When I first understood the concept of this video, I thought, oh poor stamp, why would anyone want to leave a stamp out of the collection, what a shame.... then I saw the stamp! I've always hated Mr Punch. Apart from his really annoying squawk and awful wood features, he hits Judy repeatedly on the head with a baton! I've never understood how anyone could find domestic abuse entertaining! I would *totally* leave this stamp out of my collection too! And being in the UK, I may well come across one of these... yuk, straight to the charity shop haha. :)

Happy to see your mailbox with many happy mail. Loved the postcard from Rene 😊

Thanks for sharing your great stamps and your great friendship, too!

Collect the year of your birth.

Hi Smokie, a really nice batch of postcards & some great stamps on them! My favourite card was the Australian animal/ bird one! Take it easy

And every mail is a piece of joy)))

This was a super exciting Stamp vs Stamp. You and Rob both were creative and I think you missed a great career in making movies! 🙂I loved the stamps you showed. The 1971 stamp from Belgium is amazing, and I also, like you, especially liked the giraffes stamp with the bird from Japan issued in 1999. Congratulations to you and Rob for a year of collaboration and friendship!! ( I told Rob, it is probably time that I watch Doctor Who. I haven't seen any scenes or episodes yet, but it sounds very adventurous. )

how bout having a stamp club on zoom from around the world with friends. My personal meeting page will hold 100 windows.

The USPS is doing a survey about their website and is also asking about stamps related products we would like to see. I put a comment in for a Postcrossing stamp and maxi-cards. I got the link from the American Philatelic Society. I will forward the email to you. Maybe you can share. I think the survey ends on Oct 17.

How do you get to your Instagram? I don't have that. I don't do Instagram is there another way we could let you know the answers please Smokey. I love your episodes and more

I am so happy you like the postcard. That statue just makes me giggle every time I see it.

That banana statue was awesome. Second I saw it Donovan started playing in my head lol. Take care bro... PEACE!!!

Hey Smokie, another great watch with some wonderful stamps, I have a good collection of Japanese stamps & the topics are never ending! Have a great weekend, take care

So many fabulous postcards and super stunning stamps, I am so happy you received my mail too 😊

Our videos might be similar today lots of the same people lol

Great postcards!

Twaskyou sr to show your stamps collection. Blessings

Cool, fun! 😃

Great episode and thanks for letting me choose the episode using the infamous TARDIS. But i thought of an episode of different thing.

As you might imagine, having been born on 13 March, I think of 13 as being my lucky number (not that I really believe in lucky and unlucky numbers), but that made me think that perhaps for your 13th episode, you could possibly have a theme of lucky and unlucky stamps. For example, several countries have issued stamps that have lottery numbers whereby people can win (e.g. Japanese New Year stamps). The theme could go in a number of directions, so it could be up to you two to decide what you want to do, if you even like the idea. Just a thought.

I was thrilled with the Belgian stamp from 1971 because it was issued on my birthday, and I collect stamps (and FDCs) issued on my birthday and this was one that I didn't know about this stamp. Now I know, I can go hunting.

Another wonderful and inventive episode. Thank you.

Awesome Episode!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved traveling with the two of you through time, in and out of the tardis.

This was so fun to watch. You could have made a full length movie. Well done

On a similar theme, would love to see you and Rob explore the land before time began. Looking for stamps with dinosaurs, sabre tooth tigers, prehistoric rock paintings in caves, or pyramids and hieroglyphics. There must be loads of prehistory or archaeology type stamps that could be fun to explore. :)

Watching from 2024.... This was a wonderfully enjoyable episode! You must have both had so much fun making it! Friendship is a brilliant theme. My favourite stamp was the giraffe stamp with the tiny bird. P.S. don't forget to take the tardis back to 2024 or you'll miss your dinner :)

Thanks for the great video and information about duck stamps, Smokey. Since I saw images of these duck stamps on the www I fell in love with them. I don't have any yet, but hope to acquire some in future. Take care!

Hi, thanks for the video, I've got 3 or 4 duck stamps, interesting subject though! Have a great weekend, take care

Could learn new things. Thank you for sharing.

