Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi.

It's part of Transcaucasia.

Georgia was formerly a province of the Russian Empire and later a part of the Transcausian Federation of Soviet Republics. 

The stamps of Georgia were replaced in 1923 by those of the Transcaucasian Federated Republics.

On March 1, 1994 Georgia joined the Commonwealth of Independent States.

Issued in 1922, Scott #26, Soviet Socialist Republic unwatermarked imperforated rose 500 ruble.

The Soldier With His Flag

Georgia is a great country, and her stamps a challenge to discover.

Another beautiful example from Transcaucasia for you, a region that lies to the south of the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and that comprises the present-day republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

It was created as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, a republic of the former Soviet Union, in 1922, but was broken up into its constituent republics in 1936.

The capital was Tiflis.

From my collection, issued in 1923, Scott #19, imperforated, unused 300k ruble denomination from the Transcaucasian Federated Republics, and an early representation of Soviet Symbols from this extraordinary and beautiful part of the world.

A stamp from a country that no longer exists.

The imperforates are becoming harder to fine.

More from Transcaucasia, a region that lies to the south of the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and that comprises the present-day republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

It was created as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, a republic of the former Soviet Union, in 1922, but was broken up into its constituent republics in 1936.

The capital was Tiflis.

From my collection, issued October 24, 1923, Scott #28, imperforated, unused 4 kopec gold denomination from the Transcaucasian Federated Republics, and an early representation of Soviet Symbols from this extraordinary and beautiful part of the world.

Once again, scarce, but not out of reach, and a challenge to find.

Transcaucasia is a region that lies to the south of the Caucasus Mountains, between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and that comprises the present-day republics of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.

It was created as the Transcaucasian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, a republic of the former Soviet Union, in 1922, but was broken up into its constituent republics in 1936.

The capital was Tiflis.

From my collection, issued in 1923, Scott #16, unused 100K Ruble denomination from the Transcaucasian Federated Republics, and an early representation of Soviet Symbols from this extraordinary and beautiful part of the world.

The Soviet Symbols issues, Scott #'s14 through 21, are commonly seen as perforated 11.5.

The imperforated stamps are scarce, including the overprints Scott #s25 through 31,because they are not know to have been issued for postal usage imperforated, but printed by the government postal authority in that configuration.

On an average day they could sell for 20 to 30 dollars each and more, although they've been spotted on Ebay in the 2 to 5 dollar range. The complete imperforated set might bring a nice price.

I'll show you more from Transcaucasia in the days ahead. They're mysterious, exotic and wonderful to view under the scope.

A country which is no more, experts believe that Transcaucasia is the birthplace of wine production.

Archaeological excavations and carbon dating of grape seeds from the area have dated back to 7000–5000 BC.

Wine found in Iran has been dated to 7400 BC and 5000 BC, while wine found in Georgia has been dated to 6000 BC.

The earliest winery, dated to 4000 BC, was found in Armenia.

The stamps of Transcaucasia are a challenge to collect and will amaze you.

John Herschel Glenn, Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was a United States Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio.

In 1962 he was the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times.

Before joining NASA, Glenn was a fighter pilot in World War II and Korea with six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen clusters on his Air Medal.

Here are some views of my first day cover issued the day he took off for space from Cape Canaveral on February 20, 1962.

I was a little boy watching Colonel Glenn on television that very historic day

The First Day Cover 

Scott #1193 "Friendship 7 Capsule & Globe", four cent dark, blue and yellow, perf.11, issued February 20, 1962 commemorating the first orbital flight of a United States astronaut, Lt.Col.John H.Glenn Jr.

Scott #1193 and the "First Day of Issue" bar and circular date stamped cancellation.

The Cape Canaveral circular date stamp cancel.

The Art Craft cachet.

Another view of the great cachet honoring Col.Glenn.

Trains had provided postal service for a while with what was know back in the early twentieth century as the Railroad Post Office or RPO.

Trains were getting out of the post office business and the Post Office Department of the United States began an experiment starting with the distribution of mail on large buses that were set up like the rail cars and the RPO's.

The bus ran its first route on February 10, 1941, traveling on a route between Washington, D.C., and Harrisonburg, Virginia. Two more routes were set up that year, one between South Bend and Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 3, 1941, and one between San Francisco and Pacific Grove, California on August 4, 1941.

From my collection, two more Highway Post Office covers, the first run of the San Francisco route, August 4, 1941 traveling between San Francisco, California and Pacific Grove, California.

The Inaugural cover for the Highway Post Office (H.P.O.) San Francisco to Pacific Grove run 1941.

