Mr. Igor Pirc us signals a new book: "Administrative Revenues of Slovenia" by Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti

The 310-page A4 size and full colour most comprehensive catalogue of the administrative revenues of the former Yugoslav territory. Complete study from the first beginnings until the suspension of the administrative revenues. Approximate values of each stamp in Euros – almost 2000 examples.

The writer of the book is Zmago Jelinčič Plemeniti, specialist in revenues and numismatics, member of the Slovene parliament. The book was published by Učila Tržič, Slovenia in September 2010. The price of the book is 69,90 €, , then the postal service (stamps, envelope) makes alltogether 80 €. (Contact: ipirc711@gmail.com)

REVENUE STAMPS OF DODECANESE (I Fiscali del Dodecaneso)
by Michael S. Petradakis, in Greek and in Italian, Collectio Athens 2005, soft cover,
color illustrations, 192 pp., 20x26, available from Alexander Galinos, Collectio,
P.O. Box 3138, 10210 Athens, Greece at $45 each, ISBN 960-88597-0-0
Book review by Constantin Mattheos, Collectors Club Philatelists, Vol. 85, No. 5, 2006

Michael Petradakis, after his quite successful previous book on "Postal History of Aegean Islands, Italian Military Post Offices (1897-1943)", Athens 1991, offers his new book on revenue stamps of Dodecanese islands. This has been the result of a long and hard work, in which he presents the finest study on revenue stamps ever made in Greece.

The presentation is chronological and systematically divided into six parts: The Ottoman period; The Italian Occupation (1912-1923) of the islands; The Italian Possession (1923-1943); The municipality revenue stamps; The period after September 8, 1943; Italo-German occupation (1943-1945) and British Military Occupation (1945-1947); and finally, the sixth part deals with the Greek Administration of the islands (since 1947 up to now).
for each period, in addition to the background justifying the imposition of each revenue stamp, the writer makes a great effort to give the listing of all known revenue stamps, including the stamped papers and the bills, as well as their usages, and reproduces in color many available documents showing their usage.
Mr. Petradakis gives a quite understandable description and elucidation of the Ottoman (Osmanli) fiscal system and describes the imposition of the Great Powers of the Ottoman Public Debt and how it was working. In addition, he gives full list of the amazing high number of revenue stamps with color illustrations and evaluation, especially during the Ottoman period imposed from 1873 up to 1912, which affected all facets of business and everiday life of the islanders, like the Hejaz (Saudi Arabia) railway tax.
Such revenue stamps were for Passports, Proportional Fees, Newspapers and Advertisements, Wood Importation, Consulates, Court Fees, Rental Contracts, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs-Receipts in Administration, Petitions, Pious Foundations, Receipts and acquittances, Transfers & Purchaces of Real Propoerty, Travel Permits, Lotteries, Immigration, For Passports Visas, Fixed Fees, for Patent Medicines, for Child Legalization, Animal Tax, Hunting Permit, Firearms License, Playng Cards, Market Duty, Religious Courts Stamps, Repairs License, Safe Conduct Pass, Tradesmen License, Fishing Permit, Theatre Tax, Judicial Fee for Employees of the Court, Deed Registration Fees, Museum Tax, Identity Cards, etc.
During the Italian Occupation, the Ottoman revenue stamps remained the same and the Ottoman Public Debt continued to be collected as before, given that, during that period the Dodecanese Island were considered Turkish territory under Italian occupation.
Since he Lausanne Treaty (1923), Rhodes and the other Dodecanese Islands became an Italian colony and the Italian revenue stamps were introduced in the islands.
Quite interesting are the municipal revenue stamps of Rhodes with their three different subsequent names (Podesteria di Rodi, Municipio di Rodi, Cita di Rodi), those of Castellorizo, Kos and Leros.
In a separate chapter, the author describes the use of postage stamps in lieu of revenue stamps and, inversely, in rare instances, the use of revenue stamps instead of postage stamps.
During the German occupation (1943-1945) the Italian revenue stamps remained in force, while during the British occupation (1945-1947) the Italian revenue stamps continued to be in use overprinted with handstamp "British Military Administration Revenue Office Dodecanese" or "British Mil. Admin>".
After the union of the islands with Greece, at the beginning the Italian revenue stamps were in use overprinted in Greek with handstamps and later on Greek Revenue Stamps overprinted.
Lastly the autor cites a quite large bibliograpy and n extensive appendix of about 50 pages containing laws, decrees, documents and the like wich give the required support to the contents.
In conclusion, in my opinion, the work of Michael Petradakis succesully completed the vacancy that existed in this field and it is the best book in its field. It is expected that an extensive summary will be published in English, and is promised by the author

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BEER DUTY STAMPS OF AUSTRALIA
PART 1: TASMANIA
The Courier No.47 Special Edition, July 2009
Martin WALKER and David Ingle SMITH

The authors are undertaking new annotated and illustrated listings of the beer duty stamps of Australia, both State and Commonwealth. The aim is to update existing catalogue listings and incorporate additional archival information and contributions from other collectors. This is especially the case for the Commonwealth issues from 1903 to 1918, when the stamps incorporated the names of the States and for the later period when there was a truly standard issue throughout Australia.

