Thurn and Taxis - Bud's Big Blue

1852-1866 Thurn and Taxis Northern District in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

The Thurn and Taxis Princely House (Tassis) has had a long history of providing mail and newspaper courier distribution services- originally since 1290 for Italian city-states, and then spreading by the 16th century to a postal route network encompassing Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Spain, and the Low countries (now Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg). They were named the Imperial Postmasters General for the Holy Roman Empire in 1748.

The Thurn and Taxis private Post was active between 1806 and 1867.

Originally headquartered in Regensburg, it was moved to Frankfurt am Main in 1810.

Stamps were introduced in 1852. Since there were different denomination currencies in the Northern and Southern Germanic States, the stamp issues for the Northern Germanic States were in "Silbergroschen", while "Kreuzer" were used for the Southern Germanic States stamp issues.

In 1867, after the Austro-Prussian war, Prussia took over the postal system on July 1, 1867.  This, in turn, was followed by stamps from the North German Postal District on January, 1, 1868, and finally the stamps of the German Empire on January 1, 1872.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Thurn and Taxis 1852-1866 (under German States), 54 major descriptive numbers (Northern District-32; Southern District-22).

Of those, 18 are CV $1+-$2+, or 33%. All of the low value CV stamps are for unused condition. Clearly, the WW classical era collector can add some classical Thurn and Taxis stamps to the collection without much expense.

Most of the rest of Thurn and Taxis stamps are moderately expensive to expensive (CV $10+-$100+). Of interest, some stamps are much more expensive used. For instance, the Northern District 1866 "Rouletted in Colored Lines" Scott 31 2sgr blue is CV $1.50 unused, while CV $1,300 used! As one would expect, Scott has a note that, when stamps are much more CV valuable used, there are plenty of forged cancellations around.

Thurn and Taxis's stamps come in two major flavors: For the Northern District (valued in Silbergroschen), or for the Southern District (valued in Kreuzer). The districts tend to parallel each other in terms of issues. 

Big Blue '69, one 1/2 page, shared with the North German Confederation, has nine spaces for the Northern District, and six spaces for the Southern District: (Total = 15 spaces). Coverage is 28%. Many of the BB spaces, though, can have multiple stamp choices.

The coverage for Thurn and Taxis is actually located and placed as the first page of Germany. The BB Table of Contents, consequently, does not list Thurn and Taxis separately- or at all. (That goes for the North German Confederation also.)

The 40s BB editions have fourteen spaces (12 blank spaces) for the Northern District, and seven spaces (5 blank spaces) for the Southern District: (Total = 21 spaces).

Remarkably, perhaps, there are no spaces in the '69 BB that require an expensive (CV $10+) stamp. 

For more, check the link below.

Thurn and Taxis Blog Post & BB Checklist

Note: Blog post for the North German Confederation is here.

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Thrace - Bud's Big Blue

1919-20 Thrace in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Thrace (known by that name since Grecian times) now comprises Southeastern Bulgaria (Northern Thrace), northeastern Greece (Western Thrace), and eastern Turkey (Eastern Thrace).

During the Balkan Wars and WW I, there were many military and  political changes, which are too complicated for a Quick History.

Thrace went through many political changes during the Balkan Wars and WW I. It was ultimately divided between Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria. The Scott catalogue reflects the rather messy conditions.

All of the Scott numbers in the catalogue for Thrace are preceded by "N": indicating "occupation" stamp issues.

During the Second Balkan War, several cities (Dedeagatch, Giumulzina) came under Greek occupation. There are Giumulzina District Issues (30 stamps) during 1913 that are surcharged on Turkish stamps, Bulgarian Stamps, and Greek stamps. There was also a 1913 lithographic issue with Turkish inscriptions (5 stamps). These Giumulzina District stamps are rather expensive, specialist territory, and forgeries exist. 