Thank you for the information. Great video. Have a good day =)

Thanks for another cool video:) I've only got 2 old duck stamps, but one has my grandfather's signature...so that's cool...except that I never wanted to know that he was a hunter. I love wildlife. This video reminded me I should rewatch the movie Fargo, which incorporated the importance of duck stamp art, and also reminded me that John Oliver did an episode specifically on Duck Stamps. It was funny. This also made me wonder if records of how the funds from these were specifically used are available to the public. To me, the conservation of wildlife and their habitats would involve keeping hunters as far away as possible. Thank you for your awesome videos:)

Great information on these beautiful stamps. Personally, I would not collect them as I would rather spend the money on 'real' stamps for my collection, but if money was no object I may well dabble. Thank you for the video.

DEAR MY FRIEND, VATICAN IS NOT A CITY...IN FACT , IT'S A COUNTRY...THE SMALLEST COUNTRY IN EUROPE, IT HAS A POPULATION OF NEARLY 800 PEOPLE...ITS CAPITAL IS ALSO VATICAN...FERNANDO VARGEZ ALZAGA IS THE PRESIDENT...

Great gift! thank you for sharing. I agree with you regarding CTO's, as long as I know that what it is, then I don't have a problem keeping one with an image that interest me.

I agree 100% this community is so generous. You have been given a wonderful surprise

Crap

Smokey Merhaba, beğenerek izliyorum. Çok değişik ve çok güzel pullar tanıtıyorsun. Bana ilginç geliyor. Çok hoşuma gidiyor.

Can we send a first day cover (use it as an ordinary envelope)?

Hello Smokey! It is a wonderful gift from Michael. The "illegal" overprints are interesting. It is a WWF overprint, it seems. Now I wonder - did WWF or whomever did the overprint buy stamps and then overprinted them? Did they again sell them then? They are striking overprints. Thanks for showing us the USSR and Russian stamps. They are lovely, even though they are CTOs. If they are "genuine" stamps and some were also postally used, while others were Cancelled to Order, I think I am OK with the CTOs. Lots of best wishes to you! 🙂

What a wonderful gift! I was hoping you were going to bring up those overprints. Those caught my eye as well. Very cool. I noticed the WWF (world wildlife foundation) emblem. My guess is that they were responsible and it was to bring awareness to certain species. Then again, you mentioned seeing ship overprints like these, Hmmmmm. Coolest overprints I've ever seen, though. Thanks for another great video:)

