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Black Swan (stamp)
The Black Swan is the first postage stamp issued by the British colony of Western Australia in 1854. It illustrates a black swan, a typical Australian animal at the time and was the only image used on Western Australian stamps until 1902. Description In 1854, the one penny denominated stamp was issued imperforate. It was engraved by William Humphrys and printed in London in 1854 by Perkins Bacon. Later issues The later values in the series were produced in lithography by Horace Samson in Perth. Western Australia only issued swan stamps until the creation of the Commonwealth of Australia in 1912, except for a few stamps of Queen Victoria issued in 1902. The reprints were also lithographed in the colony. In 1912, the main value of the series was overprinted ''One Penny'' to be valid for use throughout Australia. The watermark on all the colony's stamps featured the silhouette of the swan until 1862. In thematic philately, the Black Swan is the first stamp of the bird top ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Australia is Australia's largest state, with a total land area of . It is the List of country subdivisions by area, second-largest country subdivision in the world, surpassed only by Russia's Sakha, Sakha Republic. the state has 2.76 million inhabitants percent of the national total. The vast majority (92 percent) live in the South-West Land Division, south-west corner; 79 percent of the population lives in the Perth area, leaving the remainder of the state sparsely populated. The first Europeans to visit Western Australia belonged to the Dutch Dirk Hartog expedition, who visited the Western Australian coast in 1616. The first pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Overprinted
An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a postage or revenue stamp, postal stationery, banknote or ticket after it has been printed. Post offices most often use overprints for internal administrative purposes such as accounting but they are also employed in public mail. Well-recognized varieties include commemorative overprints which are produced for their public appeal and command significant interest in the field of philately. Surcharges The term "surcharge" in philately describes any type of overprint that alters the price of a stamp.Williams & Williams, p. 258. Surcharges raise or lower the face value of existing stamps when prices have changed too quickly to produce an appropriate new issue, or simply to use up surplus stocks. Any overprint which restates a stamp's face value in a new currency is also described as a surcharge. Some postal systems have resorted to surcharge overprints when converting to a new national monetary syst ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds On Stamps
A bird stamp is a postage stamp that illustrates one or more birds. It is a popular theme in topical stamp collecting. Birds started appearing on stamps by 1875, when Japan issued a series of three stamps bearing stylized illustrations of the three species '' Motacilla alba'', ''Accipiter gentilis'' and bean goose.Malcolm Ogilvie"Birds on Stamps" ''Birds of Britain: The Monthly Web Magazine for Birdwatchers'', March 2002. The first United States bird stamp, depicting an eagle with wings outspread, was issued in 1869 on Scott #116 and #121, on stamps that were issued for general mail usage. The UK issued its first in honor of "Nature Week" in 1963. As of 2003, over 10,000 bird stamps had been issued around the world. A prominent collector is Chris Gibbins whose collection of over twelve thousand stamps portrays about three thousand species. Organisations that cover this field include the American Topical Association The American Topical Association (ATA) is a US-based philate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1854
Events January–March * January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''. * January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. * January 9 – The Teutonia Männerchor in Pittsburgh, U.S.A. is founded to promote German culture. * January 20 – The North Carolina General Assembly in the United States charters the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, to run from Goldsboro through New Bern, to the newly created seaport of Morehead City, near Beaufort. * January 21 – The iron clipper runs aground off the east coast of Ireland, on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool, bound for Australia, with the loss of at least 300 out of 650 on board. * February 11 – Major streets are lit by coal gas for the first time by the San Francisco Gas Company; 86 such lamps are turned on this evening in San Francisco, California. * February 13 – Mexican troops force William Wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australia Post
Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post office. Australia Post is the successor of the Postmaster-General's Department, which was established at federation in 1901 as the successor to colonial post services. In 1975, the department was abolished and its postal functions were taken over by the Australian Postal Commission. The organisation's current name and structure were adopted in 1989 as part of a process of corporatisation. History Colonial Australia (pre―1901) Before colonial control of mail started in 1809, mail was usually passed on by ad hoc arrangements made between transporters, storekeepers and settlers. These arrangements were flexible, and inherently unstable. It was common for early settlers to ride many miles out of their way to deliver neighbours' mail t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Royal Philatelic Collection
The Royal Philatelic Collection is the postage stamp collection of the British royal family. It is the most comprehensive collection of items related to the philately of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth, with many unique pieces. Of major items, only the British Guiana 1c magenta is missing from the collection of British Imperial stamps. In 2020, the value of the collection was estimated by ''The Daily Telegraph'' to be £100 million. Early history Some members of the royal family are known to have been collecting stamps by 1864, just under twenty-five years after their introduction in 1840. The first serious collector in the family was Prince Alfred, who sold his collection to his older brother Edward VII, who in turn gave it to his son, later George V. George V George V was one of the notable philatelists of his day. In 1893, as the Duke of York, he was elected honorary vice-president of what became the Royal Philatelic Society of London. On his marriage ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cancellation (mail)
