<![CDATA[Kingston Stamp Club Community Forum - Africa]]> https://kingstonstampclub.ca/forum/ Wed, 08 Apr 2026 03:07:07 +0000 MyBB <![CDATA[Mystery Egyptian stamp]]> https://kingstonstampclub.ca/forum/showthread.php?tid=286 Fri, 28 Nov 2025 11:54:39 +0000 Carmen]]> https://kingstonstampclub.ca/forum/showthread.php?tid=286
But I have been looking in the Scott catalog and CANNOT find it anywhere in Egypt. Probably Over-50 eyes missing it. So does anyone know the Scott number for this? Unless of course AI has it completely wrong and it's not from Egypt at all, which simply wouldn't surprise me.

THANKS!
.jpg Egypt revenue 1939 Mystery.jpg Size: 628.63 KB  Downloads: 2
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But I have been looking in the Scott catalog and CANNOT find it anywhere in Egypt. Probably Over-50 eyes missing it. So does anyone know the Scott number for this? Unless of course AI has it completely wrong and it's not from Egypt at all, which simply wouldn't surprise me.

THANKS!
.jpg Egypt revenue 1939 Mystery.jpg Size: 628.63 KB  Downloads: 2
]]> <![CDATA[Ethiopia: Covers / Postal History]]> https://kingstonstampclub.ca/forum/showthread.php?tid=87 Wed, 10 Sep 2025 19:36:24 +0000 Hugh]]> https://kingstonstampclub.ca/forum/showthread.php?tid=87
The first was mailed by Michael Millar with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. He, and the FAO, were working on Seed Improvement in Haile Selassie's Ethiopia in the aftermath of the world war, when the UN was still new and the Cold War was just beginning. In 1952, it was sent to Dr. Frank Novosad of the Division of Forage Plants, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario -- a Canadian agricultural research hub.

The airmail letter, franked with 75c worth of stamps was marked postage due. There is a large T hand-stamp in red ink inside an upside down triangle on the front cover. On the borders of the cover is a repeating tri-colour pattern in the national colours of Ethiopia.

.jpeg Image.jpeg Size: 416.09 KB  Downloads: 0


This is a security envelope with a moiré pattern.

.jpeg Image 1.jpeg Size: 359.74 KB  Downloads: 0


Stamps:
Ethiopia / Emperor Haile Selassie
Series: 60th Birthday of the Emperor (7 stamps)
Issued on July 23, 1952
25c, Ultramarine
Sc. 323

Series: Commemoration of Ethiopia's Federation with Eritrea on September 11, 1952 (9 stamps)
Road and Broken Chain
Issued September 11, 1952
50c, Purple
Sc. 330

This is a total of 75c. And, as noted above the cover was marked postage due. There are, however, no other postmarking. Nor is there an arrival back-stramp. Not surprising for the time.

Cancel:
Double ring CDS with central bar
Between the rings አዲስ አበባ / ADDIS-ABEBA [The name of the city in Geʽez (script used for Amharic) and Latin letters. Addis-abeba = New Flower in Amharic]
5 12 52 [December 5, 1952 ... the order of the month and year is assumed based on the issue dates of the stamps]

The other, similar, cover is from a couple of months later.

On February 5 (or 6), 1953, another letter was sent by the FAO to the Central Experimental Farm in Canada. This one was addressed to the Senior Plant Breeder in Oilseeds. 

.jpeg Image 2.jpeg Size: 524.31 KB  Downloads: 0


The franking is mixed. There are nine stamps from the Haile Selassie birthday stamps, six 10c (Sc. 321) and three 5c (Sc. 320). They add up to 75c, the same as on the first cover. However, there are also two semi-postals. They added 10c in postage (for a total of 85c) and 4c as a contribution to the local TB fund. There is not postage due mark this time which implies that the proper airmail rate to Canada was between 75 and 85 cents. I haven't found a rate table for Ethiopia but there I have found other covers on HipStamp and eBay to the UK and Denmark with a foreign airmail rate from Ethiopia, in the early 1950s, of 85c. So, that's my working assumption ... 85c.

