Is There An Album For Collecting Czech Stamps?

ZhangCheng: No problem! Thanks for letting me know about them :) I am sure I will need some of the ones in your Czech set, I just am unsure of what will come in the lot I purchased. Hopefully I will have extras to offer as well!

Thank you again

If collecting Czech (or any European country for that matter), I'd recommend you to pick up with Michel's stamp catalogues. They provides much more complete listings and details than Scott.

But if you do so, then the Steiner's album pages are of very little use (as they are based on Scott and lack many items/issues listed in Michel). Thus many european collectors prefer Davo/Lighthouse (Leuchtturm) albums, or custom made pages.

And for some light bedtime reading : Monographie Ceskoslovenskych Znamek (Monograph of Czechoslovakian Stamps.) 17 hardcover volumes on the stamps and post marks of Czechoslovakia, and some of the "volumes" are actually in 2 parts - 500 odd pages each! And it only covers up until 1939! Maybe hard to come by though as it's out of print. I think they were published in the 1970's and 80's.

But I agree with scb, it's usually best to have a catalogue from the area that's being collected if you want a more accurate and detailed list.

Balf

scb: Thanks for the info! I haven't heard of Michael's...I'll look into that!

MmmmBalf: WOW! I'd love to have a set of those, but it sounds like daunting reading! I'll definitely have to look for a set. Maybe my university library would have one or could get the first volume via interlibrary loan for me to look at...I'll have to check! Thanks!

Hello Czech fans !! its not perfect..but heres the best scan I could get on the article...i was selling the Hradcany castle stamps in bulk to a fellow in Israel ..and then I got interested a bit myself..it does not take much for me to get going on a topic or theme !

Found this using google



Around the first Czechoslovakian stamps often flourish unbelievable tall stories and vague information. It's more than 90 years ago the first Hradèany stamps were issued, so let's try to sum the information:

The first initiator of the new Czechoslovakian stamps probably was Jaroslav Šula. By that time he was the president of the Czech philately club. It is said, that he already on October 20th 1918 in a letter asked Alfons Mucha to prepare drafts of new stamps.

In KÈF's (Czech philately club) registration we can read that on November 8th 1918 the KÈF's leading asked Alfons Mucha to prepare drafts of new Czechoslovakian stamps...

Beyond that, it says in Jaroslav Lešetický's memoirs that on October 29th 1918, the post director Maximilián Fatka gave him a task to provide a temporary overprint to Austrian stamps.

This proposition wasn't accepted by the postal presidency, so the next day Lešetický got a new task, to fix drafts to temporary stamps. This time he contacted Alfons Mucha.



On November 1st 1918, Jaroslav Lešetický took a walk together with counsel Mr. Viliam Elias.


Mr. Viliam Elias suggested Hradèany as the motive of the first Czechoslovakian stamp. This proposition was approved by the postal presidency and the next day Alfons Mucha got a subcontract to draw a stamp with Hradèany motive.


The printing house "Èeská grafická unie", gets a contract to release the very first Czechoslovakian stamps. "Èeská grafické unie" was founded in 1903 by a coalition of the graphic printing house Unie and Mr. Jan Vilím's reproduction manufactory.



The first Hradèany stamps, 5 h light green and 10 h red, were issued on December 18th 1918. This day became a memorial day of the Czechoslovakian philately.


The Hradèany stamps were issued pell-mell, not by turn of value. The last Hradèany stamp were issued on April 12th 1920.


This emission consisted of five different drawings, 26 different values, 14 of them were also perforated.


Production of the first Czechoslovakian stamps were characterized of post-war chaos. The Czech Graphic Union Printing House wasn't prepared for such a task, the letterpress machine was out-of-date. This way we got many printing errors, variations and a paradise for Hradèany specialists.

philb: Thank you for the high res scan! Very interesting information!

bobgggg: Is that first one an ad for a 2008 release? Very cool looking! Thank you so much for the fantastic info on the first Czech stamps as well!

I didn't mention this originally, but not only are my ancestors from Czechoslovakia, but I'm also a HUGE Art Nouveau, and especially Alfons Mucha, fan! I have even published a journal article on his work's influence in modern day comic book art (another of my collecting interests). I knew he had designed "some stamps" for Czechoslovakia, but did not realize (ie, had not researched) that they were the FIRST Czech stamps! The posts here have been very inspirational in making me want to push forward with my Czech stamp collection, especially the early years...and most especially the Mucha issues.

I know I have a few coming in with a recent purchase and I think I have some in my current collection that I have randomly gathered over the years, but now I think I would like to push forward and make this a real collection :)

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful help and valuable information!

bw go for it ! its great when we get a special passion for a country or a topic...i think you can put together an excellent Czech collection for a minimal amount of cash...get your 50 posts here and I am sure many of us can help you out !

Bobgggg you had to post that book cover ..now Jopie says there is a watermill on the painting although you need a magnifying glass to find it!

philb: Thanks! I'm pretty excited to see what kind of collection I can create :) This should be fun!

Hi again! Just a quick update on my new collection I was watching this fantastic looking auction:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...310177963793
When I first found it, it was around $50 and I was hoping to snag a great deal. Obviously if you click the link, it went far beyond what I could afford at this point!

The other one that I was watching I was hoping would stay closer to my price range, and probably was closer to what I need as a beginner in this area anyway. I watched it all morning, sat very nervously in the last few minutes, pulled the trigger with seconds left and WON!
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...290367508150
Of course the reason I probably won is that there aren't many photos, so I don't exactly know what I'm getting, but just to have the album and a good starter set of stamps, I'm pretty happy. I don't know if the price was great or if I paid too much, but either way I'm ok with it. I had the money available and whatever the stamps included beyond those shown are will just be fantastic! I have another lot incoming as well and some of my own already here, so hopefully I can fill in some of the gaps.

Fun times ahead!

bw there you go...you have an album to work on..thats about the right price..you did not pay too much...do not be in a hurry...everything comes around..is a saying I have heard and found to be true...

philb: Yeah, the album was nice to find. Whatever stamps are included will just be a good jumpstart to my new collection. I'll definitely not be in a hurry...can't afford to be for one and never have been for another. I'm still working on my Mercury Dime set that I started when I was a kid in the 80s...same for my X-Men comic book set. Both are nearing completion, but both have also taken me about 20 years Slow and steady...

Phil...I like to drive you crazy...Now go fetch that cover for your lovely wife...By the way Portugal-Azores SC 318...nice windmill