Christmas Island stamps

Hello everyone.. well I found some Christmas Island stamps today. so here they are.


I have been writing recently about Christmas stamps - I had a few scans sent to me - but thought these might interest you.



They do have a Christmas theme and whether you celebrate Christmas or not, well the season is the season after all. Any holiday excuse is ok by me!!!


Do you like them? I do.. always have, only because it is Christmas


Something else to challenge you. What about this...............


Today I made some time to sort some stamps. I occassionally soak off envelopes the many stamps I accumulate and then press flat under heavy books.. and today I just sorted all sorts that I had accumulated under lots of heavy books,.... surprised even myelf.
Found the stamp on the right ....I don't even know what envelope it came from.. it is not damaged to make this image I can assure you. Does anyone recognise the stamp.. is it even a stamp I wonder??? Am I rich!!!!!!!!!!!


I have much more...... tomorrow.. December 1st.. and the announcement of my Christmas Competition ............ Dont miss out.. have a great weekend..
Enjoy your stamps.. Michael

Belgium...........

something very different for me.. I found an envelope in some material I was looking at today. I thought I might sell it on ebay.. so I looked at eBay to see what Belgium stamps were for sale.... not that much as far as I could see.. but I did find this.. a steal eh!!!!!!!!! it seems the same goes for people trying to sell Belgium stamps as it does for those selling GB or Australia or US.. check out top right hand corner.


Anyway.. I was going to sell this envelope.. an airmail envelope.. very nice.. the revese lip has a crease but stamps seem fine to me... what do you think.. ??? what should I list it at???

Look forward to hearing from you.. email me at cddstamps@gmail.com enjoy your stamps.. Michael

true beauty

I hope you like this... not often seen.. and not yet mine... one day I would like own such a sheet ....

I am writing about this stamp.. anyone have any stories or details of the printing etc..please email me. I am trying to put an exhibition entry together on the issue... of the two stamps this and the 2 1/2d. write me at cddstamps@gmail.com

New Topic: I don't always say who wins what.. but since I have had no emails recently..no one has won anything.. hey..saved me the postage

Also, I think I am behind on some emails... from earlier this month..will try to catch up this week..

And since Christmas is coming... one month today.. I would be really pleased if you could send me a scan of your countries Chtistmas issue. so I can share with others..

Look forward to hearing from you.. best wishes... Michael

from Elizabeth I to Elizabeth II

Hello everyone.. back again.. was out at dinner last night and then to see the film Elizabeth - the Golden Years .. out of ten.. say a 6... ok a 5.. ok ok ok, a 4 .....one of Sir Francis Drake's relatives obviously did something to piss off the producer / director because he (Sir Francis Drake) never got a mention.. strange... apart from the fact the screen writers have probably never read any history of the period and so got more facts wrong than I do in an average year of writing about stamps .. it was an ok film..

I slept well during the part where Cate whats her name ponces around on some white horse which would not stand still because some idiot was probably poking it with a stick, she trying to give some Joan of Arc type rendition to the troops.. who were probably drunk anyway...... being scared s less given how big the Spanish Armada supposedly was.. not that, in actual fact, there were that many troops hanging round the white cliffs of Dover at the time.. since all the action was down Plymouth way.. and I dare anyone to tell me it was off Gravelines.. cos I knew that ... and anyway.. final point.. for those of you who do go to see the film.. some fun but please don't believe that much of it is close to the reality of the time... for example Mary Queen of Scots was probably not that young or able.. know what I mean.. and the beheading of her was probably not the real reason Philip of Spain decided to have a go at jolly old England,... it is more likely that he was getting a bit fed up with that guy Drake ripping apart his shipping and plundering all that gold that the spaniards themselves had plundered.... and well, there was just so much that was inaccurate........ enjoy as a fantasy based on events that happened somewhere sometime

but to stamps.. and Elizabeth II ...and you wondered when I would get to her.. me there revelling in the drama of Elizabeth I...

so my challenge to you.. has anyone seen a copy of these stamps..even one of them .. actually used???? I will find a prize for every person that sends a scan of any of these (used) stamps to me.. by lets say end of day 25th November
email me at cddstamps@gmail.com and include your mailing address

You know where I am going with this.. How do I get GB Commemoratives used??? save buying them and posting to myself and risking damage by the Post Office...

I wonder if my GB fan club will treat me to a used set of these 4 stunning stamps peal them off the mini sheet and send on a couple of letters.. not too close to the edge of course... I may send a Christmas present in response.

Have a great weekend.. enjoy your stamps.. keep warm if you are in the UK, or the northern US.. I will be sunning myself.. Michael

the green issue

Hello, a popular topic this one.. green things... and no I wont pontificate on the topic.... there are others that do that better than me I am sure...... I just want to show the stamps that were issued in 1992 by the Royal Mail.

The stamps were designed based on ideas submitted by children in response to a competition organised by a television program and the Royal Mail.

I think the result was actually quite good.. a nice blend of green colours and green themes.

