A Review of 2020: What I added to the collection January-July

 

Southern Rhodesia 1931 Scott 25 10p carmine & ultramarine

"George V"

Into the Deep Blue

The year 2020 was anything but normal as we all know. Frankly, I was distracted from the hobby for most of the period, with the disruption in our usual lives because of COVID. 

The reader will note, though, that it didn't prevent Bud and I (Jim) from publishing some 60 blog posts this year. 😎

Still, I did achieve the goal of adding ~50 stamps roughly per month to my collection. The total for the year was 613 new stamps for Deep Blue (Steiner pages), with 85 of them also having a space in Big Blue.

For interest, here is the summary for 2019 and 2018.

Recall, I collect 1840-1940 WW & 1840-1952 British Commonwealth. The easy pickings are long over, as I have some 51,000 stamps out of 83,000+ major number Scott catalogue possibilities for the era (61%). For specifics, see this post.

How did I do it? Well, as you probably guessed, it was not though browsing Dealer's tables at stamp shows (The shows were cancelled), or through Club stamp auctions (No club meetings).

And, although my plan was to target missing stamps through want lists, I mostly didn't do that either, save for the first and second issues of Hungary. 

No, I mostly resorted to my tried and true habit of obtaining country collections/accumulations/albums, and using them as feeders for my main collection.

For fun, let's look at what happened month by month. As there too many stamp images to present in one blog post, I will cover January-July here, with the next post looking at August-December.

Let's begin...

January 51

(Hungary 18, Southern Rhodesia 24, Tripolitania 8, Japan 1)

The Hungary accumulation will be addressed next month. The majority of the stamps this month (Southern Rhodesia, Tripolitania) were from a selection I obtained from a local dealer a year ago, and now being worked up.

Southern Rhodesia 1924 Scott 13 2sh6p black brown & blue

"King George V"

This rather heavily cancelled stamp has a CV of $70 (used). I would most likely not target an expensive stamp like this for a want list. But here it is as part of the Dealer's offering.

Southern Rhodesia 1935 Scott 17 1p scarlet "George V"

Perf 14

The collector that previously had these Southern Rhodesia's stamps was fastidious. All Perfs were checked and labeled. This (above) yielded the main Scott number.

Southern Rhodesia 1933 Scott 17b 1p scarlet "George V"

Perf 11 1/2

And Perf 11 1/2 is a minor number.

Southern Rhodesia 1931 Scott 17c 1p scarlet "George V"

Perf 12

And so is Perf 12. In fact, based on issue dates, the Perf 12 was the first 1p scarlet in 1931.

Southern Rhodesia 1931 Scott 25 10p carmine & ultramarine

"George V"

These lovely engraved stamps of 1931-37 were produced by Waterlow and Sons, Ltd, London.

Southern Rhodesia 1937 Scott 54 5sh green & blue

"King George VI"

The 1937 issue (13 stamps) for George VI consisted of this design. CV (used) is <$1 to $8.

Southern Rhodesia 1951 Scott J1 1/2p emerald

GB Stamps 1938-51 Overprinted in Black

On Great Britain stamps, the 1951 overprinted six stamp postage due issue is as shown. CV (unused) is $2+-$3.

February 67

(Hungary 67)

March 56

(Hungary 45, Bermuda 4, USA 3, Australia 2, Barbados 2)

I picked up a loaded Hungarian collection from an Oregon dealer in January: at least it was prior to the COVID lockdown. 

Hungary 1874 Scott 17 20k greenish gray; Perf 13

"Crown of St Stephen"

Hungary is one of those countries where the WW collector probably has a lot of earlier stamps, as many are CV inexpensive. But there are many Perf variants and watermarks to sort out. Have you done that? I find it is helpful to recheck stamp identification as one obtains more feeder albums and develops a more sophisticated understanding.

This rather tired looking 1874-76 "A2" design 20k greenish gray filled a space (CV $10+). 

Hungary 1898 Scott 46 50k dull red & orange

"Crown of St Stephen"

The "A3" designs of 1888-1899 need parsing (Wmks, Perfs). A space was found for the 50k dull red and orange (CV $15).

Hungary 1908 Scott 83 5k violet brown

"Franz Josef Wearing Hungarian Crown"

Perf 15; Wmk 136

Another space filled (CV $7+). There are some five catalogue numbers (major and minor) for this design: check the Perf and Wmk.

