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Saturday, October 27, 2012

How scarce this really is?

Hi,

From The Estonian Philatelist site www.efur.se one can read about "Some of the rarities in Estonian philately"  (Summary of an article by Vambola Hurt in Eesti Filatelist #24-25, 1979)

Weaver Issue 2 1/2 Mk.
It is today practically impossible to find any item of this stamp printed on horizontally ribbed paper, specially in mint condition. It is known to exist only in very few collections.
 

 
Possible the date of publishing got something to do with the fact that the price does not reflect in the handbook issued later by Hurt and Ojaste.
Still the question remains for me - how scarce it is today, in mint and used condition?


Monday, October 15, 2012

Soviet 1969 Repin on fluorescent paper

Hi,

I remembered seeing this stamp, 1969 Repin 10kop value with Hovest guarantee for sale on German eBay years ago. Michel 3653y, price -.- In regular Michel 2009, it's the only one I can see from the 1960s being listed.
 It would appear this is one of the UV paper stamps I have. Among many others I have now discovered, since I started to study them this month.

I've never really found a good explanation on how Soviet stamps were printed and reprinted during 1960s. I think I had read they were printed in different places but I'm curious if it applied for the same issue or did printing workshops just change over the years.

It's still interesting that one set can have some stamps on UV paper and others on normal paper.

Anyone know more about this subject? Anyone know if new Michel Spezial has more of papier fl. varieties listed?

Regards,
Toivo

Monday, October 8, 2012

Soviet Union stamps - UV paper

Greetings,
Something new to study after a summer - Soviet Union stamps on fluorescent paper.
 One might think these are not very uncommon considering the printing numbers and stamps issued.
But it doesn't appear to be so once you take a closer look.

What renewed my interested after a long time was recent auction of David Feldman. There, a pair of mint 6kop definitives, 1966 issue,  was realised for 130 Euros. I hadn't put much time in examining my stockbooks and thought this could be a worthwhile adventure. So with a UV lamp in one hand and tweezers in other, I dived into the albums in my darkened room ...

I did find 4kop of the same definitive series on UV paper but not 6kop. Unlike other stamps on UV paper, this one glowed quite green. Sadly, I know of now way to show my discovery.
 Today I took another look at this subject, after being reminded by a friend collector to check Zagorsky catalogue for reference. On a sidenote, Soloviev did list 4kop on UV paper but somewhy for nearly the same price as ordinary paper.

After examining catalogue and my stockbooks, I found atleast two early issues on UV paper.
Both from 1965. One is Antarctic ships, 4kop se-tenant (printed together in a pair). Since I got a set of these in quarter blocks from other source recently, I could confirm the stamps I have are not on ordinary paper.
Second one is Heroic City Odessa. Both are listed in Zagorsky. Unfortunately atleast in 2006, there are no prices for UV papers.
Third discovery is our own Estonian theme, song festival. It would appear all the stamps I have of this issue are on UV paper.

This seems quite interesting field to pursue. Downside is that it's real difficult to show your finds. You also need a portable UV lamp and a dark room. On upside, this subject has a lot of potential in the future in my honest opinion. Anyone can discover such stamps from their collection if they only bother (discovering them at collectors fair or via eBay isn't possible though, unless you buy them from a trustworthy source). They ain't too common I'd guess but there are more possible paper varieties of this kind out there than Zagorsky lists.
 And most UV papers ain't listed in any major catalogues at all. One could easily build a specialised collection of these far before any specialised catalogue with prices is published, making it a good investment as well as a fun subject in this interesting hobby.

Regards,
Toivo