Do you remember this issue... seems like yesterday but it was 15 years ago......more importantly.. do you remember or know the name of the television program?

win this cover????.. email me at cddstamps@gmail.com send me your mailing address with the answer.... 3rd correct answer wins.. if no 3rd correct answer by tomorrow night I will be selling this for US $4.0 inclusive of postage and packing to anywhere in the world. I'll let you know tomorrow..

Enjoy your stamps.. best wishes..... Michael

just a nice stamp

Hello everyone, I hope you like this stamp.. something different for a change...

I received this today, one of a set of stamps from Russia.. very nice... this appealed to me .. it being "Australian" so to speak...
Hope you like it...
and my sincere apology for all the different fonts in previous writings..

I write on the train to and from work and sometimes embed a few scripts.. and while the text is the same when I send it, for some reason unknown to me, the blog seems to reformat...

Anyway hope you have enjoyed the writings none the less.

Best wishes.. enjoy your stamps
.........Michael

today in history...........

Getting away from eBay tonight.. and anything to do with A380 related stamps, or fakes , for memorabilia sake……
Where would you find the Cowbay Hall of Fame…. some guy called Francisco Vasquez de Coronado explored the region for Spain in 1541.?????

Today, November 16th is quite a memorable day in the history of this … area…. shall I say.. for fear of giving it away…… where am I talking about ..? ok a clue.. here is a commemorative stamp,, with some details shaded out………

Prize ……….. a Singapore Post A380 miniature sheet plus the remnants of a miniature sheet ( cos I used the stamps ha ha on my covers …) which was postmarked in Singapore on 25th October……. beats any fake item you can waste your money on, on eBay……….. anyway.. the prize to the owner of the 10th correct answer will do.. if you also copy me (and them) the email addresses of 10 people you have emailed my blog address to…I won't write to them.. I just want you to show me you have passed on the word) I am determined to spread the word !!!!!!!!!!! I say with a smile.. I know I cannot change the world.. but together we can .. and you include your postal address… so I can send you the prize

Have a great weekend and don’t get ripped of.. well, unknowingly anyway.. LOL
enjoy your real stamps and real covers ......... ha ha ha ha ....Michael

Antarctica.. and more.. lots more....

Hello everyone. Something very different tonight. Mostly about stamps so maybe not that different.

I am in the process of designing some flight covers to be carried on a Qantas domestic flight from Sydney to Sydney. Boring eh!! Well maybe not. The flight is the longest domestic flight in the world, at 14 hours…. Now that could be boring…. But this flight leaves Sydney.. flies down to Antarctic and around a few places there ( sorry I don’t yet have the details) and back to Sydney. Still boring ?? Well I am going to get the flight covers carried on the flight and signed by the pilots and crew… Well I think I am.. and we all know how great is the power of positive thinking.

Anyway.. I am only going to make about 20 covers and thought I would take advance orders… stamps are even to be selected.. I will be using these on some covers and some Australian Antarctic explorers on others.. if I can get them..

everything is a bit premature but these things have to be thought up and planned don’t they.

So, would you like to place an advance order.. the price details are even to be decided so you can place a reservation with no commitment to buy.. but it means if you do decide when you see the final cover and price you can say yes and the cover(s) are there for you… if you say no.. then no problem .

Prices are likely to be US $25 a cover with all crew Signatures.. I honestly don’t think there will be more than 20 covers.. after all I don’t want to impose on the crew too much do I. If I do covers with no crew signatures these will probably be US $10. But I have not yet decided.. if you pre order I will do some.. The prices will be post and packing etc included.. so you can see these are not expensive.. yet very collectable – well they will be quite unique, unless someone reads this and decides to do the same.

A story for you Back in 1979 an Air New Zealand flight did this route on 28 Nov. 1979. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_New_Zealand_Flight_901 for details. I should add before you read this - if you want to – it Is not very pleasant in my mind, but it is what happened, and I believe because of this no flights today fly under 10000 feet.

There were some souvenir covers being carried by passengers on that flight, and I am told that a few of them have sold for lots of money (in the thousands of dollars). There is a group that specializes in crash covers.. as you may know… and there is a journal - La Catastrophe - , the journal of the Wreck & Crash Mail Society. Have a look at http://wreckandcrash.org. you might find this very interesting. So much more to stamp collecting isn’t there.

Finally, and I cannot hold back on this.. I talked about cinderellas.. there is one supposed A380 flight cover currently with a bid of $34.33 on it on some large auction site ( there are other from same seller Imight add) . It is nothing more than an envelope with a picture and imitation stamp and made up hand frank and a few words. I am selling genuine covers, postally franked at airport post offices , carried on the actual A380 flights for US$40.. most sold, a few left.. if you are buying these cinderellas I hope you know what you are paying for… it really saddens me to see people paying for this material…. The description says postal tribute… surely that implies some use of the postal system in some way or other.. there is as much postal about this envelope as there is of my covers above being postally carried… and I wont be claiming they are postally carried either unless I getthe post office to do cancellations...…. Oh.. and if you want the real doozy.. a flight cover of the Singapore Sydney flight with a picture of the landing in Sydney… that is only one.. there are more like that.. like people, wake up out there.. and oh how I wish I could ask the bidder if he or she knows what they are bidding on. I just hope they are happy… the seller is certainly very happy ..laughing all the way to the Bank, well that is my opinion and I am sticking to it.

