Does anyone have any other stories about parts of their collections and why they happened?
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I have so many collections. 
I'm an absolute Magpie. I see something that takes my interest and snap, I have a new collection. Oh, Well, I'm having fun.
Tim
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That's exactly how it is for me. Heigh ho!
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It's called "The Hook". You get one stamp that catches your eye with a good price and the next thing you know you're starting a new collection! I'm so easy...
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One of my collections consists of Algerian stamps. I’ve never been to Algeria and except for Stamporama member foudutimbre, from Algeria, I don’t know nor have I ever met a single Algerian. On that basis, I suppose it is "strange" that I collect Algerian stamps.
I don’t recall the precise trigger that sent me searching for Algerian stamps, but it was probably my discovery of French and French Algeria stamps overprinted with “EA” — État Algérian or Algerian State. I soon came to see them as the most interesting overprints I’d ever come across. Here’s the “deep background”.
The Algerian War had much in common with the Vietnam War, in which I served as unwilling cannon fodder. The entire Algerian War and the early stage of the Vietnam War were examples of asymmetrical warfare, a concept in which a modern, well-trained, well-armed, and well-supplied army faces poorly trained, poorly armed, and poorly supplied army, usually considered to be an insurgent army.
The French in the First Indochina War and in the subsequent Algerian War, and the Americans in the Vietnam War, using modern weapons, strategies, and tactics, and supported by elaborate supply lines, faced guerrilla forces using obsolescent and even antiquated weapons, often without the slightest support networks. The Algerian War was the first war to make extensive use of helicopters, on the French side, of course; Algerian insurgents mostly used their feet, cars, and trucks to move around Algeria. In both wars, the Western, well-equipped and trained armies won more battles than they lost, but nevertheless lost the wars to enemy forces who exhibited greater ability to use their own environment to their advantage and especially their greater determination to win. This photograph, which I took on my first or second day in South Vietnam in 1966, illustrates just how asymmetrical the Vietnam War was in its early stages. Hint: the little guy is a Viet Cong.
When the French finally gave up their attempt to control Algeria, Algerian authorities immediately began overprinting their stocks of French and French Algeria stamps with the “EA” overprints, but they were overprints with a difference: Each postmaster in the new country was authorized to apply the EA overprints using whatever resources they had. Whole sheets were overprinted on letterpresses. Blocks of stamps and presumably some individual stamps were overprinted with locally made rubber stamps. Some postal employees just used a pen and ink. Printed overprints were usually in boldface, and in different fonts, sizes, and styles. Most were sans-serif, but seriffed overprints exist. Ink used might be black, red, or green. Opaque bars obliterating any reference to France were often included in the overprints. As you might imagine, varieties of the overprints are numerous, but many are actually catalogued. Here are several from my collection, off cover and on:
A few months after the war, Algeria issued its own pictorial stamps that are virtually identical to French pictorial stamps of the period, but clearly showing them as Algerian stamps, not French stamps. From the top, a French stamp, an overprinted French stamp, and the Algerian version of the same stamp:
Just as Vietnam has issued many stamps commemorating its victory in the Vietnam War, Algeria continues to this day to issue stamps commemorating its victory over French forces. Even France issued a stamp commemorating its humiliating defeat by Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh army at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu:
Bob
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Bob, just a slight correction to your very interesting story.
"often without the slightest support networks"; except of course for the continuous support from the communists in Russia, China, Cuba, and even the home-based commies like Hanoi Jane. I don't believe the extended war in Viet Nam was justified, and I mourn for the lost and damaged lives of all on both sides. The Korean, and Viet Nam wars should have been won in no time flat, but profits took precedence over lives. Has anything changed?
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I just added a few Angola stamps to my collection even though I don't really collect Angola. There were two series of Angola stamps I really liked - the 1951 bird series and the 1953 animal series. When I picked them up and stuck them in Big Blue vol IIIA I realized that I now had quite a few stamps on those pages. I really don't like the early Angola material so it wasn't really a country I wanted to collect. So what the heck!! I decided to just try to fill the pages for Angola in vol IIIA. Seems like a sensible thing to do and now thanks to picking up 6 stamps from Steve today I only have 3 more spaces to fill to complete my collection of Angola from 1949 to 1955 and since I have no wish to expend the collection it will be done!
