Hello,  what does one do on a rainy Sunday......  sort some stamps.... and I found plenty that needed sorting. I made up two packets of 50 GV and GVI GB.    example above.

Thought maybe two new collectors would like them, A bit of a basic "used" starter group with a few duplicates.  If you think one of these (they not exactly the same but similar to the image shown)  would be useful to you, just email me at cddstamps@gmail.com with your mailing address and I will send to you for free. First two emails will get them.

Enjoy your stamps and please,  if you have gaps your the GB collection why not look at my online store.  copy this link https://www.hipstamp.com/store/cddstamps?show=store&keywords=GB  or click here to go to the GB stamps. listed in the store  and then type the SG number or a key word to search for what you are looking for -  for example, type granite and see what you find :-)  if that doesn't appeal to you type sherlock and press enter :-)     Nearly 14,000 GB stamps for sale at competitive  prices I think.

Best wishes   Michael  cddstamps.com

Hello, I was in Manila a few days ago and had time to visit the Central Post Office. A beautiful building and if ever you get the chance to visit I do recommend it. A few pictures I hope you enjoy seeing, and then some history about what the stamp commemorates.

They have a Philatelic office and the very kind employee showed me so much of their material. They also had a desk or two on the mail hall with a guy selling all sorts of old covers. Very nice way to spend some time before my flight back to Laoag.

I picked up a few stamps including this one. A very sad time of course but none the less commemorated by this stamp.  Some history courtesy of Wikipedia.

The Bataan Death March was the forcible transfer by the Imperial Japanese Army of 60,000 – 80,000 Filipino and American prisoners of war from Saisaih Point, Bagac, Bataan and Mariveles to Camp O’Donnel via San Fernando where the prisoners were loaded onto trains.

The transfer began on April 9, 1942, after the three-month Battle of Bataan during World War II  . The total distance marched from Mariveles to San Fernando and from the Capas Train Station to Camp O'Donnell is variously reported by differing sources as between 96.6 and 112.0 km. Differing sources also report widely differing prisoner of war casualties prior to reaching Camp O'Donnell: from 5,000 to 18,000 Filipino deaths and 500 to 650 American deaths during the march. The march was later judged by an Allied military commission to be a Japanese war crime.

Enjoy your stamps and have a great weekend.    Michael cddstamps.com

Hello, a change of topic tonight. Hope you enjoy seeing this from Swaziland. Issued in 1956, SG 58 and even though was issued 61 years ago it still only has a SG catalogue value of 10p (GBP). Some investment if anyone bought expecting value in the future. I should add the high values are better priced. That is philately for you I guess.

But for anyone who plays scrabble there is value here. The animal is the Kudu. A great scrabble word :-)

 Enjoy your philately   Michael   cddstamps.com

Hello,  enjoying your stamps I hope. You are shocked to see these three I am sure.

This is what you will NOT find in the cddstamps online store. ( or copy this link - https://www.hipstamp.com/store/cddstamps   

So why am I showing them?  Well, because I see so many people who sell stamps offering rubbish like this. I have used poor quality stamps from my own stock  and deliberately damaged them to show these examples.

Torn, clipped and creased. Even the material I put into my Childrens Corner box is better than this yet time and time again I see people offering stamps for sale with just these types and scale of damage.

I cannot, in all honesty,  name the sellers but I can tell you what to look for and not buy it. Perhaps as a spacefiller for something rare or difficult or expensive, but not common stamps.

Want to be confident when buying stamps to fill a few gaps in your collection?  then please visit cddstamp store, or check out the countries we offer - or copy this link  http://cddstamps.com/great-britain-stamps/    don't worry that it says great britain in the link url, you will all the British Commonwealth countries we stock well as GB.

We think our quality description are complete and accurate,  that our pricing is fair and competitive and that we offer a good range of choice, especially if you like different postmarks for example.

If you are not aware, there are just over 700 online stores at Hipstamp so we take our quality and pricing very seriously. Give us just one chance and we think you will become a repeat customer as have so many of our customers.

