Rare Audrey Hepburn stamps up for sale

A rare sheet of 10 stamps showing film star Audrey Hepburn smoking is expected to fetch at least 400,000 euros (£350,000) at an auction next week.

The German Postal Service printed 14 million of the stamps in 2001 depicting the actress as Holly Golightly in the film Breakfast at Tiffany's.

But after Hepburn's son refused to grant copyright, all but a few sheets were destroyed.

Proceeds from the sale in Berlin next week will go to charity.

The stamps were printed as part of a series featuring classic film stars, but it was only after production that Sean Ferrer, the actress's son, was contacted for copyright permission.

"In the original photo, she's got sunglasses hanging from her mouth, but they had flipped the negative and replaced the glasses with the cigarette holder," Ferrer told AP.

He suggested either the original photo or an alternative, but the postal service hastily replaced the actress with a generic film roll and ordered the stamps to be destroyed.

Two sheets were spared, one for the Postal Service Archives and one for the German Post Museum, however two additional sheets of stamps disappeared.

During the last six years, five of the missing stamps were sold at auction for between 62,500 euro (£54,700) - 173,000 euro (£151,000) by stamp appraiser Andreas Schlegel.

Schlegel then contacted Ferrer to suggest asking the German government if they could sell one of the archived stamp sheets for charity.

However, Ferrer already had a sheet the government had sent him for approval in 2001, which will now be sold.

Mercer Bristow, from the American Philatelic Society, said a contract Ferrer signed with the German finance ministry earlier this year, securing rights to the stamp sheet and ensuring the government would not sell either of its sheets until 2040, helped drive up the reserve price of the set.

"It goes back to supply and demand. It's the only sheet out there people can bid on and she's still such a popular actress," he said.

Money raised will be split between Unicef and the Audrey Hepburn Children's foundation.

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-11550814

UNITRADE CANADA 2011 SPECIALIZED CATALOGUE - NOW AVAILABLE!

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• fully illustrated in colour throughout
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• Semi-Annual and Quarterly Packs illustrated

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Joburg 2010 International Stamp Show Fast Approaching

The Joburg 2010 International Stamp Show is sponsored by the Philatelic Foundation of South Africa and the South African Post Office, and has the patronage of the Federation of Inter-Asian Philately (FIAP). It is also recognised by the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP), the international governing body for world philately.

The stamp show will see members of the international philatelic community, drawn from some 45 countries, join South African philatelists and stamp enthusiasts over four days of philatelic activities.

The entire Ground Floor of the Sandton International Convention Centre has been secured for the exhibition. This comprises some 5,800m2 (nearly 60,000squaree feet) of exhibition space. The floor will be fully carpeted with strong branding and graphics – ensuring that the exhibition and the trade are readily identifiable. Seating and refreshment areas will be located within the Hall.

“With a history spanning many, many years, philately is an intricate and diverse pursuit, and its significance will be highlighted and acknowledged with this coming event,” say the Co Chairperson of Joburg 2010 International Stamp Show Mr Howard Green.

“The pride and fellowship of philately will be celebrated. A junction of expertise, experience and passion from all corners of the earth will set the benchmark for The Joburg 2010 International Stamp Show.”

Highlights include an exceptional Court of Honour featuring a selection of the Queen Elizabeth II collection, for which Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has given personal approval. The selection will be brought to South Africa by the Keeper of the Royal Collection.

The South African Post Office (SAPO) archival exhibit and a diversity of invited exhibits will also be featured in the Court of Honour.

Some 1,500 frames of competitive exhibits with over 20,000 pages of stamps and philatelic material across all FIP classes are anticipated and frames will comply with the International Convention of 16 pages per frame.


The Competitive Exhibition is set to be a major attraction and draw strong interest from a wide spectrum of local and international collectors and philatelists.

The show will include a variety of special events and entertainment, which will be enjoyed by adults and children alike.

A youth activation zone will appeal to new and young stamp collectors, inspiring and assisting them to embrace the hobby.

The official launch of the 8th definitive stamp series by SAPO is another highlight of this show.

The presence of over 40 local and international dealers from the likes of Europe, USA and Australasia will provide a unique opportunity for trade for all collectors and budgets.

Concurrent to Joburg 2010 International Stamp Show, the South African Post Office will also host a Conference for Managers of Philatelic Bureaus.

“The show is a platform which showcases the high standards of philately in our country to an audience of world-renowned philatelists and also create awareness of philately amongst the general public,” explains Johan van Wyk, Manger Philatelic Services of the Post Office. “It will also lead to a promotion of our country through its stamps, and strong participation from African countries will showcase the diversity, strength and growth within our continent.”

African participant countries include South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Tanzania, Zambia and Sudan.

Participating countries include Australia, Bahrain, China, Chinese Taipei, France, Georgia, Germany, Great Britain, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Mongolia, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Singapore, Spain, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Thailand, USA, UAE and Vietnam.