Does anyone have any other stories about parts of their collections and why they happened?
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re: Strange reasons for starting a collection
I have so many collections. I'm an absolute Magpie. I see something that takes my interest and snap, I have a new collection. Oh, Well, I'm having fun.
Tim
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re: Strange reasons for starting a collection
That's exactly how it is for me. Heigh ho!
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re: Strange reasons for starting a collection
It's called "The Hook". You get one stamp that catches your eye with a good price and the next thing you know you're starting a new collection! I'm so easy...
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re: Strange reasons for starting a collection
One of my collections consists of Algerian stamps. I’ve never been to Algeria and except for Stamporama member foudutimbre, from Algeria, I don’t know nor have I ever met a single Algerian. On that basis, I suppose it is "strange" that I collect Algerian stamps.
I don’t recall the precise trigger that sent me searching for Algerian stamps, but it was probably my discovery of French and French Algeria stamps overprinted with “EA” — État Algérian or Algerian State. I soon came to see them as the most interesting overprints I’d ever come across. Here’s the “deep background”.
The Algerian War had much in common with the Vietnam War, in which I served as unwilling cannon fodder. The entire Algerian War and the early stage of the Vietnam War were examples of asymmetrical warfare, a concept in which a modern, well-trained, well-armed, and well-supplied army faces poorly trained, poorly armed, and poorly supplied army, usually considered to be an insurgent army.
The French in the First Indochina War and in the subsequent Algerian War, and the Americans in the Vietnam War, using modern weapons, strategies, and tactics, and supported by elaborate supply lines, faced guerrilla forces using obsolescent and even antiquated weapons, often without the slightest support networks. The Algerian War was the first war to make extensive use of helicopters, on the French side, of course; Algerian insurgents mostly used their feet, cars, and trucks to move around Algeria. In both wars, the Western, well-equipped and trained armies won more battles than they lost, but nevertheless lost the wars to enemy forces who exhibited greater ability to use their own environment to their advantage and especially their greater determination to win. This photograph, which I took on my first or second day in South Vietnam in 1966, illustrates just how asymmetrical the Vietnam War was in its early stages. Hint: the little guy is a Viet Cong.
When the French finally gave up their attempt to control Algeria, Algerian authorities immediately began overprinting their stocks of French and French Algeria stamps with the “EA” overprints, but they were overprints with a difference: Each postmaster in the new country was authorized to apply the EA overprints using whatever resources they had. Whole sheets were overprinted on letterpresses. Blocks of stamps and presumably some individual stamps were overprinted with locally made rubber stamps. Some postal employees just used a pen and ink. Printed overprints were usually in boldface, and in different fonts, sizes, and styles. Most were sans-serif, but seriffed overprints exist. Ink used might be black, red, or green. Opaque bars obliterating any reference to France were often included in the overprints. As you might imagine, varieties of the overprints are numerous, but many are actually catalogued. Here are several from my collection, off cover and on:
A few months after the war, Algeria issued its own pictorial stamps that are virtually identical to French pictorial stamps of the period, but clearly showing them as Algerian stamps, not French stamps. From the top, a French stamp, an overprinted French stamp, and the Algerian version of the same stamp:
Just as Vietnam has issued many stamps commemorating its victory in the Vietnam War, Algeria continues to this day to issue stamps commemorating its victory over French forces. Even France issued a stamp commemorating its humiliating defeat by Ho Chi Minh’s Vietminh army at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu:
Bob
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08:04:53pm
re: Strange reasons for starting a collection
Bob, just a slight correction to your very interesting story.
"often without the slightest support networks"; except of course for the continuous support from the communists in Russia, China, Cuba, and even the home-based commies like Hanoi Jane. I don't believe the extended war in Viet Nam was justified, and I mourn for the lost and damaged lives of all on both sides. The Korean, and Viet Nam wars should have been won in no time flat, but profits took precedence over lives. Has anything changed?
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