Weird, wacky and unusual stamps of the world

stamptmf · **Posted:** Wed Sep 03, 2008 13:44:58 pm

I have a great interest in "gimmick" stamps from around the world and in the process of getting a small exhibit of them together as a way of introducing collectors to our hobby. You know, the record stamps from Bhutan, stamps that smell, glow in the dark, stamps made of non-paper material, holographs, etc.

You may see some of them in the lower part of my online presentation here:

http://www.fortunecity.com/olympia/tilden/186/stampcollecting/index.html

I'm especially looking for used examples on cover, as I'm pretty current with new issues, like cork stamps from Portugal, urethane soccer stamp from Austria, beaded sheet from Singapore, CD stamps from Bhutan, etc. I can also use technical details on some of them.

Any advice, checklists, info would also be appreciated.

Lakatoi 4 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 03, 2008 13:56:51 pm

That is a superb website - an easy to read background and introduction to the many other aspects of our hobby

(I did a little tidy up of your links to that website by the way).

Please make a post in the "Roll Call" forum and let everyone know about yourself and your collecting interests. And add an avatar (that little picture on the left hand side of the page under your stampboards ID). Instructions to do this and many other technical tips are found in the "Some useful technical starter tips and ADMIN notices" forum.

Have fun

Lakatoi 4 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 03, 2008 14:20:30 pm

Oh, and here is something a bit unusual- a letter card made from wood for the New Zealand Tarapex Exhibition 1969.

The reverse has a note about it being a promo for the NZ timber industry :

clemo · **Posted:** Wed Sep 03, 2008 15:44:03 pm

Whilst on Christmas Island (Pacific Ocean) during 1956/1957 quite a number of fellows would paint a tropical island scene on the side of a coconut (husk and all) and send it back to UK via normal mail. I sent one to my parents, they received it alright, but the postman was not a happy person as (bad luck for him) there were another two people living in the area who sent some at the same time! I wish I had kept a photograph of it.

Clemo

crosscrescent · **Posted:** Wed Sep 03, 2008 16:08:33 pm

Stamptmf

Welcome to Stampboards and thanks for providing that link.
Really like what I see in there and have filed it in my favourites to savour more leisurely at a later date.

Please introduce yourself at the starting thread and tell the other members about your website. I think many will simply love it. The link you need for the little introduction is here:

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.ph ... start=2600

Cheers
Andrew

CollectorColin · **Posted:** Wed Sep 03, 2008 19:55:29 pm

I enjoyed reading that website.

Colin

Lundy · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 04:06:11 am

Ah yes those Bhutan record stamps, i also was shown some Bhutan CD stamps by a lovely dealer and collector of Bhutan in London he said they also had images and music from Bhutan on them and that the designer had come to see him about them, a creative idea but i am not sure they are my cup of tea asa collector. He said that the record ones on commercial cover were pretty rare

John

ozstamps · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 04:33:25 am

Lundy .. mint, this set sells for about $500 a set.

On cover a lot more.

Much chat about them here:

viewtopic.php?t=1570

Lundy · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 07:57:21 am

Cheers Glen, CD's just as the old chap showed me. Felt very sorry for him effectively being made redundant in his mid 80s due to the end of the lease and them not being able to sign for a further term think they are owned by the Stamp Centre opposite the Strand (you may know him?) he purely collects Bhutan and is a real character

John

ozstamps · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 12:38:18 pm

Lundy, have no idea of your age but you are showing it if you think these phonograph records are 'CD's'.

.

Kev · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 13:40:57 pm

clemo wrote:

Whilst on Christmas Island (Pacific Ocean) during 1956/1957 quite a number of fellows would paint a tropical island scene on the side of a coconut (husk and all) and send it back to UK via normal mail. I sent one to my parents, they received it alright, but the postman was not a happy person as (bad luck for him) there were another two people living in the area who sent some at the same time! I wish I had kept a photograph of it.

Clemo

G'day Clemo,
You might want to check the location of Christmas Island - should be Indian Ocean?
Cheers, Kev.

Kev · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 13:56:57 pm

stamptmf wrote:

I have a great interest in "gimmick" stamps from around the world and in the process of getting a small exhibit of them together as a way of introducing collectors to our hobby. You know, the record stamps from Bhutan, stamps that smell, glow in the dark, stamps made of non-paper material, holographs, etc.

