ALFONSO XIII - BABY HEAD stamps of the PHILIPPINES

Philippine Postage Stamps – Wholesale only, Federico Schenkel (1900)

 

Federico Schenkel was a stamp dealer based in Manila. An auction was held on 28 December 1899 where the American Government sold by auction the entire stock of postage stamps remaining in the Hacienda Publica of Manila which where turned over by the Spanish authorities in August 1898. The auction was won by Ed A Keller and Co. of Manila for the sum of $50,300 (Manila currency - estimated to be about £5,000 sterling) and comprised approximately:

•  30million stamps (postage, provisional postage and newspaper stamps)

• 100,000 postal cards

Schenkel was appointed as the agent for the onward sale of this stock. He produced a catalogue listing stamps from 1880 to 1898 available for wholesale in quantities of 10, 100 and 1,000. Also offered were sets of 120 stamps.   Schenkel also notes that in the stock purchased a large number of damaged stamps, pale and soiled. 

 

It was reported in the Philatelic Journal of Great Britain, later reproduced in the American Journal of Philately 1902, that by the end of 1900, less than 100,000 stamps had been sold. A detailed account is provided about the dealings of this remainder lot in the two Journals which was eventually sold to dealer in Paris.

 

The Postage Stamps of the Philippines, Bartels, Palmer and Foster (1904)

 

Following the publication of “Spain and Colonies” by Philatelic Society, London in 1879, the catalogue by Bartels et al. appears to be the first English language specialised handbook relating to the stamps of the Philippines. At the time of publication the Philatelic Society noted that few countries afforded greater difficulties of than those the Philippines, in particular the numerous surcharged varieties (from the period 1881 to 1888). The illustrated handbook represented the first attempt to provide an absolute chronological arrangement of the postage stamps issued in the English language and also provided details of the number of stamps issued, although these were based on information in Mencarini (1896).

With respect to the Babyhead issues, in addition to the number of issued stamps, Bartels et al handbook included information relating to the sheet heading inscriptions, a description of cliché types and colour shades. The handbook also included mention of two plate flaws found on the 1c issues and a few details relating to paper thickness and gum types. Usefully the handbook contained a description of the 1897 surcharged issues and in particular a number of forgeries that existed at that time.

The edition printed in Boston, USA comprised 350 copies all of which were numbered and sgined by one of the authors. The first fifty copies were an “Edition de Luxe” printed on heavier paper and accompanied by plates showing the forty varieities in the the sheets of the first issue and was sold for $4.50, whereas the “Regular Editon” could be purchased for $2.50

 

The Postal Issues of the Spanish Colony of the Philippines, Hanciau (1905)

 

Hanciau wrote a series of articles which appeared in the monthly magazine "Stanley Gibbons Monthly Journal" between between March 1905 and February 1906 describing the stamps of the Spanish Philippines.

These articles probably formed the basis of the early Stanley Gibbons catalogues for this period, although the editors of the magazines have also added notes where their observations are different from Hanciau's or in contrast to those reported by Bartels et al (1904). It is also useful to note that Hanciau was the editor of Le Timbre-Poste and as such descriptions of stamp issues from these apparently different sources are not necessarily so.

 

 

 

The Postal Issues of the Philippines, Palmer (1912)

 

Palmer was one of the authors of the earlier handbook by Bartels et al in 1904. A number of articles were published serially in the Philatelic Gazette by Palmer. However, Palmer who was in Manila between 1905 and 1907 notes that he had failed to take account of the articles produced by Hanciau. In this new handbook Palmer attempted to provide a complete revision of earlier work and make it as correct and valuable as possible.

An article in the Philatelic Society, London Journal  reviewed the catalogue and criticised the work for not including a bibliography. However, the monograph contains much useful and original information. In the description of the Babyhead issues, Palmer’s handbook typically represents an update (and locally correction) of the earlier work by Bartels et al. The description of colour shades is simplified with additional details provided relating to the sheet format and size, descriptions of gum types and paper thickness as well as providing a cross reference to the catalogue number in Scott’s Catalogue of 1912 (note the catalogue numbers of Scot’s 1915 edition presented in this Catalogue are equivalent to the 1912 edition). Palmer also describes a handful of plate flaws.

 

 

Philippine Postage Stamp Handbook, 1854-1982, Harradine (1987)

 

There were no significant updated specialised catalogues of the Philippines after those of Palmer (1912) for some 75years until the Handbook produced by Harradine. Although it draws upon earlier work it also includes many anecdotal notes around the Babyhead issues including extensive details on proofs. Some of these details are attributed to notes provided by a Warren Browne and observations from the Tapling Collection. Unfortunately the original notes have been lost and many of the proofs described have yet to be seen, they certainly do not exist in the Tapling Collection of the British Library.

The Handbook also notably provides a description of the plating of the 1854 issues.

 

Scott Catalogue, 1868 to present day

 

The first Scott catalogue was a 21-page pamphlet with the title ‘Descriptive Catalogue of American and Foreign Postage Stamps’  and was published in September 1868 by John Walter Scott, an early stamp dealer in New York, and purported to list all the stamps of the world, with prices for each.

By about 1886 Scott sold his stamp business and his title to the Scott Catalogue and his business passed to the newly formed Scott Stamp and Coin Co. In 1888 the Scott Stamp and Coin Co. Assigned individual catalogue numbers to each stamp.

In 1938 the owners of Scott Stamp & Coin Company sold the publishing portion of the business to Scott Publications, Inc. Since 1938 the two companies have been totally independent of each other, Scott Stamp & Coin Company selling stamps and coins, and Scott Publications, Inc. publishing catalogues and other stamp collecting items. Today Scott Publishing Company in Sidney, Ohio, is a division of Amos Press, Inc.

 

Stanley Gibbons Foreign Catalogue, 1865 to present day

 

Edward Stanley Gibbons published his first catalogue of postage stamps in November 1865 in Plymouth, UK and comprised 20 pages of a non-illustrated listing of stamps and postal stationary with prices for used and unused singles or by the dozen.

Between 1897 to 1945 foreign listings were published as Part II of the Stanley Gibbons Catalogue.

The Priced Catalogue of Foreign Countries – 1905 edition specifically noted as being ‘revised and corrected by the latest published information’ for the Philippine Islands although no details are provided regarding the published information referred to.

The Priced Catalogues are also noted for the fact that all prices quoted in every case are based on the stock in hand at the time of going to press.

From 1951 to 1970 these were consolidated into Part II Europe and Colonies and Part III American, Asia and Africa. The present system comprises twenty-one catalogues (Parts 2 to 22) was initiated in 1979. The stamps of Spanish-Philippines were first included in Part 9 (Spain and Portugal) with the 1st edition published in 1980, the 2nd edition in 1984 and the 3rd edition in xxx. The 2nd edition notes that with the weakness of the peseta, the price pattern for Spain and colonies was one of general decline from the previous high level of 1980. (Start of notation of paper types by SG - although appear to be based on information from Galvez??).

In the fourth edition of the foreign catalogues the stamps of the Spanish-Philiipines were transferred to Part 21 (South-east Asia) which was published in 2004, with the current 5th edition published in 2012.

In 2019 Stanley Gibbons produced the 1st edition of the Spain and Colonies catalogue.