The plan is to separately publish listings for each State, wherever possible in conjunction with an appropriate specialist society. The Tasmanian Philatelic Society (TPS) has kindly published Part 1 as a Special Edition of The Courier, the Research Journal of the TPS. The 21 page study has seven pages devoted the methodology of the listing and a summary of State and Commonwealth legislation.

This is the first of a series of articles produced with the intent of demystifying the many and varied beer duty stamps issued by the Australian States and Commonwealth. It is appropriate that Part 1 is for Tasmania as that State was the first, in March 1880, to issue beer duty stamps in Australia Following the principles set by Martin Walker’s 2006 listing of South Australian revenues this listing was originally compiled from archival and legislative sources. When that was done, we began to assess the stamps held by today’s generation of revenue stamp collectors combined with previous attempts to catalogue them by collectors, researchers, dealers and publishers.

Issues are tabulated with columns for denomination, colour/variety, and earliest recorded date of use. Four columns of tick boxes then indicate the existence of the stamp as a proof (P),specimen (S), mint (M) or used example (U). These are indicated as items:
• not yet recorded.
• recorded as in the hands of collectors or the marketplace.
• recorded but only in archival collection(s).

What we continue to ask is for your help to further identify what was actually produced and what has survived of these fascinating issues. This article is to enable collectors and researchers to record their observations and report them back to the authors to produce a consolidated list, not only for Tasmania, but for all of Australia. The authors welcome all ideas, suggestions and contributions and can be contacted at the addresses below. All future contributors will be acknowledged unless they wish to remain anonymous, in which case we will certainly respect that wish.

For non-members of the TPS the Special Edition can be purchased at a cost of $A10.00, plus $1.10 postage within Australia and $4.50 for all overseas addresses. Payment can be by Australian cheque or by PAYPAL, payment by credit card is not possible. Orders either by post to The Tasmanian Philatelic Society, GPO Box 594, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia or via the TPS web site www.tps.org.au and follow the links.

Beer Duty Stamps of Tasmania; Part 1 Tasmania will be available, in colour, on the TPS website although this is restricted to TPS members. It is our intention to incorporate additional information as it becomes available onto the TPS web site. Those interested in joining the TPS can obtain details of membership on www.tps.org.au. The annual subscription for overseas and for mainland Australian addresses is $A21.00.

Martin Walker PO Box 247, Torrensville Plaza, South Australia 5031; martin.walker@drakes.com.au D. Ingle Smith 5 Vest Place, Weetangera, ACT, Australia 2614; dsm30722@bigpond.net.au

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Newfoundland Specialized Stamp Catalogue 7th edition

also providing stamps and postal rates of the BNA Colonies: New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Classic Canada to 1951 (comes with magnifier, decimal perforation gauge, Nfld. map). by John M Walsh and John G Butt (1939-2000).
Published by Walsh’s Philatelic Service, 9 Guy Street, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada A1B 1P4.
ISBN 978-0-9693434-7-9; colour, spiral bound with protective clear cover, 640 pages,
6 ins. x 9 ins. or 153 mm x 228 mm. Retail price C $122- Orders accepted via: www.nfldstamps.com or by mail.

The latest edition of this catalogue continues to provide even more detailed information. The collector who collects pre- 1951 material pertaining to the colonies of British North America and Canada after 1867, will be hard pressed to find a more detailed listing. Catalogue listings terminate prior to the reign of Queen Elizabeth in 1951. Information provided is not what you will find in your general run of catalogues. The authors have created the listings based on each stamp die being assigned a whole number. The collector will find that colour shades, perforation differences and paper types are listed as sub-numbers under the whole number which is contrary to the manner in which other cataloguers have followed. This system easily allows a collector who may wish to specialize in a specific stamp design to realize what is known to exist now for each stamp issue. Besides basic postage stamps, postage dues and airmail stamps a wide variety of related collectibles is presented. Thus, the collector will find sections on first flight covers, postal stationery and many other topics. In this edition an important feature is now added: a list of postal rates for each colony. In addition, within the Newfoundland revenu stamp section the revenue fee structure is now provided. Thus, the rates for judicial and civil legal documents are presented in concise table formats and cover the period from 1898 until the use of revenue stamp indicators was terminated in 1986. The presence of postal or revenue document rate structures in such a portable catalogue is an obvious enhancement to the collector’s ability to retrieve information.

