple bars are but one type of Jusqu’à mark. Jusqu’à marks are important for both the questions they answer and – perhaps more frequently – the questions they raise with postal historians. To a large extent this is because there are no standards or regulations concerning the use of these marks. Indeed, the Universal Postal Union (UPU), which describes itself as “the primary forum for cooperation between postal sector players” does not once mention this term on its website.

Within a postal context, the French word “Jusqu’à” generally is considered to mean “as far as” or “up to”. Jusqu’à bars by themselves can have multiple meanings, but all seem to suggest that the request for airmail service, as indicated by an airmail etiquette or airmail stamp, was either partially or completely unfulfilled.

In this paper I provide a fully illustrated study of the various uses and versions of Jusqu’à markings.

For the past 30 years, the Tristan da Cunha overprints on the 1935 Great Britain Silver Jubilee stamps have both fascinated and attracted collectors. They have been labelled bogus by some as they were not legal tender, yet they have commanded increasingly higher prices when coming to auction. The reason for this interest is not clear, but one suspects it has something to do with the mystique of Tristan. In this last of three articles about Tristan da Cunha and the 1935 Silver Jubilee issue, we provide some background history to their production and sales. Finally, we will discuss the finding of a forged overprint which has come on to the market in the past two years.

Briefmarken sind mehr als kleine, sammelwürdige Kunst-werke und auch mehr als einfache Zahlungsbelege für den Transport eines Briefes oder Paketes. Dies ist den Leserinnen und Lesern dieser Zeitschrift sicher mehr als bekannt. Jedoch misst gerade die institutionalisierte Geschichtswissenschaft Briefmarken noch lange nicht die Bedeutung bei, die ihnen als ein Massenmedium mit einer über 150-jährigen Geschichte zustünde.

Auxiliary Markings are a very complex topic of study, with some philatelists estimating that upwards of a million markings exist. Of all the columns I've written, perhaps no other topic has elicited as much feedback and interest.

Numerous authors have struggled to present an approach to organizing Auxiliary Markings. For marcophilists (collectors of Auxiliary Markings), several taxonomies have been designed, but none of them strike me as meeting the needs of postal historians.

The Mastering Postal History column in the Kelleher’s Stamp Collector’s Quarterly 3Q, 2017 issue is titled “The Role of Auxiliary Markings in Postal History Part 2”.

This paper explores the development of the Deutsche Lufthansa South American Airmail Service during 1933-1939. Using original source documents from the Lufthansa archives and postal history artifacts in the author's possession, we examine route development, competition and cooperation with the French service, methods of multimodal transportation, equipment evolution and the overall pursuit of postal expedience. Particular emphasis is placed upon the contract negotiations among German and British authorities; Colonial authorities in Bathurst, Gambia; and the German and UK post offices.

The second issue of Turkish stamps (1865-1876) have long been known as the Duloz stamps after their engraver, a mysterious M. Duloz.  Duloz is identified here as Pierre Edelestand Stanislas Dulos (1820-1874), an important French engraver and inventor who created a chemical method of producing printing plates in relief or intaglio.

Subject: two Mexican stamps that closely resemble the crowned Eagle stamps issued by Maximilian's Empire, 1864-1866, with slightly different design lacking crown.  These have been a mystery, variously claimed to be genuine stamps, essays, official facsimilies or outright fakes.  Although known for over 100 years, the Rosette Eagles have never been subject to serious examination.  Numerous factors analyzed including appearance in philatelic literature, method of manufacture (intaglio), stylistic resemblance to Eagle stamps, highly irregular plate layout, presence of genuine and bogus cancellations.  Several factors, including the bogus cancellations, connect the Rosette Eagles to the so-called “Fraudulent Reprints” of Mexican stamps originally issued 1856-1861, but reprinted after 1890 by stamp dealers using original printing plates.  Evidence suggests the Rosette Eagles engraved in summer of 1863 as a planned issue of Mexico, that plates for printing had been prepared but were abandoned and later obtained by the dealers who manufactured the Fraudulent Reprints.
Texture of paper showed that the Rosette Eagles paper was unlike any genuine stamps of early Mexico, but closely similar to that on some Fraudulent Reprints.  There is no published analysis of early Mexican stamp paper.  Microscopic analysis of paper content conducted on a number of Mexican stamps, using Herzberg stain, images taken @ 100x & 400x magnification.  All Mexican stamps from 1856 to around 1880 tested were entirely rag paper with only cotton and flax fibers.  Microscopic analysis of Rosette Eagles showed the paper was entirely softwood and grasses as was that of the Fraudulent Reprint examined, confirming hypothesis based on other sources of evidence.

This purpose of this paper is to begin a foundational inquiry to the larger question “Are geographic designations within Stamp Catalogues continuing the colonial and imperialist ideologies in both Europe and North America?” To approach this question, this paper will examine two
important areas of Postage Stamps. Firstly, this paper will examine the role of Postage Stamps in propagating the ideologies of colonialism and secondly, this paper will examine into the organizational structure of two of the largest Postage Stamp catalogue publishers, Stanley Gibbons
and Amos Media, and how they continue to perpetuate these ideologies of colonialism. In the attempt to understand these approaches, various nation-states and colonies will be examined, using Postage Stamps from the authors own collection, in order to better understand how these ideologies are persistent in these catalogues.

Subject: two Mexican stamps that closely resemble the crowned Eagle stamps issued by Maximilian's Empire, 1864-1866, with slightly different design lacking crown.  These have been a mystery, variously claimed to be genuine stamps, essays, official facsimilies or outright fakes.  Although known for over 100 years, the Rosette Eagles have never been subject to serious examination.  Numerous factors analyzed including appearance in philatelic literature, method of manufacture (intaglio), stylistic resemblance to Eagle stamps, highly irregular plate layout, presence of genuine and bogus cancellations.  Several factors, including the bogus cancellations, connect the Rosette Eagles to the so-called “Fraudulent Reprints” of Mexican stamps originally issued 1856-1861, but reprinted after 1890 by stamp dealers using original printing plates.  Evidence suggests the Rosette Eagles engraved in summer of 1863 as a planned issue of Mexico, that plates for printing had been prepared but were abandoned and later obtained by the dealers who manufactured the Fraudulent Reprints.
Texture of paper showed that the Rosette Eagles paper was unlike any genuine stamps of early Mexico, but closely similar to that on some Fraudulent Reprints.  There is no published analysis of early Mexican stamp paper.  Microscopic analysis of paper content conducted on a number of Mexican stamps, using Herzberg stain, images taken @ 100x & 400x magnification.  All Mexican stamps from 1856 to around 1880 tested were entirely rag paper with only cotton and flax fibers.  Microscopic analysis of Rosette Eagles showed the paper was entirely softwood and grasses as was that of the Fraudulent Reprint examined, confirming hypothesis.

Volumul acoperă unele pete albe din istoria activităţii filatelice
româneşti, corectează unele interpretări, dar mai important decât orice mi
se pare faptul că lucrarea deschide noi direcţii de cercetare în domeniu,
nebănuite până acum. Şi tocmai prin acest aspect îşi demonstrează
caracterul ştiinţific, adresându-se în egală măsură profesioniştilor şi
amatorilor.
Este o alta abordare decat aceea cu care este de obicei tratata filatelia. Nu este privita ca un hobby ci ca o stiinta auxiliara a istoriei

All postage stamps issued by Mexico from the first stamps in 1856 to 1879 (with the exception of Maximilian's Empire 1864-1867), bear images of Miguel Hidalgo, the Father of Mexican Independence.  This article analyzes the visual sources used for the Hidalgo images appearing on those stamps and the stamps' decorative frames.  Sources identified include portraits of Hidalgo by Juan Nepomuceno Herrera, Joaquin Ramirez y Saldana and by unknown artists

NAVARRO OLTRA, G. (2015), “Generalísimo Franco en los sellos postales”, en NAVARRO OLTRA, G. (coord.). Autorretratos del Estado. El sello postal del franquismo. Segunda edición ampliada.Cuenca / Santander:Ediciones de la Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha / Publican Ediciones, 20-45.

