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.

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.

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 is the birth date of the accomplished Cleveland Indians pitcher Herb Score.

This stamp was the first of three issues.  Later releases using the same design but with different watermarks were release in 1937 and 1940.

Brazil issued more than a hundred air mail stamps.  The last was released in 1966.

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.

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 commemorate the introduction of tobacco to France in 1561 by Jean Nicot.

Jean Nicot brought tobacco plants back to France from Portugal.  But the ambassador’s primary role in Lisbon was to work on brokering a marriage between French Princess Marguerite de Valois and the Portuguese King, Sebastian.

Ambassador Nicot was far-sighted.  The princess was 6 and the king was 5.

And the tobacco he brought home was an instant hit.  For awhile it was called Nicotina before it became tabac but the Ambassador’s name obviously lives on as the namesake of nicotine.

The French stamp itself would probably never be released today.  If so, it would be somewhat scandalous in certain circles.

But there was a bit of scandal of a different sort when the stamp was released, because the man depicted on it was not Ambassador Nicot.  It was Jan Nicquet, a Flemish merchant.

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 or both. Collectors easily notice the graphic influence of Spain and France on the respective administration’s stamps.

Little of historical significance has ever taken place in this co-principality of less than 200 square miles, which presents the expected challenges for the postal administrations. Andorra was something of a gateway for barbarians heading south from Gaul following the collapse of the Roman Empire, was populated by Moors and conquered by Charlemagne.

Andorra’s Spanish Administration issued the co-principality’s first stamps in 1928. This was a set of overprints using the Spanish regular issues of the twenties. Original designs debuted in the fall of 1929, both with and without control numbers printed on the gum, and depicting local scenes. This series of stamps was replaced in 1948.

Spanish Andorra’s first Europa release came in 1972 using the common design. The first air mail stamp was released in 1951. There have been no semi-postals.

For the past thirty years Andorra’s Spanish stamps have followed a relatively conservative release policy. Subject matter has ranged from mushrooms and architecture to Christmas and the Olympics.

The French Administration’s first stamps were issued in June, 1931, overprints of French regular issues dating back to 1900. A long, fifty plus issue set of pictorials was released starting in 1932 and it wasn’t until the sixties that commemoratives began to appear with regularity.

If you would like to add some of these to your collection, take a look at the Andorra stamps in my store.

These have tended to be fine, well produced stamps, very similar to those of France, celebrating a number of themes but rooted in arts and culture.

Visitors to Andorra enjoy outstanding skiing, highlighted in a 1993 set, and a relaxing, leisurely lifestyle.  And there is no shortage of visitors… tourism drives 80% of the nation’s economy.

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 sheet.

Because of the awkward math, two of the stamps appear six times in the sheet and one stamp appears just four times.

An interesting aspect of this arrangement… when collectors ordered individual sets of the singles, not sheets, from the Liechtenstein Post Office, there were not an equal number of stamps in a sheet to distribute.  This meant more sheets needed to be broken to complete the sets, leaving fewer complete sheets.

As a result, this Liechtenstein sheet is particularly desirable for collectors of the principality’s stamps.  It is also an unusual item for collectors of the sports and football topics.  I keep a limited number of these sheets in stock, which you can see in my store.

But stamp collectors in Greece may not be too excited about this Liechtenstein EURO 2008 sheet.  Greece came into the tournament as the reigning champion, and finished last.  In the EURO 2008 final, Spain beat Germany 1-0.

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 and her colonies with an allegorical depiction of Peace and Commerce straddling the globe.

The designer, Jules-Auguste Sage, won a contest sponsored by the French Ministry of Finance.  The Ministry was responding to political calls for a new stamp design that would replace the Ceres stamps, which dated back to the first French stamps of 1849.  We don’t know much of Monsieur Sage, but he may have been on the staff of the Bank of Paris or the Ministry of Finance.

The losing designs… apparently there were just a handful, one of which was the Champlain design later used for the pneumatic post.

