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This stamp is from the time when Burma was part of the British Empire as is evident from the King's head. Burma, like Thailand, still uses elephants to haul logs. The present day name of the country is Myanmar. |
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Ceylon is no longer under British rule. The country is now independent and is known as Srilanka. Like tea, Srilanka still produces rubber. This old stamp depicts "tapping rubber". |
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An old Uruguay stamp. Uruguay is a small country on the east coast of South America, half-way down its length. Argentina's capital Buenos Aires is very close to it. |
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Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika - these three East African countries together was once known as British East Africa. After various name changes they came to be known as Kenya-Uganda-Tanganyika. Today, all of them are independent countries and each of them issue their own stamps. Tanganyika after merging with Zanzibar became Tanzania in 1964.
This stamp showing King George V's head was issued in 1935 (Scott #50). |
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Never heard of Saar? A part of Germany on the Frano-German border southeast of Luxembourg. Saar once had its own stamps, but Saar stamps were discontinued in 1959. If your friend visits the area today and sends you a postcard from there, he cannot use a Saar stamp. He will have to use a Germany stamp. |
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Indochina does not exist anymore. The area broke up in 1949 and gave birth to three new nations - Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam - each issuing their own stamps. Indochina has become a dead country. |
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Ivory Coast still exists, but the neighboring country Gold Coast has now become Ghana.
The cancellation date on this stamp reads 28 JAN 48.
Blair Stannard, a senior collector from Canada, recently looked at this stamp image closely and supplied me the following stunning details about the stamp:
This stamp was used on a letter to
Madras, India, but was undeliverable in India.
It was forwarded to the Madras Dead Letter Office,
where the stamp was cancelled "D.L.O. / MADRAS /
23 JAN 48"
The above shows how much you can find out about a stamp if you take interest and look closely.
Hats off to you, Mr. Stannard. Thanks for the info and showing the world how interesting this hobby can be. |
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What was once Federated Malay States, later became Malaya. The country is now called Malaysia.
According to Scott catalog, this stamp was issued in 1909 (Scott #42). |
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Kenya issued this stamp to honor Sir Rowland Hill (1795-1879) of Britain who first came up with the idea of introducing postage stamps as prepayment for mail delivery service. The stamp shows Sir Rowland Hill's picture, his signature, and also the first postage stamp of the world, the famous "Penny Black", issued by Great Britain in 1840. (Penny Black has Queen Victoria's picture on it). A beautiful stamp indeed. |
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Don't know where Aland (pronounced Oland) is? I don't blame you. I didn't know either until I got this stamp. It is an autonomous province (a group of tiny islands) within Finland. 95% of the population speaks Swedish. Within the islands both Aland and Finland stamps can be used. But in mainland Finland, Aland stamps are not valid.
This is an example of a perfectly centered ("superb") stamp which you may not see very clearly because of the poor quality of scanning. Sorry! |
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Two old USA stamps featuring ... George
Washington, of course. These are over 100 years old. Notice how badly off-centered is the stamp on the right. The perforations have actually cut through the design on the left and on the top of the stamp. The general condition of the stamp is also not very good. In philatelic term, it is an "average" stamp. |
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When I started collecting stamps in early 1950's, stamps were almost invariably rectangular shaped and most had perforations, although some very early stamps did not have perforations on them. Few stamps were triangle shaped and few were diamond shaped. I used to get overly excited if I got a triangle shaped or diamond shaped stamp, because they were so scarce. Today, in the 21st century, thanks to improved technology, stamps can be of almost any shape. The New Zealand stamp on the left is an example. It is shaped like a rugby jersey! And where are the perforations? The stamp pundits who take pride in counting the perforations on a stamp, will surely be disappointed. |