Stamp:
Anti-TB Work
Scott describes the stamp as a Tree, Cross and Snake. I thought it might actually be a Caduceus [two serpents with wings and Hermes' Staff] but it looks more like an Ankh. After giving it some thought, I recorded it in my notes as an image of the Rod of Asclepius [Single staff with one serpent which is the classical symbol of medicine and healing.
Issued on November 25, 1951 [Series of 6 stamps]
5c + 2c, Deep blue green, Engraved
Sc. B21

Cancel: As above. As far as I can tell, the date reads 05? 2 53 [February 5, 1953. it could be the 6th]

Cheers, Hugh]]>
The first was mailed by Michael Millar with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN. He, and the FAO, were working on Seed Improvement in Haile Selassie's Ethiopia in the aftermath of the world war, when the UN was still new and the Cold War was just beginning. In 1952, it was sent to Dr. Frank Novosad of the Division of Forage Plants, Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, Ontario -- a Canadian agricultural research hub.

The airmail letter, franked with 75c worth of stamps was marked postage due. There is a large T hand-stamp in red ink inside an upside down triangle on the front cover. On the borders of the cover is a repeating tri-colour pattern in the national colours of Ethiopia.

.jpeg Image.jpeg Size: 416.09 KB  Downloads: 0


This is a security envelope with a moiré pattern.

.jpeg Image 1.jpeg Size: 359.74 KB  Downloads: 0


Stamps:
Ethiopia / Emperor Haile Selassie
Series: 60th Birthday of the Emperor (7 stamps)
Issued on July 23, 1952
25c, Ultramarine
Sc. 323

Series: Commemoration of Ethiopia's Federation with Eritrea on September 11, 1952 (9 stamps)
Road and Broken Chain
Issued September 11, 1952
50c, Purple
Sc. 330

This is a total of 75c. And, as noted above the cover was marked postage due. There are, however, no other postmarking. Nor is there an arrival back-stramp. Not surprising for the time.

Cancel:
Double ring CDS with central bar
Between the rings አዲስ አበባ / ADDIS-ABEBA [The name of the city in Geʽez (script used for Amharic) and Latin letters. Addis-abeba = New Flower in Amharic]
5 12 52 [December 5, 1952 ... the order of the month and year is assumed based on the issue dates of the stamps]

The other, similar, cover is from a couple of months later.

On February 5 (or 6), 1953, another letter was sent by the FAO to the Central Experimental Farm in Canada. This one was addressed to the Senior Plant Breeder in Oilseeds. 

.jpeg Image 2.jpeg Size: 524.31 KB  Downloads: 0


The franking is mixed. There are nine stamps from the Haile Selassie birthday stamps, six 10c (Sc. 321) and three 5c (Sc. 320). They add up to 75c, the same as on the first cover. However, there are also two semi-postals. They added 10c in postage (for a total of 85c) and 4c as a contribution to the local TB fund. There is not postage due mark this time which implies that the proper airmail rate to Canada was between 75 and 85 cents. I haven't found a rate table for Ethiopia but there I have found other covers on HipStamp and eBay to the UK and Denmark with a foreign airmail rate from Ethiopia, in the early 1950s, of 85c. So, that's my working assumption ... 85c.

Stamp:
Anti-TB Work
Scott describes the stamp as a Tree, Cross and Snake. I thought it might actually be a Caduceus [two serpents with wings and Hermes' Staff] but it looks more like an Ankh. After giving it some thought, I recorded it in my notes as an image of the Rod of Asclepius [Single staff with one serpent which is the classical symbol of medicine and healing.
Issued on November 25, 1951 [Series of 6 stamps]
5c + 2c, Deep blue green, Engraved
Sc. B21

Cancel: As above. As far as I can tell, the date reads 05? 2 53 [February 5, 1953. it could be the 6th]

Cheers, Hugh]]> <![CDATA[Orange Free State: Postal Stationery]]> https://kingstonstampclub.ca/forum/showthread.php?tid=79 Sun, 17 Aug 2025 03:38:17 +0000 Hugh]]> https://kingstonstampclub.ca/forum/showthread.php?tid=79
The first one is a 1½d. provisional card using a 2d stamp overprinted with the OFS arms (Setting 2, Die 2). The 1½ was added above the arms. The upper figure in the ½ uses a roman (serif) I and the lower element is a rather more cursive, antique 2. The I in BRIEF is fully formed ... that is, it is not missing the serif on the upper left. The address lines have been removed.

.jpeg Image.jpeg Size: 374.22 KB  Downloads: 0


It is printed on a thick card stock. I got a micrometer from my woodturning shop and my estimate is that it is 0.4mm - within the recorded range of 0.33 to 0.47. I never thought of a micrometer as a philatelic tool, but I guess it is (smile).

.jpeg Image 1.jpeg Size: 561.13 KB  Downloads: 0


From all this, it appears my new card is from an early printing.