You may see some of them in the lower part of my online presentation here:

http://www.fortunecity.com/olympia/tilden/186/stampcollecting/index.html

I'm especially looking for used examples on cover, as I'm pretty current with new issues, like cork stamps from Portugal, urethane soccer stamp from Austria, beaded sheet from Singapore, CD stamps from Bhutan, etc. I can also use technical details on some of them.

Any advice, checklists, info would also be appreciated.

Feel free to reply or send messages directly to me at
stamptmf [at] frontiernet.net

What a great site!
Thanks stamptmf.

clemo · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 14:11:59 pm

Kev wrote:

clemo wrote:

Whilst on Christmas Island (Pacific Ocean) during 1956/1957 quite a number of fellows would paint a tropical island scene on the side of a coconut (husk and all) and send it back to UK via normal mail. I sent one to my parents, they received it alright, but the postman was not a happy person as (bad luck for him) there were another two people living in the area who sent some at the same time! I wish I had kept a photograph of it.

Clemo

G'day Clemo,
You might want to check the location of Christmas Island - should be Indian Ocean?
Cheers, Kev.

Sorry Kev, but then it was Christmas Island, in the Pacific, more commonly known now as Kiritimati. It was a military base for the testing of nuclear weapons in the 1950/1960's. Spent 10 months of living in tents, battling flies and landcrabs, and very basic hygenic facilities (thunderboxes, and semi-saltwater showers)

Fun (?) while it lasted!!

Clemo

Kev · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 14:18:03 pm

My apologies to you Clemo!
That is something I did not know - still learning every day.
To add further to my education - Where is Kiritimati?
Cheers, Kev.

ewen s · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 14:29:39 pm

Kev wrote:

My apologies to you Clemo!
That is something I did not know - still learning every day.
To add further to my education - Where is Kiritimati?
Cheers, Kev.

Where Christmas Island used to be. :wink:

Cheers,

Ewen

clemo · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 15:35:00 pm

Kev wrote:

My apologies to you Clemo!
That is something I did not know - still learning every day.
To add further to my education - Where is Kiritimati?
Cheers, Kev.

No need to apologise, Kev. Nobody's perfect (except me, according to my grandkids).....

Kiritimati is part of the republic of Kiribati, and straddles the Equator about 1200 miles south of Hawaii. Ex-Christmas Island is the biggest atoll in the world.

Regards
Clemo

Kev · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 15:54:12 pm

Thanks Clemo,
Most of our holidays for over 30 years - and some before - have been spent around the Pacific. I was aware of Kiribati but not its atoll.
Off to Samoa in a couple of weeks which we have been able to get there by 1 flight these days as against Sydney/Auckland/Tonga/Upolu.
Currently building a collection and postal history of (Western) Samoa..
Kev.

clemo · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2008 16:26:34 pm

Kev,

Aaah, the Pacific islands - the dusky maidens, gentle zephyrs of the breeze, the sound of the surf gently crashing onto the beach, lazing in a hammock whilst SWMABO sees to your every need!
Then you come back to earth with a bump.
There is a thriving tourist industry on ex-Christmas Island now. I do not know if they make any mention of the six h-bombs we let off about 25 miles south of the island, and what our american cousins got up to when we left. After being there and working on radars for a great part of my life my kids reckon I should glow in the dark!

Such is life,

Clemo

Lundy · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2008 03:37:47 am

31 Glen, so old enough to have bought "i should be so lucky" on vinyl i meant as via the link to this cd rom stamp, apologies for confusing http://www.bhutanpostagestamps.com/purchase-stamp.php

John

ozstamps · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2008 03:55:20 am

Christmas Island PACIFIC of course issued these famous Coconut Plantation Stamps.

When part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Christmas Island used to frank a lot of mail for collectors with their CHRISTMAS ISLAND cds.

Kev · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2008 12:25:19 pm

Something else to look for!
Kev.

gavin-h · **Posted:** Thu Oct 02, 2008 20:50:11 pm

I think these fit the bill here, they're certainly unusual, and a bit weird:

These were issued in the immediate Post-War period in the town of Grossraschen in the Soviet Zone of Germany.