Scott #876 Famous American series stamp of Luther Burbank is tied to the cover with the 1st trip circular date stamp and bar cancellation, Aug. 4 Trip 1 1941 H.P.O. (Highway Post Office).

The micro photo cachet of the Highway Post Office in front of the White House.

The reverse of the photo cover with the Pacific Grove circular date arrival stamp.

Toned but nice for 76 years old as of this post.

The illustrated cover from the same trip below.

Scott #894 "The Pony Express Rider" cancelled with the 1st Trip circular date stamp and bar cancellation. 

The cachet has the intials C.S.K.C. in the lower left corner which may represent the cachet or cover designer / manufacturer.

If you know, please email me.

The reverse, with the Pacific Grove arrival circular date cancellation, is nice and clean.

Closeup of the circular date arrival cancel.

As I discover interesting H.P.O. mail in my collection I'll post it for you.

Postal Telegraph Company (Postal Telegraph & Cable Corporation) was a major operator of telegraph networks in the United States prior to its consolidation with Western Union in 1943 Postal partnered with Commercial Cable Company for overseas cable messaging.

I'm proud to have this mint block of six issued in 1931.

The Commercial Cable Company was founded in the United States in 1884 by John William Mackay and James Gordon Bennett, Jr. Their motivation was to break the then virtual monopoly of Jay Gould on transatlantic telegraphy and bring down prices (particularly for Bennett's newspaper empire).

A closeup of the 1931 issue.

Postal Telegrah Cable Company was founded in the decade of the 1880s by John William Mackay, an entrepreneur who had made a fortune in silver mining.

Mackay's original purpose was to provide a domestic wire network to directly link with the Atlantic Cable, an undersea cable running under the Atlantic Ocean used for telegraph communications.

Mackay built the Postal network by the purchase of existing firms that were insolvent. The company was initially called The Pacific Postal Telegraph Cable Co. 

El Salvador is republic on the Pacific coast of Central America.

In the year 1892, the Hamilton Bank Note Company of New York printed this beautiful postal card for the El Salvador postal service.

Columbus landed in Central America in 1492 and this postal card was issued to celebrate the 400th anniversary of his landing.

The Country banner displays the flags of the union and a Liberty cap at the top center.

The stamp, imprinted on the card, is Scott #62 depicting Columbus as he landed with one of his men knelt on the ground, set in plinth with scrolls and columns.

What was the Zur Uberwindung der Deutschen Not - Minister Prasidenten Konfernece 1947 ?

Zur Uberwindung der Deutschen Not translates as "To the eighteen of German emergency".

Here is the sheet withthe stamps and cancellations.

Scott #561Laborer

Scott #557 Planting Olive

Scott #563 Reaping Wheat

Scott #565 Reaping Wheat

Scott #558 Planting Olive

Could this have been a post- World War II meeting of the allies in Munich in 1947 ?

Who were the "eighteen" ?

Trains had provided postal service for a while with what was know back in the early twentieth century as the Railroad Post Office or RPO.

Trains were getting out of the post office business and the Post Office Department of the United States began an experiment starting with the distribution of mail on large buses that were set up like the rail cars and the RPO's.

The bus ran its first route on February 10, 1941, traveling on a route between Washington, D.C., and Harrisonburg, Virginia. Two more routes were set up that year, one between South Bend and Indianapolis, Indiana, on May 3, 1941, and one between San Francisco and Pacific Grove, California on August 4, 1941.

From my collection, a Highway Post Office Cover, the first run of the second route, May 3, 1941 traveling from South Bend, to Peru, to Indianapolis, Indiana.

Scott #775, the Michigan Centenary Issue, is tied to the cover with the HPO circular date and four bar stamp cancel.

Another view of Scott #775 and the cancellation.

The Highway Post Office, H.P.O., Circular Date Cancel

The Cachet Horizontal Desciption

The Cachet

Was the cachet authorized by the Post Office Department ?

It was also the cachet used to celebrate the first trip of the new route on February 10, 1941.

The H.P.O. covers are scarce today.

Konrad Adenauer was the First Chancellor of West Germany and served from 1949 until 1963, the year of President Kennedy's tragic assassination.

He was a great friend of our nation as were the other men honored by the West German government on the first anniversary of Chancellor Adenauer's passing.

Depicted in this great souvenir sheet, Scott #982, issued April 19, 1968, are at top Konrad Adenauer, and from left to right bottom are Winston Churchill, Alcide De Caspari, and Robert Schuman.

The First Chancellor of West Germany, Dr. Konrad Adenauer

Dr. Konrad Adenauer - Scott #982d

Winston Churchill - Scott #982a

Alcide De Caspari - Scott #982b

Robert Schuman - Scott #982e

First Day Cancellations Scott #982 April 19, 1968

Dr. Adenauer  - Scott #982d & First Day of Issue Cancellation - Hamburg April 19, 1968

He was a great champion of peace and must not be forgotten.