Hi Smokey, what a great gift of stamps. 09:52 I find these 'stamps' fascinating and I have quite a few similar items overprinted with mushrooms (of course!). I don't know a lot about them, but here is what I do know. At the end of 1991 the Soviet Union broke up into its constituent republics each of which became independent countries. Note that the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania) had broken away and declared their independence about a year previous to this. Anyway, with the breakup of the Soviet Union, each new republic started to release its own stamps and some of the definitives were legally overprinted for use in these republics. Not all of the republics did this, but if you look on Colnect or Stampworld, you'll find that some did and the ones I can see in my mind's eye are from Kazakhstan. Please note that these overprinted stamps are LEGAL overprints and were valid for postage. However, at the same time I would suggest that probably thousands of illegal issues were also produced. At the time I had an exchange partner in Saint Petersburg and he sent me quite a few. I asked him at the time whether they were 'real' stamps and he said that no one was really quite sure, so he sent them to me anyway. I have since learned that they are/were illegally produced. These illegal issues come in two types: (1) overprinted stamps, such as the ones you have, and (2) specially printed stamps and miniature (souvenir) sheets covering a wide range of popular themes that look like normal stamps (whatever that means). These two types of stamps were ostensibly produced for various regions of the former Soviet Union rather than the independent republics themselves. The ones you show here were produced for the region of Sakha (Yakutia) an internal republic inside the Russian Federation. Sakha is the largest area in the Russian Far East and covers an area of over 3,000 square kilometres and its capital is Yakutsk. At the time, Russia was going through a period of hyper-inflation and so the values overprinted reflect this. The mushroom overprinted stamps I have are denominated as follows: Altai (a mountainous republic in southern Siberia): 700 Roubles on 4 x 80 kopek Russian stamps, and 700 Roubles on 4 x 2 Rouble Russian stamps [each of 5 designs] Bashkortostan (a republic between the Volga and the Ural Mountains): 800, 1000, 1200, 1400 and 1600 Roubles on 4 x 80 kopek Russian stamps; 800, 1000, 1200, 1400 and 1600 Roubles on 4 x 1 Rouble Russian stamps; 800, 1000, 1200, 1400 and 1600 Roubles on 4 x 2 Rouble Russian stamps; 800, 1000, 1200, 1400 and 1600 Roubles on 4 x 3 Rouble Russian stamps, and 800, 1000, 1200, 1400 and 1600 Roubles on 4 x 5 Rouble Russian stamps Bering Strait Islands: 900 Roubles on 4 x 2 kopek USSR stamps; 900 Roubles on 4 x 1 Rouble Russian stamps; 900 Roubles on 4 x 2 Rouble Russian stamps; 900 Roubles on 4 x 3 Rouble Russian stamps, and 900 Roubles on 4 x 5 Rouble Russian stamps [each of 5 designs] Franz Josef Land (an archipelago in the Arctic Ocean): 700 Roubles on 4 x 80 kopek Russian stamps; 700 Roubles on 4 x 3 Rouble Russian stamps; 700 Roubles on 4 x 4 Rouble Russian stamps, and 700 Roubles on 4 x 5 Rouble Russian stamps [each of 5 designs] There may be others as I doubt this is an exhaustive list even of mushroom overprinted stamps. To give you an idea of the range of areas covered by these illegal issues, I have sheetlets of 4 mushroom stamps from: Komi, Kharkassia, Dagestan, Karelia, Kamchatka, Jewish Republic, Tuva, Udmurtia, Batumi, Kuril Islands and in sheetlets of 6 stamps Crimea, Karelia and Batumi (+ miniature sheet). There were (at least) 2 catalogues produced covering most of these issues by a company in Belarus (but even these did not list all of the issues). In addition to these, Rob has also sent me a set of 9 illegal mushroom stamps supposedly from Tajikistan, so there are also issues for (at least) some of the independent republics also, not to mention all of the other places around the world that illegal stamps are produced for. As you can see, this is quite a big subject and I have a separate album just for the various illegal mushroom stamps I have acquired. I don't go out of my way to find all the illegal issues for my collection, but I don't reject them if they happen to arrive in my mail box. If you go on eBay there is a lot of this material around. Unfortunately, not all of the stamp dealers properly list them as illegal issues whether from ignorance or by design and for me that's a bit unethical as people should be aware of what they are buying. I have knowingly bought several illegal issues because I particularly like the designs, but at least I knew what I was buying. I have also bought a couple of illegal issues not knowing what they were and that is where the problem lies in my opinion. Anyway, I hope this has been useful information for you.

great. what happened to the vid in the beginning, at the end it fixed itself.

Ya absolutely, WOW!!! you have some very generous friends that really like your channel, thanks Smokey. I like it too.

Guiermo gave you a wonderful, huge and generous gift of Monaco stamps!!! Amazing! You are right, the online philatelic community is the most unselfish, beautiful and special people! It is an honour to be in such a community. I loved to see the stamps. They are in excellent condition, and some are really lovely. Many seemed to be complete sets. I am sure your Monaco collection is going to grow significantly! Thank you for sharing with us, Smokey! I liked the spontaneous video. You are a special, kind and lovely person yourself! Take care!

I loved that quarter on envelope story. So many things we used to able to do in trust when we helped each other out. And your right stamps are basically snapshots of a place in time. Take care, PEACE to you and yours.

Great Postcards if u can send me your address I will send you a card on October 1st from the UK

Some very nice stamps enjoy your channel and seeing your stamps stay safe

This was fun to watch. Thank you for sharing!

What a fabulous gift of Monegasque stamps from Guillermo. It really is heartwarming to see how generous people can be.

Holy cow!!! What an incredibly generous gift! My mouth was hanging open the whole time, just seeing all those amazing stamps. You will have to show us your updated Monaco collection once you get these added to it. Wow! Just want you to know that I feel like I'm seeing a friend in you, even though we have never met, whenever I watch your videos. They always make me smile. Who knows...perhaps someday we may meet at a stamp show in WI. I live in Oak Creek, WI. Keep up the great work. You add so much to this community:)