Recently it was discussed on the boards that Scott has been creating new listings for the various Portuguese Ceres issues. It looks to me as if Scott finished this project with the 2016 catalogs.

Now there are two different perforations that have been separated, and there are three paper types: ordinary paper, chalky paper and glazed paper. I have begun to re-arrange my Ceres issues, and I am finding little to no differences in the paper types. I have stamps from these sets that can only be one type of paper, but often I'll be confounded if I can figure out the paper differences on stamps that could be one of the three. They all look and feel the same.

I would expect the ordinary paper to feel rough, the chalky paper to feel smooth and slippery, and the glazed paper to be smooth and have a shine.

I have found one stamp that can only be on glazed paper, but it looks and feels like ordinary paper. I have stamps that can only be ordinary paper, but they look and feel like they are on chalky paper.

Looks like this is the newest philatelic headache area. I have now completed just two colonies. Could someone please send some more Tylenol?

 
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re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

I'm printing Steiner pages to replace the Scott Specialty pages. One nice thing is that the Steiner pages follow Scott numeric order, while the older Scott pages that I have put the stamps all over the place based on year of issue.

Oh, I also found that Portugal and each colony that used the Ceres design have unique differences to their issues, so the stamp issues are not consistent from one entity to another.

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khj

21 Dec 2015
10:26:21pm

re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

I hate when people say this, but you'll know enamel paper when you see it. The finish is like glazed ceramic tile. The difference between glazed and enamel paper -- the enamel paper finish is very smooth and uniform and has a "hard" appearance, while the glazed paper tends to have an uneven (even slightly mottled appearance). The enamel paper is also relatively "stiffer". Hope that helps.

Of course, as you noted, with used stamps, it's a LOT tougher.

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AntoniusRa

The truth is within and only you can reveal it
22 Dec 2015
02:51:59am

re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

As of last week I got to where I only needed one Ceres stamp (2.40e Apple Green) for Portugal, by the old numbering system. Scott has totally screwed up the numbering system though. Instead of just giving newly listed types sub numbers like they did with the earlier Luiz and Carlos issues, they gave many stamps new major numbers and have changed many of the old numbers. I had been putting different perf and paper types on a couple stock sheets before this but now I am not sure what to do. I only needed 6 stamps to complete Portugal thru 1982 by major number before this. Even though I collect sub numbers for the earlier issues and have most of them they are not figured into my completion figures. I think Scott has made a huge blunder here and stabbed us Portugal collectors in the gut. I think I will stick to the old catalog numbers for now but as time goes on it's going to be hard to ignore.

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re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

I'm not working on them in any particular order. It's just when I find that colony as I'm working on other countries. I haven't done Angra, Angola or Azores yet. Well, thanks for letting me that at least one of the three will be easy!

I bought a large stock card full of the Cape Verde Ceres stamps. That's what gave me the opportunity to do a better comparison as most of the stamps on the card were unused.

Antonius, yes, it is a pain in the butt what Scott did. More of their inconsistencies. Usually, like you said, perf varieties are just given minor numbers. Now, with what they have renumbered, there are some significant differences in values between perforation and paper types.

I predominantly collect the major numbers. I used to collect the minors as well, but album space, is an issue for me. Also, I did a little research on the printing techniques and such of the old days, and decided that all the minors just wasn't what I wanted anymore. I'll collect the minor numbers if I find something of particular interest. For example, I have the minor perf varieties of King George VI definitives from Ceylon. I found that the perf varieites came about as a result of Nazi bombing of London. Targeting were the stamp printing facilities. They had to move stamp production to different buildings, and the perforating machines didn't have the same pin settings. I thought that historically interesting.

I'm glad for the Steiner pages. I can print out the new set arrangements, but I also have to remount plenty of stamps from the Scott Specialty pages that had other (non-Ceres) stamps on them. In any event, I do like Steiner's arrangement of getting all the stamps into their respective sets onto one page rather than scattered about several pages like the Scott pages are formatted. Scott does the French colonies the same way on the specialty pages. I like the stamps from the long sets all together Makes an impressive display.