Study the lives of these four great men. They will lead you to a better world.

I am proud to share, from my collection, the first day of issue ceremony program for the Helen Keller / Anne Sullivan Commemorative Stamp issued June 27, 1980 in Tuscumbia, Alabama.

The Program 

The Stamp - Scott #1824

The First Day of Issue Cancellation

Helen & Anne

 

Do you know how to identify a rare stamp ?

Could one of these German stamps, printed in 1872, be worth $16,000 dollars ?

Let's narrow the field.

What's your answer ?

Duane Willard Beeson (1921–1947) was a World War II fighter pilot and flying ace. He scored 22.08 victories, including 17.3 air-to-air kills,12 of which were scored in the P-47C/D Thunderbolt, and 5.3 of which were scored in the P-51-B Mustang. Beeson was one of ten United States Army Air Forces pilots who became an ace in two different types of fighter aircraft.

He died from a brain tumor at the age of 25.

The minimum per-piece rate for all third class bulk mail was one cent from July 1, 1928 until July 1, 1952. As of October 1, 1932 each piece was required to be labeled, "Sec. 562, PL&R.
The minimum per-piece rate for all third class bulk mail was one cent from July 1, 1928 until July 1, 1952. As of October 1, 1932 each piece was required to be labeled, "Sec. 562, PL&R.

The precancelled "Prexie, Scott #804, is just below the required "P.L.& R." label.

There's no date on the cover, but believed to have been issued after Major Beeson's death in 1947.

He was a brave warrior, great aviator and American hero.

Born 1921 at Boise, Idaho. Duane enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941, assigned to RAF 71st "Eagle" Squadron, later transferred to 334th Squadron, 4th FG/8th USAAF. Nicknamed "Bee", he decorated his aircraft as "Boise Bee." Beeson was one of the few 4th FG pilots to achieve real success in the P-47, scoring 12+ victories in the Thunderbolt. He was promoted to CO of the 334th Squadron on March 15, 1944. He scored his remaining kills in a P-51 Mustang. Like Dick Bong, Beeson was a consistent fighter pilot, scoring single (or double) victories many times. From May 18, 1943 through April 5, 1944, Major Beeson shot down German planes on 15 different occasions, scoring most heavily in early 1944 over Germany itself. All but one of his kills were against single-engine fighters (FW-190s and Bf-109s).

On April 5, 1944, in his own words: "Our group was strafing aerodromes near Berlin. We had left one drome behind with many burning Ju-88's on the ground when another was sighted, so we went in to attack it. There were five Ju-88's parked wing-tip to wing-tip along the perimeter track, so I opened fire on them. The first one burst into flame and there were strikes all over the others, so I picked a big-assed Me-323 to shoot at next. Just as I opened fire and began to see some results, tracers flashed past my cockpit and my Mustang was hit. Leaving the aerodrome behind I climbed to 1,000 ft. and tried to get the engines running again but had no luck so decided to get out. Had lost altitude down to 400 ft. when I finally shoved the stick forward and bunted my way out of the a/c. The chute opened just in time to carry me over a fence and deposit my carcass in a field surrounded by many members of the "Super Race" -- including one blonde fraulein on a bicycle." He spent the next thirteen months as a POW.

Victories: 24.25; 19.5 air, 4.75 ground. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and many other decorations. Duane was promoted to Lt. Col. after the war and died of a brain tumor 15 Feb 1947. He is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

A precanceled stamp, or precancel for short, is a postage stamp that has been cancelled before being affixed to mail.

Inverted Precancel Scott #JQ5

Precancels are postage stamps that have been canceled before being used on letters or packages. Typically they are stamps cancelled with two lines, and the city and state where they were mailed

Precanceled stamps are typically used by mass mailers, who can save the postal system time and effort by prearranging to use the precancels, and delivering the stamped mail ready for sorting.

The International Precancel Club was organized in 1910. The IPC held several conventions in conjunction with other stamp gatherings.

By 1921 it had 111 members, but was relatively inactive.

A rival precancel organization was formed under the name the Precancel Club of America.

This group had rapid growth and changed its name to The Precancel Stamp Society, it's first PSS convention in Denver in 1922.

This cover is from the 47th Annual Convention of the Prcancel Stamp Society held at the Sheraton-Jefferson Hotel in Saint Louis, Missouri August 15 - 18, 1968.

Details of the cachet

A four bar Doane circular date stamped cancel featuring the cancellation station PSS convention tied to Scott #1348.

