Newfoundland Stamps 17-23 From 1861

Here is my next page, of all these babies.

Missing only one #16 (only because I don't have $8,000 laying around (Catalog=$16,000)

Sorry the quality is reduced, because I had to compress from high resolution to get under the allowed for our website. (note to someone in power--is there a way to allow more than 100 KB? I'd pay extra.)

Note the different shades, and in particular I made a single image of my favorite on this page 15Ac (chocolate brown version of violet brown version #15).

Also, I do have the mint version of #21, but in this case, I chose to display the used version because of the cool sand dollar cancel (any one?)

Tomorrow, I'll upload page 3 (#24-31) or maybe the airmails?

Any comments on re-entries ( I renew my inquiry to be taught about these )

Another post of Wow. That is a pretty unique "Sand Dollar" cancel. Not sure I've come across that one

tommy, these are impressive. As far as exceeding the 100k limit on images, you would need to pick a free image hosting site such as imageshack and then put a link in the posting to that image. At the top of the page when creating a post, there is a camera icon that works like the quote link. At the upper left, under tutorials, is a link to posting links you might want to peruse.

Thanks for showing these! Great collection!

Hi tommy,

Quite stunning. What an album page. I am green with envy. I only have one from that series, this SG1, mesh tooth to the thick paper, no watermark, mint, no gum.

Terry

Terry,

A beautiful example, it is enjoyable to share pics.

Yours has very nice margins for the era. My guess is that it is #15A (violet brown) instead of the chocolate brown (15Ac)...though without them side by side its hard to say.

Thanks

I'll post another page tonight...

Hi tommy

According to Gibbons' Canada catalogue the SG1 to SG9 were printed on thick machine made paper with a distinct mesh and without a watermark. The SG10 to 15a were printed by Perkins Bacon on hand made paper with no mesh. The SG10 to SG15a can sometimes be found with a part watermark "STACEY WISE 1858". The SG1 that I have is definitely Machine made paper with mesh. It is the 1d brown-purple, but the scan hasn't copied this shade well so it is difficult to see. I also probably need to recalibrate the Adobe RGB colour on my Mac screen. Another boring task for the weekend. I will try to put up some scans of my other Newfoundland stamps after I have done that.

Terry

Terry,

Of course its #1 from 1857--my error because you posted in on my page above with the #15A and 15Ac, and I got confused. Its a beaut.

Subjective of course, but I don't like nor use Gibbons--for Newfoundland, I prefer either the Specialized Catalogue (which ties to Scott #); or even better is the NSSC.

But yes, the 1857 stamps had thick wove paper with mesh--the cross wire mesh being the primary tell (as well as thicker paper). There were 70,000 made and shipped to Newfoundland on October 3, 1856.

Since we are sharing details, according to Boggs "The Postage Stamps and Postal History of Newfoundland, 1942", the second shipment from Perkins Bacon on June 15, 1860 of the #2-#15 (Scott) stamps were produced by them but on actually on paper from Stacey Wise (and some had the watermark)! So SW got their foot in the door by supplying the paper for the 1860 stamps and then won the whole business for the 1861 stamps above. Interesting eh--or too much information?

cheers

Hi tommy,

Not too much at all. I am always looking for info on the Canadian Provinces and the Australian States. I agree with you about the Stanley Gibbons catalogues, they are a totally confusing (and expensive) nightmare. I am now in the process of replacing them with "proper" catalogues. So far I have acquired these, which I find much better:

Scott's Specialised United States. A wonderful piece of work - puts Gibbons to shame.
Scott's Classic Specialised 1840 to 1940, as above, but I would like a better copy - mine is falling apart.
Balian's Stamps of Egypt volume one 1998 (I don't need volume two). I would also like The Nile Post but it is hellish expensive now.
Edifil's Spain and Her Dependencies.
A very slender, but informative, A5 Seven Seas catalogue of the Australian Colonies.

I now need good catalogues for:

Canada, Newfoundland and The Canadian Provinces (I will check out the NSSC you mention)
Australia and the Australian States.
Greece to 1945
Mexico, particularly the Revolution period.

