Collecting The Backs Of Stamps

Even those who say that they collect the fronts of the stamps, paying little attention to the backs, have to admit that occasionally the backs are worth looking at.

How about some examples?

Here are a few. I haven't included control numbers from Spain, or from coils; nor have I included any printing anomalies like offsets. Feel free to post any of them, or anything else that is interesting.

(I thought this thread would already exist, but I didn't find it in a search. If it is already out there, please let me know.)

The first Latvian stamps were printed on the backs of maps. The maps are generally brown and black; single-color maps are less common. If no map is evident, the stamp may be from a map's margin.


Russian stamp intended for use as paper money


Advertising as placed on the reverse of a few New Zealand issues in 1893. Full sheets can be reassembled based on the positions of the various ads.


I'd still like to know what the purpose was for this mark, found on the back of a Honduras 15c issue. I assume it must be some sort of control mark. The stamp itself is unused, with gum.


So, do you use mounts, or do you just hinge the front of the stamp?

Any other interesting backsides to show? (Lets keep it to stamps.)

The United States stamps with explanatory text printed on the back of the stamp should also be included in this discussion. Who would want to include the regular issues from the nineteenth century that have grills?
Lizardly,
halflizard

It is better to distribute unfounded rumors rather than risk concealing the truth.

Those Latvian map stamps are great - I have a small booklet from Barefoot dealing with those.



Some early Canadian KGV Admiral experimental / provisional coil stamps had a rubber stamp on the back over top of a paste-up joint - these coils were made out of normal perf 12 sheet stamps, and other than the backstamp, there is no way to tell them from the regular sheet stamps. The backstamps are rare and the prices are very high.



This 1953 edition of BNA Topics has some more info on this (page 319).

http://bnatopics.org/journals/1953/...o.%20107.pdf

For those interested in Canadian philately, all of the issues of BNA Topics (the British North America Philatelic Society journal) from 1944 to 2003 are available online.

http://www.bnatopics.org/

Also, all issues of Canadian Philatelist (the Royal Philatelic Society of Canada journal) from 1950 to 2006 are available online.

http://www.rpsc.org/tcp/cp1950.php

Ryan

The New Zealand advert stamps were recently listed in a local
stamp auction here in Perth, asking $14 each FYI.


Back of an Australian Seamail Etiquette

Back of a SEP print peel and stick, self adhesive Australia
(SG2718)





China : Heiroglyph explained..
the back of stamp :





The explanation:






Chile : Unexplained.
I think it the same stamp fron and back, but I have given them two diff catalogue numbers, probably a "senior" moment

Either SG816 or SG835 (1979)

India Revenue and cut square back stamped by dealer:
South Hackney, London.




NZ backstamped by? map of Australia and CV

(at $10 though it should be a wood duck, not a blue duck)





Nicaragua : No need to introduce this English gentleman.

I have no information on this back of stamp,
it is not mine.
The Honeycomb shape illustrates a gum formation adaption at a time
of gum shortage. (the 1950's ?)
correction : lozenge watermark

All I can recall is that it is, I think, referred to as "spargummi"

which indicates it probably is German in origin.

Actually, Rod, your example shown is a lozenge watermark on the back of a German inflation-era stamp. The small "InflaBerlin" mark should be a sign that the stamp has been certified / authenticated at some point. I didn't spend a whole lot of time with the text on the BPP website, but if I understand their methods correctly, it's been checked only for a colour variant and has been certified as having shade "b" according to the Michel catalogue.

In searching for a good scan of spargummi online, I found this page from a French stamp club, which shows a large number of examples of stamps with "special" back sides.

http://aps-web.fr/?p=1241

Here's a good image of spargummi ("economy gum" would be a reasonable translation, I guess). The circular spots are areas with no gum.

Ryan

i MAY have an answer to the blue duck with the 10 dollar c.v. !! Many years ago I purchased stamps from Australian Bulk...they would include stamps like the Blue Duck shown with an amount on the back which emtitled the buyer to 10 dollars catalog value "free" with a re order !!

My contribution to the thread
one of many expertizing marks/initials .

David

One of the saddest, or funniest according to taste, backs in my collection:



This State seal stamp was applied to the backs of Orchha State stamps that were actually sold at full face value over a post office counter. Large numbers of these stamps were sold under the post office counter for a considerable discount. Here's the front of the block:



The 40 Rupees that this cost some poor unfortunate would have paid the wages of a poor unfortunate Orchha State postman for around 6 weeks ...

I don't know if it's quite in the spirit of the thread, but then there's this Bhopal State stamp, SG 100s



printed both sides. Here's the front:



It would present a bit of a problem if I wanted to mount it on a page.

This, incidentally, was the last stamp issued for use by the general public of Bhopal, in 1908. In the same year, the State Post Office was closed to the general public, and was only used for Bhopal government mail afterwards.

Thanks Ryan for illustrating the difference between watermark
and economy gum
I am glad that has been brought to my attention.

...and thanks Phil, I would have sworn that Aussie map
curiosity would never had been solved.
The fact you have is quite amazing.
I had been thinking it could not have been skylarking,
I had been looking at hand stamps for my circuit book
signature, and they are quite expensive, which increased
the curiosity of the map example's genesis.

This is the back of a stamp, that, if you had bought it in 1953
you would have paid 10 million times, its original price.

I'll leave it to you to identify

An owner's or an expertizer's mark. Does anyone recognize it as an expertizer's mark? By the way the grill is counterfeit.


This is a genuine grill on a US Scott #141. Compare it with the counterfeit #142 above.