Art Blog/Eric Whollem: 2020

Friday, August 7, 2020

American Colonial Postage Stamp Fantasies/ VIRGINIA COMPANY/ Cinderella Stamps by Eric Whollem

VIRGINNY POST

Virginia Company

1607

Eric Whollem

copyright by the artist

THE MOTHER QUEEN

Isle o' Virginny

1607

Eric Whollem

QUEEN MOTHER'S WALK IN THE GLEN

Isle o' Virginny

1607

Eric Whollem

THE QUEEN

1607

Isle o' Virginny

Eric Whollem

THE QUEEN'S RECEPTION

Isle o' Virginny

1607

Eric Whollem

BUCK TODD

Virginia Company Overseer

1607

Eric Whollem

THE SETTLEMENT OF THE ISLE O' VIRGINNY

Virginia Company

1607

Eric Whollem

Sunday, June 21, 2020

A SHORT HISTORY OF ARTISTAMPS

THE 'BOSTON RED'

British-American Colonial Periodical Stamp

on the Boston Gazette

1755

British Periodical Revenue stamps for the American colonies originally were handstamps or sometimes applied by embossing tools.

The collecting of revenue stamps became popular 70 years prior to the issuance of the first postage stamps. Thus cinderella stamp collecting predated philately by many years' revenue stamps are considered a main category of cinderella stamps.

John Bourke is considered to be among the first serious collectors of revenue stamps and began to collect and catalog them in 1774.

BRITISH COLONIAL TAX STAMP

for the American colonies

applied as an embossing

AMERICAN COLONIAL NEWSPAPER TAX STAMP PARODY

stamps like these were added to

colonial periodicals to mock British tax stamps in the late 1700's.

The Stamp Tax was a major consideration of the

American Revolutionaries

The American colonial parody stamps were not postage stamps, but rather periodical stamps, a type of revenue stamp. Even so these American fantasies rightly may be considered the first known fantasy stamps.

The skull is to be construed as a symbol of piracy.

A MULREADY LAMPOON

1840

British fantasy postal cover

Mulready, the postmaster general of Britain, issued a series of prepaid postal envelopes in 1840, shortly after the printing of the Penny Black. These envelopes were not well received by much of the British populace.

So ensued a series of privately handcrafted covers which were mostly very satirical...mocking the pretenses of the monarchy. These are now known as the Mulready Lampoons and are widely regarded as classic Mail Art.

THE NEW ENGLAND WHALERS

Home Post Express

was a very early fantasy stamp
from a set of 10

woodblock edition

1851-7

The New England Whalers Home Express was the private fantasy edition created by a sailor who lived in Nantucket, Massachusetts.

It is now regarded as one of the very earliest known faux postage stamps, a direct ancestor of the artistamp.

THE WINANS CITY POST

was a very popular fantasy stamp created in

1862 by Hussey

It was reproduced in many colors by many

stamp fabricators including Scott and S.A. Taylor

Hussey, a Canadian stamp fabricator, was long regarded as the first fantasy postage stamp maker, until in recent years the New England Whalers stamp, a faux postage edition, appeared in the auction catalogs. The New England Whalers stamp was created in 1851, while the Winan's City Post first appeared in 1862.

Scott, Taylor and other creators of faux postage and bogus stamps were inspired by these to create what came to be called fantasy postal carrier labels. In the US at the time postage stamps were strictly forbidden material when it came to reproductions, as these were considered forgeries....but those private postal labels called carriage or carrier labels were fair game. Wuestoff and other stamp makers were encouraged to create what became the forerunners of artistamps.

SAMUEL ALLEN TAYLOR

Kers City Post

woodblock edition

Samuel Allen Taylor created the first fantasy local post shortly after the Winan's City Post appeared....Taylor was from Scotland but lived for a time in Canada where he worked collaboratively with Nutter, another stamp fabricator.

There is no such place as Kers City.

SAMUEL ALLEN TAYLOR

Utah Territorial Postage

this stamp was part of a larger set.

and was forged by other stamp makers later on

SAMUEL ALLEN TAYLOR

forgery

with forged postmark

Taylor's work was copied by

bogus stamp makers

Samuel Allen Taylor created 5000 fantasy and bogus stamps during his lifetime, making him the most prolific faux stamp maker of the 19th century. He created faux charity labels, making him an innovator in the area of poster stamps as well.