If you have any recommendations I would be delighted to hear back from you.

Terry

Cheers Terry,

I also love the historical aspect behind the stamps, because to me it expands the dimensions of discovery and joy. Fun to collect an old, well centered stamp to be sure. But "more fun" to have the objective background of what was happening in real life (be it Egpyt or Spain). Your library seems impressive.

Regretfully, I am a one trick pony, collecting only Newfoundland, by design. I began in 1972, when I was 12 and somehow read an article that Newfoundland would go up in value on the simple premise that there were no more stamps being made (ie, 1949 it joined Canada). The same for the other "provinces". So alas, my recommendations would only be in that vein. Having said that:

1. I have a very old Scott but never use it (actually ripped the Newfoundland pages out and threw it away, so I would not be tempted to other countries).
2. The Unitrade Canada Catalogue is solid and, in my opinion, the bible or standard. (Sadly, I just gave away a 5 year old one to a collector at a stamp show, else I would have sent to you).
3. For Newfoundland, I strongly recommend the NSSC. Its incredibly deep and factually driven and I rely upon it consistently. (Walsh and Butt have a 7th edition). There is also one for Canada and the other provinces, but I don't have that one. The NSSC has incredible detail like all railroads, cancel types, post office detail, FFC history and depth for each FFC down to ant level detail. It also has market value prices (not catalog) -- based on their transactions. I use this a lot to snag deals at shows or on the web. For example, I recently bought a cover for $10 because the NSSC indicated that the slogan cancel and the RPO on the back were incredibly rare and worth $90. Another time, I passed on a FFC that some lame guy wanted $200 for (based on his left ear and Scott), when the NSSC indicated it was worth $150. The NSSC also has tons of photos and real examples of variations--which is incredibly useful if you want to actually see a variant. The weakness is that it has a different number system and very small font (you need a microscope!)
4. I also have "The Air Mails of Canada & Newfoundland" which is important, but overlaps with the NSSC.
5. I also have Bogg's History book above (hard to find, out of print). More of a dry history, year by year, than a catalogue
6. Lastly, I have Ludlow's wierd but awesome Railway book published in Japan in like 1962; also hard to find..but definitive on RPOs (and overlaps with the NSSC)

Of all these, if there was a fire in my house, I'd grab my stamps and the NSSC.... here is a link to one

http://compare.ebay.com/like/141000...pes&var=sbar

then if I had time, i'd come back for my wife and the other books

Nice stamps Tommy.

Question: Why are the first stamps inscribed with the capital city name "st. John's", rather than just "Newfoundland"? I have never been able to find that answer.

Great question. This stumped me... here are some facts which might provide context to an answer.

Newfoundland was discovered by Cabot on St Johns day, thus naming the city concurrently with Newfoundland (initially a Colony around 1583). So perhaps, they became inextricably tied at this early juncture?

Then later, sometime after 1800 (before stamps), the Governor of Newfoundland (Gower) requested of the British Secretary of Post (Freeling) to include Newfoundland in the British Postal System (letters were sent by ships without stamps for a shilling). Gower denied this, but on April 18, 1805 to provide for a bag made up at London for letters to be "sent to Halifax and then by ship to St Johns". So perhaps this too connected them together?

A little later, settlements at Brigus, Carbonear and Harbor Grace grew, but it was more expensive to send letters there, so St Johns became the cheaper destination for all Newfoundland.

Then on May 31, 1851, an Act was established that provided for post offices but all the postmasters were to be under the supervision of the Postmaster General at St Johns.

On another front, a jeweler name Simon Solomon, engraved a device for stamping prepaid letters from 1810 to 1870. Three of his six known cancel all included both "St Johns" and "Newfoundland" in them, though the others did not. (they are like Paid All cancels, before stamps)_ So maybe this set the stage to link them later?

That is all that I have found. A whole lot of nothing, perhaps. But clearly it was the case for the first stamps and by 1865, the stamps were just "Newfoundland".