Post by mourningdoves on Jul 8, 2017 20:56:21 GMT -5
I finished up the Italian castles and started on Italia, the other major series I hadn't tackled yet.
Italia hasn't been difficult to figure out. There are two watermark varieties in the original series, the one that started in 1953, but Italian watermarks can usually be detected without recourse to watermark fluid. The late-1960s reissues have a noticeably smaller face; the stamps themselves are pretty close to the same size, but the margins are wider, and the design is about 1 millimeter narrower and 1 millimeter shorter. I did notice that the 1950s issues had some vertical size variations.
What was especially rewarding was being reminded of how beautiful that 1950s set can be. Tens of millions of each denomination were printed, and the sharpness of the impressions is as all over the map as the color shading. But some of them come close to perfection, and it's like they jump off the paper. Edited to add: The 1960s reissue, less so. The centering is better, but overall they aren't as lively. It's hard to describe, but the copies I had around here, at least, didn't have that iridescent intensity. In a week that was dominated by shady characters - the Physical Therapist Who Wouldn't Call Back and the Benedict Arnold Air-Conditioner Repair Guy being two of the most infamous - it was a joy to spend some of my free moments with Italia and the Castles. (Will entertain at your wedding, Bar Mitzvah, or soirée....)
Most of you have seen about a million Italias, so I didn't scan any. Here, though, for your entertainment, is a quietly remarkable 1965 issue for the opening of the Mont Blanc Tunnel that goes between France and Italy.
And here, from 1964, is Giambattista Bodoni. If the name is familiar, it's because of the Bodoni typeface, whose 150th anniversary the stamp celebrates.
I'm working on a theory that German stamps replicate themselves infinitely when exposed to glassine or the inside of a cigar box. I've been working on 'em off and on for like six years and I never run out.
Italia hasn't been difficult to figure out. There are two watermark varieties in the original series, the one that started in 1953, but Italian watermarks can usually be detected without recourse to watermark fluid. The late-1960s reissues have a noticeably smaller face; the stamps themselves are pretty close to the same size, but the margins are wider, and the design is about 1 millimeter narrower and 1 millimeter shorter. I did notice that the 1950s issues had some vertical size variations.
What was especially rewarding was being reminded of how beautiful that 1950s set can be. Tens of millions of each denomination were printed, and the sharpness of the impressions is as all over the map as the color shading. But some of them come close to perfection, and it's like they jump off the paper. Edited to add: The 1960s reissue, less so. The centering is better, but overall they aren't as lively. It's hard to describe, but the copies I had around here, at least, didn't have that iridescent intensity. In a week that was dominated by shady characters - the Physical Therapist Who Wouldn't Call Back and the Benedict Arnold Air-Conditioner Repair Guy being two of the most infamous - it was a joy to spend some of my free moments with Italia and the Castles. (Will entertain at your wedding, Bar Mitzvah, or soirée....)
Most of you have seen about a million Italias, so I didn't scan any. Here, though, for your entertainment, is a quietly remarkable 1965 issue for the opening of the Mont Blanc Tunnel that goes between France and Italy.
And here, from 1964, is Giambattista Bodoni. If the name is familiar, it's because of the Bodoni typeface, whose 150th anniversary the stamp celebrates.
My long journey through Germany 1840 to 1954 or so is still on going (with many breaks and delays do to life).
I'm working on a theory that German stamps replicate themselves infinitely when exposed to glassine or the inside of a cigar box. I've been working on 'em off and on for like six years and I never run out.