Collector gets ‘buzz’ after spending half a million pounds on stamp
‘I am sure it will prove to be a fabulous investment,’ says new owner of rare stamp

A rare stamp has been sold for almost half a million pounds.

The Plate 77 Penny Red, one of only five in the world, including one at the British Museum, was bought by a private collector for £495,000 (€638,620).

The new owner, who did not want to be named, said: “I am so pleased I bought this stamp, it has given me a buzz I really didn’t expect.

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“I am sure it will prove to be a fabulous investment and, in an uncertain financial world, will prove its worth.”

Keith Heddle, of collectibles merchant Stanley Gibbons, which sold the stamp, said: “This is one of the most desirable and iconic of British stamps for collectors worldwide, highly sought after for more than 100 years.

“I’m delighted this one has found a home in Britain.”

PA

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offbeat/ … -1.2569131

The Cost Of Stamps Is Going Down Just Before Tax Day

If you’re planning on mailing a check to settle your tax bill this year, be sure not to overpay – in postage.

For the first time in nearly a century, the cost of postage is going down. The price decrease is expected to occur on April 10, 2016 – about a week before Tax Day. (Remember, Tax Day is April 18 this year.)

Expected? That doesn’t sound terribly certain, right? That’s because the U.S. Postal Service is still hoping that might change. When postage recently went up a few cents in order to reverse a slide in revenues, it was supposed to be a temporary increase. The boost was intended to be reversed when the Postal Service collected $4.6 billion in surcharges. That benchmark is expected to happen on April 10, 2016.

According to the Postal Service, despite the surcharges, ramping down the cost of postage is not a good plan. Postmaster General and CEO Megan J. Brennan worries that “[r]emoving the surcharge and reducing our prices is an irrational outcome considering the Postal Service’s precarious financial condition.”

Congress could opt to extend the price increase but that’s not terribly likely. Generally, the price of postage is tied to inflation (which hasn’t moved much of late) unless Congress steps in and proactively changes the pricing. There has been no signal from Congress that it will to extend the price increase or make it permanent. Assuming that Congress doesn’t act on postage, here’s how the cost of stamps will be affected:

For an extensive list of postage prices that are affected by the change, you can head over to the US Postal Service website where the agency is touting – and I’m not making this up – “Spring 2016 Rollback Pricing.” The new prices will be effective April 10, 2016.

And yes, watching those numbers go down instead of up is pretty unusual. The last time that the cost of stamps dropped was 1919.

I know what you’re thinking: if the cost of stamps drops and the Postal Service can’t meet costs, will your tax dollars kick in to make up the difference? No. The Postal Service doesn’t receive federal tax dollars for operating expenses. It’s self-funded – even though its ability to make business decisions is regulated by Congress – through the sale of postage, products and services. For more on how the USPS finances work (and a peek at the history) click here.

Want more taxgirl goodness? Pick your poison: follow me on twitter, hang out on Facebook and Google, play on Pinterest or check out my YouTube channel. For cases and tax related docs, visit Scribd.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleaebeli … 0e7caa35d6

South Atlantic 1821 letters bring $37,650 in Argyll Etkin sale in London

Argyll Etkin held an auction of worldwide stamps and postal history in London March 4, featuring material from a specialized collection of the Portuguese colony of Nyassa.

The top lot was a correspondence of seven letters, including three of the earliest-known letters from the bottom of the world.

Sent in 1821 by the captain of a New England sealing ship to his father in Boston, they are datelined at Livingston Island in the South Shetlands, in what would later be called the Falkland Island Dependencies. The South Atlantic archipelago is now included in the British Antarctic Territory.

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The South Shetlands had only just been discovered — or perhaps rediscovered — in 1819 by British and American naval excursions, meaning the letters offered in the Etkin sale were written within two years of the islands’ first documented sighting by Europeans.

It is remarkable how fast the adventurers swooped in to try to get rich.

The sender, Capt. Charles Winship, wrote:

“ … fishing oil, hair and fur-skins will I grasp at. I have 11,500 skins the most beautiful ever seen.”

He went on to describe the scene: “This country is subject to volcanoes, some which we have discerned in all its brilliancy … Seals and Sea Elephants are the only monsters to be found … In fact the whole country is covered in ice, some perpendicular 1,000 high.”

Estimated at £16,000 to £18,000, the lot sold for £25,850, or about $37,650, including the 17.5 percent buyer’s premium Argyll Etkin adds to all lots.

A stamp described as “a key rarity of Bushire” and one of just four examples produced has been the subject of some controversy in recent years.

