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| A sheet of 10 Steamship Stamps |
For collectors of antique paper, stamps create an entirely separate category. Within that category, railroad and shipping companies issued stamps to advertise their business. Hopefully, the stamps would be placed on correspondence (snail mail) and create an interest in travel.
According to Wikipedia, collecting stamps is one of the most popular hobbies in the world. Stamps are often collected for their historical value and geographical aspects and also for the many different subjects depicted on them, ranging from ships, horses, and birds to kings, queens and presidents. People who collect stamps are sometimes known as philatelists ... which comes from the word philately, the study of stamps. The stamps we are showing you in this post are called "cinderellas" because they do not have any postage value.
Q. Are these stamps rare? A. Not extremely rare, but unusual finds today, these stamps were issued by the Great Northern Pacific Steamship Company in the early 1900s. There were several "series" of stamps issued, this is "Series 2" which consists of 10 stamps showing various parts of the steamship known as S. S. Northern Pacific, which plied the waters between Portland, Oregon; Astoria, Oregon; San Francisco, California; and Honolulu, Hawaii. Travelling by ship in the early 1900s was much more special than it is today with cruising being so common and economical.
These stamps are a good example of how looking at something online may actually be easier than looking at the real stamps ... Each of the 10 stamps have been enlarged for easy viewing ...
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| S. S. Northern Pacific |
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| Wheel House |
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| Dining Room |
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| Smoking Room |
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| Promenade Deck |
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| Observation Parlor |
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| Engine Room |
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| Deck Scene |
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| Private Suite |
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| Writing Room |
Please let us know if you have questions. Thank you for stopping by John's Island.
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These are wonderful, John. I love looking into the past in those pictures. That suite is huge! :-)
ReplyDeletehum...wouldn't have expected it was that big. When I was a pre-teen, my Grand got me a starter pack. I stayed with it about four hours, I think.
ReplyDeletepretty neat and quite detailed scenes!
ReplyDeleteThey are really nice. I've never seen stamps like these before. What a nice thing to collect.
ReplyDeleteI have never seen anything quite like these. Very pretty and unusual.
ReplyDeleteThose are very neat stamps! My family used to collect postage stamps.
ReplyDeleteJohn, I'll have to show this post to my husband. He is a "phormer" philatelist! Wish I could take a luxurious cruise, but I'm afraid I'd be seasick the whole time.
ReplyDelete