The terms federation and confederation refer to similar – yet very different – concepts. In a confederation, states come together creating a loose (often temporary) union for matters of political, economic or administrative convenience. Within

John Macarthur the legend has been written about as the father of the Australian wool industry. What is fact or fiction?

Stamp Afghanistan (1996) French football, duel Face value: 700

1924 2c on 1b brown "Elephant" & 25c on 2 1/2a blue "Lion" Italian Somaliland stamps overprinted in red or blue There also exists a 1922 issue with overprinting in black Quick History This Italian colony of Eritrea in northeast Africa on the Red Sea ultimately became part of Italian East Africa in 1936. The Capital of Eritrea is Asmara, and the population was 60,000 in 1930. Eritrea (or Italian Eritrea) was the first colony of the Kingdom of Italy. The colony began in 1890 with the first Italian overprinted stamps issued in 1892. During WWII, the Italians were defeated in Eritrea, and the British occupied the land in 1941. With the Peace treaty of 1947, Eritrea was no longer an Italian colony, and the Ethiopians took control. After many years of conflict with Ethiopian rule, Eritrea finally gained Independence in 1993. 1930 15c dark green & black "Lineman" & 35c red brown & black "Lancer" Big Blue Picture Big Blue '97, on nine pages, has 128 regular, 29 semi-postal, 8 air post, 4 special delivery, 6 postage due, and 6 parcel post spaces for a total of 181 stamp spaces. The 2011 Scott Classic specialized catalogue has 313 major stamp descriptions. Coverage by Big Blue is 58%. Comments.... A) Expensive! I cringed after seeing the prices for a stamp issue in BB; and then the next issue I cringed again. It never stopped! The supply/demand is clearly tilting to the demand side here. Perhaps that is why there are not a lot of Eritrea stamps in most BB albums I've seen. It's not as if one is paying for great engraved unique stamps of Eritrea prior to 1930: No, every one is an overprinted Italian stamp, excepting two overprinted Somalian issues. The binned prices I use for stamp values in the catalogue often tilted towards the high end of the "bin" also. For Eritrea, if listed $2+, probably $4.50, if listed $5+, probably $9.25, if listed $10, probably $18, and so forth. Some countries will have inexpensive stamps, but still have some "most expensive" candidates. Other countries ARE expensive, and yield a significant number of "most expensive" stamps. Eritrea is definitely in the latter category. Here is the list... 1930 Scott B32 semi-postal is 5 lira + 1.50 lira indigo & green ($85 mint)- overprinted type "f" (on 1929 Italian semi-postal stamp) 1928-29 Scott 106 is 50c bright violet ($55 mint)-overprint type "a" on Italian stamp 1925 Scott 31 is 2 lira dark green & orange ($52.50 mint)- overprint type "a" on Italian stamp 1928 Scott 32 is 2.50 lira dark green & orange ($52.50)-overprint type "a" on Italian stamp 1916 Scott 42 is 40c brown ($37.50) -overprint type "a" on Italian stamp B) Does all of this mean I find Eritrea not worth collecting? Not at all. :-) In fact, I like overprinted stamps, as they are generally more interesting than the plain variety. My wallet is the one that has problems. ;-) And Eritrea does have some very nice stamps: the 1922/1924 Somalian overprinted issues, the 1930 "Lancer et al" issue, the 1934 "Camel et al" issue, the 1934 "Grant's gazelle" issue ( very large stamps!), and the 1934 Air Post issue ( Again, very large stamps). C) Big Blue throws a few puzzlers for convoluted stamp spaces for Eritrea. First, we are dealing with Italian stamps that are not illustrated either in BB or in the Scott catalogue under Eritrea. All one sees in BB is just a series of overprint images for the spaces. One will have to look up the stamp design in "Italy" to be sure what stamp goes in which specific stamp space. O.K., fair enough. But then BB has some curveballs: 1) The "1928-29" stamp spaces 105($10+),39($2+),106($50+),28($10+),30($10+),32($50+) All over the Scott catalogue map! Scott 105 and 106 have the King Victor Emmanuel III "A86" design; Scott 28,30,32 have the "A46" King designs; Scott 39 has the "A49" King design. The only thing this group has in common is the type "a" ("Colonia Eritrea") overprint! 2) The "1908-21' stamp spaces Here even the overprints are different!...and with NO warning. ;-) 35,36,37($10+),53($2+),(

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