A cancellation (or cancel for short; French: ) is a postal marking applied on a postage stamp or postal stationery to deface the stamp and to prevent its reuse. Cancellations come in a huge variety of designs, shapes, sizes, and colors. Modern cancellations commonly include the date and post office location where the stamps were mailed, in addition to lines or bars designed to cover the stamp itself. The term " postmark" refers specifically to the part that contains the date and posting location, but the term is often used interchangeably with "cancellation" as it may serve that purpose. The portion of a cancellation that is designed to deface the stamp and does not contain writing is also called the "obliteration" Scott US p. 30A. or killer. Some stamps are issued pre-cancelled with a printed or stamped cancellation and do not need to have a cancellation added. Cancellations can affect the value of stamps to collectors, positively or negatively. Cancellations of some countrie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Linns Stamp News
''Linn's Stamp News'' is an American weekly magazine for stamp collectors. It is published by Amos Media Co., which also publishes the Scott ''Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue'', the Scott ''Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers'', and the Scott ''Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940''. ''Linn's'' was founded in 1928 by George W. Linn as ''Linn's Weekly Stamp News''. The size of the paper shrank in late 2007. Description The front page of the publication features news from the stamp world, including significant new stamp issues around the world, major auctions of rare items, significant new discoveries, philatelic controversies, and notable events, such as eBay's ending two programs that regularly examined stamp and coin listings for the purpose of deterring fraudulent sales. Each issue has additional news stories inside along with a wide variety of features and columns. Regular features include: * " U.S. Stamp News" by John Hotchner, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Invert Error
In philately, an invert error occurs when part of a stamp is printed upside-down. Inverts are perhaps the most spectacular of postage stamp errors, not only because of their striking visual appearance, but because some are quite rare, and highly valued by stamp collectors. Characteristics Invert errors, or "inverts" for short, most commonly arise when producing multi-colored stamps via multiple passes through the printing press. It is easy for a printing plant worker to insert a half-finished sheet the wrong way around, resulting in the inverts. Such an error being so obvious, nearly all misprinted sheets are caught and destroyed before they leave the plant, and still more are caught during distribution or at the post office before being sold. A much less common situation is for the invert to be embedded into the printing plate or stone, most famously the case for the Inverted Swan of early Western Australia. An invert may be characterized as an "inverted center" or "inverted f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inverted Swan
The Inverted Swan, a 4-pence blue postage stamp issued in 1855 by Western Australia, was one of the world's first invert errors. Technically, it is the frame that is inverted, not the image of the swan, but it has become commonly known as the Inverted Swan. In 1854, Western Australia issued its first stamps, featuring the colony's symbol, the black swan, as did all WA stamps until 1902. While the 1d black was engraved in Great Britain by Perkins Bacon, other values, including the 4d blue, were produced by Horace Samson in Perth using lithography, and with different frames around the swan design for each value. The error In January 1855, additional 4d stamps were needed. When Alfred Hillman brought the printing stone out of storage, he found that two of the impressions had been damaged, so he had to redo them. One of the replaced frames was tilted; the other was accidentally redone upside-down. The stone's block of 60 was transferred four times to make the printing stone, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bird Stamp
A bird stamp is a postage stamp that illustrates one or more birds. It is a popular theme in topical stamp collecting. Birds started appearing on stamps by 1875, when Japan issued a series of three stamps bearing stylized illustrations of the three species '' Motacilla alba'', ''Accipiter gentilis'' and bean goose.Malcolm Ogilvie"Birds on Stamps" ''Birds of Britain: The Monthly Web Magazine for Birdwatchers'', March 2002. The first United States bird stamp, depicting an eagle with wings outspread, was issued in 1869 on Scott #116 and #121, on stamps that were issued for general mail usage. The UK issued its first in honor of "Nature Week" in 1963. As of 2003, over 10,000 bird stamps had been issued around the world. A prominent collector is Chris Gibbins whose collection of over twelve thousand stamps portrays about three thousand species. Organisations that cover this field include the American Topical Association The American Topical Association (ATA) is a US-based philate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thematic Philately
Topical or thematic stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps relating to a particular subject or concept. Topics can be almost anything, from stamps on stamps, birds, trains and poets on stamps, to famous physicians and scientists, along with historical people and events on stamps, which is often a standard theme for many stamp issuing countries. Background The earliest stamps simply depicted busts of reigning monarchs, important figures, or coats of arms, but as time went on stamps started to have a wider range of designs. Bears appeared on provisional stamps of St. Louis in 1845, while the beaver was featured on the earliest stamps of Canada. More than 150 years later, the variety of designs on stamps is enormous, giving topical collectors plenty of scope to find stamps for their chosen theme. In fact, so many stamps have been issued that some popular themes, such as ships or birds, have become nearly impossible to complete, and topical collectors may specialize ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
