A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzabar


A is for Aden and Z is for Zanzibar... Now what is between? For the world wide classical era philatelist and stamp collector, a country specific philatelic survey is offered by the blog author, Jim Jackson, with two albums: Big Blue, aka Scott International Part 1 (checklists available), and Deep Blue, aka William Steiner's Stamp Album Web PDF pages. Interested? So into the Blues...

Monday, February 21, 2011

Missing A's- Annam & Tonkin

1888 Scott 3 5c on 10c black/lavender overprint with "A & T"
This stamp issuing French protectorate is truly missing, as I am unaware that Annam & Tonkin have ever been in Big Blue.

Quick History
Part of French Indo-China ( Protectorates of Annam, Tonkin, Cambodia, Laos, and the colony of Cochin-China), Annam & Tonkin has six stamps recognized by Scott with major numbers. Actually, only three stamps (those illustrated), and another set with a hyphen between the "A" and "T".

These stamps were issued in 1888, and handstamped surcharged "A&T" with the value on 1881-86 French colonies stamps. The protectorate had a population of 14 million in 1890.

100 Centimes = 1 Franc
1888 Scott 1 1c on 2c brown/buff overprint with "A & T"
Big Blue Picture
The least expensive stamp is valued at $35, which might explain why the protectorate never appeared in Big Blue.

Big Blue Checklist
None
1886 Map of Indo-China: Note Annam & Tonkin located in present day Northern Vietnam
Kinds of Blue
None
1888 Scott 2 1c on 4c claret/lavander overprint "A & T"
Big Blue Bottom Line
As Scott's Big Blue is the most popular "serious" international album in the U.S., nice to know when a stamp issuing entity is NOT there.  :-)

Note: Map appears to be in the public domain.

Comments?
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2 comments:

  1. One of those countries I still don't have an example from> could probably get one online for less than $20 (a lot for me to pay for a single stamp), but I always assume I would be getting a forged overprint.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies

    1. For WW collectors, A&T tends to be an afterthought.

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