I am a collector of the stamps of Armenia that have been made and used from the start of the First Republic in 1918 till the end of the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1923.
Soon I encountered a big problem. All the stamps that were used during that time have been massively forged. When you see Armenian stamps on eBay, Delcampe, even by your usual dealer (I know only one exception), the chances to see genuine overprints and stamps is not very high. What to do? Ask an expert? There was none and several years ago I decided to become my own expert.
Based on publishings by Tchilinghirian, Ceresa and Zakiyan (to name the most important ones), lots of time and lots of stamps to compare I got better and better.
This page will allow me to post comments on topics of current interest: research findings, questions of common interest to other collectors of Armenian stamps and generally news regarding the world of Armenian stamps.
Lets see what happens.
Hello,
Mr. T. Pateman has directed me to your site and I must say that I have found it very interesting. I only collect Dashnak Armenia so my collecting field is very limited. Reading your comments and descriptions of o.k and forged O/P has been of great interest as I find Dr. Ceresa’s guides sometimes not all that clear in the visual aids and a little confusing at times when dealing with the pictorial issues. I was lucky some time ago to purchase on of the two personal copies of his complete guides he owned and he was kind enough to sign one to me.
with kind regards
Chas Elgood.
Unearthed your blog post via live search the other day and absolutely enjoy it. Continue the fantastic work.