Thursday, July 19, 2012

Postal Hagenbeck


 FDC--a First Day Cover  is a postage stamp on a cover, postal card or stamped envelope franked on the first day the issue is authorized for use within the country or territory of the stamp issuing authority. 



Maximum Card--a postcard with a postage stamp placed on the picture side of the card where the stamp and card match or are in concordance.  In most cases, the cancel is also related to the image on the front of the card and the stamp.  Creating maximum cards is a popular hobby in Europe.

"Most folks aren't aware of the fascinating hobby of stamp collecting.  I have collected zoological park/zoo related stamps since I was about 6 or 7.  The hobby lost favor with kid's around about the time of video games.  Shame, because there are a load of great subject matter's that a lot can be learned about."

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wade, Interesting to know you collect zoo stamps and have the Hagenbeck stamp. It is a wonderful hobby. Back in 1948 Germany wanted to issue centenary stamps for Hagenbeck and his animal collections but couldn't so they settled for commemorative cancels. See my article: Hagenbeck Cancels: Commemorating a Wildlife Legacy in Post-War Germany. American Philatelist 121 (3/Mar): 240-244, 2007. Vernon Kisling

Wade G. Burck said...

Vernon,
Not surprisingly, I have a copy of American Philatelist you mention as part of my collection.
I tried to interest my son's in the hobby, but I was up against Pokemon and video games, so it was a hard sell. I started, as I said very young, collecting animal stamps from around the world. I used to break set's apart and arrange them on pages by species. After a few years, I came across a set that was too beautiful to break apart, so I "rearranged" everything back into set's by geographic theme. In doing so I discovered the small wording "zoo" or "zoological" and in translating, came to learn that they were set's of stamps issued to commemorate centenary's/anniversary's of the year certain zoo's were built//opened. That really excited me, and "lite the fire" to search for and collect anything related to zoo's. FDC's, cancels, postmarks, poster stamps, war currency, medals, etc. etc. You name it, I either bought it or swapped for it, if it pertained to a zoo. Then in 1965 Abu Dhabi issued a set of three beautiful stamps featuring hunting Falcons. Geez, I had to now find every Falconry stamp, postmark or cancel I could locate, and buy or swap for it. Then WWF stamps started appearing. I had to have all of those too, didn't I Vernon...... Once you get the "stamp collecting" monkey on your back, it is difficult if not impossible to rehab. That's a fact, and it is a shame it is a dying hobby, in our electronic world.
I have thanked you in the past Vernon, for your immense contributions to the world of zoo's and captive animal husbandry, and I would like to thank you again. Immeasurable, is the only way to describe what you have given to the animal history world. We would all be less, without the like's of folks like you and Richard Reynolds.

Wade