New Year's Resolutions

BUYING

I don't go around asking for discounts from dealers. But I am going to start in the New Year: if the Dealer has pencilled their price on a cover, I am going to ask for 10% discount. It's like a stamp hinge: you can remove a hinge from a mint stamp, but it leaves a trace. You can rub out a pencilled price, but it always leaves a trace - quite often a crease where your rubber snags against the paper.

If the dealer has added other random thoughts "Unusual destination", " TPO", "Early date" ... then I will ask for 20% discount.

If some Italian expert or Roger Calves has autographed the cover, I will ask for 10% discount for each autograph.

I suggest you do the same. Only in this way will we kill the lazy habits of some dealers. The place for a cover is inside a plastic holder and the place for the price is on the holder. The place for an Expert Opinion is on a Photo Certificate. There is really no room for debate about this.

SELLING

I am going to sell most of my remaining cheap and bulky stock through Worthing Stamp Auctions in March. UK readers please note!

I have maybe 50 stockbooks and boxes with "back up" stock of the stamp issues in which I specialise - mostly Ukraine and Transcaucasia. Nothing very much happens with this material - it just gives me a sense of familiarity, a sense of how these stamps should look when they are genuine ... It's an expensive luxury which takes up a lot of space. I am going to drive the stock down to Heinrich Koehler in Wiesbaden and consign them for their March auction. European readers please note!

I will continue to consign nice items between 10€ and 100€ to the Internet auction www.filateliapalvelu.com Everyone have a look!

COLLECTING

I am going to focus on Russia - mostly Bolshevik-controlled Russia - in the period 1917 - 1921, the period of the Civil War and "War Communism". If I need something else to keep me busy, then I am tempted by the first Moscow police fiscals in use from the 1860s onwards. Don't ask me why, but if you have any for sale, feel free to make an offer :)

BLOGGING

It will continue :)

Moscow Fiscals of the 1860s - a rival to Zemstvos?

Click on Image to Magnify

You could probably find 9 copies of Russia #1 faster than you could find 9 examples of the Moscow Town Police revenue stamps shown above. These revenue stamps date from the 1860s. Their design and printing is much inferior to that of Russia #1 - so if you like "primitive" Zemstvo stamps you might like these too.

It is obvious that there is great variation in colour - in Row 2, for example,  the first stamp is almost black but the second stamp is chestnut brown (this second stamp was acquired by Agathon Fabergé in 1906 - pencil note on reverse). The printing plate -which I guess is lithographic - also deteriorated. The stamps in the right hand column are from worn plates. Look at the ornaments in the four corners to get an idea of what happens as the plate is used: the detail and shading disappear.

Because these stamps were used and used up before philately got really established - or began to take an interest in revenue stamps - it is very unusual to find multiples or mint stamps. Agathon Fabergé occasionally had mint stamps with full gum in his collection but for these 1860s issues they are rare. Sometimes these stamps were not cancelled so it looks as if they are mint - like the chestnut brown stamp above - but in fact they have no gum and simply lack a pen cross cancel.

It's cold and snowing here in Brighton today so I am spending the morning preparing more auction lots for www.filateliapalvelu.com 

These Moscow fiscals should appear in that auction later in 2013.