Crete And Copied Stamp Designs

I remember reading in a book somewhere that in the early days of stamp production there were several cases where stamp designs were partially or substantially copied from one issuing country to another. A recent find in some old Crete material immediately brought this back to me.

One of the stamps was a very obvious copy of the Norwegian Post Horn design though altered by country name and currency. Details of background and specific elements (crown is somewhat different for example) vary. As well, the stamp itself is somewhat larger than it's Norwegian counterpart.

Have a look for yourself. I show first the Norway 1 Skilling Value and then the Crete 1 (lepta?) value.





Can anyone add other examples to this thread of stamp designs which were "lifted" from other countries?

Nice one!
there are vast examples of charity seal design borrowings,
there are the "letter and hands" copies of the US
and Australia pinching the early designs of the US postage due.

After all my whining about good thread topics, the one I made
regarding stamp copies I cannot locate


The Australian and US postage due
(note kangaroo and emu in place of US)

Hi backroads,

It's always nice to see a Crete-related topic!

Bradbury Wilkinson did a good job printing these Crete postage dues but I do wonder if they had misgivings in stealing the Norwegian designs. They even used the same corner ornaments! You're right about the face value of this one, it's one lepton.

Rod, it's good to see these two stamps side by side. I was just reading about these first Australian dues where the "NSW" was erased in the bottom panel.

About posthorns...
Countries that have included post horns on their stamps...
Australia
Germany
Czech republic
Slovakia
Belgium
Luxembourg
Austria
Spain
Hungary
Croatia
Slovenia
Poland
Lithuania
Estonia
Denmark
Norway
Iceland
Faroe islands
Romania
Bulgaria
Albania
Macedonia
Turkey
Moldova
Ukraine
Belarus
Cyprus
Portugal
Malta

It is of course a natural symbol as it signaled the arrival of the mail coach or post rider.

I wonder if Crete ever used the post horn for this? It doesn't seem quite right.

Jim Jackson

I don;t know if the Cretan post office had any mail coaches - it was only in existence from 1899 to 1913.

However, its postmen did have smart uniforms and many of them in the countryside had bicycles or mules.

Here's a scene with three Cretan postmen and yes at least one of them has a posthorn!

Excellent! What a great picture!
Although the horn doesn't have the classic "loop", it should do.
Crete, welcome to the club. :-)

Jim Jackson

I echo the above,
a beautiful postcard indeed.
I love those old photographic postcards.

That must be a very early "Maxicard" albeit failing
on the postmark angle.

Any idea of the date of the PC?

Not sure if this complies with your thread topic backroads....

Re-Use of (US) Columbian Designs

The U. S. Columbian stamps of 1893
were printed by the American Bank Note Co.,
who in later years, used some of the designs
again for stamps of other countries.

The "Flag Ship of Columbus" on the 3¢ stamp,
re-appeared on the 1899 10¢ Newfoundland
(Scott #68), as "Cabot"s Ship, the Matthew,"
and was used again in Costa Rica, 1936,
Scott's type A96, the ship shown to the right
of a map of Cocos Island.

"Columbus Soliciting Aid from Queen Isabella,"
on the 5¢ Columbian also turns up in Costa
Rica in 1923, Scott's type A75.

All these foreign items printed by the A.B.N. Co.

- George B. Sloane
Sloane's Column
Stamps
May 22, 1937

Note: I suspect that this practice by
the American Bank Note Company
was common. Does anyone know of
any other designs which they reused?

The more the merrier.

Here are the three stamps that were referred to and when you look, it's obvious that the occasionally rebranded ship is the same vignette. Love to see more examples.








And that was a fantastic Post Card!

Nova Scotia and South Australia

Another one. United States and the Dominican Republic.