Well, I'll be slugging along some more with these. Probably best to just do the ol' A to Z route too. Doll, let me know if you find anything. I'll do the same. It's getting so that I'd rather work on a bunch of 2 cent Washingtons!

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AntoniusRa

The truth is within and only you can reveal it
22 Dec 2015
06:22:51pm

re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

Mike, I find it incomprehensible that nearly 100 years after the fact that Scott felt a need to add a great many major numbers in the Ceres issues of stamps they failed to recognize before. Where did Scott come up with these new stamps when it seems they did not know about them previously. I have doubts that many of them even exist!
I also don't like the way that Scott and Steiner have organized many of their earlier pages for many countries.
As you I like to see like issues on the same pages instead of spread out. I have used Steiner formats and rearranged them by cutting and pasting to give me pages that I find much more appealing. Check out the first ten or so pages of Brazil and Belgium I've made and compare them with your Scott Specialty pages or Steiners depending on which ones you are using.

http://mitch.seymourfamily.com/mward/collection/europe/belgium/belgium.html

http://mitch.seymourfamily.com/mward/collection/samerica/brazil/brazil.html

I also made pages for the early variants of Luiz and Carlos for Portugal when Scott added them several years ago. Go to Portugal here and see page 3, 4 and 5 and click on the links below the pages for variant pages. Page 5 for the Carlos variants is temporary needing to be replaced with a regular page.

Dealing with the new Ceres additions will be much more difficult. It looks like all pages containing Ceres stamps will need to be replaced and several pages added.

For those that need to make new pages for Scott specialty albums from time to time here is a trick that works pretty good. Since printing new Specialty pages requires a large format printer to print the larger pages, it can be difficult to do. I use some regular weight 8 1/2 X 11 paper in a Cream color (from Office Depot) that matches Scott page color pretty good. After printing the page you need to trim the page down so that it fits within the border of a Scott Specialty page. I then use a double sided tape dispenser and lay tape down all the way around the back of the printed page with a couple strips in the center. Do not use glue sticks as they will not adhere well enough. Then I carefully align and glue them to a blank, quadrille or even old Specialty page. This works quite well and is not that noticeable as to bother most people.


(Modified by Moderator on 2015-12-22 23:40:35)

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re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

I thought that, and confirmed it when I looked at it today. However, the early Carlos stamps (Scott #1-13) are printed on enamel surfaced paper.

If you use the Scott Classic Specialized catalog, you will find a new paper type in the Ceres issues in Angola: "thick carton paper". I won't collect those as they are minor numbers.

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rjan

23 Dec 2015
11:20:17pm

re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

Do not forget the thick gray cardboard-type paper on selected Portugal definitives.

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keesindy

30 May 2016
06:45:11pm

re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

I'm finally going back and working on some of the Ceres stamps, staring with Azores. I've only got 25 and only 2 are used. Of the 15 x 14 perf stamps, 5 of 8 are chalky surface paper.

I'm looking for 3 characteristics to determine which are chalky;

1. Surface texture or lack thereof.
2. Chips of the chalky surface missing at the perf edges.
3. Noticeably cleaner text in the margin below the design.

Of the other 3 15 x 14 perf stamps, the 2½c violet has a unique pattern in the background color and cleaner text in the margin below the design. Scott classic has a note about the #160 2½c also being on glazed paper. I need to do some more research on the glazed paper before I assign a Scott # to it.

It took a while to get to this point and I don't feel the need to dig deeper into the Ceres varieties. As others have said, if I encounter stamps that are less clearly identifiable, they're assigned the Scott # with the lowest catalog valuation.

Easily the best example from my 5 Azores chalky paper stamps:

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re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

Some coated papers react differently under u/v ( short and/or long wave ). If you have a definite id on one you can compare the others under the lamp. Unfortunately it is not true of all papers - but it is worth a try. If the original uncoated paper has an oba (optical brightening agent ) id is problematical. I have no info. on the papers you mention -although in the case of the SG specialised Portugal and Spain the Madeira stamps show no variation as they were only issued in 1928 and 1929.

Malcolm

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re: Portugal and Portuguese Colonies Ceres Issue

Yes, Steiner has updated all Portugal and Portuguese Colonies pages with the Ceres issue to match the Scott listings.

 
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