Stamps And Items From "Dead" Countries And Entities

The Raj of Sarawak was established in 1841, when the Sultan of Brunei rewarded the English adventurer James Brooke with an hereditary fiefdom for services rendered. The Brooke family ruled Sarawak with progressive benevolence for about a century, but the last "White Rajah", Sir Charles Vyner Brooke, controversially ceded Sarawak to the British Empire in 1946. Since 1963, Sarawak has been politically and philatelically part of Malaysia.

The stamp illustrated demonstrates the transition of 1946. It depicts Rajah Sir Charles Vyner Brooke and is overprinted with the Royal Cypher of King George VI of the UK.

Thank you, pjr, for sharing




The first stamps of the independent postal service in Crete were issued on 1 March 1900. They featured images of Hermes, Hera, King Minos, Talos and a portrait of Prince George, who was the high commissioner of the island.

In February 1905, the second series was released. The series depicted Artemis, Britomartis, infant Cydon suckling a female Cretan hound, Triton, Ariadne, as well as the ruins of the Palace of Knossos and the Arcadia Monastery against the backdrop of Mount Ida.

In September 1908, after the Cretan deputies unilaterally declared union with Greece, the stamps of the previous issues were overprinted "HELLAS" ("Greece").

The British colonies of Rhodesia and Nyasaland became the independent
states of Zambia and Malawi in 1964.
Southern Rhodesia was the state of Rhodesia between 1965 and 1980 and
finally is now Zimbabwe.

The "Rhodesia" in R & N incorporated both Northern and Southern Rhodesia, not just the later Zambia.

Many thanks, lithograving!



Helios, the personification of the Sun, 1912

To celebrate the unification of the Dodecanese Islands with Greece, a long set was issued by Greece in several parts during 1947-1950. Three of the stamps show former stamps issued in 1912 for use in the Aegean Islands depicting Helios (only the values were changed to the actual values)

The Leeward Islands were a loosely organised British colony from 1671 to 1958. At various times the constituent territories issued their own stamps (Antigua, St Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, the Virgin Islands and Dominica), but federal stamps for the whole colony were also issued from 1890 onwards. All these stamps were of the De La Rue "key type" design. In 1958 the colony was dissolved, and most of its constituent territories are now independent countries.

Here's a stamp of 1949, cancelled in Plymouth, Montserrat - a place which no longer has a post office, because the whole town was buried by volcanic eruptions in the 1990s.

The Kingdom of Württemberg started issuing stamps in 1851.
Below is the 9 Kreuzer Scott 5



In 1871 Württemberg joined the German Empire but was permitted to print
and issue it's own regular postage stamps until 1902 after which only Reich
stamps could be used.
Official stamps for internal use in Württemberg were still available but
they also lost their validity after July 31 1925

Below are 3 from the last set of 5 Official stamps issued on December 1923.

Württemberg Scott O89-91




But this was not the end of Württemberg stamps.

At the end of WWII the southern part of Württemberg ended up in the French Occupation Zone and the French issued stamps for what they called Württemberg-Hohenzollern.
This lasted until 1949.

Scott 8NB5 -8NB6




Stamps of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) were sold
in Württemberg-Hohenzollern as of September 19 1949 and all previous stamps
from W-H were no longer valid after March 31 1950.

I don't have official stamps of N. Epirus, only one unofficial set issued 1914. It consists of 15 stamps produced in Moschopolis (Now Voskopoje in Albania) for publicity and propaganda purposes. It is regarded as Cinderella stamps by most collectors though cancelled specimens and examples of these stamps on covers exist.

The set was issued in the very brief period (24 June-27 October 1914) that the town of Moschopolis was under the control of the troops of Pavlos Gyparis, a rather notorious Greek army officer who was previously head of the guard of Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos. Gyparis took control of the area around the town briefly after the collapse of the Autonomous Epirus administration.

The set contains six stamps show different old Greek coins with mythological figures and 9 identical stamps with the coat of arms of Epirus.

A set of stamps** (?) for the State of Thessaloniki was issued in 1916 shows Eleftherios Venizelos, leader of the Greek national liberation movement, together with Pavlos Kountouriotis and Panagiotis Danglis, called "The Triumvirate", the leaders of the State of Thessaloniki.


*Note: Many sites and online sellers describe these stamps as Cinderella propaganda labels. I don't know whether they used for postage. Appreciate any further information.

Here are stamps of the Republic of German-Austria, two are former Austrian stamps overprinted Deutschosterreich.

Interestingly though stamps inscribed Deutschösterreich were still issued
as late as October 1921 and were valid until July 31 1922.

The post card below was cancelled on August 19 1921 at Schruns.



The first Austrian stamps inscribed Österreich were issued
January 1922 ,which were the Dachauer designs.

I see that I have more unofficial sets from Epirus in my Mythology collection.

- Nike of Paionios statue, 1914

Flag of Epirus with the double headed eagle in the center, 1914.

Semi postal stamps aimed to collect charity for the State Labour Service, issued on August 20, 1944.

The Croatian stamps shown in the previous post were engraved by the master
engraver Karl Seizinger and printed at the State Printer in Vienna.
Seizinger also engraved the souvenir sheet shown below.

Croatia Scott B40 1943





The stamp on this SS has the S in the shield variety.



Quote is from the Stamp Engraver blog
https://stampengravers.blogspot.com...izinger.html

Saar




I have stamps only from the period of French Protectorate (1947-1956). All were designed and engraved by French artists, but show German motifs (like German art).



** During 1935-1945 Saar was under Reich control and no stamps were issued for the region.
I appreciate if other members could show us stamps from the first and third periods.