Have a great philatelic weekend    Michael cddstamps.com at https://www.hipstamp.com/store/cddstamps

Hello, one more circus stamp tonight. This cost me another cup of coffee!  

Perhaps if you are from the USA you will know of this circus. A new one to me and how interesting. 

The Hagenbeck Wallace circus traveled around the US in the early part of the 1900s. It began as the Carl Hagenbexh Circus in the mid 1880s. Hagenbeck was an animal trainer who pioneered the use of rewards based training as opposed to fear based. 

The circus merged with another run by Bejamin Wallace around about 1907. After that it has a sad history with the loss of animals in the in the 1913 Wabash flood and then in 1918 in what has become known as the Hammond Circus Train Wreck.  Plenty of material is available if you want to read more.

Anyway, a nice stamp I think.  Enjoy your stamps and all the history they commemorate.

Michael

Hello,  today I was given an envelope with this stamp on. Rather interesting I think. A 2014 issued  “Forever” stamp from the USA.  The Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus of course is no longer forever as it closed a few months back in May.

There is a complex history to the circus, with its origin going back P T Barmun’s travelling museum in the 1870.s.  The Ringlings purchased the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show on Earth in 1907 and ran their own circus and the Barmun and Bailey circuses separately until 1919 when they were merged into one show, the "Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows" with its debut in New York City. In more recent times it was billed as “The Greatest Show on Earth”

Now my friend who gave me the envelope wants to know if the stamp is worth anything?  I bought him a coffee, seem fair?  Big smile  

Enjoy your stamps   Michael    cddstamps.com  - where we now have over 30,000 stamps in the online store.  excellent selection of GB and British Commonwealth,  to help you fill a few gaps in your collection at very competitive prices. Visit here  http://cddstamps.com/great-britain-stamps/ and click the country you collect. Enjoy.

Hello, just this lovely stamp to help commemorate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Dominion of Canada - also known as the anniversary of Confederation.  Issued April 1868 SG 46.

Have a great day, passez une bonne journeé   

Enjoy your stamps  

Michael
cddstamps.com   with 1500 Canada stamps in the online store

Hello and welcome to July and our cddstamps Newsletter.

First a big thank you to all who visiting the online shop this past month, and for your orders, and for your feedback. All much appreciated.

We will be starting to load more GB this month as so much has gone from stock and some of you, and new customers we hope, will not find what you need to fill those gaps in your collections.  In the past we have listed 2, 3 or maybe 5 items (except for Machins) but going forward will try to load more copies of any one stamp so there is again a choice for you.

 Talking of choice, for all of you who collect Australia you really do have a great choice now. We loaded some 2000 stamps to the store this past month – mostly 1990 through 1994 and with many perforation, phosphor and imperf varieties and with the issue title in the description to help you find what you are looking. This courtesy of an idea from one of our customers who does not have SG catalogue numbers.  This may help some of you search for what you need  to expand your collections.  Image  SG 1331p with phosphor band to right

And, perhaps the listings we are most excited about are for KUT – Kenya Uganda and Tanganyika. Some 200+ stamps added to the store. Again, including many perforation varieties and both mint never hinged, mint hinged and used.  And, not only KUT but 1996 Kenya issues with various perforation, paper and gum varieties Some lovely mint never hinged material.   Surely not material you will find very easily, except at cddstamps.  image SG 22b,  mint never hinged on Glazed Ordinary paper.

Finally, we have one more trip this month, again to Hong Kong, on 13^th July so any orders received close to then will be mailed from there. From your feedback we know you do see faster mail delivery when we have mailed from UK, Australia and Hong Kong.

We hope you enjoy visiting cddstamps. We look forward to providing the stamps you want for your collection, with the best service we can including the quality of the stamps as described and the packing to ensure they get to you in excellent condition.

Have a great July, and best wishes in particular to all our Canada and USA customers for your respective days of celebration.

Michael