And Scott #1348 the Benningtton Flag of 1777.

And the cancellation station circular date stamped cancel.

And finally the greeting card cover insert welcoming you to the 1968 P.S.S. Convention hosted by the Missouri Precancel Club.

Precancels are fun and challenging to collect. Many can be quite valuable.

One of the highlights of the 1933 Chicago World's Fair was the arrival of the German airship Graf Zeppelin on October 26, 1933.

For some Chicagoans, however, the appearance of the Graf Zeppelin over their city was not a welcome sight, as the airship had become a prominent reminder of the ascendancy of Adolf Hitler to power earlier that same year.

This triggered dissension in the days following its visit, particularly within the city's large German-American population.

The Zeppelin Hangar - Lake Constance, Germany

The 1933 airmail known as the "Baby Zeppelin" is a scarce stamp and a connection to the golden age of dirigibles and world expositions.
 
Scott #C18 did not sell well in 1933, probably because of the high denomination.

90% of the stamps were destroyed by the postal service leaving only 324,000 for collectors.

The Graf Zeppelin was a magnificent airship sadly rejected by much of the world because of Hitler's tyranny and despotism at that time.

Count von Zeppelin did not support the Reich, was not a Nazi and opposed Hitler.

His contributions to aeronautical science must never be forgotten. 

The Maldives, officially the Republic of Maldives, is a South Asian island country, located in the Indian Ocean, situated in the Arabian Sea.

It lies southwest of India and Sri Lanka.

Maldive Islands was a British Protectorate, first as a dependency of Ceylon, then from 1948 as an independent sultanate.

On October 31, 1977 the Maldives not only commemorated the 50th anniversary of Charles Linbergh's Altlantic crossing, the Maldives also commemorated the 75th anniversary of the first navigable airship with a now-scarce souvenir sheet,

Scott #709 which includes a great illustration of an airship.

Scott #709a of the Spirit of Saint Louis flying between the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower, and Scott #709b of Zeppelin L31 flying over a battleship.

For a year (1953) the Maldives became a republic.

The islands became completely independent on July 26, 1965,and became a republic again on November 11, 1968.

This is a must-have souvenir sheet if you collect Zeps.

The Central African Republic is in Western Africa, just north of the equator.

It's capital is Bangui.

The former French colony of Ubangi-Shari, a unit in French Equatorial Africa, proclaimed itself the Central African Republic on December 1, 1958.

It became the Central African Empire on December 4, 1976.

It became the Central African Republic again in 1979.

The CAR honored the 75th anniversary of the Zeppelin on April 11, 1977 with this series of great stamps.

Scott #295 - Temple D'Antonin Et Faustine Rome, Italy

Scott #296 - Cathedrale De St.Basile Moscow URSS

Scott #C184 - The North Pole

Scott #C185 - Museum Des Sciences D'Industrie Chicago Etats Unis

Scott #C186 - Porte De Brandebourg Berlin Allemagne 

The Brandenburg Gate Berlin

Souvenir Sheet Scott #C187 Le Capitole Washington Etats Unis

Detail of Souvenir Sheet Scott #C187 The Capitol Building Washington, D.C.

The Ivory Coast is on the west coast of Africa bordering the Gulf of Guinea.

The capital, Yamoussoukro.

The former French Colony of the Ivory Coast became part of French West Africa.

On December 4, 1958 the Ivory Coast became a republic and gained full independence on August 7, 1960.

Like most of the world at the time, on September 3, 1977, the Ivory Coast tipped it's hat to the 75th anniversary of the Zeppelin with a series of stamps.

Santos Dumont's Villes de Paris - Scott #440

Scott #441 - LZ1 at Takeoff

Scott #442 - The "Schwaben" LZ10 Over Germany

Scott #443 -  "Bodensee" LZ120 In 1919 

Scott #444 - LZ127 Flying Over the Sphinx and Pyramids of Egypt

Scott #C63 - The Zeppelin Type of September 3, 1977 Souvenir Sheet

The "Graf Zeppelin" LZ127 Over New York

The great philatelic author Ken Wood noted in his epic three volume work, "This Is Philately" that "A definition of Cinderella stamps is probably one best handled by exclusion rather rather than inclusion".

They're "fantasy" stamps.

Cinderellas aren't listed in the Scott Catalog, nor considered valid for postage by any government postal authority.

But thay can be scarce, valuable and command high prices, such as the stamps of Lundy Island, or those of the brilliant late artist Donald Evans.

Luposta 77 was a philatelic exhibition held in Berlin in 1977.

Gehringer were the printers of this Cinderella souvenir sheet.

A fantasy, if you will.

