The truth is within and only you can reveal it 04 Aug 2017 11:17:14pm
Time to start a new thread for the airmails to cut down on the load times.
For today Airmails from Tripolitania are being shown.
As with most Italian colonies there were many beautiful sets issued and are some of my favorites. Shown are the first three pages.
Italian colonies and offices are one of my main areas of focus these days and I have been slowly but surely building up those collections.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 05 Aug 2017 09:40:53pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
For today a very important country when it comes to airmails: France.
Air flight was pretty much born in France and was responsible for many of the great break throughs. They've produced some of the most beautiful airmails and have shown many of there achievements in the history of flight. There are also many aviation related stamps scattered through-out the regular and semi postal of France.
Today, I'm showing the first three pages.
Stamps with the Red dot are stamps I do not own but have been included for reference the first two are close to the top of my need list so it should not be much longer before I have have them. The next two stamps are very scarce (2-10K) and I doubt I will ever have them. The rest of my France is now over 99% complete (missing 9 regulars and 5 semi postals). I'm pretty much done what I can with France, obtaining 1/2 of what I need might be doable with some good buys. But France is nearly at the end of the road which is kind of a bummer. Not including Spain and San Marino the rest of Europe (various end dates from 1970-2000) is at about the same level of completion of France. European stamps are some of my top favorites but the most it seems I can do now is focus on deeper B.O.B. issues.
Oh and the last stamp on the first page is just a scarce, tough stamp to get your hands on, Hopefully I'll get one of those!
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 06 Aug 2017 09:07:56pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
Egypt are the airmail stamps shown today.
Shown is the first two pages and a later sheet I'm quite fond of.
It's unfortunat the Gold in the sheet does not show well.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 08 Aug 2017 07:46:38pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
The airmail showing for today is from Mexico. With 636 airmail stamps, I cannot think of another country that has issued more airmail stamps. There are a great range of designs which makes it a very interesting collecting area.
Shown is the first page and a few selected later pages.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 09 Aug 2017 08:24:09pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
The airmail stamps of Madagascar are the topic for today.
Shown are the first two pages and the 4th and 5th. The 3rd consists mainly of earlier issues with overprints.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 12 Aug 2017 11:49:12pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
The airmails of Czechoslovakia are today's topic. Not being one of my favorite countries I I doubt I have added anything to it in decades. Somewhere down the road, however, I need to find those first 6 airmails, as completing first pages is a primary goal of mine.
Shown are the first three pages.
I almost chose to start an airmail stamp collection. Really didn't think my wallet could handle it. After looking at yours I may have to do some research on the subject and consider it. I have a quick few questions for you.
1) Are you making your own pages for the collection?
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 13 Aug 2017 10:29:32pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
Malby,
1. Most of my pages are Scott Specialty pages. I consider them the best pages because they have all the major numbered stamps represented and because they are laid out using the Scott numbering system. For pages I cannot find in Scott Specialty I print my own using Steiner formats.
2. I buy used Scott Specialty albums and pages when I can find them. These often have many stamps already mounted and are far cheaper than starting with new pages and adding stamps.
I prefer mint stamps but also collect used. I get the most reasonable copy I can afford when it comes my way. Collecting only mint or used will greatly limit your collection because either way there are stamps you will not be able to find or afford.
3. I do not actively collect covers but concentrate on stamps. I have over a 150 albums and by them selves take up plenty of room.
Collecting air mails on any pages other than Scott or Steiner is not a workable deal.
Scott and Steiner divide issues by regular, semi postal, airmails, postage due, official etc. Other brands such as Minkus and most European brands order the stamps by date mixing all issues together.
Having a collection of just WW airmails is a great idea. If that is something you will want to do, the only logical choice would be Steiner pages. You can print just the pages you need using Steiner. Any Scott product you would need all the pages and then separate out the airmail pages. There are no comprehensive WW airmail albums to my knowledge.
"Scott divides issues by regular, semi postal, airmails, postage due, official etc. "
That is true most of the time, but Scott is very inconsistent with this. Many sets in the regular postage section of many countries contain semi-postals and air mail stamps. Those stamps are given regular catalog numbers, and are not found in the semi-postal (B) or air mail (C) sections.
Someone mentioned recently here that Scott catalogs suffer inconsistencies from having many editors over the years. That is true. Also, new editors have been allowed to make their personal changes to the catalogs. It is an unwritten rule (told to me by a former Scott Catalog editor) that a previous editor's work will only be changed if there is no other choice regardless of the inconsistencies that may occur. The end result is like trying to write a script for a Star Trek episode, but using the writing manual for The Beverly Hillbillies.
Scott needs to hire an editorial staff to establish a writing manual of standards that must be followed by anyone adding information to the catalogs. Then the staff has to go through and update the catalogs to get rid of as much of the inconsistencies as possible.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 15 Aug 2017 07:12:58pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
Dave, Agreed! That especially goes for the semi-postals of which they have few equals.
