Friday, July 7, 2017

Odd stamps : 10 c Stamps on/in wood or cork

It has been a while, but this is my second post on wooden stamps. (third one on wood/cork)
So far they are still rare.
Switzerland issued a stamp on wood in 2014. It's an auto-adhesive stamp, protected by a peel-off foil.

5 swiss francs - 2014 - wooden stamp

The stamp is half a milimeter thick, what allows it still to be placed on a letter for acutal use.
Unfortunately few will have been put in circulation,
The issued stamp of 5 Swiss francs, is 5 times more expensive that the stamps for regular letters.
Probably it can be found as CTO.
Catalogue Michel rates it equal for mint or postally used.

More to come :-)

Saturday, July 1, 2017

Theme : 1st issues : 08b Colombia (Dept. Bolivar)

Between 1863 and 1904, the 9 states and the 3 territories have issued their own stamps. From 1904 on, all stamps are issued under 'Colombia'.
State of Bolívar - Colombia
For the state Bolívar (North Colombia), Michel mentions 73 issues.
Here the first issue of 1863 is truely a very special issue.
Colombia - state Bolívar 1863
The green version is nr. 1 - nr 2 is a 10 cents red and nr 3 is a 1 peso red.
When we have a closer look underneath the coat of arms, we see 6 stars. This indicates the cheapest (?) version of the stamp. The same stamp with 5 stars only, quadruples the catalogue value!

6 stars under the CoA - Michel 1 I
The stamp of 10 cents, measures 6 x 8 mm only and exist even cut into 2 on letters (used as 5 cents).
This makes this stamp... the smallest stamp in the world (known 2017).

Certificate of authenticity - 1974
With a catalogue value of € 750, this stamp of less then 1 cm² ... is, compared to its size, more valuable than gold.