British forces occupied the Persian seaport of Bushire (modern-day Bushehr, Iran) in August 1915 and held it for two months.

During their time in the city, once a key maritime stopover on the route from Suez to India, the British issued two lengthy sets of definitives, consisting of Persian stamps overprinted “Bushire under British Occupation.”

One of the stamps to which the overprint was applied was the 1-chahi on 5ch surcharge of the Ahmad Shah Qajar issue of 1915 (Iran Scott 537).

This stamp is mentioned in the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue in a footnote after Bushire Scott N14 as being considered a forgery.

A similar footnote existed in past editions of the Stanley Gibbons catalog, where the stamp had once been listed as Bushire Stanley Gibbons 30.

Gibbons has since reinstated the stamp on the strength of new scholarship, and the example in the Argyll Etkin sale received a British Philatelic Association certificate of authenticity in 2015. It sold for $9,400.

A spokesman for the auction house said the consignor was a specialist in Iranian philately who is now in his 90s and dispersing his collection because of failing eyesight.

The following lot consisted not of stamps or postal history, but an extensive and detailed file of reference notes from the same collector, with good photocopies identifying the Bushire overprints as well as the underlying Iranian stamps by plate position.

Estimated at £100 to £150, the sheaf sold for 10 times that — more than $2,200 — after spirited bidding from several overseas collectors and at least one expertizing group.

The Argyll Etkin sale also included stamps and postal history from the John Dahl collection of Portuguese Nyassa, a former colony on the southeast coast of Africa that is now part of Mozambique.

One of the more intriguing lots was a set of six bogus stamps, both perforated and imperforate in singles, pairs or blocks of four, including some with surcharges and “Provisorio” overprints, that were issued in 1891 by the London office of the Nyassa Co. but later disavowed by the Portuguese government.

The stamps, known as the Rook issue, depict a castle turret surrounded by a value and the words “Companhia do Nyassa,” with “Cabo Delgado” above and “Provincia de Mocambique” below.

The Etkin sale catalog includes an intriguing note, “The famous Tapling collection, bequeathed to the British Library in 1891, contains only these stamps for Portuguese Nyassa.”

After the Portuguese government declared the stamps invalid, many collectors apparently returned the stamps to the London office of the Nyassa Co. for a refund, and only a small number were saved. The lot in the Argyll Etkin sale, containing a total of 58 stamps, brought $685.

The first authorized issues of Nyassa appeared in 1898.

The Dahl collection contained extensive studies of the attractive set of bicolor pictorials that appeared in 1901. These became popular with collectors and went through several printings throughout the 1920s, despite seeing limited postal use.

Further stamps from the Dahl collection will be offered in September.

http://www.linns.com/news/world-stamps- … etkin.html

David Bowie Honored With Stamps Depicting His ‘Many Celebrated Personas’

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/arts … .html?_r=0

4,300 slides from Robert H. Pratt Collection displayed online

The board of directors of the Collectors Club of Chicago (CCC) has allowed nfldstamps.com—the website of John M. Walsh, expert in Newfoundland philately and publisher of the Newfoundland Specialized Stamp Catalogue—to display the digital slides of the Robert H. Pratt stamp collection.

Pratt had photographed his collection and saved them as slides, about 4,300 of which he donated to the CCC, of which he was an active member. The photographic slides were digitalized with the “unrelenting” help of Clarence A. Stillions and with the support of the British North America Philatelic Society (BNAPS). Walsh was also assisted by Andrew L. Winter to organize the images into sequential dated categories for ease of viewing.

The photographic manner of these images are as received from Pratt. The original selection had some duplication as well as some out of focus items that were since discarded. No changes to the images were made by nfldstamps.com.

The CCC is allowing the use of the slides for all viewers without charge, but the images remain the property of the CCC.
PRATT AWARD

The Pratt Award, established by the CCC in 1997—two years after Pratt’s death—and is awarded annually to the author of the best article, series of articles, book or electronic presentation related to Newfoundland philately. Earlier this year, Canadian philatelist David Piercey was given the honour for three articles. The previous year, Piercey and Walsh were jointly honoured with the award.

http://canadianstampnews.com/4300-slide … ed-online/

70th Anniversary of the 'Tristan Venture'

Not for nothing was the tiny British overseas territory of Tristan da Cunha known in the early 1940s as the loneliest island in the world. Ships rarely called, the residents had no need of money, which meant of course that even issuing stamps was pointless. Then came the Second World War, and by 1942 the Royal Navy had arrived to establish a significant meteorological station on the island. Paid work was on offer, and British currency began to circulate. Tristan's long-standing struggle against hunger and deprivation had been halted, and with the departure of the military many islanders found themselves questioning the previous impoverished nature of their lives.