For more information about The Joburg 2010 International Stamp Show, visit
www.joburg2010stampshow.co.za or e-mail info@joburg2010stampshow.co.za

Big whale featured on new Canada definitives

By Hans Niedermair

Canadian Stamp News

October 12, 2010

As reported in October 12th edition of Canadian Stamp News, Canada Post's new blue whale definitive is both the largest stamp and highest denomination it has ever issued.

Released Oct. 4, the stamp, which measures 12.8 by 4.9 centimetres, was engraved by Jorge Peral based on an illustration by Suzanne Durancaeu using a "new, state-of-the-art laser engraving technology," Canada Post manager of stamp design and production Alain Leduc told the October to December 2010 issue of Details

"Due to the stamp's high value, we wanted to introduce as many security features as possible in order to prevent fraud," he added.

While Leduc would not reveal all, he mentioned that some of the security features include invisible "tagging" inks, such as a large cluster of krill and a diver.

"Looking at these stamps with a black light introduces a whole new dimension to the design," Leduc said.
Additionally, intaglio printing in itself is a security feature - since it is a daunting task to replicate - while microtype was used to write the Latin name for blue whale, Balaenoptera muscuclus.

Of course, the blue whale is the largest known animal to have ever existed, with the largest recorded creature weighing in at 180 tonnes and measuring more than 30 metres long. Feeding mostly on small crustaceans called krill, there are five known populations of the creature, two of which reside in Canadian waters, off of the Atlantic and Pacific coasts.

With a total population estimated at between 5,000 and 12,000 animals, blue whales are listed as an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The mammals were almost hunted to extinction until 1966, when an international moratorium on whaling was put in place, and observed by most nations.

The stamp is the ninth in Canada Post's series of engraved high-value definitives. Previous issues include a $1 loon stamp issued in 1997 (Scott #1695), $1 stamps showing white-tailed deer and Atlantic walruses issued in 2005 (SC #1696-97), a $2 polar bear stamp released in 1998 (SC #1698), $2 stamps depicting peregrine falcons and Sable Island horses issued in 2005 (SC #1699-1700), a 2003 $5 moose stamp (SC #1701), and the $8 grizzly bear stamp released in 1997 (SC #1702).

Canadian Bank Note produced 1.5 million stamps in sheets of two, as well as 1,000 numbered uncut press sheets - signed by Peral - of 18 stamps using four-colour lithography with silk-screening and intaglio. The stamps were printed on Tullis Russell paper with PVA gum and 13-plus perforations on all sides.
The official first-day cover is cancelled in Tadoussac, Que., a popular whale-watching destination and the oldest surviving French settlement in the Americas.

A blue whale appeared on a Canadian stamp 10 years ago, part of a four-stamp set depicting whales (SC #1868-71).

Source:  http://www.canadianstampnews.com/default.html

Stamps... a quiet hobby? Think again

Well Done Don!

Because Don Jones does not and never has done anything halfway, he planned a trip to Alaska that included riding up the Dalton Highway of "Ice Road Truckers" fame with a geologist behind the wheel, and a visit to Point Barrow, the northernmost spot in the United States, and along the way, he licked some Alaska-themed stamps he had brought with him and mailed some postcards home, which drew some attention and led to his meeting an American Airlines pilot and a salesman from Texas, who soon became stamp collectors.

"Things like that happen," Jones said. "It's just where philately can lead you."

Because Don Jones does not and never has done anything halfway, a trip to Australia turned into a two-month journey to 16 countries on five continents, where he and his wife saw many famous places such as the Taj Mahal, Angkor Wat and the Great Pyramids that are featured as philatelic subjects, which means on postage stamps.

"It's a fascinating hobby," Jones said. "You take almost any country, that country's history is in its stamps."
Because Don Jones does not and never has done anything halfway, an interest in early air mail pilots led him to map the country's first transcontinental air mail route beacon by beacon, which meant a mark every 25 to 50 miles, and then to drive that route to places like Rawlins, Wyo., where the guys at the airport didn't know anything about the subject but sent him to a local restaurant where a couple of old-timers usually came in for coffee but since on this day they didn't show up a couple of other fellows offered to drive Jones and his wife up into the hills to find them, which offer Jones declined, but while he was at the local historical society doing research, the two fellows showed up with their wives and a picnic lunch and said come on, come on, so this time Jones and his wife went with them and they found the old-timers powering their cabin with one of the original generators that powered a transcontinental air mail beacon in the 1920s.

"The hobby has led us to a lot of different places," Jones said.

