Help! It's All Greek To Me.

Any clues as to just what these are. Obviously a tax 'stamp' of some kind but would like to know more if someone has info. Most if not all appear to be from 1905.

Pretty sure they're from "Crete" and there is an outline on a couple of them that looks like the outline of Crete. The amounts of lepta and drachma are similar to the amounts of postage stamps of the day. I agree they look like revenues of some sort.

Crete was in turmoil at that time. There is a revolutionary set of 1905 that you see offered occasionally. It warrants one sentence, and no pictures, in Scott Classic. (This isn't that set.)

Cjd

Thanks, Cjd, useful clues.

Hello!
I am back reading some older posts. This is the unissued Therison revolutionary stamps of 1905 from Crete. The figure in the circle is the goodness Nike. They came in five values. 5 – 10 – 20 – 50 Lepta and 1 Drachma. The other set is a map of Crete which came in three values 5 – 10 – 20 Lepta. Those stamps are heavily forged in at least fore different types including one from Fournier. As they were not issued original copies cant be cancelled.

This set came one month (September) before those cjd mention

Best regards
Magnus

Magnus,

Thanks for your information about these stamps. So you are saying they are forgeries, then.

I was not visiting the board at the time you posted your comment, and now it looks as if you are not.

Thanks Magnus and modern_who for reviving this thread.

I collect Crete but have to admit that I need to go back to my collection and reference books to distinguish the genuine stamps and the many forgeries.

As Magnus says, the map stamps were never issued and there are many more forgeries than original stamps. I have I believe only one genuine set of three. The two stamps here are forgeries.

The late Crete expert, Rienk Feenstra, suggested that these map stamps weren't issued as the design doesn't suggest any sense of "enosis", union with Greece.

The stamps in the Nike design were issued but again there are very many more forgeries around than genuine stamps. This time the word "ENOSIS" is included just below Nike's feet. None of those here looks genuine to me but I'll have another look when my eyes aren't so tired.

Thank you, Negel. Good of you to chime in with your knowledge of the subject.

I'm interested to see what you have to say about them when your eyes are better able to focus in on them.

Would a larger scan be helpful at this point?