Amongst those stationed on Tristan during the war was a naval chaplain, Rev. C. P. Lawrence. A merchant seaman prior to his ordination in 1936, he shrewdly recognised that the island-group had potential for providing stability and self-reliance for the Tristan people through the responsible exploitation of their marine-food resources. In the years that followed Rev Lawrence lobbied a group of powerful South African fishing companies, secured the support of the Colonial Office in London, and organised a scientific expedition with the primary objective of considering the practicality of setting up a fishery industry on Tristan.

Central to the venture's purpose was the decommissioned minesweeper MV Pequena, a vessel so small – she was only 36 metres long – that it is amazing she was considered safe enough for the long round-trip from Cape Town let alone the additional visits to Tristan's archipelago. Master of the ship was Capt. L. E. Pettit, and on 6 February 1948 he and his crew finally sighted the volcanic cone of Tristan. On board were the eleven members of the survey-team, a line-up that included Rev. Lawrence as its leader, three marine biologists, an agriculturalist, a physician, and two engineers.

For thirty days the scientists carried out their detailed investigations. As the published reports later reveal, the agriculturalist explored the feasibility of introducing new farming methods into the tiny community, while the medical doctor evaluated the shortcomings in the islanders' diet at the time; but far and away the most significant discoveries related to the possibility of establishing fishing as a commercial enterprise. Here was the breakthrough, for amongst the reefs of kelp-weed surrounding the islands' coastlines the marine biologists found vast stocks of Tristan crawfish amazingly easy to catch and in sufficiently abundant numbers to be a sustainable crop.

Jasus tristani is a crustacean notable for having no claws but possessing a large fan-shaped tail packed with succulent meat. Even at that stage North America was identified as a lucrative market for this tasty delicacy. So, the venture can rightly be described as a remarkable success – though it came at a dreadful cost. To this isolated community with little immunity against infectious diseases the expedition-team unwittingly brought a particularly severe strain of influenza which tragically resulted in the deaths of a number of the islanders.

Back in South Africa the commercial backers recognised that the project was viable and strategic planning began in earnest. The Pequena was fitted out with a refrigerated hold for the immediate freezing of crawfish tails, and by the following year construction had started on a canning factory on the edge of the island's settlement. The Tristan da Cunha Exploration Co. was formed, straightaway receiving a vital guarantee from the Colonial Office of sole operating rights for fifteen years, and thus began an industry which to this day exports sizeable quantities of Tristan Rock Lobster to profitable markets right across the world.

A new era of prosperity had opened for the people of Tristan. No longer were they reliant on the unpredictable appearance of ships bringing charitable gifts. Opportunities for employment on fishing-trips and in the processing factory were now available, money replaced barter, and a non-profit store was established where islanders could spend their wages. Under the terms of the concession the Company provided a doctor, a nurse, agriculturalist and additional teaching support from the outside world. By 1952 Tristan had its own stamps, and in 1953 it exported over 27,000 ten-kilo cases of frozen lobster tails. The transition inevitably proved challenging, but the prizes were worth the effort: higher standards of living and comfort for all and, for the first time ever, the wherewithal to participate in world trade.

Text by Neil Robson, member of the Tristan da Cunha Association
Stamp Designs
45p - Captain L.E.Pettit and Rev.C.P.Lawrence, the leaders of the survey expedition.
70p - A 1954 ½d stamp showing a Tristan crawfish, Jasus tristani.
£1.10 - Front cover of a South African shipping magazine in which the Venture was reported.
£1.60 - MV Pequena, the Venture's ship.
FDC - A cover sent by the Venture from Tristan (with a potato stamp), and a photo of the Venture team.
Sheetlet - The background is the letterhead used for the Tristan Venture's stationery.
Technical Specifications from Pobjoy Mint Ltd.
Designer: Andrew Robinson Stamp size: 28 x 45mm
Printer: Cartor Security Printing Souvenir sheetlet size: 110 x 110mm
Process: Lithography Perforation: 13¼ x 13½ per 2cm
Production Co-ordination: Creative Direction (Worldwide) Ltd Sheet format: 10

http://www.tristandc.com/po/stamps201803.php

Win a set of Moomin First Day Covers and stamps – new Moomin stamps released today!

