Festive Llama Cover

Thanks a lot George for this cover with two stamps depicting the Festive Llama from the Christmas stamps issued in 2019.

Centenary of Greek Coast Guard, Herodotus and Corinne Mentzelopoulous

Cover depicting stamps from 3 different series :

On the left we have the lowest rate stamps from a series on the Centenary of the Greek Coast Guard.

In the middle there's Herodote from the Ancient Greek Writers series.

And on the right side, partly covered there's a portrait of Corinne Mentzelopoulous from a series on Greek personalities.

Thanks a lot Ioannis !!

Airmail 1951 cover from Greece to France with censor proof

Part of airmail cover (front part only) with proof of censor and one stamp from 1949 from the series Children Abduction and the other from the series concerning the Return of the Dedokanes Islands to Greece.

Enjoy!

Ancient Greek Writers : Epicurus, Herodotus, Xenophon

Thank you very much George !

More from the Ancient Greek Writers series :
https://colnect.com/fr/stamps/list/country/84-Gr%C3%A8ce/series/351828-Ancient_Greek_Writers_2019/year/2019

Unesco Art Design Prize

Thank you George !

https://colnect.com/fr/stamps/stamp/855563-UNESCO_Art_Design_Prize-Children_and_Stamps_2019-Gr%C3%A8ce

Europa 2004 on cover

The stamp if from this series :
https://colnect.com/fr/stamps/stamp/638913-EUROPACEPT_Holidays-EUROPA_CEPT_2004_-_Holidays-Gr%C3%A8ce

of which I have one on this cover.

https://colnect.com/fr/stamps/stamp/192410-EUROPACEPT_Holidays_-_Ship_Voyage-EUROPA_CEPT_2004_-_Holidays-Gr%C3%A8ce

Thanks a lot George !

Europa 2019

Cover sent : 2019.08.05

Cover received : 2019.08.12

Thanks a lot!!

Airmail cover from Greece to the USA

I acquired this airmail cover sent in 1947 from Greece to the USA.

Two different kind of stamps were used.

First the overcharged stamp "1-9-1946" concerning the reinstatement of King George II :
https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/59564-Reinstatement_of_King_George_II-Greek_Kings_and_Queens-Greece

And additional postage with the surcharged stamps issued in 1947 due to the pasing away of King George II :
https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/59668-Mourning_Issue_for_the_death_of_King_George_II-Greek_Kings_and_Queens-Greece

This stamps was only to be issued between April and December  1947, so this cover was sent in this period.

Those airmail stickers from Greece are great...(btw does th greek texte translate as Aeronotica?)

Ancient Greek Writers : Epicurus & Socrates

Sent : 2019.05.11

Received : 2019.05.15

Thanks a so much Nausika for this nice cover with two of the stamps from the new Ancient Greek Writers series.

https://colnect.com/en/stamps/list/country/2645-Greece/series/351828-Ancient_Greek_Writers_2019/year/2019

Europa 2018

Sent : 2018.10.03

Received : 2018.10.06

Thanks a lot Athina !

19th Anniversary of Hellenic Military Academy & Biological Life Seen Through Microscopes

Sent : 2018.08.26 (?)

Received : 2018.08.29

Thanks a lot George !

International Women's day & C. Binos (Figures of Greek Philately)

Hatzionidis send me the other day some panini stickers for a swap of football and cycling collections.


He was so kind to include some used stamps :

And even some MNH stamps as well :

Thanks a lot !

FDC 2018.06.15, 190th Anniversary of the Hellenic Military Academy

Thanks Sylvia for sending me this FDC, and for the information on the academy !!!

The Hellenic Military Academy was founded in Nafplion on the 1st of July 1828 by Ioannis Kapodistrias, the first head of state of independent Greece.

Nafplion was the capital of Greece then.

The motto of the Military Academy is : "If you learn to obey/be ruled, others will obey you/or you will leanr to rule"

Registerd Cover : The Twelve Months in Folk Art series 2014

Received a while ago a registered cover from Greece with two stamps from the series issued in 2014 "The Twelve Months in Folk Art".

The sender used 5 stamps depicting september and one stamp showing  january.

Details of the series can be found here.