Poster stamps are stamps that advertise events or commemorate people, but are never intended for postal use.

Many stamps created by Taylor are from countries which had never issued postage stamps, such as Paraguay.

TERRA OF BAFFIN

hand painted fantasy stamps

created by an unknown French stamp collector

1861

A mysterious French stamp collector began creating painted postage stamps in the 1860's. He may have been French Canadian, as many of his fantasies have Canadian labels. He created hundreds of stamps.

NEW NORTH WALES

hand painted fantasy stamps

created by an unknown French stamp collector

1861

New North Wales is not a bogus name, but an actual settlement on Hudson Bay

in Canada.

Stamp essays and proofs are often times hand painted, but these Canadian stamps never were intended as proofs for any known postal authority. Baffin Island is north of Canada and populated primarily by indigenous Inuit people.

In the 1960's Donald Evans became well known for his hand painted postal fantasies....but historically the French artist predated him by a hundred years.

FRANZ JOSEPH LAND

a bogus or phantom stamp

of an Arctic archipelago

1874

Phantom stamps was a popular designation of fantasy stamps during the 19th century.

J.C. JAY

Richwoods Dispatch fantasy local carrier stamp

tied to cover with rubber stamp

cancellation

1888

This cover is an example of early Mail Art....It shows fantasy stamp by J.C. Jay, a young stamp dealer who had been persecuted by philatelic societies for attempting to sell his own faux postage stamps.

RICHWOOD'S DISPATCH

J.C.Jay

carrier stamp

1881

He used to hand deliver mail in his own home town franking the envelopes with his own private carrier labels.

Today his covers are valuable rarities.

PHOTO PORTRAIT STAMPS & College Stamps

GENELLI STUDIOS

photo portrait stamp

St. Louis

Missouri

1885

PHOTO STAMP MAKER

patented by Thomas Huhn

and also Genelli

1887

Photo portrait stamps were popular in the 19th century on into the 20th century. They were often ordered by colleges and universities, private businesses and individuals.

COLLEGE STAMPS

photo stamps of graduates

SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES

in the US and Europe

issued their own stamps

in the 19th century

PHANTOM COLLEGE STAMP

Montreal

a fantasy created by Samuel Allen Taylor

when he was living in Canada

BRITAIN

photo portrait stamp

used as an advertisement

THE BEGINNINGS OF ARTISTAMPS

L.DUGARDIN

Artiste Peintre

early artistamp

Dugardin first exhibited in Paris in the 1850s

date of this stamp is unknown

MANCHESTER OCEAN PENNY POST

1899

Sydney Turner

HENRY GEORGE

Social Visionary

19th century

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_George

FRENCH POSTER STAMP

celebrating "microphotographic" stamps

1900

MICRONATIONAL STAMPS

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO

micronational stamps

1898

Micronations, with private autonomous post offices began to appear in the 19th century....Deh Sadang out of Malaya is another such micronation. Elleore in Denmark became well known in the 1940's.

MONTMARTE COMMUNE LIBRE

French micronaition

early 20th century

MONTMARTE COMMUNE LIBRE

French micronation

early 20th century

GOLD ISLAND

fantasy micronation

1910

Today many artistamp makers describe their stamps as micronational.

POSTER STAMPS

VIENNESE SECESSIONIST POSTER STAMP

1908

this stamp was created as an

advertisement for an art exhibition

Poster stamps first appeared in the mid nineteenth century. They are stamps created as advertisements...not for postal use...They were called Art Stamps in the early 20th century when they were at their heyday as popular collectibles.

POSTER STAMP ON COVER

1912

Sweden

AUSTRIAN TOURING CLUB

poster stamp

UK POSTER STAMP

1912

GERMAN POSTER STAMP

such advertising stamps

are called reklamemarken

Poster stamp by V. Mundorff

from Chemnitz, Germany

1921

Societies arose among collectors and albums for poster stamps began to appear in Germany in the late 19th century.

