Jewish National Fund (Keren Kayemet L'Israel)

I have shown 3 issues from the Teachers' Council including the Adulam and Victory Forest stamps (from page 1).
Most stamps from these issues do not show the JNF/KKL inscriptions and the item below goes one step further.....it doesn't show ANY inscription !!
I would say that without any wording on the sheet it would be difficult to know what it was at all !!

1959-60 (5720) Children's Forest in the Mountains of Jerusalem.

All Teachers' Council issues come with charts as previously stated and the chart for this issue came with spaces for 100 stamps. It was Herzl's 100th Birth Anniversary and his image appears on the chart as well as the inscription ' Year 5720-Herzl Year'.
A small folder containing spaces for these stamps was also issued by the JNF in Great Britain for schools there.

Sheets of 4x5, no inscriptions. Perf 10½

This 1950 Vaad Ha'Artzi issue celebrates the 25th year since the founding of the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem.
Inscribed 'Hebrew University Jerusalem' at the sides and bottom of the stamp and under the tree the words 'Acquire Truth'.
Printed in sheets of 10x5 on watermarked paper with colours extending to the selvedge. Perf 11½.

Some of the first Jewish settlers to Ottoman Palestine were from Russia in 1882. They called themselves 'Bilu', which is an acronym for the Hebrew, 'House of Jacob, come, let us go' (Isaiah 2:5). This is inscribed on the bottom of the stamps.
These settlers (Bilu) founded the city of Rishon Le Zion and many other settlements.
The stamps were printed in sheets of 8x3 and in panes of 2x3 for Booklets, one pane of each colour to a booklet. Perf 11½.
All colours exist with handstamped surcharges of 5,10,20,30 and 40 Mils plus other, slightly more dubious types.
I won't even hazard a guess as to how many the full sets consist of !! (I have never seen many of them).
They were issued in 1941.

Below are two issues from 1952 of the same design.

The top stamp, which also exists on yellow paper and in a darker shade of blue like the stamp below. They were printed in sheets of  2x5, Perf 10½.
They show the first President of Israel Chaim Weizmann and were used on School diplomas.
Inscribed "For Torah and Testimony", (Isaiah 8:20).

Later that year on November 9th, Weizmann passed away and stocks of the Dark Blue stamps were overprinted in black on the stamp borders/margins.

1950 One Million Immigrants.

This issue marks the arrival of one Million Immigrants to Israel. Below the Menorah is inscribed 'A million Jews in Israel'.
Inscribed around the Menorah,' Ingathering of the Exiles-Hannukah 5710'.
The Menorah shown is taken from the relief on the Arch of Titus in Rome. The relief shows the Romans bringing home the spoils after the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem.
The stamps were designed by F.Krausz and printed in sheets of 5x5 on both watermarked and unwatermarked paper. Perf 11.
The stamps also exist without values and Imperforate.

No post from this topic yesterday mainly due to power outages which left me in the dark, cold and extremely annoyed.
But we are back on track today with a special issue. Well, nothing special about it really except that it was this particular issue that had me searching for more JNF labels a long time ago. I think it was my affection for Tractors and I imagined that it was me all those years ago working the fields of.............

........EMEQ JEZREEL.

This 1946 issue commemorates the 25th Anniversary of the purchase of land in the Jezreel (Yizreel) Valley for Agricultural use. Also known as the Valley of Megiddo, it had lain bare and uncultivated for centuries until the early 1920's when the JNF began to purchase and settle the land.
The stamps were produced in sheets of 4x6 with a central horizontal gutter making two panes (4x3).
There are 4 colours: Orange, Blue, Green and Brown. I do not have an example in Orange and to be honest I have rarely seen them which is odd given that it appears to be as common as the other colours according to Rochlin. Time will tell.
The Brown (5), Blue (10) and Green (50) exist with values. Additionally, the Brown and Green types can be found handstamped '10 Mils' in black.
The Orange and Blue types without values were also produced for booklets in panes of 2x3, 5 panes to a booklet.
Perf 10½ for all types.

Two other issues exist in this design.
From the New York Office there is an issue for the Purim Festival of 1950. 3 types all in blue. Above the design there is an additional printing 'Purim 5710' and also with values of 25c and 50c.
From the South Africa Office there was an issue of a single stamp in Blue, the same design but Pin Perf 11. The issue was sponsored by the Yeoville Branch of the Women's Zionist League of Johannesburg. They came in 4 2x3 booklet panes which may or may not be inscribed 'Rosh Hashanah stamp'.

The latter two issues I have never seen so I only show a few types from the 1946 Jerusalem Office printings.











I have shown this before earlier in the topic (Page 1) but I'll add it here too as it's relevant. Also, I did not know until yesterday that it is actually listed (without the interim overprint). It does not give a value though due to it's scarcity.



More next time !

Londonbus1

1946.  IMMIGRANT SHIP ISSUE.

An iconic yet somewhat sad and frustrating image appears on this 1946 issue which also gives rise to some questions that I have been trying to find answers to today.
The Sha'ar Yashuv (Yishuv) was (apparently) a large fishing boat that sailed from Brindisi in Italy towards what was then still Mandate Palestine in 1946 (date unknown). According to survivors, the boat was intercepted by the British and taken to Cyprus where Jewish camps were already set up as early as 1936. Most immigration during and after the war years and up until the end of the British Mandate, was illegal. (Google British White Paper)
However, most other accounts have the boat as being intercepted and sent to Cyprus in 1947 as can be seen on the memorial wall on the Tel Aviv seafront in London Garden (no close up, sorry. But trust me, it says 1947 !!).
It could be that it left late in 1946 and was intercepted in in January '47 but I think it is more likely the ship made an earlier attempt to take Jews to Palestine but failed. Research ongoing, all good fun.

