In looking over my New Zealand collection I noticed just how beautiful some of the perfectly SON cancellations are. This selection are all from the late 19th century. The last stamp is shown not so much for the cancellation but rather the Gibbons listed variety “chisel”. At first I thought it was just scuffed but after dipping in watermark fluid and looking under strong magnification it shows to be the listed variety. Hope you enjoy looking at these gems.

Interesting earlier Iceland fdc..

📮 India Post has issued a new ₹5 commemorative postage stamp on 17 October 2026, celebrating the birth centenary of Ghanshyam Dass Jain, featuring a beautifully illustrated portrait and his association with the violin.

UK Royal Mail stamps, the mushroom collection!

On this day, 120 years ago, Friedrich Wilhelm Voigt - a Prussian shoemaker, petty conman and fraudster, went down in history history as a captain (hauptman) from Köpenick who took control of the town of Köpenick (now a district of Berlin) - a stunt that amused both the general public and Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Unable to find a job in Berlin (he had no registration) or registration (due to his criminal record), Voigt collected a Prussian army officer's uniform from a junk dealer and purchased a manual of military regulations.

On the 16th of October 1906, disguised as a captain, he first took command of a passing patrol, then went to the town hall of the German city of Köpenick, where he ordered soldiers to arrest the mayor for corruption and confiscated the city treasury (with a receipt!). In Berlin, he ordered soldiers to take the arrested mayor to the guardhouse and then disappeared, changing into civilian clothes. The Prussian authorities needed 10 days to solve the embarrassing mystery and arrest Voigt, who had become famous throughout Germany folk hero who ridiculed Prussian drill and blind, bureaucratic obedience.

Supposedly, the whole incident amused Kaiser Wilhelm and thanks to this the "Captain from Köpenick" got away with a relatively short prison sentence.

He died in poverty in 1922 in Luxembourg - the considerable fortune he had accumulated by selling souvenir postcards and writing memoirs was lost during hyperinflation.

(2022🇱🇺)

TO this point I only had a small collection of stamps (US/Soviet aerospace stuff, dating from the Apollo-Soyuz mission onwards, and some Bicentennial related stuff) but I recently bought a large lot of paper ephemera (to make art with) and part of the lot was 22lb of vintage philatelic material. That turns out to be a HUGE amount of paper

These stamps/albums/postal ephemera are so cool in front of me I hesitate to use them for art, and the contents so voluminous I feel overwhelmed

But what do I have? I the date of other materials seem to indicate 1930's through 1950's printing dates.

I have many glassine (sp?) envelopes with "Special Offer from Louis Merrill, Portsmouth OH (which is the location from where I purchased the lot)

Parameters: I'm in a wheelchair, retired with a lotta time on my hands... so I don't mind a lotta repetitive busy-work.

I just need a bit of direction/advice to take my time, evaluate what I have and then.. maybe I'll still use it all for art :)

The albums themselves (guessing 40-50 seem fragile and cloth covers are detaching. There are hundreds of small glassine envelopes or substitute 1950's era bank envelopes fulla postage.... but since the first couple albums fell apart when removed, Im worried about the mess/loss.

Some really cool stuff from places that don't exist anymore tho.

Here's a unusual ephemera item that came buried in a local estate purchase. A "stamp wheel" for identification - the second side (not pictured) is much the same. Made in 1952 by Saco Stamps. Not in great shape, but a lovely addition to my small collection of ephemera!

I photographed my 1982 $0.20 Black Heritage: Jackie Robinson First Day Cover at the Branch Rickey Arena and Historic Marker at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio (USA).

Rickey was an OWU baseball player and graduate. As the general manager for the Brooklyn Dodgers, he signed Jackie Robinson to the team.

Robinson became the first black player to play professional baseball in the modern era, breaking the color barrier on April 15, 1947.

Someone simply sent me several stamps as a gift.

Hello, All!

I've long been casually interested in Stamps, but never enough to get started. I've been looking at it, and at Postcrossing specifically (I should probably say that I'm in the USA). So I have a few questions about actually getting started.

1) What supplies do I need. I'm guessing Post Cards, glue sticks to affix stamps that I send, and a binder/envelopes/inserts in which to save stamps that I receive back.

2) Postage. While I know I could use a "US Global Forever" stamp, I'm guessing that a foreign collector may be happier getting multiple stamps with different motifs. Any suggestions on where to get a nice variety of pretty stamps to send (and admittedly to keep some for my own collection)? (I suppose if I do keep some, I will need some "stamp-sized" storage vessels, as well as the "post-card-sized" storage vessels).

