Are These Cinderellas?

There are just some stamps I got in some lots from Greece and
Austria I bought.
Just wanted to know if they are Cinderellas, or what they are,
since they don't have a value on them.
Thanks :D

#1-Austria


#2-Greece

Luis,

Top stamp is a registered official mail stamp for Poland. I don't think it is listed in Scott. A lot of Polish BOB ("back-of-the-book") stamps are not listed in Scott.

Bottom stamp is a Russian semipostal, Scott #B36, issued in 1922.

Thanks for the pics!

k

By the way, in case anybody noticed the warning in Scott about counterfeits of this stamp -- the stamp Luis shows is the genuine.

ooh, ok :P I kinda understood what you said, except for "Scott", is this some kind of stamp Catalog?

I got that Russian one in a lot of Greece stamps, thanks for
the clarification.

So the top one is like a Forever stamp? that has a pre-determined value?

What does Semi-postal mean?

Thank you very much for you answear.

Semi-Postal means that beside being used for postage the stamp is also intended that part of the proceeds go towards another charity, event &/or government.

Charity: Red Cross,Red Crescent, for the needy,victims of natural or man-made disasters

Event: Olympics

The Scott catalogs are a set of stamp catalogs that list most of the stamps of the world. The standard worldwide set is currently 6 volumes. There are also some specialized volumes. You can check your local library; some of them will have a set, either for circulation or sometimes reference only.

Scott catalogs are the ones primarily used in the US. There are other worldwide catalogs, such as Stanley Gibbons (UK) and Michel (Germany).

The Polish stamp has a value assigned at the time it was issued. So it does have a pre-determined value, but is not a "forever stamp" in the sense we use it today. Because it is supposed to be used only by government officials, it is "accounting" money. During that era, the violet stamps paid the standard mail rate, while the carmine stamps paid the registered rate. The registered official mail stamps have the word "polecona". I do not know why Scott doesn't list this stamp, so I cannot tell you what the rate it paid at the time was. It may be listed in the other catalogs, and will definitely be listed in a Polish specialty catalog (but I do not have one).

Semipostals are stamps which typically have a 2-part value. One part pays the actual postage, the other "added" value is for fund-raising (typically for charity or disaster relief, but sometimes for other things). The Russian example you showed were sold by the post office for 250,000 rubles (this was during the inflationary period). 50,000 rubles was designated for hunger relief, while the remaining 200,000 rubles could be applied to postal use.

k

Mike beat me to it!

k

KHJ, Sorry!

:D I just smiled when I read those comments, its nice learning something new :D
Now I know two new words in the stamp collecting hobby(or philately for those who study the trade).

Thanks to all who answeared, I really appreciate it. :D

Now, these Scott catalogs only list all stamps that were actually used for postage right?
And can you get them like, in a CD,CD=ROM? or are they all in paper?
They must be pretty big huh? :P
Does each issue have a different continent, or how are they listed in each volume?
...I should look these up online myself huh? :P

I will check my library and see if they have some of them.

I like that Russian railway stamp. Nice design.

Scott means The Scott Standard Catalogue of Postage Stamps, which, to cover the whole world, comes in 6 large volumes now. You can get a Classic one in one volume showing stamps only up to 1940.

The Scott Catalogue (Sc on ebay etc) shows stamps issued from the first issue for a country, numbered in sequence, with additional letters indicating varieties of the stamp (same design and face valuation, but different perforation measurements (perfs) (wrigglely serrated edges of stamps), colours, watermarks in the paper, paper varieties, etc.

Different regions of the world have there own cataloging systems. France has Yvert et Tellier (YT) for one, Great Britain (England) has Stanley Gibbons (SG), Germany has Michel (Mi).

These are usually general catalogues. Then each country or region has one or more specialized catalogues showing the very detailed breakdowns of each stamp and all (or most identified and confirmed) varieties and permutations of said stamp.

So, if you wanted to collect all of the stamps of one country, or certain sets of stamps, or certain eras or reigns of monarchs (King George V) these catalogues help a lot. They also have suggested retail prices for very nice examples of each stamp.

the newer catalogues have coloured pictures of a lot of stamps and examples from each set or type.

Libraries usually have these catalogues either to loan out or in their reference sections to read while there.

So, on ebay or elsewhere (stamp shows) you can, if you know it, ask for a certain number (SC # usually in North America) and people will know what you are talking about.

ooooooh, interesting.

So the stamps on the Scott are listed by country?
Does the Scott include all the stamps from the other catalogs? or do those stamps only come up
in the own catalogs of those countries?


Is there other ways to find the value/description of stamps? maybe something on the internet?
(without having to post up 400 stamp in the forum :P)

Thank you very much for the explanation.

Anytime, Mike! Your information is usually better and more reliable than mine anyway!



For the 6-volume worldwide set, the general answer is yes. There are a few minor exceptions, but why complicate things?



They are available both in print and on CD (actually, on DVD now). There is the standard 6-volume worldwide, which is in excess of 8000 pages. Countries are listed in alphabetical order. The only exception is US+area is listed at the FRONT of volume 1.

There is also a single volume US Specialized Catalog. A single volume Classic Worldwide Catalog (all stamps from 1840-1940, plus all pre-QEII British Commonwealth).

All of the above are now available in pdf on DVDs. However, since 2008, the print function has been disabled and your are required to register in order to activate. One of the reasons my last software set is 2007 (Scott lost me as a software customer).

There is also a US and British Commonwealth catalog that only exists on DVD. It has only been issued in 2009, with no follow-up.



Best to ask your librarian in case they put them in a separate section. But the Scott catalogs are usually at the call numbers 769. Although I have seen a couple of libraries that have them in the 300 section (I think it was 323?).

Cost I think is roughly $80 US each volume either book or CD, yes they do come on CDs.

However, cheaper version can be had used from a couple years ago. The only reason you need a whole set Now is to keep current with all the new issues from everywhere. Well, it is also nice to have a reference book or books for all stamps in case one becomes interested. (which strangely does happen a lot).

They are arranged alphabetically A-Z by country name. Regions that are under the political influence of a country are usually included after that one country in their own separate sections and numbers.

Search on ebay for Stamp Catalog or Catalogue. Search on here SCF for hints on which catalogues years of issue have typos and problems and should be avoided just to avoid confusion (mostly good though).

Obviously, I type too slow!

Thanks, Puzzler!

Ha, he is right on top of things :D


Well I am amazed, I am really finding this interesting(i have problems
when I try a new hobby...boredom) so im glad I am finding this more and more interesting.

Thank you both very much for explaining the Scott to me, I will definitly have to check these out and get a peek at the inmense
number of stamps out there. :D

I am really enjoying this. :D

khj,
I obviously type too slow. I am a speedy one-fingered typist. Thank you for all you explanations. I usually learn something from reading your posts and if I try to pass that learned knowledge on and it gets garbled somewhat that is my fault.

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to choose to learn!


Luis,
I have a saying that I am trying to live by (sometimes) lately:
Learn to appreciate what you have while you have it.

Start small and the more you learn to appreciate and try to appreciate, the more you will be able to appreciate later on. Stamps and everything else.

Puzzling Philosophy 101