Touva? I Thought I Heard Of Every Country,

These jumped out to me excellent condition. I don't think Touva is still going, I would have heard somebody mention it.

Cant tell you about touva, but those are from costa rica, Spain, not russia and the Netherlands.

Not Russia, but Tanu Tuva, sometimes called Touva as dmilkman said. Now part of Russia.

Thanks I figured it was one of things where the named was changed. The envelope that held these for years (right below the stamps) had Touva air mail.

You don't have to look very far for these stamps. See "Tannu Tuva" in Scott's, issues from 1926 to 1943.

They were considered as bogus for years, but now have full catalogue listing in all the major catalogues.

There's an excellent online resource here http://www.silverdalen.se/stamps/tuva/

These Tuvan stamps have a life outside of stamp collecting due to Richard Feynman, genius physicist with an insatiable curiosity about almost everything. He had some of these stamps as a child and decided as an adult that he wanted to go to Tuva, for seemingly no reason other than it was difficult to do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuva_or_Bust!

There was a documentary made shortly after he died that dealt with his fascination with Tuva and his ultimately unsuccessful attempt to get there. The film opens with a collage of these old Tuvan stamps. The music being played during the collage is the fascinating throat singing done in the region, a sort of double-voiced technique which uses high-pitched overtones in addition to a sort-of-normal voice.







There was a sort of a follow-up funded by the Friends of Tuva group which sprouted out of Feynman's original quest. A blind San Francisco blues musician became enthralled with the Tuvan throat singing music and eventually went on his own quest for Tuva. An outstanding documentary film called "Genghis Blues" came out of that (although I have to turn my eyes away whenever the sheep sacrifice scene comes up ....).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8Lr_27MkzA

Ryan

Wow, fascinating, I had it spelled wrong its Tannu Tuva. Thanks for the links, Richard Feynman sounded like quite a guy. The name of that country just seemed odd, my instincts were right. Its odd, I liked that description, "Its like a bowl, no reason to go down in there." Thanks

When I first started collecting, Tannu Tuva stamps were my favorite, because of their designs and unusual shapes.
Art

I sold a bunch and while I was packing them up thought wow these are cooler than most. Since then had to acquire a few more for keeps.

Wow great stamps! I see why people would collect these they are beautiful. I am glad I have two!

I found one example in an old WW album. It's a little shoddy, but I didn't think I'd have one, nor did I ever hear of it either, until I looked:

Tannu Tuva a place where you can ride a bull without a saddle. These stamps are great.

Time to wake this thread up.

During the stamp issuing period of 1926-1943, the country was called the Tuva Peoples Republic. All the stamps are inscribed Tuva alone. I am not sure why Scott insists on adding the "Tannu".

I recently found these Tuva stamps and thought they would be worth of an album page.

Tuva was originally ( until 1926 ) called Tannu Tuva, after the mountain chain Tannu-ola Mountains. After the communists occupied the country the name was changed to Republic of Tuva. I suppose Scott has not heard of this change yet?
By the way, BeeSee, that is an attractive set of stamps and a very nice page you made for it!

Peter

Is that blue triangle stamp a real stamp? Seeing the words rub and tug makes me wonder! (Google will reveal all, if the phrase is unfamiliar!)