Friday, April 01, 2016

2016 start with:

Here we go, 2016 and five (5) issues come to market.
Summarizing face values together, first impression is not so good, as face values go up, so money to spend will be need, more than previous year. But what make good, is that design little bit improve, so Your collection can be better.
Let's start to show:

1-2016 "Monastery":


Date of issue is Jan. 28, 2016. Set of four (4) stamps, showing us UNESCO cultural heritage, with nice "modern" drawing of each Monastery. Even that I don't like, when we show Monastery in modern "way", as I more prefer it with "clear" picture, artist made it with drawing, not photo, so lot of detail of same Monastery is missing in it, but overall, it is just fine.
Face value are little bit high, as it is near 2.00 US$ per set of four stamps (take in mind that income in Serbia are not so high), which will result in less high value stamps from set in used condition, and that will cause problems in completing this set in used condition.

Than, come this design of FDC - which are also made little bit in "fog", 


using "heavy" color in design, didn't improve overall picture.

Improvement are visible in CM of this issue, where "filtered" photo are used:



Monastery shown are from:
Mother of God Ljeviska, Prizren (1306 year),
Gracanica Monastery, Gracanica (1321 year),
Visoki Decani Monastery, Pec (1327),
Patriarchate of Pec, Pec (1320).

All come from Serbian Autonomy of Kosovo, under UNESCO protection, and to all sadness, many time vandalized in history.

2-2016 "Lunar Horoscope - Calendars, Year of the Monkey":


Feb. 8, 2016 date of issue, with common design as previous years, this time Monkey is in question!
Set of two (2) values, with face value of acceptable under 1.00 $, so, affordable price for collection!
design of stamp alone are fine, but FDC come again under "heavy" use of basic color, so it is little bit "hard" for eye to swallow.

3-2016 "geological Society of Serbia":


Feb. 23, 2016 - yes, improvement in design (compared with previous two of this year), as we have "clear" picture and element shown on stamp! Here we have building, one of founders, medal, stone... shortly, all elements that represent this topic. I must to inform that this Society have 125 year of existence, which will just give real picture of Serbia and Serbian advanced status at the time.
Single issue, with low face value (under 0.50 $), so keep it in hand. yes, for sheet of 8 with gutter in middle, You will need to pay more, but not so high as other can be.

4-2016 "Easter":


Feb. 25, 2016 - Easter time in Serbian Orthodox Church, and people celebrate it!
If we take in mind that postage stamps have limited space to show us some picture, and Frescoes are very complex one, we can not complaint about design. 
This two shown are in National Museum, Belgrade, and named "Resurrection of Christ, 18th century, Boka Kotorska and "Resurrection of Christ", 19th century, Voivodina. Motif on FDC come from "Descent into Hell" 14th century. So one very old proof of Serbian culture back to centuries!
Face value of set of two (2), near 2.00 $, not so "low" as people can think!

5-2016 "WWF - B-Fly":


This is really GREAT! Great in all aspect, as design give us impression that Butterfly are almost in front of our eye!
I like it!
March 16, 2016 - set of four (4) values, very high face value that can reach 1.80 US$, but market will react for sure, and be prepared to pay near 5.00 $ for strip of 4 stamp with gutter in middle!
Again format are little bit "problematic" for collectors, as it is printed in sheet of five (5) sets, with gutter in middle which is complete picture just in composition of all five sets, gutter will show us complete picture!
I like it as gutter is picture of B-Fly life from beginning to mature insect, and colors are very clever used, so impression are great! I think that 5.00 $ on market will be no problem for serious collector.

FDC are little bit less attractive:


because "heavy" use of color, and background of B-Fly are "foggy", but B-Fly are shown well in front of our eye!

Postage due #1 (2016) "The Roof":



As usually, collecting additional income to support home for people, I don't think that this money will help people around, but, let it be!
very low face value of few cents (0.09 US$), and very "simple" design, will never reach significant catalog value, but will make very big trouble to collectors who specialize in completing one country collection! What to do? Take it now, as to avoid pay more in future. I have very bad experience with postage dues stamp for Macedonia, as catalog value it very low, but complete collection of postage due stamp on market are much-much bigger, and sellers ask lot of money for it. So if You have Your "personal" dealer/supplier, include this stamp in standing order, that will save You money in the future!