The first stamp is Kenya — Uganda — Tanganyika, Scott #113, issued in 1955. My catalogue is 20 years old, but its value then in used condition was minimal — 15 cents — so it's probably still minimal.
About Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika (KUT), from Wikipedia:
"Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika (KUT) is the name on British postage stamps made for use in the British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika. The stamps were circulated between 1935 and 1963 by the joint postal service of the three colonies, the East African Posts and Telecommunications Administration. Even after independence, the new separate nations continued to use the KUT stamps, and they remained valid for postage until 1977."
Kenya and Uganda are now independent Republics.
About Tanganyika, also from Wikipedia:
"Tanganyika, from 1962 to 1964 the Republic of Tanganyika, was a sovereign state in the former German East Africa. It was situated between the Indian Ocean and the African Great Lakes of Lake Victoria, Lake Nyasa and Lake Tanganyika. It gained independence from the United Kingdom as a Commonwealth realm on 9 December 1961, becoming a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations exactly a year later, on 9 December 1962. On 26 April 1964, Tanganyika joined with the People's Republic of Zanzibar and Pemba to form the United Republic of Tanganyika and Zanzibar, a new state that changed its name to the United Republic of Tanzania within a year."
When I had a worldwide collection, I put these KUT stamps on their own, not within Kenya, Uganda, or Tanzania/Tanganyika. I divided my albums into continents, so they appeared in the Africa set, right BEFORE Kenya as it preceded that country historically.
The Bulgarian stamp "clearly" says Ð‘ÑŠÐ»Ð³Ð°Ñ€Ð¸Ñ (Bulgaria) on it. The text says "Zoological Garden -- Sofia", which according to wikipedia is south-eastern Europe's oldest and largest zoo.
The caption at the top says Слон (slon) which according to wikipedia unsurprisingly means elephant.
No, I don't know a word of Bulgarian. But it pays to learn some cyrillic! So many countries use or have used it.
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 13 Jan 2015 02:39:21pm
re: i need help with these
Here is a list I created to use when I use stamps to teach the grand children the geography of Europe, especially the now segmented Jugoslavia and former Soviet State.
Crimea Крым Къырым Крим Ukraine Україна Switzerland Helvetia Germany Deutschland Austria Oesterreich Österreich Serbia Србија Srbija Croatia Hrvatska Albania Shqipërisë Finland Suomi Sweden Sverige Russia РоÑÑийÑÐºÐ°Ñ Ð¤ÐµÐ´ÐµÑ€Ð°Ñ†Ð¸Ñ Rossiyskaya Federatsiya Soviet Union CCCP Hungary Magyarország Kosovo Kosovës Република КоÑово Greece Ἑλλάς), Ἑλληνική ΔημοκÏατία Slovenia Slovenija Slovakia Slovenská Montenegro Црна Гора Crna Gora Macedonia Македонија Makedonija Bulgaria Ð‘ÑŠÐ»Ð³Ð°Ñ€Ð¸Ñ Bâlgariya Moldavia Молдова Herzegovina Hercegovina Херцеговина Belarus БеларуÑÑŒ БеларуÑÑŒ Japan 日本国 日本å¸å›½ Nationalist China ä¸è¯æ°‘國 Communist China ä¸åŽäººæ°‘共和国
I hope I have them all correct, but they should help to get the search to the right country.
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".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
Finland is SUOMI and Sweden is SVERIGE. FYI Norway is NORGE.
Modern mainland China inscriptions start with ä¸å›½ (not ä¸åŽ), but I haven't studied older ones. Taiwan starts with ä¸è¯, and Japan with 日本. I've never seen 日本国 on a stamp and although it is a valid appelation I don't recall ever hearing it used. Older stamps might have 日本å¸å›½ (=Japanese Empire).
Historically there have been several German stamp-issuing authorities. Stamps from modern unified Germany say Deutschland, but West Germany had Deutsch Bundespost and East had DDR on its stamps. I haven't studied pre-WW2.
Hungary usually says "MAGYAR POSTA", but some of the older stamps have "MAGYAR KIR POSTA". Not sure about the latest issues.
This is a tremendously helpful conversation. As a fairly new collector, this is great information for future reference. As an aside - are we able to save specific threads to make finding them later easier?
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin 14 Jan 2015 09:52:55am
re: i need help with these
For those folk who have any Scott Catalog (any year, any volume) you have a marvelous reference for these types of identifications. Also, if you are a member of Stamporama, we can assume you are computer literate, so a casual search via Google will answer 99.9% of all identification questions. You will find many sites such as Stamp Finder Online to assist you.
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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke"
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin 14 Jan 2015 12:39:00pm
re: i need help with these
Mark, it was merely an example. I guess I am just old fashioned in my collecting habits, but to me a large part of the fun is finding answers through investigation. I was just trying to point out that there is a lot of satisfaction in finding answers for yourself. I googled "Stamp Identifier" and had in excess of 1,000,000 hits!
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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke"