The Black on Magneta From Brirtish Guiana

Is that color truly Magenta?

Which erudite stamp collector is not aware of the “Black on Magenta” from British Guiana. Awaiting a shipment of stamps from England, the Guyanese Postmaster devised a plan to have the newspaper press print him an emergency edition of stamps. These stamps were made in haste and were of very poor quality. Their outstanding feature though, was that as a prevention of duplication, each stamp was personally initialed by one of the Post Office’s four employees, making the ordinary stamp a priceless collector’s item. Only one specimen is known to exist today.

Yet, if we take a closer look at the history of dye and coloring, it invokes a curious inconsistency in the history of the “Black on Magenta”. The color of Magenta was named after the “Battle of Magenta” which took place on June 4, 1859.  It was named such because it was discovered shortly after the Battle, through research into coal tar dyes. One need not be a philatelist to know that the “Black on Magenta” was an 1856 stamp, three years before the discovery of the color Magenta.

If the discovery of the color Magenta by dissolving Fuchsine in water only happened in 1859, then here are some queries to ponder.

Was the “Black on Magenta” always black on Magenta, or did the color of the paper change over the years?

Was the “Black on Magenta” also the accidental discovery of the color Magenta?

Is the “Black on Magenta” really on Magenta colored paper, or is it perhaps a pigment close to Magenta and it was just named as such much later?

Whichever way you wish to smooth out the inconsistency, one thing is for certain,  this does not detract from the value of the “Black on Magenta”, on the contrary it only steeples this literal one-of-a-kind stamp into further stamp history mystique.

 

 

“What Would a Stamp Collector Do?”

 

It is a space all stamp collectors know. It is me space. It is me and my stamp collection space. Everything else in the world simply subsides into a barely audible background murmur. The undone chores are relegated somewhere deep into the sub-conscious as a mixture of admiration, pride and relaxation overcome many stamp collectors each day. They admire their stamp collections. It is a space that they know if their stamps could express their stamply emotions, they would be smiling right back at them.

In such a moment, stamp collectors should certainly not be operating heavy machinery let alone be driving a motor vehicle.

It is in this moment that cyberstamps.com presents to you “What Would a Stamp Collector Do?

Usually punctual and meticulous, it is in this moment that it seems that Stamp Collectors lose all sense of time, often to be called careless by those around them. It is all this and more that adds further intrigue to “What Would a Stamp Collector Do?”

What would a real stamp collector do, if the missing stamp in his collection cost the last dollar he owned?

One can only imagine that he would have no dollar anymore but he would be the proud owner of a complete collection.

What would a real stamp collector do, if the missing stamp in his collection rested on the peak of a distant mountain-top?

One can only imagine that he would become a hiker.

It is that spur of stamp collecting moment that stamp collectors know lasts much longer than merely a moment, when decision is clouded by passion that makes the “What would a stamp collector do?” a humorous read for stamp collector and non-stamp collector alike.

Stay posted to cyberstamps.com/blog every Thursday for “What would a Stamp Collector Do?”

 

 

Welcome

Stamp Collecting the Everlasting Childhood

We all remember those days, when the small things were important because the big things didn’t exist. When skipping stones with friends on the calm rivers of our childhood was a priceless exercise that didn’t cost a penny. Pennies were insignificant and so were dimes, nickels and dollars. Living is something we did without having to earn but now they are all just memories of the shortest of life’s seasons-childhood.

However, stamp collectors know of a time and space where colors shine, they are untainted by the smog of day-to-day living. The air is fresh; it is unpolluted by the fumes of hard-kept commitments and responsibilities. This is a place where the little things are important and the insignificant things are priceless. It is a place that is not dictated by the tastes of society but rather by the preferences of our own experiences and emotion. It is the place of our own stamp collections.

Stamp collectors know that each of our individual collections is not a throwback to our childhood, it is our childhood personified.

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We introduce you to a stamp blog for all.

For you, who for years has been fleeing to the refuge of your stamp collection. It is you who know the feeling. As you smile at your first stamp in the collection, it still brings you the contentment and joy as you felt the day it was first collected.  Like an everlasting childhood.

And to you who has not started collecting stamps yet. Whose childhood is only as strong as your memories and whose tranquility lasts only as long as your daydreams. To you we say welcome to our world, the world of stamp collecting. A world that for more than a century and a-half has clearly proved that childhood never gets old.

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