There were then Allied occupation stamps (handstamped or overprinted on Bulgarian stamps) for 1919-1920 (33 stamps total). Bulgaria was forced to withdraw, and the Allied forces moved in and occupied Western Thrace. At the conference of San Remo on April, 1920, it was agreed that Greece would then control Western Thrace.

There were also overprinted stamps issued under Greek occupation and control and annexation (May 20) of Western Thrace for 1920 using Greek stamps (58 stamps) and Turkish stamps (9 stamps).

Total major number descriptions for 1913-1920 Thrace: 135.

Of those, 56 are CV <$1-$1+, or 42%.

Big Blue '69, on one page shared with Transcaucasian Federated Republic, has 22 spaces.

Coverage is 16%.

The 40s editions have the same coverage.

There are no expensive stamps, save for the 1920 Greek occupation 30 l rose space, which has a CV of $35.

For more on Thrace and the stamps, check the link below.

Thrace Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Thailand (Siam) - Bud's Big Blue

1883 Thailand in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Note: The Big Blue 1969 edition album lists "Siam" as the country name, but now the Scott catalogue lists the country as "Thailand".

Thailand is the only Southeast Asian nation that was never colonized, and served as a buffer state between French Indochina and the British Empire.  And Thailand has always had a king as head of state since Bangkok was established as the capital of the Chakri Dynasty under Rama I in 1782. Granted, the king sometimes had authority, sometimes not, depending which dictator or government was in power at the moment. A major change occurred in 1932 when the king lost his absolute monarchy, and there has been some nineteen constitutions/charters formed since then through various military dictatorships and democracies.

Then known as Siam, the country joined the UPU on July 1, 1885. (Siam was the official name until 1939, and again between 1945-49.)

Actually, Thailand's postal service was launched earlier on August 4, 1883, with the five definitive stamps of King Chulalongkorn in profile.

In 1909, Thailand lost their four southern provinces, which were mostly ethnic-Malay, to Malaysia.

During WW II, Thailand and Japan had a military alliance, although clearly Japan dictated the terms.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Thailand (Siam) 1883-1940, 286 major descriptive numbers. Of those, 64 are CV <$1-$1+, or 22%. Thailand is somewhat more expensive than most countries for the WW classical era collector.

I should mention again that "Siam" was the name on stamps until 1939 for the stamps of Thailand- essentially all of the classical era period (and again between 1945-49). But Thailand is the common and preferred country name now, so I will use it here.

Big Blue, on five pages, has 118 spaces for the stamps of Thailand. Coverage is 41%.

The '69 BB still labels the country "Siam", and it is placed between Somaliland Protectorate and Sierrra Leone.

There are eleven stamp spaces requiring stamps @ CV $10-$20+. There are no "Most Expensive " stamps ($35+).

For more on the stamps themselves, click on the link below.

Thailand Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Tasmania - Bud's Big Blue

1855-68 Tasmania in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Tasmania, an island just off south-eastern Australia, was one of the six British colonies that merged to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901.

The capital was Hobart, and the population was 172,000 in 1901.

But Tasmania, as the other Australian colonies, has a prior rich philatelic history, with stamp issues from 1853-1912.

Van Diemen's Land, the second British colony after 1788 New South Wales, was established in 1803.

In 1812, British convicts were sent to the island as a "prison without walls".

The first settlements include Hobart Town, Launceston, and George 

The engraved Chalon Heads (portrait by Edward Chalon 1838) were issued in 1855, and used for the next 25 years. They are the "meat and potatoes" of Tasmania specialty stamp collecting: I count some 132 major/minor varieties in the Scott catalogue. They are also generally expensive for the WW collector, and, except for a representative collection, may need to be left alone.

Van Diemen's Land was changed to Tasmania in 1856, which appears on the Chalon Heads in 1858.

The 2014 Scott Classic 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Tasmania 1853-1912, 123 major number descriptions. There are also many minor numbers because of perforation changes and color shade variations. For the major number count, I did not include the 35 "AR" postal fiscal stamps stamps in the catalogue.