ART STAMP ALBUM

created by Wentz, Co.

featuring spaces to display movie star poster stamps

early 20th century

Poster stamp privately overprinted

for semi-official airmail postage

Colombia

1920

POSTER STAMP EXCHANGE SOCIETY

stamp depicting a British

Mulready Prepaid envelope

VERMONT STATEHOOD

poster stamp

issued by the Poster Stamp Society

1941

MAIL ART

ITALIAN FUTURIST MAIL ART

1910

the Futurists seem to have

developed the first truly modern Mail Art

stamp covers

FRANCE

antique mail art

BRITAIN

vintage mail art

CITY OF THE MOON

fantasy stamp cover

2019

by Eric Whollem

AL TAZWIR

faux Sand Dune stamps

featuring Rossetti art designs

2019

by Eric Whollem

FANTASY BALLOON COURIER MAIL

from the Sasquatchian Dutch Colony

to the Grand Duchy of Guguwuph

with postal marking from Lemurian Post Office

ERIC WHOLLEM

2017

NOTGELD

GERMAN INFLATIONARY BANKNOTES

from Husum

1921

perforated block

Notgeld, or inflationary currency, was issued in great numbers in Germany after WWI. These were provisionanal notes. Not all such notes were perforated.

Interestingly enough some towns and even private individuals issued such notes as money makers to sell to collectors, overriding the interest in creating a medium of monetary exchange....In this regard they are cousins of artistamps....something non-essential, but works of art.

And like micronations who minted coins as well as stamps, German communities also minted metallic money for the same reasons as the faux banknotes.

US FRACTIONAL CURRENCY

served as a form of postal note

or money order

and were valid for postage

US FRACTIONAL CURRENCY

served as a form of postal note

or money order

and were valid for postage in the early 20th century

HAND PAINTED STAMPS

SABOR OF THE MIDLANDS

fantasy stamps

by Russ Sabor

Iowa

1933

During the Great Depression Russ Sabor had these stamps printed as gifts for those who could not afford postage stamps. They are embellished with the phrase 'Sabor Telestamps.'

DONALD EVANS

hand painted stamp fantasy

from the 1960's

this was used as an illustration in one of

Evan's book

Some of Donald Evans handpainted fantasy stamps from the sixties by coincidence

resemble the works of Sabor. Sabor's stamps were printed in many different colors

and gained only a limited notoriety in the 1930's, while Evan's works were influential among fantasy stamp creators during his lifetime.

STAMPS OF PRISONERS OF WAR

MALTA CAMP POST

British POW camp

a private creation of Karl Sessler

linocut

an Austrian Prisoner of War

1914

Mail from prisoner of war camps usually required no postage, but was sent free of franking. But Karl Sessler was an artist and did not want to waste an opportunity to use his skills.

POLISH PRISONER OF WAR STAMP

early 1940's

linoleum cut

Polish prisoners of war briefly managed to create stamps for use on their mail in German internment camps. They would use shoe soles to carve cancellations. They created inks from various found substances.

Polish Prisoner of War

Stamp cover with 'Fox Dinner' stamp

created by the prisoners to

protest the unnamed dead animals

fed to the inmates.

KARL SCHLESWIG

Jewish prisoner of war

hand painted fantasy stamp

painted in the blank selvage of a stamp sheet

Karl Scheswig, like the French Canadian stamp fabricator of 1861, is known today for his hand painted stamps. These were created in a German Nazi concentration camp. And are famous for being protest stamps.

ISLE OF MAN

Prisoner of War Camp

World War II

TOY STAMPS

TOYLAND POST

children's stamps, or toy stamps

is a specialized genre

1953

Toy Stamps for children have been with us for many decades....The French call them Timbres Enfantines. The Germans call them Kinderpost.

TOYLAND POST

postal money order

1953

TINTIN FANTASY STAMPS

by Herge

Belgian illustrator

1953

THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN ART STAMPS

YVES KLEIN'S BLUE STAMPS
a classic modern fantasy stamp
1957
New Realism School of Art

Yves Klein belonged to the French School of New Realism...Later art critics tried to lump him with several art movements with which he had no historical connection. He was a pioneer of the modern artistamp.

The rest of Artistamp History is well known. In the mid 1950's Yves Klein mailed his famous blue stamp on a card.

And here in the 1950's the modern international Mail Art movement had it's beginnings, though it has been widely recognized that Mail Art has been with us as long as artists have been sending letters. Matisse mailed 1200 illustrated letters in his lifetime. The preraphaelites left us quite a legacy of Mail Art.

Mad Magazine released it's famous fantasy stamp parodies in the 1960's.

Bidner, a Canadian stamp artist, coined the name Artistamp in 1982.