Big Blue 1840-1940: February 2024

Hawaii 1864 Scott 24 2c black

Into the Deep Blue

Our local club had an in-house auction recently, and I picked up some new specimens. In addition, I will show off some of the USA 1873 Official stamps.

USA 1869 Scott 119 15c brown & blue

"Landing of Columbus"; Type II

It turns out I already had an example in my collection, but this local club auction specimen has a particularly rich blue & brown color. CV = $190.

Hawaii 1864 Scott 24 2c black

It is not the best of copy with the tear, crease, and hole, but I did pick this up at our local club auction for very little. CV = $1,050. These "Numeral" stamps were typeset in Hawaii between 1859-1865.

USA Official 1873 Scott O3 3c yellow "Washington"

Agriculture

Each Department of Government were issued stamps to use on official correspondence between 1873-1884. Most of the stamps were produced by the Continental Bank Note Company (Hard paper). Some were produced by the American Bank Note Company (soft paper). The ABNC stamps are given separate major numbers, and often have a higher CV.

I believe this is a CBNC stamps @ CV $17+.

USA Official 1873 Scott O20 12c vermilion "

"Henry Clay"; Interior

The "Executive" Department stamps (carmine color) have a high CV ($225-$$1,000), and I don't have any.

But I do have this "Interior" 12c CBNC stamp @ $90 (unused).

USA Official 1873 Scott O27 3c purple "Washington"

Justice

The "Justice" 3c purple is CV $35.

USA Official 1873 Scott O40 10c ultramarine

"Jefferson"; Navy

I already had a 10c "Navy", but I picked up this better copy. CV $45.

USA Official 1873 Scott O51 10c black

Post Office

The "Post Office" stamps do not have a portrait. CV $55.

USA Official 1873 Scott O61 7c dark green

"Edwin Stanton"; State

Since my daughter is a Foreign Service Officer with the State Department now, I am partial to these lovely green specimens. Here, the 7c is CV $290 (unused).

USA Official 1873 Scott O72 1c brown

"Franklin"; Treasury

This is a new specimen for me. CV $10.

USA Official 1873 Scott O114 1c rose red

"Franklin"; War; ABNC

I believe this is an ABNC specimen. CV $7+.

Out of the Blue

I have always liked the 1873 "Officials", and think collecting them on cover would be a fun (but sadly too expensive) sub-specialty. :-)

Comments appreciated!

Romanian Royal Gallery, Scott #s 24 red, 63 bluish green, and 192 dark brown and black

Prince Alexandru and King Carol I

Bud's Big Blue

Bud's Observations

If Big Blue were a proxy for a royal portrait gallery, Romania’s stamps would fill more space than any other nation except Great Britain, and that only because of many British colonies’ stamps with royal thumbnail portraits. In quick succession, images of Prince Alexandru through King Michael appear again and again on BB’s Romania pages.

Romanian Royal Gallery, Scott #s 312 carmine, 364 green, and 459 orange

Kings Ferdinand, Michael, Carol II

Queens make philatelic appearances, although less frequently and usually for a charitable cause.

Romanian Royal Gallery, Scott #s B1 brown and 286 olive green

Queens Elizabeth spinning and Marie as a nurse.

This dignified gallery hides a raucous history filled with forced abdications and sordid indiscretions.

Some great and brave royal predecessors pop up, too, such as Stephen and Mircea. Both of these are closely associated with the most famous Romania royal personage – Vlad III, a.k.a. Vlad Tepes, Vlad the Impaler, Dracula. In Slavic areas, Vlad is currently a common nickname for Vladimir.

Romanian Royal Gallery, Scott #s B22 Prussian green, B85 black violet, and B89 violet brown

Kings Stephen the Great, Mircea the Great, and Michael the Brave

Dracula had to wait until 1959 for his likeness to appear on stamps, a full decade after communists forced King Michael’s abdication and exile. The communists, not surprisingly, immediately stopped using royal images for stamps.

The mythology surrounding Vlad – bat morphing and blood sucking – changed the communist's minds. Vampire tourism became an economic boon that even communists could not resist. For the 500th anniversary of the founding of Bucharest, Romania began issuing Dracula stamps, souvenir sheets and postcards. Sales to collectors spurted like blood from a neck bite.

Romanian Royal Gallery, Vlad III, Scott #1281, blue and black

The document often shown beside Vlad, and presumed to be authored by him, has the oldest known reference to Bucharest. It also contains a pointed curse. Vlad’s philatelic likeness is based on a portrait that hangs in the Chamber of Art and Wonders at the Ambras Castle, Innsbruck, Austria – a collection built by Archduke Ferdinand II in the 16th century. Recent research suggests that Vlad likely suffered from several unfortunate conditions such as hemolacria, the crying of bloody tears.

Romanian Royal Gallery, Scott # c71, brown

More blood thirsty stamps followed Romania’s lead. A topical philatelic specialization was born.

Dracula’s popularity on postage, however, originates from Bram Stoker’s Dracula (first published in 1897) rather than from Vlad III himself, although the real Vlad was plenty bloody. Although Stoker’s Dracula and Vlad III have little in common, popular culture conflates them indiscriminately.

A banquet hosted by Vlad III with guests. Woodcut from the title page of a 1499 pamphlet.

Credit: Markus Ayrer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

British, USA, Canadian, Sierra Leonese and since Stoker was Irish, of course, Irish stamps add to the growing Dracula corpus.

Irish Royal Gallery, Scott # US 3169

One blood sucking problem faced by stamp collectors is what to do about forgeries; Romania has many of them. In my early collecting years, I ignored them. Recently I have put them on separate pages, a kind of jail, at the end of the supplement pages. I’ve started such a lockup for Romania.

Census: in BB spaces 53, tip in 36, on supplement pages 265.

Jim's Observations

As Bud mentioned, Romania has forgeries. Consult the posts below for information.

Romania 1858-1880

Romania 1885-1926

Romania and Forgeries

Romania 2nd Post House Issue - Forgeries

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