Czechoslovakia : Stamps.

Czechoslovakia has always been my favourite among the old Warsaw Pact countries, along with the GDR.  The GDR is due to being able to win some of the fights with the language, but the Czech stamps are favourites because of the engravings (especially the wonderful multi-coloured engraved stamps), and I also like many of the modern designs of the later issues.

You can start a new topical with that 1957 archery stamp - archery without a bowstring!  ha ha

Ryan

I should mention here that the Society for Czechoslovak Philately has their journal available online, no society membership required to read them.  Issues go up to 2010.

www.csphilately.net/publications/publications-for-free/past-issues-of-the-specialist/

Ryan

Czechoslovakia Sc 2625 1986
Souvenir Sheet   CV : Used $3.50

Theatre Curtain.

"Woman ravaged by horses" 1936
by Vladimir Sychra (1903-1963)

QUERY  Can someone explain Scott 2625a = 5k Multi ? What is that all about?

Scott 2625 is the entire souvenir sheet containing two stamps, Scott 2625a is a single copy of a stamp.

Ryan

"A related Scott 2625 question would be: What was Sychra thinking when he painted that work?"

My guess:
A painting representing the time of the International Brigades in Spain
and the Spanish Civil War.
Possibly representing the rape and destruction caused by the war, similar to Pablo Picasso's "Guernica"?

Thanks for starting this thread, Rod! And thanks for Ryan's contributions, too!

I've been building a small accumulation of the early Czech stamps that were designed by the artist Alphonse Mucha. Love the designs - just wish the printing techniques had been better back then to really show off his talents.

In looking through the Scott catalog for Czechoslovakia, I've come to appreciate all the nice designs, and the greater emphasis on art, that Czech stamps illustrate.

Thanks, Rod and Ryan!!

-- Dave

Alphonse Mucha : The "Hussite" stamps

Author : Ludvik "Lou" Svoboda from "The Czech Specialist"

The last and artistically best of Mucha’s designs is the Hussite stamp, “The Right To The
Chalice”. The design  shows a Hussite priest holding a chalice. The stamp was printed very carelessly and
the colors were printed in very dark shades. Very soon after their introduction
the stamps were recalled due to the intervention of the Catholic Church hierarchy.

The day of issue of the first two Hradcany stamps, December 18, 1918, is now observed annually by Czechs
as “The Day of the Czechoslovak Stamp”. A number of modern stamps have been issued to memorialize the talents
of Alphonse Mucha.

When the Germans marched into Czechoslovakia in 1939, Mucha was one of the first to be questioned by the
Gestapo. He died shortly afterwards at the age of 79, as the nation lapsed back into six years of darkness again.

That Zodiac is gorgeous. Just a guess from the proportions -- was that on a post card? (Do you happen to have a larger-size image? .. I should probably just Google it.)

Dave, just logged on,
I think you shall find that image on an Austrian Stamp.
I'll dig around for it later.

When I was a kid, I had posters on my bedroom wall, Bridgitte Bardot, and Mucha's Girls.



Here you go:

www.worldstampnews.com/tag/austria/page/4/

Nice sheet Lb1, I havn't researched it yet, but I recall seeing a sheet yesterday with an auction reserve of $45
so there are some valuable ones out there.

That cinderella sheet is curious, if it were appended promotional material, it shouldn't by all accounts be gummed.
That's what make it somewhat unconventional.

The answer will pop up one day.

Rod burbled :

"My guess:

A painting representing the time of the International Brigades in Spain

and the Spanish Civil War.

Possibly representing the rape and destruction caused by the war, similar to Pablo Picasso's "Guernica"?   "



Serendipity.......................

The newspaper stamps you post were very exotic to me in my youngest collecting days - I think they were the first imperforate stamps I ever saw!

Ryan

THE PHILATELY OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA: FOR BEGINNERS

by Phillips B. Freer

THE FIRST ISSUES

As a social hobby, philately relies on the interchange of postal data and ideas between stamp
collectors. If you ever tried to join a club whose members looked upon you more as an intruder than
as someone interested in sharing and exchanging ideas, you invariably dropped out of that group.
And if such an experience repeated itself two or three more times, you would doubtless lose interest
in the hobby itself.

But with the S.C.P. (Society for Czechoslovak Philately), my experience has been just the contrary.
And so it is that when you find yourself surrounded by persons willing and anxious to have you
participate in their philatelic endeavors, their enthusiasm rubs off. You acquire an incentive to help
them help you in understanding and enjoying your newly-discovered interests.

Before we go any further, a few words regarding the past history of the Czechoslovak Republic. As
a nation, Czechoslovakia has had a turbulent century. Starting with its independence in 1918 was
the so-called First Republic era which came to a screeching halt with Hitlers occupation of the lands
in 1939. Then came the second phase known as the Bohemia-Moravia Protectorate era during which
Slovakia enjoyed a so-called period of "independence" under the sponsorship of the Third Reich.
The end of World War II gave the country a brief return to freedom until 1948, when it fell under
Communist domination and was then known as CSSR. Finally, starting with January 1990, its
post-World War II democracy was restored under the name of the Czechoslovak Federated
Republics. As of January 1, 1993, Czechoslovakia, as a political entity, was peacefully divided into
the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

Now, how do you begin a collection of Czechoslovakia? The beginner can start with No. 1 and
collect all stamps up to the present time until you have everything up to the last stamp issued. That
is one way of doing it. However, you will not only run into difficulties, but you will have passed up
some very exciting and interesting aspects of Czechoslovak philately. In other words, dont be
satisfied to become just an accumulator. I suggest that after you become better acquainted with
various issues you concentrate on a specific issue or a specific phase of Czech philately before
going on to other issues or phases.

The beginner starting his or her collection logically with the First Republic is advised to acquire as
many copies of the first and second sets of the Hradcany issue as possible. Most of them are not
expensive. In gathering these stamps, do not mount them. Instead, place them on stock pages or in a
stock book where they can be readily examined and rearranged.

I am making this suggestion for several reasons. First, you will notice that all these stamps have the
exact same theme and picture, namely the Hradcany Castle in Prague. Behind the castle one can see
the rising sun. Actually, the sun can neither rise nor set in that scene behind the castle. It is merely
symbolic of the birth of the Czechoslovak Republic on October 28, 1918. Secondly, all the stamps
seem to have exactly the same design, but that is deceptive. Actually, each of those 53 stamps can
be listed under one of five different types. There are two sets in this issue. The first set consists of
20 stamps, some of which are imperforate and some perforated. The second set comprises 33
stamps, some of which are imperforate and some perforated. All the imperfs were officially issued,
but only some of the perforates are official. Those that are not were privately perforated.

The Hradcany issues can be classified under five different types. The first set appears in Types I and
II, whereas the second set is made up of Types III, IV, and V. Can these two sets be easily
distinguished? Fortunately, yes!

My EKU  for Postal Czech Stationery "window envelopes"  ........1926

EKU=Earliest Known Usage




Exposure? :  Approval or Envelope mixtures in Woolworths and your local deli.

These from India

Czechoslovakia stamp on Lipton's Teapot bag propaganda Card.

Produced by Seven Seas Stamps Australia.
No doubt devised and thought up, by the Cinderella Guru, Mr. Bill Hornadge, he always made stamp collecting appear such good fun.