Because Don Jones does not and never has done anything halfway, his love of investigation led him to start putting together what stamp collectors call "exhibits" for competition, which are in-depth research papers, nicely illustrated with the proper stamps, envelopes, cancellations, postmarks or other philatelic matter, that tell stories about subjects that somehow involve or are pictured on stamps, for which he earned five Grand Prizes at national stamp shows, which led to his writing a book in 1993 about the earliest air mail service, which led to his becoming an international philatelic judge, which led him to Norway, which led to his meeting the grand-niece of the first civilian air mail pilot in America, which led to his second book, about that pilot, Max Miller, in 2004.

And because Don Jones does not and never has done anything halfway, this fall the Portsmouth man was honored with the Luff Award for Distinguished Philatelic Research from the American Philatelic Society, which Jones has heard described as "the Nobel Prize of philately."

"It's the best you can get," he said. "It was for research, which is something I really hadn't expected."
Don Jones essentially stopped collecting stamps in the 1980s to focus on his research, but because he does not and never has done anything halfway, he still dallies with small themed collections on scuba diving and the Lithuanian province of Memel, and after a meeting of the local stamp club, when a bunch of the guys were talking about how it is possible to illustrate virtually any topic philatelically, and one of them said it couldn't be done on outhouses, well, Jones took that as a challenge.

I think you know what happened next.

Source: http://hamptonroads.com/2010/10/stamps-quiet-hobby-think-again

Collectors capture history in square inches

It might have started in Great Britain, but it’s become a stamp of Americana.

Stamp collecting is practiced across the nation, and the Albuquerque Philatelist Society is the epicenter for local collectors. The organization has begun prepping for NewMexPex2010, a two-day event geared for those going postal for the square-sized postmarks.

Thomas Clinkenbeard, the society’s president, said collectors are captivated by the historical significance a stamp represents at the time it’s issued.

“For me personally, and other folks who collect, we gain knowledge of the printing process, when stamps were issued, but also what is behind that stamp — what that represents,” he said. “You know why they were issued, why this particular person or event, why they picked the pictures, why they chose it for that time.”
John DeBoo, the society’s librarian, said the exhibition will present collections categorized according to the chosen theme.

“There are certain rules to follow as far as how the material is presented and organized, and that gets to be quite anal, to me,” he said. “It’s like the whole world is there, from left to right. That’s how stamp exhibiting tends to be, as far as what people exhibit.”

Don Swartz, a member who collects stamps from across the world, said stamps reflect countries’ values and interests.

“The subjects do cross boundaries, but at the same time, it’s what’s interesting to that country,” he said. “Those based out of Russia had a lot more of the Warsaw Pact stuff during that time, so you could see the Cold War even in the stamps — the inflation rate periods. It’s just a microcosm of the world.”

For those composing thematic collections for the exhibition, stamp arrangement is a vital aspect. Clinkenbeard said his composition mirrors the passing of time.

“The postal history would tell me more about what’s on the covers, where a thematic (arrangement) is going to give me a storyline of whomever I’m showing or whatever I’m showing on that stamp,” he said. “I’m using the stamps in telling that story.”

Swartz said stamp collecting helps him escape from stress.

“For me, it’s seeing the filled page. It gives you a sense of accomplishment,” he said. “It’s a chance to get away when stress starts eating at you. The stamps are going to take you where they’re going to take you. Franklin Delano Roosevelt during World War II was working on his stamps to keep from becoming overworked.”

Printing methods have changed over time to produce stamps at a much higher rate. Nowadays, stamp collectors prefer engraved stamps.

DeBoo said older stamps are more valuable.

“The beauty of the engraving is just fascinating,” he said. “These people actually sat with tiny, intricate tools and were able to hand-engrave these things. Now most of these are done by a computer, and they look OK, but there’s something in the old ones that become, to me, pieces of art.”

*NewMexPex2010
Saturday 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Sunday 9 a.m.- 4 p.m.
Italian-American Association Hall
1565 Stephanie Road S.E.
Rio Rancho
madjac.com/APS/index.htm*

Source: http://www.dailylobo.com/index.php/article/2010/10/collectors_capture_history_in_square_inches

Winnie the Pooh stamps issued by Royal Mail

Black-and-white illustrations from the Winnie the Pooh books are featured on a new set of stamps.

The 10 commemorative stamps show the honey-loving bear, Christopher Robin, Eeyore and other AA Milne creations.

All the drawings in the popular series of children's books were drawn by artist EH Shepard, who lived for 51 years in Shamley Green, near Guildford.

Milne wrote the books while living in Ashdown Forest, near Hartfield in East Sussex.

More than 35,000 people a year visit the forest's wooden Pooh Bridge, which was the venue for the "Poohsticks" game in Milne's stories.

Melanie Corfield, of the Royal Mail, said: "We know that Winnie the Pooh is a stamp issue that will rekindle many fond memories for people of all ages.

"We are delighted that we could use EH Shepard's original illustrations to bring Pooh and his friends to life on millions of stamps."

