Identifying Greece Hermes Stamps

I have a decent collection of early Greece Hermes stamps that I am unable to identify. I took pictures of them and in the pic near each stamp you will see an alpha (letter) code to identify each stamp. If anyone is bored and knowledgeable in this area and can assist (even to take a guess or offer ways to identify them) that would be really appreciated. You can refer to the stamp you are talking about by the letter (a, aa, b, etc).

If you need a bigger picture, let me know! I took some biggies of each stamp.

Here are the pictures of the stamps:
http://s1141.photobucket.com/albums...1/stamps101/

I'm getting a 404 redirect when I click on your link. Please check your link.

Does it work now?

Yes, it works now.

I'm not good with the Hermes heads, so I'll leave these for someone else to tackle.

Also, for numbers that have the "figures" (i.e., numerals) on the back, I would suggest you notate the numerals and their orientation to assist in IDing.

Finally, some of the issues from the early 1870s can only be IDed by their paper type, so those cannot be determined from scans.

Best wishes! I love the Hermes heads, but ended up archiving them because I wasn't skilled enough to ID them all.

Thanks for pointing out the incorrect link.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by the third line regarding figures/numerals on the back?

Oh, do you mean how some don't have the letter in the picture? I just realized some got cropped out. The filenames which show up in the link or the top of the browser bar are also named according to the letter I used to identify the stamp. I can try to notate them all as comments for each picture if it will make it easier for someone

stamps101,

what khj meant is that many of the Hermes Heads stamps (after the first Paris printing and before the last 1880-1886 printing) had control numbers on the back of the stamp, in the form of a large numeral corresponding to the value of the stamp. The 1l and 2l stamps of all issues do not have control numbers.

For example, the following stamp of yours (Scott 21, Hellas 20Ia) should have a large "40" on the back:



Control numbers can be important in identifying particular issues of the Hermes Heads.

(Later in the day I will try to make some identification - those that can be made from scans)

Ha Ha, after so many years, I had forgotten that the control numbers corresponded to the stamp denomination!

Now I'm tempted to go dig out my Hermes heads and see if Vasia is willing to give me a hand in IDing!

stamps101, you have to help us more by providing scans of the back of your Hermes Heads.

I will try to give some of the obvious identifications of your stamps that do not require backside scans:



(letter x) 30 lepta 1876-1877 Athens printing (Scott 51, Hellas 45)



(letter l) 40 lepta 1862-1867 Consecutive Athens Printings (Scott 21b, Hellas 20IIa)



(letter gg) 20 lepta 1880-1886 printigs without control numbers on back (Scott 56a, Hellas 59IIa)

(letter dd) 30 lepta 1880-1886 printings without control numbers on back (Scott 57, Hellas 60)

(letter hh) 40 lepta 1880-1886 printings without control numbers on back (Scott 58, Hellas 58)



(letter bb) 20 lepta 1880-1886 printings without control numbers on back (Scott 56, Hellas 59IIb)

(letter cc) 30 lepta 1880-1886 printings without control numbers on back (Scott 57, Hellas 60) Different shade

Wow thank you for taking the time and effort on this! I will get out the pages and take pics of the back this week!

Such lovely classics stamps with nice postmarks

Vasia
Good to have you around. I used to collect Olympic stamps and the Greece 1896 series where among my favorite. Didn't have them all of course but I was thinking it would be a nice investment, more of a dream. When I sold to the dealer I mention to him I would need to be a millionaire to buy all the Hermes. He said yes. Also I bought from dealers in Greece for those stamps. But I could never figured out why I received many auction cat. and stamp cat. from a big dealer and auction house that was unknown to me in Greece. They must have paid $30 to $40 postage for all that. You can have a guess it start with a "K". Everything is not lost for them because if one day if I can afford I will collect
Greece and sure will enjoy it.

timbres667,

my main collecting field is Russia and area, stamps and mainly postal history. But after hearing about the Hermes Heads since childhood here in Greece, the beauty of these stamps and the challenges involved finally convinced me to start a secondary collecting topic with the Large Hermes Heads.

Regarding the Karamitsos catalogues, I think they can be quite useful in orienting many collectors in the difficult area of the Large Hermes Heads. Their site is even more so with clear scans of all lots. As for the free sending of their auction catalogues and, even, of the Hellas stamp catalogues, I guess that they have figured out that in the long run it pays off. They seem to be an efficient, energetic and helpful bunch, as far as I can tell from my dealings with them!

Vasia
My main collection is Europa and I have many Greece sets. I just flipped Hellas 2006 catalogue page and stop on the Marshall Plan 1951. Those stamps are so beautiful and they would fit nicely in my old Minkus album. So many temptations...

About Russia I cannot help you much. I used to have an interesting cover with a spacecraft or a plane cancellation mailed from Russia to Canada but I think I sold it on SCF. But we never know what can arise from my little mess...
Have a nice day
Daniel

stamps101, did you get any chance to get scans of the backsides of your Hermes Heads?

By the way, your stamp labelled "b" (5 lepta) is a forgery with fake cancellation: