1945 SPLIT, Letter from Blato

I have an interesting letter sent from the small village Blato on the island of Korčula...

1945 Split provisional issue, registered letter, correctly franked with 50kn (20kn for letter and 30kn for registration), sent from the small village Blato on island of Korčula (22.V.45) to Belgrade (3.VI.45). The letter traveled via Vela Luka (22.V.45) and city of Korčula (23.V.45) where it was censored - censorship No. 16.

My blog visitors - demographics

I am not sure how Google determines age and gender of site users, but I found the results for my blog quite predicted and aligned with philately in general. For me, the positive fact is that interest in the age group of 45 to 54 has been increasing.

Demographics overview of my blog visitors - age and gender.

1941 MEĐIMURJE, Hrvatska država

In a small print run, during the cleaning of clichés at positions 1 and 2, the inscription "Država Hrvatska" was rearranged to "Hrvatska država". Only the 0.25 din, 0.50 din, 1 din, 1.50 din and 3 din exist with this variety (2 din probably exists, but has not yet been found).

1941 Međimurje, local provisional issue, 1 din horizontal strip of five, the upper row from a block of ten with "Hrvatska država" variety at positions 1 and 2. An exceptionally rare item! Including all the values only three such rows have been found to date. Certificate Vilfan.

1943 IMOTSKI, Official letter

Yesterday, I spent a lovely day at the philatelic convention in Zagreb, where I found some great items, including one nice Imotski letter...

1943 Imotski, official letter sent from Imotski (handwritten 10.5.43) to Zagreb (14.5.43) correctly franked with 7kn for the second weight letter, cancelled with temporary provisional rubber postmark "POŠTA - IMOTSKI". Certificate Ercegović.

1943 ŠIBENIK, eBay forgeries

A new attempt to sell Šibenik forgeries on eBay. As usual, the seller claims that everything comes from an authentic collection, but he is not an expert, so the overprint may not be :) original. And yes, the seller does not :) accept returns.

1943 Šibenik forgeries

5 cent. postage due stamps (Michel No. 24) - one of the fakes in this sale.
If this stamp was original, it would have been worth around 3000 Eur. Only 11 original exist.

The best European club of 2018

You probably know that I am a member of the Philatelic Society of Ljubljana (Slovenia), so I want to share the following great achievement with you...

Diploma for the best European philatelic club of the year 2018.

BTW: I am also a member of some other philatelic societies and initiatives, namely:

• The Royal Philatelic Society London
• Croatian Philatelic Society Zrinski, Čakovec
• Slovenian Philatelic Expertising Service
• Arge Jugoslawien
• Yugoslavia Study Group - Jugopošta
• WWII Croatia (NDH) Study Group

1945 SPLIT, Penal battalion

Penal battalions are military formations consisting of convicts mobilized for military service. Service in such units was considered a form of punishment or discipline in lieu of imprisonment or capital punishment. I have not seen a penal military unit cancellation before...

1945 Split provisional issue, stationery of type St.2IIa, additionally franked with 1 din, sent from Skradin (21.VII.45) to Položaj (military position), censored by the military censor. Handwritten Natrag (Return) and Kažnjenik (Prisioner). Rare penal battalion cancellation (ŠTAB DISCIPLINSKOG BATALJONA / IV. JUG. ARMIJE). Late usage. This is an extraordinary item.

Alps Adriatic Philately, Slovenia 2019

Today have spent a nice morning at the Alps Adriatic Philately exhibit in the monastery Mekinje near Kamnik. The exhibition was dedicated to:

• the centenary of the foundation of the State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs,
• the centenary of the first Slovenian postage stamps / The chainbreakers,
• the centenary of the establishment of the Ljubljana Post Office,
• the centenary of the end of the First World War and
• the seventies of the Philatelic Association of Slovenia.

A few out of a 300 frames.

Collecta 2019

The year is around and the largest Slovenian fair of collectors is back again. It is always interesting to dig into the items and hope you will find something special...

Today @ Collecta 2019

1943 SPLIT, Overprint flaws 4/4

This is a last part of a post about the 1943 Split issue overprint flaws. For the first post in a series, click here.

  

Positions 50, 60 and 61.

50 - Second letter A is damaged. Vertical stroke of K in left Kn is broken.

60 - Incision in lower part of U. Spot to the right of U. Letter N without of serif tu upper right.

61 - Irregular spot to left (the size depends on strength of the overprint and color saturation).

  

Positions 64, 68 and 86.

64 - Vertical down stroke of letter N is broken. 

68 - Lower part of letter S is damaged.

86 - Vertical down stroke of letter N is broken.

