A Stamp Show Staged in Difficult Times

by Paul Talbot

When stamp collectors gathered in Zagreb, Croatia late in the summer of 1943, the country was a puppet of Nazi Germany.  But the Croatian Philatelic Society staged an exhibition in Zagreb and released two stamps to commemorate the occasion.

stamp collecting croatia

The semi-postal depicted St. Mary’s Church and Zagreb’s Cistercian Cloister as they appeared in 1650.  Two stamps were released, with the same design printed in different colors.

To see more stamps of the early 1940s from Croatia, visit my stamp store.

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The First Airmail Stamp from Brazil

June 6, 2010

1933 was a fine year for stamp collecting but not a particularly good year for Brazil.  The nation suffered from poor political leadership.  But Brazil was a favorite for stamp collectors.  Stamps such as this first airmail issue were colorful and interesting.

On June 7, 1933, Brazil issued its first airmail stamp.  For baseball fans, this [...]

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The Good Luck Stamp from Liechtenstein

May 8, 2010

Stamp collecting doesn’t have to be dull and serious.  And countries such as Liechtenstein, which takes its stamps seriously, understands this.

Issued in 1992, this Liechtenstein stamp passes along congratulations, wishes us luck, and generally brightens the day with a message that is cheerful and graphics that are crisp and clean.

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A Politically Incorrect Stamp

April 3, 2010

In the spring of 1961, when tobacco smoke billowed from French cafés and restaurants, from just about every home and office in France, when Gitanes and Gauloises were de rigeur, France issued a stamp which paid tribute to the nation’s love of smoking.

That may be a bit of stretch.  Technically, the stamp was issued to [...]

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Andorra Stamp Collecting

February 22, 2010

Stamp collectors who enjoy Andorra collect the stamps of one country that has two governments.  Spain and France each release stamps for this principality, which is the sixth-smallest country in Europe.

Wedged between France and Spain on the southern slope of the Pyrenees, Andorra is home to 30,000 Europeans whose heritage is linked to France, Spain [...]

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A Liechtenstein Stamp Design Challenge

February 7, 2010

Liechtenstein issued a gorgeous sheet of 16 stamps in 2008 to commemorate the EURO 2008 Football Tournament.  The games were hosted by Liechtenstein’s neighbors, Austria and Switzerland, and they were played in June, 2008.
The challenge for the designers of Liechtenstein’s stamps… there were three stamps in the set, and sixteen positions for stamps in the [...]

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French Stamps of La Belle Epoque

February 6, 2010

Some collectors call these French stamps the Sage series.  Others call them the Peace and Commerce series.
The two names refer to the same stamps, a fascinating series issued by France during the last quarter of the 19th century.  During these remarkable Belle Epoque years, the stamps designed by the winner of a contest represented France [...]

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Collecting Stamps From the 1950s

January 23, 2010

The 1950s are a decade wedged into obscurity by many stamp collectors.

The fans of big, bright, colorful stamps don’t find fifties stamps sufficiently attractive.  Topical stamp collectors, for the most part, find the subject matter somewhat limited.  And other collectors see an outpouring of dull, commonplace and poorly produced stamps from Latin America and an [...]

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Collecting St. Pierre Miquelon Stamps

January 5, 2010

St. Pierre Miquelon… for stamp collectors it offers a heritage of bootleggers, Nazi sympathizers and fascinating postage stamps.
Virtually all of the whiskey that bootleggers smuggled into America’s east coast ports from “Rumrunner’s Row” spent time in warehouses on a small group of islands located off Newfoundland.  A little known outpost of the French Empire found [...]

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A Historic Stamp Auction in Cairo

January 3, 2010

In February, 1954 many of the world’s stamp dealers converged on Cairo.  The military government which had ousted King Farouk two years earlier had retained the London firm of H.R. Harmer to auction off his extensive postage stamp holdings.
While the frequently ill-mannered Farouk caroused in Europe, his massive holdings of stamps were put on the [...]

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