Since the first edition was published in 1988 the catalogue has benefitted from contributions from collectors and philatelists too numerous to mention. With the untimely death of John G. Butt, the co-author, in 2000 such assistance has been indispensable as the catalogue grew and evolved beginning with a few members of the St. John’s Philatelic Society meeting separately in each others’ homes to discuss Newfoundland stamps and related subjects of collecting. In this way, one section after another was added to consecutive editions of the catalogue, plus Professor Thomas Nemec’s article on the meaning of the designs on the Colony’s and later Dominion’s postage stamps after it initially appeared in a reduced form in the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland in 1993.

Recently, the catalogue has expanded to include the BNA Colonies and Canada from Confederation to the end of the reign of George VI. This was made possible in part by the assistance of C. R. McGuire, FRPSC and contributions from Charles J. G. Verge, FRPSC, FRPSL. In addition, information on Canadian postal rates was supplied by Brian D. Murphy and Robert C. Smith. Others have also contributed their research findings, such as George E. MacManus, Jack M. Wallace, Peter de Groot, G. Douglas Murray and Mike Salmon. Their efforts and publications have been acknowledged in the book. To them and anyone else who contributed sincere thanks is offered. This catalogue is highly recommended to collectors who want information on BNA instantly at their fingertips.

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“FISCALES ESPANOLES: ESTUDIO Y CATALOGACIÓN DE LOS TIMBRES FISCALES ESPANOLES INCLUIDA SU UTILIZACIÓN POSTAL”

A long-awaited and much needed book has finally seen the light —“Spanish revenues: Study and cataloguing of Spanish fiscal stamps, including their postal use”, by Luis Alemany, probably the most awarded Spanish philatelist (3 international FIP Grand prix, World champion in “Israel 2008”), a dedicated collector covering several competition fields and a member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Philately. The 470 page, full colour book is the first successful attempt to record the wealth of Spanish revenue stamps undertaken by a Spanish author since the former dealer Gálvez published his specialized Catalogue back in 1923, updating older works, such as those by Fulcher, Forbin and Carreras Candi, dating back to the 1910’s. In the long interval since then, no other reliable sources were available to the inquisitive collector or researcher.

The just published book provides the collector with a useful hybrid between the systematic catalogue and the research work, plenty of historical and legal information about every issue. Furthermore, it displays an array of Alemany’s valuable treasures, thus making the book into a showcase of one of the best Spanish revenues collections ever assembled. This first volume describes 37 categories of general use, official revenue stamps, among them consular, courts, customs, documentary, drafts, impressed duty, invoices, stock exchange, universities, war tax, and many others. A future second volume will concentrate on the so called para-fiscal or semi-fiscal stamps, such as charity stamps, municipals, private issues, professional colleges, corporations, etc.

To assembly this impressive amount of material, Alemany adopts a chronological approach and starts by the Book of Records (1852-57) stamps, the forerunners of adhesive revenue stamps in Spain. He lists the year of issue, the legal support and the estimated value of every stamp, distinguishing both fiscal and postal uses, proofs, essays and samples. The book includes several special features, such as the Spanish advertising revenues, forgeries and their identification, and the stamps issued by the Spanish communities historically enjoying fiscal privileges and distinctive revenue documentary stamps.

"Spanish Revenues: Study and cataloguing of the Spanish fiscal stamps, included their postal use"
By Luis Alemany
Published by EDIFIL
Bordadores, 8. 28013 Madrid, Spain
https://www.edifil.es
Price: € 70.

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A new handbook of the earliest Swedish revenue stamps

As a result of Swedish-Finnish bilateral cooperation, the first major handbook of early Swedish revenue stamps has been completed: Svenska beläggningsstämplar (eller Charta Sigillata) 1811-1880.

The new 100-page handbook was published by the Swedish Philatelic Federation (SFF) in early March, 2008, in the Swedish language. Writers of the book are Jukka Mäkinen of Helsinki, Finland, and Per Sundberg of Lulea, Sweden, both advanced collectors and specialists of the field. The book came in A4 size and full colour.

The earliest revenue stamps of Sweden are special and unconventional in several ways. They are documentary stamps, the largest in size in the world. They are imperforate and without gum, and were affixed on documents by sealing, embossing or stitching.

In Sweden, these very first stamps – used from 1811 up to 1880 – are generally known as beläggningsstämpel or Charta Sigillata stamps. In English the term could be revenue stamp, Charta Sigillata stamp or tax receipt label. In 1880 they were replaced in Sweden by more conventional smaller sized revenue stamps with perforations and gum.

The new publication covers all the nine Charta Sigillata issues. The first one, model 1811, was introduced 29 years before the first postage stamps of the world. Stamps of m/1811 were black and white. On white watermarked paper, there were added so called black stamps with an uncoloured embossed value stamp. The following eight issues were printed in splendid two-colour printing work, a revolutionary process at the time.