Shepard was one of Punch magazine's leading political cartoonists from 1921 until 1953.
In 1972, he gave his personal collection of papers, including diaries and illustrations, to the University of Surrey.

He died four years later, aged 96, at Midhurst in East Sussex.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-11523051

Sticky times for the UAE’s stamp enthusiasts

Lack of government support means a hobby once associated with kings is struggling to survive in the UAE

By Mohammed El Sadafy

Published Sunday, October 10, 2010 

 

Philately or stamp collecting has always been associated with kings. Farouk I of Egypt, for example, left behind him a great treasure of rare stamps. This is because anyone with a passion for stamp collecting must be rich, to be able to satisfy his hobby, as well as having the patience of Job – attributes most easily associated with royalty.

In the UAE, about 225 stamp collectors of various nationalities are members of the Emirates Philatelic Association (EPA), which was established in 2001. The value of stamps which they own worth tens of millions of dollars, according to the EPA.

The global financial crisis, which hit the world in 2007, did not impact the trade of rare stamps, which has seen a growth of 10 per cent, according to specialised sources. Experts attribute this growth to the intrinsic value of rare stamps, the general intellectual appreciation for stamps and the high awareness of the hobby among young people.

“The history of philately goes back to the 1950s. While the trade was not professionally organised, it was based on the initiatives of individuals and depended on the assembly of random stamps,” said  Abdullah Al-Mutairi, Executive Director of Heritage Sites in Dubai’s Al Shandagha area and a member of the EPA.
After the UAE was founded in 1971, philately saw an exponential leap where individual traders combined their efforts into an organised format, led Abdullah Khoury, head of the EPA, Al-Mutairi added. These efforts have attracted enthusiasts and collectors from around the Arab world.

Lack of financial support

Al Mutairi said the UAE body fares badly in financial terms when compared with other associations around the Gulf, particularly Qatar’s philatelic association, which pays its members higher salaries than government employees.

He said the EPA relies on members’ subscriptions and negligible government support, adding: “The solution to this problem requires a decision from the authorities – or a philatelist who is a key decision-maker in the UAE.”

The interests of collectors of stamps in the UAE are varied, Al Mutairi said, with some members only collecting used stamps, while others acquire unused ones.

Some of them are keen to acquire the first version of a rare stamp, others are interested in stamps that contain errors, and yet others only want stamps that are both beautiful and special.

The UAE writer Mohammad Al Murr, for example, has acquired a rare collection of award-winning stamps related to the postal history of the Sultanate of Oman since the reign of Sultan Faisal bin Turki the third grandfather of the Sultan Qaboos.

And the head of the EPA, Abdullah Khoury and Khalid Ali Al Omaira, a judge at international exhibitions, both have very rare stamps related to the postal history of the UAE, particularly Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
“The value of these stamps depends on quality, the printing and paper used, the occasion the stamp commemorates, scarcity and whether it includes including errors, Al-Mutairi said.

The value of a stamp can multiply ten times its original value when errors occur and when the issuing authority decides to withdraw it from circulation and destroys the print run.

One such error occurred on the sixth national day of the UAE, when Emirates Post issued a group of stamps featuring the seven emirates of the federation. “Because of a  mistake in the design, Fujairah Castle was printed on the Umm Al Quwain stamp,” Al-Mutairi said, “So the stamps were withdrawn from the market and destroyed, which led to a rise in the financial value of the group and in particular, the value of the stamp that carries the error.”

Stamps from Saudi Arabia are of particular interest in the region and can be worth hundreds of millions of dollars because of the multiplicity and diversity of designs issued by Saudi Post. With stamps going back to the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd, it can be difficult for the hobbyist to collect them all, thus pushing up the value.

Happy paradoxes

“Philatelic history is associated with many paradoxes that turned the lives of amateurs from poverty to wealth, as happened with one of the Egyptians, who found a very rare stamp in a warehouse belonging to an Egyptian prince. It had been destroyed by Egyptian postal authorities during the monarchy because of the presence of error,” Al Mutairi said.

In another instance, an Englishman found a stamp with a picture of Queen Victoria dating back to 1847 in a book belonging to his father, who had inherited it from his own father. When he subsequently sold the stamp, it went for about £1.5 million (Dh8.79m).

But beginners, he said, must be both careful and patient when dealing with stamps. Contrary to the practice of dipping envelopes in hot water to remove stamps, he advised leaving them stuck onto the paper so as not to degrade and devalue them.

When it comes to modern stamps, though, Al-Mutairi said most differences come down the business side of their manufacture. Cheap printing quality today as compared to an emphasis on high-end paper and fine design and printing in times gone by has led to a decline in collectability.

Source: http://www.emirates247.com/lifestyle/living/sticky-times-for-the-uae-s-stamp-enthusiasts-2010-10-10-1.301923