Author Archives: Stefan

Covers at Raritan – some first thoughts

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Stefan

No 77 of the Raritan auction lists some interesting items. Here are my thoughts to each one. 1. The picture postcard with the early date The picture postcard looks quite clean but I do not like the framed Z. They … Continue reading →

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One of the rare stamps of the Ruble overprint Issue

Posted on January 21, 2018 by Stefan

Recently I got a hold off quite a rare stamp. But let us zoom in from the outside, starting with the Dashnak overprints. During the first Republic, when the Dashnak government ruled the newly independent country, the overprinting process started … Continue reading →

Posted in Ruble | 2 Comments

Repairs – forger or plastic surgeon?

Posted on January 12, 2018 by Stefan

Sometimes stamps or covers and postcards are damaged. Stamps can get tears, lose dents or even larger parts of their paper. Often parts of the gum are missing, disturbed or even all gum is lost. Postcards (also covers etc.) often … Continue reading →

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The postal stationary of Armenia

Posted on November 30, 2017 by Stefan

Together with the first overprints on stamps the Armenian postal office also overprinted postal stationary. While the stamps, starting with the k60k overprints are well known, the stationary are not. It even took a couple of years before the stationary … Continue reading →

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Forgeries at Raritan #74

Posted on June 30, 2017 by Stefan

There are some forgeries among the items presented in the current auction. The first two items got fake overprints. The Jemchouchin signature is probably faked too. Both stamps were not available at the time in the post office stocks. They … Continue reading →

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Dr. R. J. Ceresa

Posted on June 17, 2017 by Stefan

Ray Ceresa passed away on the 10th of June. He was a great philatelist, author of the Handbooks about Transcaucasia, Ukraine, Russia and the regions of civil war 1917-23. I had the opportunity to met him and still remember this … Continue reading →

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Fake cover again

Posted on May 28, 2017 by Stefan

On November the 6th I wrote an article about a fake cover offered at David Feldman auction house. It is listed again. Please meet Lot 20385 at the current Russia auction. There is something new also. We got a scan of … Continue reading →

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Talking signatures

Posted on May 3, 2017 by Stefan

Sometimes the back-side of a stamp is almost as interesting as the front-side. Here is an example of a stamp with 5 signatures: A fancy sign that is often present on stamps with genuine overprints. The signature of Philipp Kosack … Continue reading →

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Unframed large Z on one Ruble unperforated

Posted on April 2, 2017 by Stefan

The latest addition to my collection is this quarter sheet of overprinted stamps. This is a high quality scan so you can zoom in a bit and check all the details. The stamp itself is quite common but getting large … Continue reading →

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Tashkent or Tiflis?

Posted on March 22, 2017 by Stefan

Again a cover is being offered in an auction. This time the auction house is Hadersbeck Auktionen in Berlin, Germany.  The description (translated from German) reads: “1920, 1R, horizontal pair and 5 on 20 K., vertical pair on registered cover, St. … Continue reading →

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