Of the major number count, only 5 (4%) can be found @ CV $1+. Raising the bar to CV $10, yields 35 stamps, or 28%. Clearly, the early classical era Tasmania issues are somewhat expensive for the WW collector who wishes to obtain a representative collection. The very early 1853-1868 issues (50 major numbers) are expensive ( $27-$60+) to very expensive ($ Hundreds- $ Thousands). But those early listings are specialty territory anyway.

Be aware that some eleven different watermarks were used, and there can be many different perforation varieties. All in all, a pretty complicated and expensive country. 

Big Blue '69, on one page, located between Tannu Tuva and Thrace, has 27 spaces.

Coverage is 22%.

The 40s editions offer two less spaces for the 1870-96 issue, and three less spaces for the 1892-99 issue, compared to the '69 and later editions.

There are eight "expensive" (CV $10+-$20+) stamp spaces, and one "most expensive" (CV $35) stamp space. See the specific listing under the "comments" section after the checklist.

The "1892-1911" BB section have up to three issue choices for one space.

The "1865-68" one penny (illustrated) space has ten choices!

The "1870-96" one penny (illustrated) space has six choices.

For more on the stamps themselves, see the link below.

Tasmania Blog Post & BB Checklist

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Tannu -Tuva - Bud's Big Blue

1927 Tannu-Tuva Issue in Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

(From Jim: Bud is well, but has a lot of non philatelic obligations and responsibilities at the moment. With his permission, I will upload  country pages in his complete '69 Big Blue that so far has not been shown. He might add his observations later. Enjoy!)

Jim's Observations

Exotic doesn't describe the stamps of Tannu Tuva. The 1926-1936 issues are found multi-colored, with scenes such as a Tuvan impaling a bear, all on diamond, triangle, and rectangle shapes.

What schoolboy would not want these stamps?

The Bolshevik supported Tuvan People's Republic, located in southern Siberia in the Tannu-ola Mountains, forests, and steppes, on the northwestern border of Mongolia, existed between 1921-1944, when it was formally annexed into the Soviet Union. It's 1926 affirmation of independence was recognized solely by the Soviet Union and the Mongolian People's Republic.

The issues of Tannu-Tuva were considered of dubious legitimacy by some, but there are enough (mostly philatelic) covers from Tannu-Tuva to Moscow to establish that the stamps were postally used in the mail, and all the major catalogues now list the stamps.

The reality, of course, is that almost all of the stamps were produced in Moscow, and sold directly through the philatelic trade to collectors for hard currency.

The 2014 Scott Classic Specialized 1840-1940 catalogue has, for Tannu Tuva 1926-1943, 141 major descriptive numbers that are in the regular or air post categories. There are, in addition, some 24 bolded minor numbers that are varieties (imperforate, different perforation).

Of the major numbers, 55 are CV <$1-$1+, or 39%. The WW collector should want to have a nice representative selection from this interesting part of the world. For a few dollars more, there is even more selection available.

Russian or Soviet stamps were used in Tuva prior to 1926, and after 1944.

Most Tuvan stamps, except for the 1942 Scott 117-123 & overprints, were printed by the State Security Printers in Moscow.

Big Blue '69, on one page located between Syria and Tasmania, has 20 spaces for the 1927 (actually 1926) and 1932 issues. All very colorful designs!

Coverage is 14%.

The 40s BB editions have the same coverage.

For some reason, BB does not have any spaces for the 1934, 1935, 1936 regular issues, and the 1934 & 1936 air post issues. These inexpensive releases have 52 stamps @ CV $1-$2+. I wonder if the question of legitimacy (at the time) had to do with the fact that there are no spaces for these issues? 

BB does have spaces, as mentioned, for the 1932 surcharged issue. The inclusion yields six stamps @ CV $10 or $10

Tannu-Tuva Blog Post & BB Checklist

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