They look as though they were printed on a "John-Bull" printing kit. Values are hand written and the hammers and inscription are clearly added with a rubber stamp.

In the values, you can clearly discern the handwriting of different individuals - check the "20" on and off cover for an example. I have examples in several different scripts.

BUT in spite of the crude nature, there are some interesting characteristics to these stamps, for instance:

The same values are ALWAYS on the same colour paper. Shades of 2 or 3 values do exist but are VERY RARE. Other than that, the consistency of colour is remarkable (the scans do not represent this well).

The relative positions of the hammers and value is always the same for a given value - for example, the the 24pfg always has the hammers at the right and the value at the left (and the lower values NEVER have hammers - except the 6pfg which always does!!!).

The colour of ink used for a given value is ALWAYS the same - but the relationship between the colour of ink and colour of paper varies from value to value (eg. 8pfg and 20pfg are both on blue paper, but one has a black value, the other red).

So, it is easy to picture a hard-pressed Postmaster, being forced by his Soviet "masters" into to produce stamps (this was common practice in the Soviet Zone) and doing the best, most consistent job he could with very limited materials.

Unusual - yes, in terms of production techniques and of their origins.

Weird - almost to the point of obsession in the detail.

Wacky - well have you ever seen anything else like these?

Catweazle · **Posted:** Mon Nov 23, 2009 13:05:04 pm

About time someone put a new post on this thread...

A little different to the stamps/covers etc in the other posts, but I thought this pair from Great Britain looked rather wacky:

Catweazle · **Posted:** Fri Feb 19, 2010 16:54:37 pm

ozstamps wrote:

Christmas Island PACIFIC of course issued these famous Coconut Plantation Stamps.

When part of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands, Christmas Island used to frank a lot of mail for collectors with their CHRISTMAS ISLAND cds.

Just found myself on this old thread, and think that's another nice cover there, Glen!

ozstamps · **Posted:** Tue Sep 14, 2010 01:57:20 am

Counterfoil stamps on an 1881 vellum parchment Indenture from Victoria.

kb1opd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 14, 2010 08:00:01 am

Great page!!
Where do you get the hidden image gizmo from anyhow?

ristamps · **Posted:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 07:30:23 am

kb1opd wrote:

Great page!!
Where do you get the hidden image gizmo from anyhow

You can get a stamp decoder from the USPS for US$5.95. If your local office does not carry them, you can email me at the Providence RI philatelic office. Rhode.P.IStamps@usps.gov

kb1opd · **Posted:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 11:33:46 am

Thanks Donna,
I'll ask locally and see if they carry them.

Brian

Yobo · **Posted:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 22:40:43 pm

This Norwegian miniature sheet from 2009 have dust from a meteorite next to the country name.

muruk · **Posted:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 23:37:20 pm

ewen s wrote:

Kev wrote:

My apologies to you Clemo!
That is something I did not know - still learning every day.
To add further to my education - Where is Kiritimati?
Cheers, Kev.

Where Christmas Island used to be. :wink:

Cheers,

Ewen

So the name didn't change ... just the language. Kiritimati/Kirisimasi/Kirisimas/Krisimas are all Pacific Islander versions of Christmas.

muruk · **Posted:** Fri Sep 24, 2010 23:51:43 pm

If you can use these I will be happy to send them to you:

I think silverfish must like bananas. :lol:

EDIT: I just checked the date of the original post ... should have done that first ... OP is probably long gone, so if anyone else would like this Tongan assemblage from the tobacco tin collection, let me know.

Kev · **Posted:** Sat Sep 25, 2010 18:04:18 pm

Hi muruk,

I would like them please as Tonga is one of my collections.

If Ok I'll email my details

Cheers,

Kev.

Catweazle · **Posted:** Mon Sep 27, 2010 23:18:24 pm

yobo wrote:

This Norwegian miniature sheet from 2009 have dust from a meteorite next to the country name.

Well that's certainly interesting!

uncadonego · **Posted:** Tue Sep 28, 2010 04:54:56 am

Remember those old funky fake 3d card type stamps from Umm al-Quwain? They were kind of wacked out.

muruk · **Posted:** Tue Sep 28, 2010 20:09:26 pm

Kev wrote:

Hi muruk,

I would like them please as Tonga is one of my collections.

If Ok I'll email my details

Cheers,

Kev.