Email me at cddstamps@gmail.com Best wishes.. enjoy your stamps.. Michael

Cinderellas

I wrote about Cinderellas and a number of people have emailed me asking what they are.

Ok here it is in very simple terms

Cinderellas - stamps and related material of a non-postal nature - e.g. charity stamps, poster stamps, etc.

Another description I read says -- Stamp-like label that is not a postage stamp. Cinderellas include a wide variety of stamp-like labels, seals and bogus issues.

And if you look at the glossary in Linns you will read this

Cinderella: A stamp like label that is not a postage stamp. Cinderellas include seals and bogus issues, as well as revenue stamps, local post issues and other similar items.



So the key words are “stamp like label” and “non postal nature”. I think the use of the “bogus” only applies if the item is not correctly described as a Cinderella.

If you have a design idea for a stamp like label and create it on your computer and then print a block of them, say with no perforations making them imperf you have created a Cinderella. If you can do perfs as well – you can buy scissors to do this – you have created a perforated Cinderella.

Some weeks back I wrote about the Stamps from the Isle of Eigg. I mention these because these were local stamps. And there is a difference. “Locals”… these are non-official postal services such as college stamps, local delivery and parcel services, private authorised or non-authorised services, etc; Locals are Stamps valid within a limited area or within a limited postal system. Local post mail requires the addition of nationally or internationally valid stamps for further service. Locals have been produced both privately and officially. (again from Linns)

“Locals” are not something you just dreamed up and printed off your computer.

I hope this is useful. Enjoy your collecting, be it stamps, FDCs, local stamps or just Cinderellas

Michael

cinderallas........... for A380 flight covers ....

Buyer Be Aware

I wrote about this a few days ago. You know I am a Director of the IPDA. That is the Internet Philatelic Dealers Association. We promote honest and fair trading and selling of stamps on the internet. That means no fraud, no misrepresentation, no trickery, no deceit and no poorly described stamps and no wrongly described stamp quality. It means someone who is a member of the IPDA is honest. You get the message I think.

I was just browsing eBay and well..I have to write again on this subject.

You can see the lots for yourself if you are interested in A380 souvenirs

So, let me ask you the following questions, these are some of the questions you should be getting answers to when you view a lot on any auction site, especially when you are viewing “covers” as you may see on eBay at the moment for A380 covers….

1)Who produced this “cover”?

2) How many were made? Are these limited edition and numbered?

3) Did the “cover” fly on the aircraft? ( assuming a flight cover) Who authenticates that?

4) Where did the piece of paper stuck in top right corner that is imitating a postage stamp come from?

5) Where did the hand frank come from – it is presented to imply a postage franking is it not?

6) what quality envelope is being used

When you buy something that is described as a First Flight Cover what do you think you are buying? Do you think it is something you could make yourself on your computer? I don't think so.............

If you answered don’t know or no to the above there is a strong probability you are buying a Cinderalla… an envelope made up buy someone, with a stamp made up by someone with a hand frank made up by someone. Actually I print onto purchased quality envelopes and I have the hand franks produced for me to my design. But I also have the recognized postage stamps of the country officially cancelled by the post office and in my flight cover cases they are carried on the aircraft. That is a first flight cover.

I wonder if the people buying Cinderallas know what they are buying. Do they know they could make these on their computer on their own? Maybe they don’t care. All well and good. Many would say that in today’s world everyone is entitled to be creative and exploit whatever selling opportunity they can create. And believe me the internet offers an enormous medium to exploit the being exploited doesn’t it.

So Buyer Be Aware . If you know what you are bidding on that is good.. if you know you are buying Cinderallas then that is good.. I just hope you don’t think you are buying First flight covers.

Oh and finally, I saw a Singapore Post A380 FDC, issued on 25th October with a starting price of US$25.

Very nice. If you want one that has been actually flown on the aircraft and has the arrival Australia Post office cancellation at Sydney International Airport just keep reading the blog, or write to me. Had to exploit the opportunity didn’t I. LOL J but no Cinderallas from me, of that I can assure you. Oh yes, and I have listed some A380 First Flight Covers on the web site.. enjoy the pictures if nothing else.

Best wishes.. enjoy your stamps.. hopefully real one J Michael

the power is within us all.......

not sure if these words resonate with anyone but they just came from my fingers as I sat to type.. because of these stamps which were on a letter I received today. Thanks Carol.. real nice and the stamps for the children's corner.. which will get mailed back out again in a few days as I have a few unanswered letters for some children at the moment,

Anyway, that aside, I do like this stamp of Yoda ( and wasn't I lucky with the postal franking) . Some stamps bore me, some I think are just without class and some are just downright gawdy. see GB new issues and Australia new issues in general ... but this Yoda stamp has some class in my view.

It could have been awful ........and when I heard US post was doing one I dreaded what they would do to it, But, and as I say, in my view, I like what they have done. well done USPS.

Enjoy your stamps.. Michael

PS and not a mention of that aircraft !!!!!!!!!!!!