The Sage stamps were released for 24 years.  Collectors assign them to one of three different groups.  The first Sage issues debuted March 27, 1876.  Type II was first issued on July 20, 1876 and Type III, which is actually a reprise of Type I, was released between February, 1898, and July, 1900.

Specialists who focus on the differences between these three groups begin by looking at the type at the bottom of the stamp.  Below “Republique Francaise” are the words JA SAGE INV.

The positioning of this text, and how it aligns, determines the group the series falls in.  Where the “N” in “INV” is aligned below the “B” in “Republique” the stamp belongs to Type I and when the N is below the U it is a member of Type II.

Along with the actual Sage stamps and imperforates produced for the colonies were thirteen pieces of postal stationery.

For 24 of the most glittering years France has ever enjoyed, the Sage stamps carried the mail.  When Van Gogh wrote to Gauguin and urged him to visit Arles, chances are one of them was affixed to the envelope.

When visitors sent mail from the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris, where the sparkling new Eiffel Tower served as the entrance arch, it was the Sage stamps they used.

And they were also in use when the Gare d’Orsay, now home to the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, was under construction.

These were peaceful and prosperous years for France, and, in retrospect, the Peace and Commerce allegory turns out to be highly prophetic and appropriate.

Collectors who pay close attention to the Sage stamps have much to consider.  For instance, there was no 40 centime stamp issued in 1876… this denomination did not appear until 1878, so it is fruitful to hunt for the lone survivors of the Ceres series issued and used during these years.

And later,  in 1925, when American expats including F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway called Paris home, a tribute was paid to the fabled design.

A Five Franc Sage stamp was issued in conjunction with the International Philatelic Exposition in Paris.  This Type II issue exists as a regular, perforated stamp, as a commemorative block, and as an imperforate.

My thanks to the knowledgeable Napoleon, the nom de Plume for a well-versed collector of France stamps, for his help in researching this information.

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 ever accelerating explosion of questionable material from the Iron Curtain countries.

But the fifties are a fascinating decade for tracking dramatic changes in design and production over a single ten year span.

Naturally, one of the joys of stamp collecting is the search.  And the search for good, interesting fifties material leads us along many a fascinating path.   One of the better known paths leads to Germany, actually both Germanys, where limited printings, a disheveled domestic collecting community and erratic distribution combined to create some highly desirable stamps.

The GDR began the decade with politicized releases, with topics such as a “Fight for Peace” campaign and the country’s links with the People’s Republic of China.  By the end of the fifties the GDR was in a somewhat different topical focus, commemorating wildlife protection, native birds and glassware.  In many instances, the lower values of these sets are more difficult to obtain than the higher values.

Some countries seemed to give their philatelic programs a breather during the fifties.  Mexico released one definitive set with a reprint and about fifty other stamps, including airmails.  By comparison, Mexico released more stamps between 1940-42 than the entire decade of the fifties. For former French and British colonies the fifties were also relatively quiet.

The arrival of Queen Elizabeth II brought the usual releases of fresh definitive sets and omnibus issues for the Coronation, Royal Visits and for appropriate colonies, the West Indies Federation.

The French Community had six omnibus issues.  The Europa stamp series was launched in 1956 with seven nations participating. There were no Europa releases in 1957 and 1958 was the only year Saar participated. By the end of the sixties there were 26 nations releasing Europa stamps.

Looking back we can see clues suggesting the shape of things to come. Japan, for example, released an art stamp based on a woodcut in 1955 that could easily have been a stamp of the late eighties.  We see the bold, graphic breakthroughs of Israel.

We see Spanish Andorra getting using definitives issued in 1948 that would continue in use through 1963.  And we see the last gasp of the Belgian Congo, where it seems as if the government knew its time was at hand, and rushed to release all it could before the arrival of democracy in 1960.

And then, in the sixties, in stamp collecting as in most other aspects of life, came swift, dramatic change.

As a stamp dealer, and as a stamp collector, I wonder why is it that when we compare a stamp of 1956 with 1966, the difference seems so much more pronounced than the difference between a stamp of 1996 and 2006?

