Belarus: Struve Geodetic Arc Souvenir Sheet

Belarus_2007-12-16

Russia, 1964 Struve Death Centenial

Here is an interesting souvenir sheet, shown below, issued by Belarus on December 16, 2007. The single stamp souvenir sheet commemorates the Struve Geodetic Arc, a project lasting from 1816-1855 by German-born Russian scientist Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve to determine the exact size and shape of the Earth. The original arc consisted of 258 triangulations with 265 station points. The arc passed through 10 countries and extended over 2800km, stretching from Norway to the Black Sea. Today, 34 of the original station points have been designated as a World Heritage Site. In 1964 Russia issued a stamp, shown on the right, marking the centenary of Struve’s death in 1894. [ while researching this sheet, a lot of interesting history and web sites are available. one such site is dedicated to World Cultural Heritage as shown on stamps. ]

Marginalia: December 2007, New Color Omission Error

Article Number 8:  Color Omission Error on Portugal sc#1115

New Submission December 2007,  Research, text and scans by Mark Honig

Our eighth Marginalia is in regards to a fascinating new color error that our member Mark Honig from The Netherlands has recently found.

Wanting to buy a mint copy of Portugal 1114 (4.50e Meteorological map) I saw a complete set being offered on eBay last year. I was the only bidder and I acquired the set for a few dollars.

Portugal, 1971, 25 Years Meteorological Service sc1115, mi1148, sg1434

Portugal, 1971, 25 Years Meteorological Service
sc1115, mi1148, sg1434

Color Variation Portugal, 1971, 25 Years Meteorological Service sc1115, mi1148, sg1434

Color Variation
Portugal, 1971, 25 Years Meteorological Service
sc1115, mi1148, sg1434

When I added both map stamps from that set to my collection  I discovered that I already had the other map stamp (sc1115), but in a different color. I already had a red colored 6.00e stamp, but on this newly acquired stamp the main background color is grey.

After checking various stamp catalogues at my disposal, it became clear that the stamp should have a red color. A grey variety is not mentioned in any of the catalogues, not even in the Portuguese Afinsa catalogue.

I also sent email messages to some Portuguese dealers however these messages remained unanswered.
In November 2005 I continued my research about this color variation and contacted the president of the International Society for Portuguese Philately (ISPP) in the US, Mr. Roy Texeira.  Judging the stamp from only a scan, Roy feels the stamp has probably been bleached by sunlight or chemicals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Personally however, I think that this specific stamp is a genuine color variety based on the following reasons:

  • The set was offered as a normal set, not as a set with a variety.
  • The seller has sold many items to me, with great satisfaction.
  • The stamp is in perfect condition with a shiny surface like the red stamp.
  • The gum looks normal
  • The yellow and orange parts look the same as on the red stamp. When bleached these colors would probably have disappeared too.

The president of the Netherlands Society of Collectors of Spanish and Portuguese stamps “Iberia” also thinks the stamp is bleached, but he has offered to perform a test on the stamp, as he is an official expert with the Netherlands Museum for Communication (Prev. Netherlands Post Museum). The results of this test will be forthcoming.

One other item about this set…

During my continued research on this stamp, it became clear that there is also a cartographic design error on the 6.50e stamp. On the satellite image the coastline of Spain and Portugal has been overlaid, however during the design process the coastline of northwest Africa has been omitted. The 4.50e stamp does show coastlines for both the Iberian peninsula and northwest Africa.

Additional Notes:

If anyone knows more information about this fascinating color variation that Mark has found, please let us know. Regarding the missing coastline issue, I have made two checks to determine the map projection of this stamp and to also understand approximately how much of the African shoreline should be shown. One projection I checked was a Lambert Conformal Conic, the other was an Orthographic. I feel there is a significant amount of distortion with the map in question. We welcome any comments or suggestions. –web admin

Spain: Series on Earth and Space Sciences

Spain 2006-07-13

On July 13th, 2006, Spain’s Postal Service, Correos, issued two stamps which appear to be the start of a series dealing with Earth and space sciences. A very representative cartophilatelic issue showing a detailed 1:200,000 scale topographic of Toledo and the surrounding region is shown along with a magnifying glass. You can read more about this new Spanish series on the Correos web site.

Report on the Second Meeting of the CartoPhilatelic Society, June 2006

The Society held a meeting during the World Philatelic Exhibition in Washington DC. The full event ran from May 27, through June 3rd, 2006.

Here are some pictures of your fellow Society members who attended the meeting. We look forward to meeting more of our members at our next meeting.

 

As this event has already finished, please check the website World Philatelic Exhibition for more details on the Washington 2006 World Philatelic Exhibition.