I.S.B.N.:978-84-9044-169-5 (UCLM)
I.S.B.N.:978-84-8102-766-2 (UC)
D.L.:  CU 183-2015

My previous column on the Seaposts dealt with determining ship routes around the world. In this column, I focus on the mail policies, practices, and procedures that postal authorities and ship operators established to move the mails across oceans. I also explore the important role of the Universal Postal Union, Topics also include
- Early ship letters
- Packet ship mail
- Sea Post Offices
- Paquebots
- Ocean Letters
- Catapult mail

In the 1860s postage stamp collecting began to become popular and by the end of the century was a world-wide passion, spawning stamp clubs, philatelic journals, stamp dealers and postage stamp albums.  Mexico lagged behind the United States and Europe due to the wars and internal turmoil of the mid-century.  Nevertheless, between 1889 and 1912 some 11 philatelic journals were published, mostly in Mexico City and Guanajuato.  This article describes each journal, the number of issues, and the contents. The first page of the first issue of each journal is illustrated and other illustrations of interest.  Most of these journals are preserved in the Crawford Philatelic Library, part of the British Library.

The Washington-Franklin series of definitive stamps, printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) and issued by the Post Office Department from 1908 to 1922, consists of just 5 stamp designs featuring portraits of President Washington and Benjamin Franklin, but over 250 varieties with different catalog numbers. While most Washington-Franklin stamps were printed in the millions and have little value, a few, including those printed using the rotary press on excess or “waste” stock, are uncommon to rare and command prices in the thousands of dollars. This paper explores why these stamps exist and how to identify them.

Agli inizi degli anni Sessanta dell'Ottocento la filatelia fa registrare un impetuoso sviluppo. Vengono pubblicati ovunque libri e testi di letteratura filatelica. Nel 1864 nascono in Italia i primi cataloghi filatelici, a Firenze, opera di Brecker e Ulisse Franchi.

The artists who designed the early postage stamps of Mexico have largely been a mystery.  Here, four of the first six stamps are attributed to Vicente Villegas (1856-1861 Hidalgo stamp), Sebastián C. Navalón (1864 Eagle and 1866 Maximilian stamps), Luis G. Campa (1866 Maximilian design), and Antonio Orellana (1868 Hidalgo stamp).  All these artists were associated with the Academia de San Carlos, the leading art school in Mexico.  Although these artists are well documented in the art literature, there is no indication in that literature that they also produced stamps.  The history of Mexico’s early stamps was closely intertwined with the Academy.  Some of these and other Academy artists went on to hold positions in the government stamp printing office.  A previously unpublished drawing for the Maximilian stamp is illustrated along with an Academy commission to two faculty to produce the model.  Attributions that have been made to Francisco Iacomet, José Villegas, Joubert and Gavalon are erroneous.

Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun politik bağımsızlığını sürdürürken ekonomik açıdan bağımlı hale gelmesi anlamında yarı-çevre bir ekonomi olmasının postacılık faaliyetleri açısından sonucu ne oldu? Bu yazıda Osmanlı İmparatorluğu topraklarında postacılık faaliyetleri tarihine Dünya Sistemleri Perspektifi’nin merkez, yarı-çevre ve çevre kavramlarını kullanarak karşılaştırmalı bir perspektiften bakmaya çalışıyorum.

Науковий вісник Національного музею історії України. Зб. наук. пр.: у двох частинах. Випуск 1. Частина перша / Відп. ред. Б.К. Патриляк. – К.: Національний музей історії України, 2016. – 316 с. - ISBN 978-617-7193-90-5.

Збірка наукових праць матеріалів щорічної науково-практичної міжнародної конференції Національного музею історії України у 2015 р.
Розрахована на фахівців у галузі музеєзнавства, музейних працівників, викладачів, аспірантів, студентів вищих навчальних закладів гуманітарного профілю.