It was mailed from Bloemfontein to Hansa Jewel in Cape Town in January of 1893. It is over-franked. The 1½d rate was meant for cards going overseas. The standard rate from OFS to the Cape was only 1d. There is no message on the card, Was it is pencil and erased over time or was it sent without a message? Who knows.

There is a very nice octagonal receiving cancel ('squared-octagonal'?] with BLOEMFONTEIN / O.V.S. and 17 JAN / 93. The single-ring arrival CDS reads CAPE TOWN * / CAPE COLONY * and is dated JA 19 / 93.

My understanding is that, by 1892, there was a railway line that joined the two colonies. I'm assuming, therefore, that the card travelled from Bloemfontein to Norval's Pint (Orange River Crossing) then on to Da Aar, Worcester and Cape Town. The January 17 to 19 travel time sounds very reasonable.

The second postal card is another provisional. This time it's an example of Setting 15A, Die 5. The B in BRIEF is missing its top left serif. The K in KAART is broken and the final T is split. The address lines, now back, have small breaks in lines 1,2 and 4 and the type used for the words Aan and Te have been changed. The card is thick, my estimate is again 0.4mm ... consistent with the known range of 0.39 and 0.44.

.jpeg Image 2.jpeg Size: 327.79 KB  Downloads: 0


The OFS arms are overprinted on the card on top of a 1/2d stamp. The ½d overprint, above the coat of arms is the postcard rate for domestic use.

The card was sent from Winburg to J?.H. Wolmarans, Esq. in Kroonstad. There is a well-struck single-circle CDS from WINBURG * / O.V.S * dated P / SP 19 / 95. Which I assume means it was dispatched on the morning of September 19, 1895.

There is no arrival cancel. It was probably sent by horse cart or mail coach west from Winburg to a junction with the railway line about 30Km away.  From there it would have traveled north about 140Km to Kroonstad.

I'm just starting to study this area .. it's rather an interesting period, just before the war.]]>
The first one is a 1½d. provisional card using a 2d stamp overprinted with the OFS arms (Setting 2, Die 2). The 1½ was added above the arms. The upper figure in the ½ uses a roman (serif) I and the lower element is a rather more cursive, antique 2. The I in BRIEF is fully formed ... that is, it is not missing the serif on the upper left. The address lines have been removed.

.jpeg Image.jpeg Size: 374.22 KB  Downloads: 0


It is printed on a thick card stock. I got a micrometer from my woodturning shop and my estimate is that it is 0.4mm - within the recorded range of 0.33 to 0.47. I never thought of a micrometer as a philatelic tool, but I guess it is (smile).

.jpeg Image 1.jpeg Size: 561.13 KB  Downloads: 0


From all this, it appears my new card is from an early printing.

It was mailed from Bloemfontein to Hansa Jewel in Cape Town in January of 1893. It is over-franked. The 1½d rate was meant for cards going overseas. The standard rate from OFS to the Cape was only 1d. There is no message on the card, Was it is pencil and erased over time or was it sent without a message? Who knows.

There is a very nice octagonal receiving cancel ('squared-octagonal'?] with BLOEMFONTEIN / O.V.S. and 17 JAN / 93. The single-ring arrival CDS reads CAPE TOWN * / CAPE COLONY * and is dated JA 19 / 93.

My understanding is that, by 1892, there was a railway line that joined the two colonies. I'm assuming, therefore, that the card travelled from Bloemfontein to Norval's Pint (Orange River Crossing) then on to Da Aar, Worcester and Cape Town. The January 17 to 19 travel time sounds very reasonable.

The second postal card is another provisional. This time it's an example of Setting 15A, Die 5. The B in BRIEF is missing its top left serif. The K in KAART is broken and the final T is split. The address lines, now back, have small breaks in lines 1,2 and 4 and the type used for the words Aan and Te have been changed. The card is thick, my estimate is again 0.4mm ... consistent with the known range of 0.39 and 0.44.

.jpeg Image 2.jpeg Size: 327.79 KB  Downloads: 0


The OFS arms are overprinted on the card on top of a 1/2d stamp. The ½d overprint, above the coat of arms is the postcard rate for domestic use.

The card was sent from Winburg to J?.H. Wolmarans, Esq. in Kroonstad. There is a well-struck single-circle CDS from WINBURG * / O.V.S * dated P / SP 19 / 95. Which I assume means it was dispatched on the morning of September 19, 1895.

There is no arrival cancel. It was probably sent by horse cart or mail coach west from Winburg to a junction with the railway line about 30Km away.  From there it would have traveled north about 140Km to Kroonstad.

I'm just starting to study this area .. it's rather an interesting period, just before the war.]]>