Tuesday May 30, 2006 (PM): Informal “get together” meeting at the Butlers Martini Bar in the Grand Hyatt, 1000 H Street NW, at 6:00 pm. For those who have not met any other members yet, David will be holding a beach ball in the form of a globe to help you easily spot our group.  This is a strictly voluntary meeting and is just a way to meet informally prior to our planned Society activities the following 2 days.

Wednesday May 31, 2006 (AM):  Tour of the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress. Meet at 9:45 am in front of the reading room LM-B01), by the large globe, in the basement of the Madison building of the Library of Congress. Check out the G&M web site at [http://www.loc.gov/rr/geogmap/ – it has a link to a map of the building and of the basement. Our host for the tour is Edward James Redmond of the staff of the LoC and of the Washington Map Society (WMS). Be sure to also check out the WMS at http://home.earthlink.net/~docktor/washmap.htm – we are institutional members.

Thursday June 1, 2006 (AM):  CartoPhilatelic Society Annual Business meeting. This will be held in Room 149A of the Convention Center at 10:00 am.

Agenda items include:
Welcome and agenda review
Membership report
Financial report
Arrangements for trading and exchange of stamps
The New CartoPhilatelist – Recognition of new Editor, comments
“Scholarly” journal – any interest?
Checklist – comments?
A preview of a paper on map stamps due for fall publication in the Portolan, the journal of the Washington Map Society

I have downloaded the Level 1 Floor Plan and Marked Room 149A for your convenience here. [Web Admin]. More information about the Convention Center can be found at http://www.dcconvention.com/meeting/floorplans.asp.

Thursday June 1, 2006 (PM):  Cartophilatelic Society Annual dinner and banquet: 6:30 pm at the Tabard Inn  http://www.tabardinn.com/home.htm. Since we are less than 15 in number, it looks like, by the fine print, that we will be able to order at the time.  We’ll double check this, and if not, get a menu distributed as soon as available. Remember, you will be billed for charges over the US$50 you have already paid (gratuity, alcohol/drinks, etc.).

We look forward to seeing you there!

David Wolfersberger
Alf Jordan

Canada: National Atlas Celebrates 100 Years of Mapping

Canada 2006-06-30 (single)

On June 30th, 2006, Canada Post will issue a new stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of the National Atlas of Canada. The new stamp shows geographer James White (1863 – 1909) who is considered to be the father of what become The Atlas of Canada. The stamp was issued on June 30, 2006 but was unveiled Monday June 19th at the GeoTec/CCA conference in Ottawa. You can read more about the stamp in the Canada Post press release, and in the archived  Natural Resources Canada announcement. The Atlas Celebration web site is also worth a look.  The sheet design features two groupings of eight stamps with a number of surrounding mapping and surveying related images.  This may well be one of the finest cartophilatelic issues in recent years!

Canada 2006-06-30 (pane)

Report on the First Meeting of the CartoPhilatelic Society, October 2004

The first meeting of the New CartoPhilatelic Society took place in New York City on October 15, 2004. Here are some pictures from the first meeting, courtesy of David Wolfersberger.

The CartoPhilatelic Society held their first meeting in New York City while the ASDA Mega Event is taking place. The Mega Event details (at the time) were:  American Stamp Dealers Association, Fall 2004 Postage Stamp Mega Event, Jacob Javits Convention Center, Hall E, 11th Ave. and 35th Street, New York, NY 10001, October 14-17, 2004

   

  

Schedule of Events:  Friday, October 15, 2004

Thanks to Miklos Pinther, a tour of the United Nations (UN) headquarters, including the UN Map Library has been arranged, as well as tour of the New York Public Library Map Library.

Miklos has also arranged for us to meet at the Collectors Club. Thanks to Miklos for all of his help!

The proposed schedule is:

October 15, 2004
10:00 am: Tour UN including Map Library. Then walk to New York Public Library to tour their Map Library.

After tours, free for lunch, the ASDA Mega Event or other activities

3:30 pm: Meet at The Collectors Club, 22 East 35th St. (http://www.collectorsclub.org)

Tour and orientation of the Collectors Club: (Miklos Pinther)

Business meeting (Alf Jordan and David Wolfersberger)

Meeting Agenda

  1. Organization: do we want bylaws and a constitution as the old group had? (DW/AJ)
  2. Checklist status and update (DW)
  3. CartoPhilatelist Index Project: State and update (AJ)
  4. Membership (DW/AJ)
  5. Financial status (AJ)
  6. Journal & distribution (AJ)
  7. Future meetings (DW)
  8. Presentation by a member, if we get a volunteer! (45 minutes)
  9. Open discussion on grading (DW) Bring your examples to discuss! (15 minutes)
  10. Sharing of collections/stamps by members – bring your stamps to share. (30 minutes) Note: The Collectors Club has displays cases available to display frames or collections.

5:30 pm: Cocktails at the Collectors Club

Evening: Dinner at Yale Club arranged by Alf Jordan