The stamps were printed in sheets of 5x2 without values. Colours are Light Green and Dark Green. The former can also be found handstamped 20, 250 or 500 Mils in Violet.
Both colours, plus a Greenish Brown type, exist with a value of  10 (Mils). These were produced in sheets of 5x4 also.
All are Perf 10½ but can also be found rouletted.

The stamps mark this period of illegal immigration to Mandate Palestine.



This is the list of ships in English that both failed and succeeded to bring immigrants to Palestine. They include the (in)famous 'Exodus' that became an embarrassment for Britain when it was intercepted with almost 5,000 on board and returned to Germany. The plaques are in English. The Hebrew dedication nearby are on Grey-black stones set in the ground.

A sombre yet fascinating garden. I was there with my daughter just before Covid struck !

Amusing little correction made to the 'Pitchat Shalom' issue of January 19th.
I wrote:

"They were printed in sheets of 5x4 with 'tabs' at positions 16,18 and 20.

The example (top) below is from the right of the sheet showing the tab in position 20."

I was a little hasty as of course one reads from the right here, so the 'tab' I spoke of was in position 16 !!   Silly me.

I won't make that mistake for today's offering from 1964.
The sheet marks the 60th Anniversary of the Teachers' Organization and shows a photograph of the first Hebrew Teachers' Organization Conference.
In the front row of the picture are some of the founders, Menachem Ussishkin, David Yellin and Eliezer Ben Yehuda.
The stamps are inscribed 'Teachers' Organization' and the sheet selvedge above stamps 1 & 2 ( ) is inscribed '60 Years of the Teachers' Oragnization of Israel".
Sheet 5x3, Perf 11.

Well, I might as well show the item I won today via TWO eBay accounts !! It will be forever etched on my brain when I look at it.
So let's start it here.

The reality is it was quite a bargain.
From the Branch Office of the Jewish National Fund in Poland.
Issued in 1917 under the title 'View of the Land', it shows a Plowman and a Horse inside a Star of David with a skyline of Jerusalem in the background.
The selvedge is missing sadly but inscribed on it is 'If I forget thee O Jerusalem'. Panes of 2x3 to a 5-pane booklet. Perf 11½.




Sad part is, I cannot leave the seller feedback now that the account is finally closed (He says hopefully). But he has been informed.

Londonbus1

THE BLUE BOX.

For many years, a Blue Box (as it came to be known) was kept and displayed in every Jewish household, office or institution to raise funds for the JNF. The idea was born in 1901 soon after the 5th Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland. Types of the box were used around the world.


www.kkl-jnf.org/about-kkl-jnf/the-blue-box/

1983-84 (5744) "OUR BOX".

This sheet from the Teachers' Council issues of the JNF shows a traditional 'Blue Box'. Printed in sheets of 6x2, Rouletted.
As mentioned previously, most of these Teachers' Council issues came together with a chart for use in schools. The chart for this issue included photographs of JNF activities including building roads and planting forests. The spaces for the stamps each contained a poem and there was one space for each of the months of the year,

An extra addition today to mark International Holocaust Day.  Remembrance day Ceremonies in Israel take place in the Spring.

The set of 4 below were issued in 1972 and show the 'Scroll of Fire' monument by Nathan Rapaport which stands in the Martyr's Forest in the Jerusalem Hills.
The Forest is dedicated to the Six Million Jews who perished during World War Two. In 1951, Six Million Trees were planted there and the monument shown on the stamps was erected in 1972. There is also a memorial to Anne Frank.
Printed in sheets of 4x5, Perf 10½.
Full sheets can be found both with and without marginal inscriptions.

CONQUEST OF THE MOUNTAINS.

The stamps this time, from 1957 , are inscribed thus.
They depict:

A worker moving stones.
A Bulldozer
A Terraced Hillside.

The series shows the ways that the Mountains and Hills of Israel can also be cultivated and settled, just like the Plains. Making use of ALL good land.

Each stamp exists from more than one sheet type. The first two I mentioned are perf 10½ and the last one is Perf 10,10x10 or 10x10½ ! My feeling is that these were not all issued at the same time.
They have a nice atmosphere to them regarding the work ethics of early immigrants to the new State of Israel.

Truly impressive! Thank you Michael.

In addition to the previous post, I can also relate this to something exciting that happened to me back in the early 1990's.

I was walking the streets of Tel Aviv having had a good fill of Stamp Shops, when I chanced upon a small and very atmospheric old bookshop. You know, the kind that have everything in wood, aisles only big enough for one and creaky old ladders to get to the top shelf. As I recall, I was looking for Philatelic Literature but out of the corner of my eye I spied the title 'Cast a Giant Shadow' and lo and behold it was a story of David Marcus by Ted Borkeman. A quick glance at one of the opening pages made my jaw drop when I see the book had ben signed by Marcus' wife Emma and another family member, possibly one of his kids !! As luck would have it, the book was relatively cheap leading me to believe that the bookshop owner did not know about the writings within !! Sometimes we get lucky. See the images below........