Chess on Stamps


Andorra	Brazil	Bulgaria	Cuba	Dahomey	Djibouti
Dominica	Ecuador	Egypt	Faroe Islands	France	Great Britain
Hungary	Iceland	Iran	Israel	Mali	Monaco
Netherlands	Niger	Rumania	Russia	San Marino	Surinam
Sweden	Tunisia	Tuvalu	UAE	Wallis et Futuna	Yemen
Yugoslavia	.	.	.	.	by Colin Rose

News July 2010

... unleashing an all new Rose Online Catalogue.
It's interactive, it's illustrated, and it zooms ...

What's New?

The Chess Stamp Art Project —
I've donned my Indiana Jones hat and rummaged through dozens of medieval manuscripts to source the original artworks featured on chess stamps, from texts such as the Persian ‘Shah Nameh’.
For example, here are the chess stamps that use images from Alfonso X's Libros del Axedrez, Dados et Tablas c1283, listed with the matching originals [stamps to 1990, at present].
new 'View by Artist' option
filled in almost all missing pre-1990 holes + new discoveries
new numbering system
... and a new software engine driving it all.

Fraudulent Chess ‘Issues’
Warning! There are huge numbers of fraudulent and fake chess ‘issues’ on ebaY. There are no Afghan chess stamps after 1989. All post-1989 chess issues claiming to be from Afghanistan are fraudulent. All 'stamps' from South Ossetia are illegal and are not valid postage stamps. There are dozens of fraudulent chess issues purporting to be from Angola, Mali, Myanmar, Rwanda, Sahara Republic (and variants of same), Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan etc. They have no postal validity and are completely worthless.
For more detail, see PWO Illegal Stamps.

Borges Postmark Catalogue
Alberto C. M. Borges is producing an impressive postmark catalogue ... in 3 massive volumes.

Volume 1 is available (133 illustrated pages with prices) covering: Americas, Africa, Asia and Oceania: 1939-1997.

Volumes 2 and 3 are still in progress.
Contact: Alberto C. M. Borges

About Chess on Stamps

This site was created by Colin Rose. It neatly brings together two of my recent interests: chess and philately.
It consists of two core sections:

the above gallery - for those passing through
the online catalogue - for collectors

Suggestions? Comments? Send them hither: chess@tri.org.au

Feature Column Issue 2: Napoleon on St. Helena

What is happening? And who is the correct artist?
(all the catalogues are incorrect)
[ Click for solution ]
Site Links

Jon Edwards has an excellent site (USA);
Alberto C M Borges in Brazil has a super new site;
Dominika and Mariusz Kopec have an excellent new site in Russia;
Semyon Gelfer features chess stamps and autographs;
Frantisek Wirkner features chess olympiads on covers;
Riccardo Andreis covers chess stamps, cancels and more;
Steve Trussel covers the early years (1947-1952) of philatelic chess;
Alain Delobel is also based in France (also many fakes);
Aare Sepp offers a new site in Estonia;
Vladislav Amigood focuses on postal stationery.

Enjoy !

Societies and Journals

There are some excellent societies devoted to philatelic chess:

Amicale Philatélique Thèméchecs – France: L'Amicale publishes the quarterly journal Philemat (with listings, competitions, and fascinating articles) and produces its own catalogue entitled Themechecs. It also provides a subscription service for new issues, postmarks, covers etc. A wonderful society.
COSSU – Chess on Stamps Study Unit of the American Topical Association: COSSU publishes the quarterly journal Chesstamp Review, which includes check lists (no pun intended) alternatively covering stamps, postal stationery and EFO (Errors, Freaks and Oddities on chess stamps). They hold mail auctions and keep a stock of chess stamps and postmarks for sale. Dues are US$17 per year for USA members, and US$24 for all others. For more information, contact the President, Jon Edwards at jedwards@princeton.edu or the Secretary-Treasurer, Jim McDevitt at cwouscg@aol.com .
Gemeinschaft der Schachmotivsammler (GSM) – Germany: GSM publishes the journal Messenger in both German and English. They offer a subscription service, competitions, and auctions. For more information, contact their chairman Herbert Roeder at hroeder@gsm-schach.de .
Motiefgroep Schaken – Netherlands: Motiefgroep Schaken publishes a quarterly journal in Dutch with news about chess related stamps, telephone cards, etc. They have a fine web site including an interesting listing of chess on money. They also have frequent auctions that are very well run. For more information, contact Nico vd Plas at nico.van.der.plas@ziggo.nl.
Vlaamse Schaak-Philatelisten (VSP) – Belgium: VSP is a group of chess stamp collectors in Belgium, founded in 1988. They meet every two months, and publish a bi-monthly journal De Schaakphilatelist (in Dutch), with information and news about chess stamps, cancels etc ... They have an interesting web site.

Printed Catalogues

Current Catalogues