Flags Of the World : Greece

Sent : 2018.07.04

Received : 2018.07.00

Tourism series stamp representing"Rhodos" issued on 2014-08-08

Thanks a lot Drahomira !

Pre-euro stamps still valid?

The answer is no, all pre-eurostamps are not usable anymore for postage in Greece.

So this means all stamps before 2002, the year the euro has been introduced in Greece, are not valid anymore.

Thanks a lot for your info Sylvia!

Joint Issue with Russia

On the site of Rusmarka is mentioned for October 4th, 2018 a joint issue with Greece :

Joint Issue of the Russian Federation and the Hellenic Republic.
Year of Tourism.
Dmitrov Kremlin

2 stamps, sheet with illustrated margins of 8-15 stamps and a coupon

This issue was foreseen for September 6th but postponed till October 4th.

Would anyone have more info about this joint issue?

Which leads me to another question : does anyone know if the philatelic issue plan of Greece is available online?

Thanks in advance for any information.

1937-1938 joint issue between Greece, Roumania, Turkey and Jougoslavia to commemorate the Balkan Entente*

* not from my collection

Hermes Heads at ParisPhilex

At ParisPhilex which took place from June 7th till June 10th, l'Académie de la Philatélie was notably present with a exposition of rare philatelic items and some were related to our loved Hermes Heads.

First of all there was this presentation :

Matrix

test punch

Indeed a test punch of the ony medaillon, turned to the right and a matrix obtained from the test punch, and since it's a negatif, the head is turned to the left. These were engraved by Désiré-Albert Barre.

Matrix

detail of the matrix

detail of the test punch

test punch

A second piece of high interest was the electrotype in pure copper of the 30 lepta of the Big Hermes Head, with 150 images of the stamp.

It was conceived in 1875 by the Charles Derriey enterprise under the supervision of Désiré-Albert Barre. A complete electrotype contains 300 images and was built of two separate parts of 150.

As said in french : a unique piece !

Due to the lighting present in the big hall and in the exposition room it was not easy to take a picture rendering the design clear and well.

I present all pictures I took and let you appreciate them in fonction of the ligthing.

Thanks a lot Mr. Louis Fanchini for making your acquaintance during the stampshow and showing me these philatelic treasures !

My collection

not my collection ;-)

So how about that collection of mine concerning greek stamps.

Well I have no problem to admit it's a very tiny collection.

As a kid I collected (worldwide) stamps on occasion, so when they came around I kept them.

Not much greek stamps came my way.

Last time when I counted my collection, which took place on october 27th, 1998, I had a total of 48 greek (used) stamps.

Then for 15 years I didn't actively sort out my stamps, put them in stockbooks etc, just put them in boxes, which I opened again in 2012.

part of my collection

I started swapping actively and my collection of greek stamps grew calmly, all the more since I was not focusing especially on greek stamps, just hoping to get some popping up in swaps.

A few years back (must be around 2006), I received a stockbook which contained (amongst others) a collection (about 70 stamps) of greek stamps (thank you Henny !)

So how did the collection evolve?

It counts as of today a total amount of 538 stamps. (without the Hermes stamps showed in earlier post)

the older part of my collection

But, how many greek stamps are issued as of today?

Colnect mentions 4.006 stamps.

My Hellas 2018 catalog ending in 2017 has as last stampnumber 2.985.

Keijo of Stamp Collecting Blog mentions 3.093 stamps (till 2016).

So depending on the total amount of stamps one retains I have about 13,42 % (Colnect) , 18,02 % (Hellas catalog) or 17,39 % (Stamp Collecting Blog).

So how about that difference? Might be a subject for a blogpost the coming weeks, who knows.

more of my collection

A postcard from Greece

Always happy to receive a postcard from Greece, especially when it shows the white walls and blue sea and the greek cats.

Sent : 2018.05.25 (?)

Received : 2018.06.02

Thanks a lot Katia !

Stamp used on the postcard is Hellas n° 2829, autoadhesive stamp issued in July 2014, from a booklet "Visit Santorini" without price indication, but corresponding to the lowest overseas weight category...

https://colnect.com/en/stamps/stamp/503699-Santorini-Tourism-Greece

CV is 3,00 € in used condition. (Hellas 2018)