To celebrate the upcoming opening of the new Moomin Museum in Finland, Finnish Postal Services, Posti, has released new Moomin stamps today .....

https://www.moomin.com/en/blog/win-a-se … sed-today/

Stamp collection on traditional marketplaces released

The Ministry of Information and Communications has issued a collection of postage stamps on Vietnamese traditional marketplaces, aiming to preserve national cultural identities and promote the image of Vietnam to international friends.

Markets are a common phenomenon worldwide but the cultural specialties of each country give it numerous forms, each boasting its own unique characteristics.

Through time, marketplaces, driven by widespread waves of modernisation, have transformed dramatically and tend to converge at the modern model of giant malls.

The process of international economic integration and globalization, along with the outstanding achievement after 30 years of Doi Moi (reform) that have offered many changes in all aspects of life in Vietnam.

However, traditional customs still prevail and steers most people to traditional markets to do their grocery shopping.

Designed by painter To Minh Trang of the Vietnam Post Corporation, the stamp collection includes three stamps measuring 60 x 25 millimetres. The set features three market types of Vietnam, including a mountain market, a village market and a floating market.

The set is available in public postal network branches across the country through until the end of 2018.

https://english.vov.vn/culture/stamp-co … 344987.vov
Nhan Dan

A glimpse of the earliest Ceylon stamps

The earliest stamps used when Sri Lanka (then Ceylon) was a Crown Colony in the British Empire are rare. Four stamps depicting these were released early this month (1 April) to mark the 160th anniversary of the release of the first postage stamp in the country.

It was 27 years after Britain scored a ‘first’ becoming the first country in the world to introduce adhesive postage stamps that Ceylon started using stamps.

It is reported in the Crown Agents Stamp Bulletin that a so-called ‘Free Post’ was in operation in Colombo by 1809 for the benefit of British troops in Ceylon. By 1822 a post office had been established in Colombo and by 1846 there was a daily mail coach service linking the capital with the towns of Kandy and Galle.

The first step to issue postage stamps was taken in 1854 by the acting Postmaster-General, G.G. Frazer, who ordered 60,000 copies of a new purple coloured 6d stamp released in the UK depicting the embossed head of Queen Victoria. Another order was placed for the stamp to be overprinted with the word ‘Ceylon’ to identify the country of issue.  The printers Perkins Bacon & Co Ltd. (UK) – the same company had printed the wold’s first postage stamp – printed a new stamp of 6d denomination and a stock of 60,000 stamps was received in December 1855. However, it was not until 1857 that the stamp was released to the public.

The first adhesive stamp was issued on 1 April 1857 in the value of 6d to pre-pay the first letter rate to England by ship for half-ounce letters. This was recess-printed on blue paper with a star watermark and without perforations which meant that the stamps had to be cut from a sheet and sold to the public. There were 250 stamps in one sheet. The perforated stamps were issued in 1861. The perforations were reported to have varied greatly in consistency and quality.

Stamps of other denominations appeared at regular intervals. Four stamps – 5d chestnut, 6d brown, 10d orange-vermillion and 1sh dull violet – were issued on 2 July 1857. These were printed by the same firm on white ‘star’ watermarked paper. Two more stamps – 1d blue and 2d green – followed. Half ounce being the internal postal rate for printed matter (newspapers and the like), a ½d lilac was issued in October 1857. All these stamps carried the portrait of Queen Victoria.

The Crown Agents Bulletin stated that it was interesting to note that the background of many of these stamps was that previously used for the first issues of Chile, while the unusual portrait of Queen Victoria was simultaneously used for the stamps of the Ionian Islands then under British occupation.

Four stamps in the values of 4d, 8d, 9d, 1sh9d released on 23 April 1859 had a different design – one with an embodied octagonal frame. The 4d dull rose stamp in this category has been accepted as the rarest and the most highly-priced Ceylon stamp. A few years ago, the price quoted for an unused copy was £50,000.

With the adoption of  decimal currency in 1872 – 100 cents to the rupee – new definitive series was issued in the denominations of Cents 2, 4, 8, 16, 24, 32, 36, 48, 64 and 96 in small format and Rs. 2.50 in a large format. All depicted the head of Queen Victoria.

The first cent denominations were direct conversions of pence into cents. A penny was calculated as four cents. Two shillings were equal to one rupee. The stamp denominations were thus directly linked to the conversion from pence and shillings to cents and rupees. For some time, the decimal currency was tied to the old penny rates of postage.

http://www.ft.lk/ft-lite/a-glimpse-of-t … s/6-612091

Postage stamps have documented Nigeria’s journey, says NIPOST boss

https://thenationonlineng.net/postage-s … post-boss/