Most welcome.

Gone to Kev.

I will send them as soon as I have your mailing address.

asmodeus · **Posted:** Tue Sep 28, 2010 23:44:57 pm

Wood stamp of Switzerland

asmodeus · **Posted:** Tue Sep 28, 2010 23:48:42 pm

Material stamp of Italy

uncadonego · **Posted:** Mon Oct 04, 2010 03:33:46 am

uncadonego wrote:

Remember those old funky fake 3d card type stamps from Umm al-Quwain? They were kind of wacked out.

Found it! I was only given one of these as a kid, but whole sets are still floating around the internet for cheap. You tilt them back and forth to get the effect.

Tanuki · **Posted:** Mon Oct 04, 2010 09:26:35 am

How about those French "chocolate stamps", they smell like chocolate!

Diver Pete · **Posted:** Mon Oct 04, 2010 10:13:40 am

Never seen the French chocolate stamp - do you have any details on year, cat no. etc?

Here is the 2001 Swiss version from my collection

Catweazle · **Posted:** Mon Oct 04, 2010 13:34:32 pm

Tanuki wrote:

How about those French "chocolate stamps", they smell like chocolate!

Now that is cool! What year are they from?

asmodeus · **Posted:** Mon Oct 04, 2010 20:31:20 pm

yobo wrote:

This Norwegian miniature sheet from 2009 have dust from a meteorite next to the country name.

2006 Austria issued this miniature sheet with dust of meteorites

Tanuki · **Posted:** Mon Oct 04, 2010 21:22:05 pm

Hi,

the French chocolate stamps are from 2009.

Tanuki · **Posted:** Mon Oct 04, 2010 21:42:20 pm

They were issued the 25th of may 2009 to be precise.

I just had a look at them, they still smell like chocolate, but I bet they don't taste like it!! :lol:

Tanuki · **Posted:** Sat Nov 13, 2010 08:21:07 am

I just bought two interesting stamps at the post office today:

The first one with some seeds glued on it:

And the second one with some real sand from the Sahara:

aranyadc · **Posted:** Sun Nov 28, 2010 18:35:08 pm

Hi,
One of my interests is "weird and wacky" stamps and I have a fair bit of collection of these stamps.
I guess off-hand I can say that they can come in following broad categories:

Odd shapes
Made of different materials than normal paper
Printed in unusual manners
Used for Unusual purposes
3D and Motion stamps
Glow in dark or color changing stamps ( when exposed to sunlight , touch etc)
CD or record stamps
Stamps scented
Gold, silver and other material affixed stamps
Metal stamps
stamps used as money like cash coupons, cash
Encased stamps used as emergency money
Hologram stamps
Stamps with advertisement in back
Engraved, embossed or rough stamp
Any other oddities like Potato stamps of Tristan, Rice stamps of Vietnam etc.

Am enclosing some wooden stamp sheets from my collection.

kevinm · **Posted:** Mon Nov 29, 2010 02:31:11 am

A couple of stamps printed on tin foil from Russia

A little worn out from the years and the scan does not do them justice but still weird and unusual.

Tanuki · **Posted:** Wed Dec 01, 2010 00:26:38 am

Hi,
It seems that Moroccan post office likes weird, wacky and unusual stamps.
I found this one, when you move it you can see the portraits of the last three kings.

Acacia Gum · **Posted:** Mon Feb 07, 2011 03:11:23 am

Three D stamps, wooden stamps. I wish I had the record stamps of Bhutan they are like hens teeth now.
I also collect stamps printed on bank notes and news print.
Andree.

egurevich · **Posted:** Tue Apr 26, 2011 07:34:55 am

I was so excited to find this thread. I collect weird stamps made from non-paper materials and associated with various strange things.

I found these 3 blogs that list a lot of stamps like this, some of which I have in my collection.

http://gold-foil-stamps.blogspot.com/
http://unusual-stamps.blogspot.com/
http://unusualstampsoncover.blogspot.com/

Also these stamps are really cool:

The fastest stamp in the world: Austria Euro 2008 Sheet. Was printed about 1 hour 25 minutes after the event took place. This sheet is so huge I had to buy a special oversized album just for it. It does not fit into any normal album.

World's first stamp with beads in it: Singapore 2008 Peranakan Museum.


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