Stamp Errors Part 14 – Albania Gone Wrong?

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April 26, 2021

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Stamp Errors Part 14 – Albania Gone Wrong?

The country name on Albanian stamps has changed many times over the years – in 1937 it was written SHQIPNI and in 1939 it was called SHQIPTARE. The Albanian language, called ‘shqip‘ or ‘shqipe‘ by Albanians, is of interest to linguists because, as a descendant of the extinct Illyrian tongue, it is the only surviving member of its branch of the Indo-European language family. Influenced by centuries of rule by foreigners, the Albanian vocabulary has adopted many words from the Latin, Greek, Turkish, Italian, and Slavic tongues.

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Black Heritage – Part 8

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April 14, 2021

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Continuing with our series of articles regarding the U.S. Post “Black Heritage” series of stamps we begin with James W. Johnson (1871-1938) who was featured on the 1988 Black Heritage stamp. As a lawyer, he became the first black man to be admitted to the Florida Bar. As an educator, he established a high school for African-Americans in his hometown, Jacksonville, Florida. Johnson also served as the executive secretary of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) and was an involved civil rights activist. However, he may be best known for his novel, “The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man”, which outlined the grievances that the black society had against the racial policies of the white society. The stamp features the lyrics of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” a song honouring Booker T. Washington that Johnson wrote with his brother. The song is also known as the “Black National Anthem.”

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Recently Added to Stock

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April 7, 2021

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Here’s a small sample of stamps from the thousands added to PostBeeld’s vast stock in the last weeks.

The lighthouses featured on these 1989 stamps from Taiwan are, from left to right: the Tungyin Tao Lighthouse, Oluan Pi Lighthouse, Yuweng Tao Lighthouse and the Yeh Liu Light-pillar.

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Lake Baikal

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March 23, 2021

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Lake Baikal (15K stamp above) is a rift lake in Russia, located in southern Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast. Lake Baikal is the largest freshwater lake by volume in the world, containing 22–23% of the world’s fresh surface water.

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Art for Everyone via the USPS

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March 17, 2021

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The artist Ellsworth Kelly (1923–2015) at one time actually worked nights sorting mail at the USPS. He filled notebooks with sketches of envelope shapes and folds, which served as ‘ready-made’ sources for his abstract compositions seen here.

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Stamp Errors Part 13 – The Mistaken Pump

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March 10, 2021

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Stamp Errors Part 13 – The Mistaken Pump

On January 13, 1983, the Deutsche Bundespost issued a series of four values for Berlin under the title ‘Historic Berlin Street Pumps’. It was only after the stamps’ release that the Berlin Water Works company noticed that something was wrong on one of these stamps, namely the value of 60 Pfg.

A major Berlin morning newspaper ‘Der Tagesspiegel‘ (The Daily Mirror) reported on the story of this error as follows: “Not everything that looks like a pump is one. The state post office has made a mistake, which has been pointed out by the water works, that the 60 Pfg. stamp of the series ‘Historische Straßenpumpen’ (Historic Streetpumps), is not a pump – unlike the other three stamp values in the series. ‘This fact completely surprised the Bundespost’, said its then spokesman, Gerhard Stürmer.”

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Europa Stamps 2020 – Ancient Postal Routes

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March 3, 2021

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Europa Stamps 2020 – Ancient Postal Routes

The subject for the 2020 Europa postage stamps was Ancient Postal Routes, a very interesting issue for the collector. Russia produced the first example we show here. The oldest Russian regular postal service between Arkhangelsk and Moscow was launched under the rule of Peter the Great in 1693. The postal stamp shows an ancient postal route: the Kholmogory post road (Arkhangelsk — Vologda — Yaroslavl — Moscow).

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Black Heritage – Part 7

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February 23, 2021

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Continuing with our series of articles regarding the U.S. Post “Black Heritage” series of stamps we begin with the 1979 stamp featuring Martin Luther King (born 1929 – assassinated 1968). Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Christian minister and desegregation activist, and played a leading role in the Civil Rights movement. In 1963, during the March on Washington, King delivered one of his most famous speeches: “I Have a Dream”. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964 for his outstanding desegregation efforts.

Above, from 1986 is the popular jazz pianist, composer, and band leader Edward Kennedy “Duke” Ellington, who wrote more than 6,000 songs during his long career, including ‘Satin Doll’, ‘Take the A Train’ and ‘Caravan‘. Ellington was hailed by some as the greatest composer American society has ever produced.

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Recently Added to Stock

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Freestampmagazine

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February 17, 2021

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PostBeeld continues daily to add hundreds of new stamps to its vast stock, hopefully with many items of interest to its customer base. Among the additions are many great examples from Liberia, Guyana, Portugal, Poland, Albania and The Maldives. Here is a small selection:

Issued by Liberia in 2001 is this set of classic motorcycles. One big mistake here is the $30 value Rolls-Royce 1938. The motorcycle featured on the stamp is in fact a Brough Superior which was once called “the Rolls-Royce of Motorcycles”.

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Chinese New Year

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February 12, 2021

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2021 is the Year of the Ox for the Chinese. Chinese New Year, also known as the Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is probably the most important festival in China, similarly as important as Christmas to the western world. Each year, the largest human migration in the world takes place around the time of the Chinese New Year. “Chunyun” is the period of time when millions of people travel back to their hometown for family reunions.

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