Hungary 1920 Scott 330 10k violet brown & red violet

(FORGERY!)

Scott Nos 214-222 Overprinted in Black

I was lacking the 10k denomination (CV $9). Unfortunately, a review of Varro Tyler's "Focus on Forgeries" reveals that this overprint is a forgery. The genuine would have 5-7 very short horizontal shading lines placed between "1919" and the left edge of the frame around "1919".

That brings up the downside for Hungary: The numerous forgeries, especially with the overprinted examples.

Hungary 1936 Scott C44 5p dark blue "Airplane"

The 1936 Air Post issue of ten stamps has three designs, and shows a Fokker F VII airplane on all designs. CV varies between <$1 and $10+.

April 50

(Hungary 48, Burma 2)

May 50

(Hungary 47, Colombia 3)

Although I added a number of Hungarian stamps in other categories, a prime reason I obtained the collection was for the extensive Hungarian occupation issues. Let's take a look...

Issued under French Occupation: Arad Issue

1919 Scott 1N22 10f scarlet "Charles IV" (A11 design) , Blue Overprint

Overprinted on 1918 Issue

Now a MAJOR caveat.

Almost all of the overprinted occupation issues were overprint counterfeited. 

First Transylvania Issue - Romanian Occupation

Newspaper Stamp 1919 Scott 5NP1 2b orange 

The Scott catalogue states: "The overprints...have been extensively forged. Education plus working with knowledgeable dealers is mandatory in this collecting area"

Second Transylvania Issue - Romanian Occupation

1919 Scott 6N4 16b gray green "Turul and Crown of St Stephen"

On Stamps of 1913-16

In fact, any collection of Hungarian occupation issues that has not been expertised should be assumed to be mostly counterfeits.  That is reality.

So what should a collector do? For me, I am content to fill the spaces with (probable) overprint counterfeited stamps until..... at some point ( and perhaps never!) .... either I obtain the specialized knowledge, or get expertised stamps. !!!

Temesvar Issues - Under Serbian Occupation

1919 Scott 10NJ5 30f green & red

Postage Due stamps of 1914-15 Overprinted type "a" in Black

Yes, I would love to have the knowledge to tell, but I haven't seen where it is readily available. Life is too short, so I will fight, at this time, other easier counterfeit battles. ;-)

June 52

(Colombia 52)

July 50

(Colombia 50)

At the same time I picked up Hungary, I obtained a nice Colombia collection. (This was before the COVID lockdown.)

Actually, most of the Colombia collection was already discussed and published in 2020.

See..

Colombia 1859-1870 - a closer look 

Colombia 1871-83 - a closer look

Colombia 1899-1904: Cartagena and Barranquilla Issues

Colombia 1902-02 Scott 243 10c dark blue/salmon

Laid Paper; "Iron Quay at Sabanilla"

Barranquilla Issues

This is what I said about this issue..

"The 10c design was also issued between 1903-04 in dark blue on six different colored papers - each given a major number (Scott 240-245) for imperforate examples. There are also minor numbers for Perf 12 examples.

These stamps were on horizontally laid paper."

1918 Scott 353 1/2c on 20c gray black

On 1908 Scott 330 Surcharged in Red

Colombia, in my view, is in the top 2-3 counties in South America for philatelists. I sometimes regret collecting WW, as that limits me (time wise) when I have the desire to specialize - such as now. ;-)

1938 Scott 464 2c rose "Oil Wells"

Lithographed; Types of 1932

I show the 2c "Oil Wells" example, because it has three printings: the 1938 lithographic imprinted "Litografia Nacional Bogata" stamp (above); the 1932 engraved imprinted "Waterlow & Sons, Ltd, Londres" stamp, and the differently designed (but similar) 1935 engraved imprinted "American Bank Note Co." stamp. All inexpensive. All fascinating.

1921 Scott C25 5c orange yellow

"Plane over Magdalena River"

The 1921 eleven stamp air post issue (one of two designs shown above) and the 1923-28 thirteen stamp air post issue are a gateway into the extensive SCADTA - Consular overprints using these stamps. Of course, the SCADTA overprints are a major sub-specialty for Colombian philatelists.

Out of the Blue

Hope you enjoyed this little "show and tell' into the 2020 January - July stamp acquisitions.

The next post will look at August - December, 2020 additions. 

Comments appreciated!