The Year of the Rabbit Stamps from Australia / Christmas Island which I picked up while in Sydney at the weekend. I hope you like them.
The stamps feature the calligraphic symbol for the Rabbit and its pictorial drivation.

Kung Hei Fat Choi .. Happy New Year .. Michael

Well thanks everyone for reading the blog. Just wish I had time to write more.

The winner of the HK imperf was P Cheah from Singapore. Well done. Sorry the rest of you couldn't win.

Ok, another chance for you to win some Hong Kong Year of the Rabbit stamps. This MS, if you like it, also issued for Chinese New Year here.

Different rules to give more people a chance but you have to include your mailing address with answer to this question. Closest guess will win. I am flying to Sydney tomorrow night on Virgin Atlantic, what is my seat number? to Prove it I will show baording pass, next week. I get back to Hong Kong late Sunday night. So I expect to write Monday evening. Have a great weekend. See you Monday

Best wishes............. Michael

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I went to the Post Office yesterday to collect my standing order from Hong Kong Post and what a queue I found. Had I been reading my emails from HK post I would have known it was the day of issue of the Year of the Rabbit stamps. I would also have known how many varieties of the issue there are. I did collect my order and some additional copies including the Flock Sheet which I now read is out of stock. What a collectible this must be, and it seems people here take their collecting of the Chinese New Year stamps very seriously.

I have a few extras and this is one MS which I thought would make a reader very pleased. Imperforate MS of the $5 stamp.

To win it you have to be first email to cddstamps@gmail.com with your mailing address and tell me in what year(s) did Hong Kong Post previously issue Flock stamps and for what event were they issued.

Look forward to hearing from you. Michael

Hello again. Where did the week go? Just shot by didn't it. I was looking through an old FDC album I had lying around my study back in Sydney. Something I bought back to Hong Kong with me thinking I might sort and maybe try to sell on. I came across this cover. Like many in old albums - this cover was issued in 1972, it is nearly 40 years old afterall - it has some rust but hey the stamps are basically ok, and especially the bottom right hand corner one in the block of 6. This stamp is the one sideband phospher with a cat value used of £30.

The stamps in this issue were first printed in 1971 in photogravure by Harrison and Sons, the pottery first appeared in 1759. I have the cover for the first issue, 12 stamps, sadly too much rust to make it anything than just a sovenir now. And sadly I have no 1759 Wedgewood. And today of course there is no Wedgewood as I understand it from a guy I met at a New Years eves party last month. In January 2009 Wedgwood was placed into administration and it is now operating out of Asia in some foirm ot other I believe, but certainly not producing the quality of hand made pottery that was its trademark in the golden years of the business.

Oh, and one other thing, you can click the images I post to enlarge them. I thought I should mention that because for both this cover and the previous post you can see more clearly the details I am referring to in the text.

Have a great weekend, Michael

what I throw away

Hello, I was sorting stamps this weekend and throwing into garbage so many stamps with faults and creases etc. Then I thought. Hey why not show you some, so you perhaps get an idea of what I think is not collectible. Must have chucked over 200 stamps, sad really but they are damaged or have really heavy postmarks. I am listing on eBay again and you won't find any of these from me. I am also listing on bidstart some nice sets with lovely postmarks. Have a look at michaelatcddstamps.

Also to let you know if you have GB Commemorative gaps just email me cddstamps@gmail.com I will try to help.

Best wishes .................. Michael

Something different tonight. I saw this on an auction site . No description other than title of "Great_Britain 1948 #268 Silver Wedding Black print MNH"

Now I may be dumb and not that well informed but this was being sold under stamps.

What do you think? I would like to hear views?

Have a great weekend. Michael

it is so cold I cannot think of what to write about and anyway my fingers are even cold.

Can you believe this? Hong Kong, and temperatures of 7 degress today. OK not cold to many of you maybe, but cold here, and it feels cold like it used to be when I lived in Canada.

The only stamps I can think of showing in this situation is this.



No complaints though as there are so many people in Australia right now suffering because of the rains and flooding and my thoughts go out to them all.

A little gift for you.. the first email to cddstamps@gmail.com to tell me something about these stamps... say 50 GB Commemorative mixed and no Christmas stamps

Keep warm.. Michael

Machins

I have been receiving stamps from a friend of mine who works in an office in the UK. A reasonable amount of mail arrives and the stamps are collected and mail on to me. How kind. Well 95% are Machins and with the security slits and non soluble gums nowadays I decided it was time to look at these, and try to catalogue. I like variations and there are so many to look for. First though, you need to know a good source of information about the variations. Try machins and go from there.

If you thought Machins were boring, think again. The varieties are many. Just read the link I showed above.

I have many years of study ahead of me. Now if only I could retire :-)instead of being stuck here in fabulous Hong Kong with a great job and lovely people and so much else going on around me. Oh well, cannot do it all on a day I guess. Oh and if you really are not into Machins but GB Commemoratives maybe I have a lot on eBay, and will be putting more up in the coming weeks. see my eBay lot

Or if its GB you need let me know what you want and I'll see what I can do.

Best wishes .....Michael

just a reminder

Hello, it has been well over 7 months since I wrote on this topic and I thought it was time again to do so. If you are buying on the internet (or anywhere for that matter) do make sure you understand the quality and condition of the stamps(s) you are buying and not just by relying of the sellers description. This stamp is described as F-VFU on an auction site I visit occasionally. It is damaged. Have a look and well it is pretty obvious. Don't waste your money buying this even for a space filler. It really is not worth it. It should be thrown in the bin in my view. Yes I know it has reasonably high cat value but it is not worth a penny!!

Also, and a plug here for the IPDA (Internet Philatelic Dealers Association Inc, try to make sure you are buying from someone who is an accredited member of some worthy organisation, like the IPDA for example. I can never give 100% guarantee there will never be a poorly described stamp but members are usually pretty reliable and keen to maintain high standards in the descriptions and the material they sell.

Best wishes.. Michael

iPhone apps

Hello, just a short piece tonight. Do you use the iPhone? I recently got one (please don't tell my family hahahaha ) and was looking at the various apps one can download. Ok so I looked at "stamps" I see quite a few interesting ones but one did catch my eye because it was about stamp valuations. And I read that that if you have a Penny Black it is worth $10,000...I think it was dollars... wow I thought.. yet another, not that well informed, none philatelic person misleading us. So not only do we have people selling stamps who know little to nothing about the stamps they are selling but now we have app builders writing rubbish about stamp values.

It all makes the world go round, but if anyone wants to offer me huge sums for my Penny Blacks.. hey! please get in touch :-)

Have a great weekend .... Michael

Australian Lighthouses

Hello, I showed the Hong Kong lighthouses on stamps issue a few days ago and while tidying up today I found this Cover. I have seen a few lighthouse issues recently, as I said in my previous piece, so thought I'd show this one as well. When I get back to Hong Kong in a few days I'll show the GB Commemoratives I have there; hundreds of copies so if you want a few just read the blog of the day sometime later this week.


As for this cover.. if you would like it and are the first correct email to cddstamps@gmail.com then it is yours.... what is the generally excepted number of lighthouses that are found around Australia. I will take an answer to plus or minus 5.

Enjoy your stamps, not just for the stamps but for how they can help us gain knowledge and greater awareness of the world about us.

Michael