working on a few approval books with Switzerland BOB at this very moment. It will include a few officials as well. Not many but still...
Thanks Jansimon, I'll keep my eyes peeled for it. I just find it odd they don't show very often since most of the prices are reasonable. I know when they showed a couple years ago I wasn't the only person interested.
I attend a few auctions and seldom see any Swiss Officials and any that do come up results in a bidding frenzy.
Thanks Jansimon, I found one UN related official I didn't have and picked up a few of the regular officials for good measure. All in all, a productive day!! I'm still not sure why they don't show up more often. They're usually grossly over priced on E-Bay especially with shipping. I must have a look on Hipstamp later.
I have a part set of the 1948 Historical Designs WHO set in my Ebay store.
I'll check it out Dave. I have none of the set!
The link to your E-Bay store in your member's information doesn't work for me. I'll play around with it tomorrow - bed time now!!!
I've fixed the link
Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?
or this?
(Yes, they are available, with more).
Roy
Yes Roy, that's what I want. The problem is that I very rarely want whole sets since I really don't accumulate spares and usually only want a couple from each series. That's what makes picking up so difficult. I really don't want to pick up the entire set for one or two stamps and most sellers hesitate to break up sets. Thanks for the reply!!!
Joe
I have been collecting Swiss Officials for a while and have a fairly complete collection of all of the 11 organizations that issued stamps. HipStamp is one source where you can often find individual stamps. Other than that, I have a few dealers in Switzerland and Germany that I buy from. I find these stamps interesting to collect, they technically could not be legitimately obtained prior to 1944 but often were released by employees of the various agencies. Another very interesting area of Swiss collecting is Hotel stamps issued by hotels in the high alps between 1863 and 1883. Swiss post allowed certain hotels to issues stamps and charge a fee to transport guests' mail down the mountain to the nearest post office. Some of these, particularly on covers, are very rare and command very high prices. Unused hotel stamps are a much more reasonable cost.
I am getting there bit I'm afraid it hasn't been my priority lately. I have bought several on HipStamp but lately I have been concentrating on other areas. I also like different things and the hotel stamps sound very interesting! Thanks (I think!!) for giving me something else to think about!
The Michel Switzerland Specialized catalogue has a good listing of hotel stamps issued. If you Google some of these hotels there is interesting history on tourists traveling to the alps for hiking and spas in the 19th century. Most hotels are situated in the Lake Lucerne area, on the Rigi mountain in particular and Stoos and St. Gotthard.
There seems to be an abundance of fake overprints on these issues. even on some of the stamps displayed on this thread. The fake stamps commonly have standard cancellations, and the overprints are often shifted out of place. To my knowledge, the genuine overprints have GENEVE or SOCIETE as part of the franking.
"the genuine overprints have GENEVE or SOCIETE as part of the franking."
A bit of a slide to the side, but here's something you may never have seen. It's listed in Zumstein, with a used CV of CHF825, this one is on a fragment but uncancelled.
The Swiss were innovators, and this airmail pre-cursor from 1913 may be the first airmail stamp produced. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
Harvey,
I was referring to used stamps. To my understanding, the stamps were usually cancelled (franked) with official Society cancels (single strike). Example Societe des Nations Geneve, etc. See the stamps in the picture I have attached. The bottom row, are crude fakes.
Dave,
What does the catalog value 'CHF825' mean?
"CHF" is the currency code for Swiss Francs, so about US$939 right now
Thanks, Dave!
I see the light now!
if you are curious about what CH stands for, it is the code for the official name for Switzerland 'Confoederatio Helvetica'. the F of course stands for Franc.
Thanks for the additional info, Ray!
I am not doing this as an announcement to buy so please don't put this in another area. I'm just making a comment. A couple years ago you would see the odd Swiss official connected with The League of Nations or The UN. They never seem to show up now unless they are grabbed immediately from the auction site. I know a couple of us keep our eyes open for them but they never seem to show any more - just curious why!