 

Positions 91 and 94.

91 - Small second dot between figures 3 and 5 (3:5).

94 - Horizontal stroke of letter H is missing.

For a complete article order:

ACTA PHILATELICA NOVA 2015

Croatian philatelic almanac

Independent State of Croatia
1943 Unreleased Local Issue for Dalmatia

Chapters:

Introduction

Catalogue Listing

Overprint

Overprint Errors

Constant and Part-Constant Overprint Flaws

Varieties of Underlying Stamps

Interesting Examples

Forgeries

Valuation

Conclusion

Literature

To order please contact me at alesmarinsek67@gmail.com

Philatelists convention in Ljubljana

Today, I was positively surprised by the crowd at the philatelist convention in Ljubljana. In addition to regular weekly meetings, these conventions are organized four times a year...

Crowd at the convention.

1943 SPLIT, Overprint flaws 3/4

This is a continuation of a post about the 1943 Split issue overprint flaws. For the first post in a series, click here.

  

Positions 35, 37 and 38.

35 - Incision to lower part of zero.

37 - Letter N without serif to upper right. Lower part of figure 5 is damaged.

38 - Letter K is truncated to upper right.

  

Positions 41, 44 and 45.

41 - Upper stroke of K in left Kn is broken.

44 - Shortened horizontal stroke of figure 3.

45 - First letter A is damaged.

  

Positions 46, 47 and 48.

46 - Stroke of figure 3 truncated at an acute angle.

47 - Letter N in N.D. broken to upper right. Lower part of letter S is damaged.

48 - Spot on second letter A. Lower stroke of letter R twisted upwards. Letter K is broken.

For a part 4/4 click here.

1943 SPLIT, Overprint flaws 2/4

This is a continuation of a post about the 1943 Split issue overprint flaws. For the first post in a series, click here.

    

Positions 10,11 and 12

10 - Broken letter N.

11 - Letter N without serif to upper right. Incision to base of figure 5.

12 - Incision to upper arc of figure 5.

    

Positions 13, 22 and 26.

13 - Dot after D is small or missing.

22 - Dash above letter K.

26 - Letter S is broken.

    

Positions 29, 30 and 31.

29 - Letter S is broken. Letter N without serif to upper right.

30 - Incision to lower part of letter K.

31 - Letter S is broken.

For a part 3/4 click here.

1944 SENTA, Amateurish forgeries

WTF is this...

Senta fakes on eBay.

I have never seen such amateurish forgeries.

1943 SPLIT, Overprint flaws 1/4

The majority of flaws are minor and relatively insignificant, but there are a few major and more attractive examples, e.g. missing upper right stroke of K (position 38), colored spot on the second A (position 48) or indented U (position 60) etc. Altogether 32 constant and part-constant flaws have been noted which most collectors should be able to identify without major effort.

Positions showing constant and part-constant flaws.

    

Positions 1,3 and 4

1 - Dot after D is small or missing. Upper stroke of K is broken.

3 - Dot after D is small or missing.

4 - Letter R is broken.

    

Positions 6,7 and 8

6 - Letter N without serif to upper right.

7 - Letter N without serif to upper right.

8 - Broken letter N. Figure 3 with straight edge to left.

For a part 2/4 click here.
For a part 3/4 click here.
For a part 4/4 click here.

For a complete article order:

ACTA PHILATELICA NOVA 2015

Croatian philatelic almanac

Independent State of Croatia
1943 Unreleased Local Issue for Dalmatia

Chapters:

Introduction

Catalogue Listing

Overprint

Overprint Errors

Constant and Part-Constant Overprint Flaws

Varieties of Underlying Stamps

Interesting Examples

Forgeries

Valuation

Conclusion

Literature

To order please contact me at alesmarinsek67@gmail.com

Paper thickness gauge

In some cases, a type of paper is very important. Stamp No. 9 (50/7 kn Slavonija) from the 1945 DFJ Mostar issue is a good example. This stamp exists on intaglio paper and has a price of a few tens of euros. However, there are also 50 pieces on offset paper valued at 700 euros or even more. Therefore, it is very important that we know how to determine the type of the paper. One of the methods is paper thickness measurement.

I got a new, super-accurate paper thickness gauge a few days ago. Its accuracy is one-thousandth of a millimetre.

My new paper thickness gauge.

I checked some of my old measurements and here are the results for the Croatian Landscapes issue:

• Offset paper: 0.085 - 0.095 mm
• Intaglio paper: 0.071 - 0.080 mm
• Porous paper: 0.078 - 0.091 mm
• Pelure paper: 0.050 - 0.057 mm