Such a large number of revenue issues was caused by repeated currency reforms carried out in Sweden in the late 19th century.

Another reason was the use of two parallel issues, at the same time, after 1847: the single stamps, which were used on documents as entires (m/1845, m/1858, m/1865 and m/1875) and the double stamps, which were used cut in half (m/1847, m/1858, m/1865 and m/1875). In this respect, the latter sets of issues are exceptional.

The new handbook of Swedish Charta Sigillata issues thoroughly introduces new research, which is published for the first time. Besides the main types of denominations, such knowledge as minor types, types of papers and watermarks, constant and temporary errors, as well as type tables of these and wide full colour illustrations are included. The book also is concerned with the stamp duty taxes of the era.

Concerning the first and most rare issue of 1811, a total of 2288 stamps from private and museum collections were researched. During the work, a new denomination of 40 sch + 1 RD, never before recorded, was found. As many as 99 of the 104 theoretically possible main types were registered. Five types remain still unrecorded. The watermarks were researched for the first time. They were divided to 16 types, known as four possible watermark positions.

The book includes an interesting story about an enormous collection of Swedish Charta Sigillata stamps (previously owned by Swedish collector Sven Svensson), which was discovered in Kungliga Myntkabinettet Museum of Stockholm by the writers during their research work. That unique collection was left by Svensson’s will in 1928, preserved for almost 80 years forgotten and intact, and now was studied to become part of modern philatelic knowledge. The philatelic importance of the newly rediscovered material was decisive when completing the handbook project.

The handbook Svenska beläggningsstämplar (eller Charta Sigillata) 1811-1880 is available from the Swedish Philatelic Federation for SEK 250 (postpaid to Scandinavian countries) / SEK 300 (postpaid to Europe and rest of the world). IBAN: SE63 3000 0000 0156 2310 4347 and BIC: NDEASESS.
For those people who want to purchase a copy of the book write to:
Sveriges Filatelist-Förbund, Box 91, SE-56822 Skillingaryd, Sweden, kansli@sff.nu, www.sff.nu

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Romanian Revenue & Cinderella Catalogue 1856 – 2006

In 2006 the first Romanian revenue stamp celebrated its 150th birthday!
On January 12, 1856 at Iasi in the Moldavian Principality during the reign of voivode Grigorie A. Gika, Ruling Ordinance no. 2 of the Stamp Tax Law was promulgated. The first revenue stamps were introduced in the form of stamped paper as used by the French at that time.

In November of the same year at Bucharest in the Walachian Principality, under the rule of Kaimakam, the same Grigorie A. Gika issued a stamp to supplement the bread price for impoverished families from 24 to 34 coins (a dry measure). This was the first Romanian social welfare stamp. On January 24, 1859 the Moldavian and Walachian Principalities joined to form the unitary, national state of Romania. In January 2006 to mark the anniversary of these historical events, the “Romanian Revenue & Cinderella Catalogue 1856 – 2006” by Mihai Cojocar was published.

The contents of the Catalogue apply the “SREV Revenue” (art. 3.1) provisions to Romanian revenue and Cinderella stamps. The Catalogue has 7 parts:
- First part: Romania imprinted & embossed stamps.
- Second part: National issue.
- The third part: Local issue.
- The forth part: Jewish.
- The fifth part: The national Cinderellas
- The sixth part: The local Cinderellas
- The seventh part: Unidentified issues.
The first part includes the issues of stamped sheets.
The second part includes the majority of national revenue stamps and is divided into 15 chapters according to their field of activity. Each chapter lists chronologically all the stamps known to have been issued. The same procedure is used for parts 3 and 4 that list local emissions and those of the Jewish community in Romania.
Anticipating the future evolution of revenue philately, parts 5 and 6 include national and local Cinderellas.
Part 7 describes 5 stamps whose issuers are still to be identified.
The 2006 catalogue represents a revised version of that published in 2000 and presents the results based on the author’s personal research.
Where known, information regarding the purpose of the issue, its introduction and removal from circulation and a few words about the issuing institution are given. The amount of detail depends on the availability of the necessary background material.
The catalogue lists 6998 stamps as compared to 3743 in the 2000 issue. The entries for local issues have increased to 2727 from 1181 and there are 1688 digital photocopies as compared to 993. The great increase of the number of the stamps described in this catalogue in comparison to the previous issue, confirms that this field of revenue research and collecting is alive and well. The author would welcome any corrections and additions.
It is hoped that this catalogue, despite any possible imperfections, will help to enhance the ever-increasing interest of collectors and dealers for revenue stamps and associated material.
For further information relations contact Mr. Cojocar Mihai at email address cojocar_mihai@hidroconstructia.com