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
working on a few approval books with Switzerland BOB at this very moment. It will include a few officials as well. Not many but still...
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
Thanks Jansimon, I'll keep my eyes peeled for it. I just find it odd they don't show very often since most of the prices are reasonable. I know when they showed a couple years ago I wasn't the only person interested.
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
I attend a few auctions and seldom see any Swiss Officials and any that do come up results in a bidding frenzy.
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
Thanks Jansimon, I found one UN related official I didn't have and picked up a few of the regular officials for good measure. All in all, a productive day!! I'm still not sure why they don't show up more often. They're usually grossly over priced on E-Bay especially with shipping. I must have a look on Hipstamp later.
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
I have a part set of the 1948 Historical Designs WHO set in my Ebay store.
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
I'll check it out Dave. I have none of the set!
The link to your E-Bay store in your member's information doesn't work for me. I'll play around with it tomorrow - bed time now!!!
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
I've fixed the link
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
Is this the sort of thing you are looking for?
or this?
(Yes, they are available, with more).
Roy
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
Yes Roy, that's what I want. The problem is that I very rarely want whole sets since I really don't accumulate spares and usually only want a couple from each series. That's what makes picking up so difficult. I really don't want to pick up the entire set for one or two stamps and most sellers hesitate to break up sets. Thanks for the reply!!!
Joe
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
I have been collecting Swiss Officials for a while and have a fairly complete collection of all of the 11 organizations that issued stamps. HipStamp is one source where you can often find individual stamps. Other than that, I have a few dealers in Switzerland and Germany that I buy from. I find these stamps interesting to collect, they technically could not be legitimately obtained prior to 1944 but often were released by employees of the various agencies. Another very interesting area of Swiss collecting is Hotel stamps issued by hotels in the high alps between 1863 and 1883. Swiss post allowed certain hotels to issues stamps and charge a fee to transport guests' mail down the mountain to the nearest post office. Some of these, particularly on covers, are very rare and command very high prices. Unused hotel stamps are a much more reasonable cost.
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
I am getting there bit I'm afraid it hasn't been my priority lately. I have bought several on HipStamp but lately I have been concentrating on other areas. I also like different things and the hotel stamps sound very interesting! Thanks (I think!!) for giving me something else to think about!
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
The Michel Switzerland Specialized catalogue has a good listing of hotel stamps issued. If you Google some of these hotels there is interesting history on tourists traveling to the alps for hiking and spas in the 19th century. Most hotels are situated in the Lake Lucerne area, on the Rigi mountain in particular and Stoos and St. Gotthard.
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
There seems to be an abundance of fake overprints on these issues. even on some of the stamps displayed on this thread. The fake stamps commonly have standard cancellations, and the overprints are often shifted out of place. To my knowledge, the genuine overprints have GENEVE or SOCIETE as part of the franking.
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
"the genuine overprints have GENEVE or SOCIETE as part of the franking."
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
A bit of a slide to the side, but here's something you may never have seen. It's listed in Zumstein, with a used CV of CHF825, this one is on a fragment but uncancelled.
The Swiss were innovators, and this airmail pre-cursor from 1913 may be the first airmail stamp produced. Please correct me if I'm wrong!
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
Harvey,
I was referring to used stamps. To my understanding, the stamps were usually cancelled (franked) with official Society cancels (single strike). Example Societe des Nations Geneve, etc. See the stamps in the picture I have attached. The bottom row, are crude fakes.
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
Dave,
What does the catalog value 'CHF825' mean?
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
"CHF" is the currency code for Swiss Francs, so about US$939 right now
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
Thanks, Dave!
I see the light now!
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
if you are curious about what CH stands for, it is the code for the official name for Switzerland 'Confoederatio Helvetica'. the F of course stands for Franc.
re: An area we never see! Swiss officials!!
Thanks for the additional info, Ray!