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 itself, by virtue of geography, quenching America’s thirst for spirits during prohibition.

St. Pierre & Miquelon issued its first stamps in 1885 with an overprint that, because of its type face, looks more appropriate for a German stamp. These overprints continued for six years until the colony’s first stamps, the French colonial “Navigation and Commerce” issue was released.

In 1892, an interesting set of stamps was released.   The “Commerce” issue of the French Colonies, issued in the 1880s, was both surcharged and overprinted.    French Colonies stamps were used between 1859-1906 and once again between 1943-45 for colonies which did not have stamps of their own.

The 25 cent denomination of the “Commerce” issue is particularly noteworthy… it was reissued in 1886 with a different color, black ink on a rose colored paper.   It was previously, when first issued, a yellow stamp.

I have a small stock of this St. Pierre Miquelon stamp in my store if you would like to add a copy to your collection.

The islands were onboard the French Colony omnibus bandwagon issuing the 1931 Colonial Exposition, 1937 Paris International Exposition and Colonial Arts Exhibition sets and in 1939 the New York World’s fair set.   This World’s Fair set is one of the many stamps caught up in the philatelic intrigue of the Second World War.

The fall of France set the stage for the Vichy government taking control.   But the proximity of the islands to shipping lanes, Canada and the United States helped kindle a Free French overthrow of the Vichy which began with a submarine landing troops on Christmas Eve, 1941.

Free French stamps were issued in small quantities.   In an effort to quickly raise much needed cash the services of a raffish Montreal reporter to sell special overprints to speculators were retained.   Many of these stamps were woefully under priced.   Stamps worth fifty to sixty thousand dollars on the philatelic market were sold for seven thousand.

The overprint rage was in full bloom.   The creations included an air post semi postal stamp with proceeds earmarked for children’s health and as best we can determine, none actually made it to the island’s post offices.

Most stamp dealers never made it to Saint Pierre Miquelon.   A number of them journeyed from New York to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they waited for permits to embark for St. Pierre so they could buy a stock of high demand treasures from the post office.   But military officials didn’t want outsiders and none of the dealers made it to the islands.

The stamps chosen for the numerous overprints dated back to 1925.   But this was a short-lived run.   A philatelic scandal erupted.   The Montreal reporter who helped engineer the project wound up in a Canadian jail.   The provisionals were replaced by the schooner issue printed in London.

But many stamps were not overprinted and could be found on sale in the St. Pierre post office after the war.   In 1948 some of the 1938-40 series was still on sale.

The airmail stamps placed on sale in 1942 were slightly ahead of their time… the first airmail service didn’t actually launch until 1948.

In the fifties a number of high value airmails were issued.   The production of St. Pierre’s stamps for the past fifty years has by and large been of exceptional quality, prized by most stamp collectors.

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 block.  The first few days of the auction were not well-attended.  But when European dealers arrived prices were driven up by demand for the material.

Many of the postage stamps sold were seen for the first time.  Unlike the so-called errors that unscrupulous governments often churn out deliberately, these Egyptian errors were authentic.

One of the stamp dealers at this auction was Canada’s Kasimir Bileski from Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The various errors and varieties that turned up, did so legitimately during the printing of the stamps.  They were never put on the market or offered for sale to anyone at fancy prices.  In fact, the last thing anyone expected was that such ever would be available to collectors.  Their very existence was unknown.

Today, many Egypt collectors have stamps from this historic auction, which have been certified as being in King Farouk’s collection.  The King had a particular fondness for rare color overprints.

He also had an obsessive fondness for food… it was not unusual for Farouk to have a dozen eggs for breakfast.  Foul, misogynous and unbalanced, he was not cut out for leadership.

But King Farouk loved his postage stamps, spent a lot of time with his collection, and from 1936-52 ran the Egyptian Post Office as his personal philatelic fiefdom.

A sour note followed the auction.  The military dictators never paid the fees and commissions due to H.R. Harmer.