In short, I can boil this down to 1 question: What do I need to get started, and where is the best resource to get it? I appreciate your response, and look forward to at least dipping my pinky toe into this as a hobby.

Thanks!

Tom

I've been digging through some stamps in my collection. Don't know when or where I got them now (whoops), but I'm on a mission to finally label everything. Came across the piece in the link and don't know if it's Type I or Type II. Seems highly unlikely I stumbled upon a Type 1, but the letter alignment of INV looks right from reading the description in my libraries catalogue. N under the B? But the '5' doesn't seem right. Although if it is a Tupe 1 I'm sure that overprint will turn out to be fake, annoyingly it was hinged right along the overprint in its previous life.

I don't really know anything about these, so any help to get the correct ID so I can label and move on is appreciated.

Arrived at post office in Oldenburg on April 19th, then arrived to Hamburg on the 20th, since Elmshorn is very close to Hamburg I imagine it arrived at Elmshorn the 20th or 21st.

These two German postage stamps were issued during the anniversary commemorations. More than three decades later, they offer an interesting starting point for discussing how we remember history and why the same historical event can carry different meanings for different communities.

Close up images of the stamps and more

I added a 3kr from the same set for comparison. The 5kr has no perforations and is still larger than the tips of the perforations on the 3kr stamp. Any help on what this is would be amazing!

I've a Lindner ring binder which I'm using to store austrian stamps and recently came across the album I attach in the picture, for sale online second hand. I'm curious if anyone knows whether this a one time custom job or Lindner used to make these but not anymore (I may have missed it when I searched their website). I know the brand SAFE for instance has to this day a beautiful austria blue album for sale. Thanks.

These 1964 stamps depict the Temple of Thoth at Dakka and the Great Temple of Abu Simbel. Both were threatened by the rising waters associated with Egypt's Aswan High Dam project.

What makes this issue particularly interesting is its historical context. Abu Simbel was eventually dismantled and reconstructed at a higher location, while the Temple of Dakka was also relocated as part of the wider rescue effort coordinated through UNESCO.

These stamps were issued while the international campaign was still underway, making them a fascinating philatelic record of a major archaeological and engineering undertaking.

I made a short documentary exploring the monuments, their history, the engineering behind their relocation, and the story behind this stamp issue.

🎥 Watch the documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K44h2I12EQ4
The video is available in English and Hindi Both (change the language)

Thanks for taking a look!

You be the Judge, is it? Yes or No

Hello! Aspiring stamp collector here. I'm read a book recently on George V and really quite enjoyed hearing about his passion for stamps.

Since I'm in the UK, I want to start collecting British stamps pre WW2. As MNH as I can get my hands on, with a nice hingless album I think, open to album recommendations if anyone has them!

I'd also like to collect another country pre WW2 but I'm unsure which, there are so many countries with rich histories and beautiful stamps it's left me indecisive. I'd appreciate some recommendations. Do you have a favourite country with nice engravings and history? Or you feel it is underrated and should gain another collector? Thanks!

Link to previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/philately/s/6Cn6z7nnVM

Hello!
I just wanted to share an update after my first stamp show — it was an absolute success!

I bought discounted postage, had some lovely conversations, and bought some stamps to gift to my loved ones!

I also ran into one of the members of the local philatelic organization AND another Postcrosser!

It was such a blast and I had a good time. I spent 5 hours there and ended up taking a two hour nap when I got home. 😅

I do not think I have a collection quite yet, but I did buy some stamps I will absolutely cherish. The Japanese nudibranch one was probably my favorite find! Nudibranchs are one of my interests so I was thrilled to see it in person!

Thank you to everyone for their advice and insight! I am very thankful for the kindness and guidance everyone has provided me both in-person and online. :)

This is part of the first commemorative semi-postal series of France which raised funds for orphans of WWI. The original series came out in 1917 (top row). In 1922, they were surcharged with a smaller value for the charity portion (middle row). In 1926, the stamps for reprinted using the surcharged values from before (bottom row).

This seems to follow a trend for French semi-postal stamps that the charity part of the stamps used to be equal or even greater than the base value but over time got smaller. It’s hard to compare exactly, but online it seems like the 1917 5fr + 5fr would be equivalent to $45 USD today (to only count as ~$22 of postage) which seems quite expensive. I can imagine that the higher face value stamps of the original series were unaffordable for many, considering they came out during the war.