See here: http://mitch.seymourfamily.com/mward/collection/europe/france/francebob.html
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 23 Aug 2017 10:30:53pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
Today a selection of airmail stamps from Romania.
Shown is the first airmail page from Romania followed by a couple selected pages the
third page shows a souvenir sheet of Vlad the impaler who is known to be the inspiration for the creation of the character Dracula and it is rather scarce. The last page is the first airpost semipostal page for Romania.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 24 Aug 2017 09:16:31pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
For today the airmail stamps of The Netherlands are featured.
Shown are the only two pages of airmails in my collection.
Besides these stamps there has been only one other air mail stamp
that was issued in 1980.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 26 Aug 2017 01:09:29am
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
For today the airmails of the French colony Martinique.
Shown are all of the airmails issued by Martinique.
Most of these are common issues that were also issued by other French colonies with the only difference being the inscription of different colony names.
The first Iranian air mail set looks like they may be counterfeits. Check the perfs. The genuine stamps are perfed 11 1/2. The counterfeits are perfed 12 1/2 x 12.
The overprints on the second set also have been counterfeited, but I don't have information on those.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 03 Sep 2017 12:16:53am
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
Michael, I don't doubt that one bit. As a header to the index page for Iran I point out that most of the early issues are probably fakes. My interest in Iran as well as many other Middle Eastern countries is the lowest of any area. For Iran I just collect what comes my way and make no claims to their legitimacy. Perhaps someday that might change and I'll enjoy studying them but for now they is what they is.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 05 Sep 2017 10:21:32pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
Thanks Dave, I agree those first issues are great looking bi-colors. It's just to bad that they are fairly difficult to find and when you find them there is always someone who is willing to spend more than I am.
Cyrenaica is the airmail choice of the day. Some very beautiful stamps but I still need several to complete.
Shown are the first three pages.
I've never seen ANY of these Cyrenaica airmails. I had a few of the other Italian colonial airmails from this era, but never encountered these. Some very nice designs!
Tom
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"I no longer collect, but will never abandon the hobby"
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 06 Sep 2017 06:55:06pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
Michael and Tom, Italian colonies have some of the most beautiful stamps, especially their semi postals and airmails. I have been concentrating on the colonies for the last year and have been making some progress but they are somewhat scarce and have many fans. Many of the stamps were used in several different colonies as in that 1932 set where a few were used in both Libia and Tripolatania.
For today is another Italian colony for camparison; Eritrea.
The first set is a rather common format used in most of the colonies. It's large size and
bi color usage have beautifully portrayed many different topics. Unfortunately there is only one page of airmails for this colony.
I agree. Italian colonies and the Aegean Islands is probably the weakest area in my collection as an area taken as a whole. One of the biggest problems trying to collect as a MNH collector, is that most of these stamps are not available as MNH. I do make allowances for that, and lightly hinged is acceptable to me. The next big problem is the gum used on many older Italian-area stamps tones very badly making the stamp unpresentable in many instances. As I get older, and I continue to look at the blank spaces, I am turning more and more of the mind to fill the spaces with whatever stamp I can find (MNH, unused lightly hinged, or used with a light to very light cancel). I have begun doing this in some regards, but not as a rule of thumb.
Michael.... I have the inverse problem. I actively collect only used stamps. I keep unused copies I acquire in collections as place savers until a valid cancelled copy comes along. This I do even when the unused has significant value and the used stamp is a common. I trade off the replaced unused's. I do recognize there are a limited group of stamps without valid used copies (i.e. late Vichy France colonials). These I will procure for my specialized areas. To my re-collection of the inverse problem does not exist- used copies only, without any valid unused.
"Collecting air mails on any pages other than Scott or Steiner is not a workable deal."
Another viable option would be to just order the airmail pages from Palo Albums. For the classic period, for most countries, it would only be a handful of pages per country.
I recently started a separate classic WW Airmail collection. Right now I'm using all the airmail pages pulled out of a complete set of Vintage Reproduction Pages, which fit nicely into only two binders. The downside is that they only go up through 1940 and there are some nice and affordable airmail stamps from the 1940s and early 50s I'd like to collect too. I may in the future consider the Palo option or maybe just use blank pages to add the stamps from the 40s and 50s.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 09 Sep 2017 12:16:26am
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
I'm really not familliar with Palo pages, so I can't offer an opinion. However I cannot conceive of any pages that could be more easily obtainable and customized using imaging software, than Steiner. What ever the case, If I can't have Scott specialty pages then I go with Steiner. It's way to late in my game to even think about changing to something else.
I can only recommend that which I know to be a best option.
The truth is within and only you can reveal it 09 Sep 2017 07:33:50pm
re: A-Ra's Page of the Day (AIRMAILS) Part III
The airmails for today are From Ecuador.
Ecuador has issued a great many airmails and many of them are quite beautiful. The earliest stamps are quite hard to come by and I am missing many of them.
I'm showing the first page and the 3rd 4th and 6th.