Georg Gehringer GmbH. Kaiserslautern Germany

The first stamps they produced with a computer were in 1970 for Mauritius.
The printing process is Lithography.

The Bundesrepublik Deutschland ("Federal Republic of Germany") East Germany was communist occupied during this time and the democratic world was still battling the cold war and the Berlin Wall.

Hungary is a unitary parliamentary republic in Central Europe. It covers an area of 93,030 square kilometres (35,920 sq mi), situated in the Carpathian Basin and bordered by Slovakia to the north, Romania to the east, Serbia to the south, Croatia to the southwest, Slovenia to the west, Austria to the northwest, and Ukraine to the northeast

Scott #C374 was issued in April of 1977 at the same time that countries throughout the world began honoring the Zeppelin on it's 75th anniversary.

The sheet represents three European stamp exhibitions and the labels to the right of each Zeppelin show the exhibition labels in chronological order.

Brunswick

Lugano

San Marino

The Republic of Upper Volta (French: République de Haute-Volta) was a West African country established on December 11, 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community.

The country changed its name on August 4, 1984, from Upper Volta to Burkina Faso, which means "The Land of Incorruptible People".

On May 11, 1976, Haute-Volta joined nations throughout the world in rememberance of the Zeppelin.

Scott #C237depicts the Zeppelin flying over Bodensee in this beautiful souvenir sheet.

The Zeppelin over Bodensee

Zeppelin engine

Zeppelin engineers

Zeppelin hangar

République de Haute-Volta does not exist any longer.

The Republic of Maldive is a South Asian island country, located in the Indian Ocean, situated in the Arabian Sea, southwest of India and Sri Lanka.

On Octobter 31, 1977 the Maldives joined the 75th anniversary world-wide philatelic tribute to the Zeppelin with Scott #705, Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin and the Zeppelin in Pernambuco, Brazil.

Barbuda is a dependency of Antigua.

It's location is the Northern Leeward Islands, West Indies.

It only has an area of 83 square miles and a population of approximately 1600 residents.

It's an island paradise of incomparable beauty and solitude.

Se-tenant stamps or labels are printed from the same plate and sheet and adjoin one another, unsevered in a strip or block.

The word "se-tenant" translates from French as meaning "joined together"

On December 29, 1977 Barbuda joined the world-wide philatelic 75th anniversary of the Zeppelin with a se tenant block of four, Scott #318 which features  the first navigable airships, 75th anniversary: No.318a, Zeppelin LZ1. b, German Naval airshipL31. c, Graf Zeppelin. d, Gondola on military airship.

Libya is in North Africa and borders the Mediterranean Sea.

It's capital is Tripoli, a magnificent city, mystical and beautiful.

On May 17, 1977 the Libyan postal authorities issued this great souvenir sheet which honors the Universal Postal Union's 100th anniversary, a centennial celebration.

Scott #678 includes a fantastic illustration of the Graf Zeppelin, LZ127, the Hindenburg, flying over Tripoli.

A Libyan Tuareg

Mauritania, is a country in the Maghreb region of western Africa.

It is the eleventh largest country in Africa and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara in the north, Algeria in the northeast, Mali in the east and southeast, and Senegal in the southwest.

Mauritania's postal service issued a souvenir sheet for the 75th anniversary of the Zeppelin in a 100 Ouguiya denomination.

On June 28, 1976 Scott #C169 joined the world of philately with the "Fuhrersland”, LZ129, the Hindenburg, flying over the Olympic Stadium in 1936.

The stamp.

The balloon.

The gondola.

Von Zeppelin.

The Hindenburg was destroyed on May 6, 1937 in Lakehurst, New Jersey.

36 were killed.

It seemed as though everyone wanted to memorialize the Zeppelin in the years 1976 and 1977.

And many countries did so.

Probably because of the 75 years that had passed since the first successful flights.

Czechoslovakia did their part in 1977 with Scott #C89 in a tribute to the history of aviation.

1909's LZ12 III & Graf Zeppelin LZ127 are illustrated on this nice collector's item issued September 15, 1977.

In Paris, on 12 May 1902 at 5 a.m., the Brazilian inventor Augusto Severo de Albuquerque Maranhão and his mechanic, M. Saché, set off in Severo's dirigible, the Pax.

They intended to fly from Paris to Issy-les-Moulineaux. However, while the aeronauts were still over Paris at about 400 meters' altitude, the motor stopped and the dirigible exploded.

Both Severo and Saché were killed.

Brazil remembers them.

Scott #1531, the 75 anniversary of the Pax, issued October 17, 1977, honors the memory of this magnificent airship and the brave men who died piloting it.