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Panterra 
First Class
Joined: 01 April 2017
Location: Auckland, NZ
Status: Offline
Points: 240
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 Posted: 01 April 2017 at 20:32 |
How about I display all my productions (bit by bit, as time permits) on this thread?
regards, Bruce.
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Panterra
First Class
Joined: 01 April 2017
Location: Auckland, NZ
Status: Offline
Points: 240
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Posted: 02 April 2017 at 13:18 |
I've had some feedback from folks saying that the pdf link in my intro does not work. Sorry about that: I am unsure why it won't work. Best way I can suggest is to copy the link, http://www.angelfire.com/country/mevu/Geir-article-on-BRH.pdfand paste this into your browser. It should then either open or automatically download on to your "downloads". I was very cross with Geir for abridging the series so much, and also remonstrated with the CSC committee for publishing such an inferior version. This means that they have not got the most accurate version possible, which for a journal like the Cinderella Philatelist should be the goal. But they said they were constrained by the author-publisher relationship with Geir, which gave him final say over what was printed. regards, Bruce. =============
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Bas S Warwick
Recorded
Joined: 30 March 2010
Location: New Zealand
Status: Offline
Points: 224
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Posted: 04 April 2017 at 17:40 |
I received a nice cover and contents from Bruce yesterday. Thanks Bruce - I sent some Takangarika Island Post to your box.
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Bas S Warwick
Recorded
Joined: 30 March 2010
Location: New Zealand
Status: Offline
Points: 224
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Posted: 07 April 2017 at 11:01 |
Nice cover (with contents) this morning from Bruce - from Free Vinland Republic Thanks Bruce - greatly appreciated.
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Panterra
First Class
Joined: 01 April 2017
Location: Auckland, NZ
Status: Offline
Points: 240
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Posted: 19 April 2017 at 03:28 |
HOW TO START
YOUR OWN COUNTRY:
Some of you may have wondered about how to start
a new nation. Let me give an interesting case history: the saga of Bijzland.
A good friend lives in a rural utopia an hour's drive north of Auckland, and works as a
mail-order stamp dealer. A few years ago, he decided to start a fantasy
land: Japhyland, and I printed a stamp issue for him (which he
designed), printed him some nice FDCs, and made him a rubber datestamp. He seldom sells these, as being a dealer, he prefers to offer his clients only "respectable" stamps. (But if you want some of these, send an inquiry letter with some mint recent commemorative sets in trade, and you could get lucky!)
A year later, to celebrate his birthday,
another mutual friend sent me a dozen early photos of Japhyland's founder,
going back to his youth days, and asked me to do a Japhyland set using
these. So the set was printed, perfed, and secretly brought along to the
celebration party, then a big package of minisheets was presented to Japhyland's
founder. He fished out his datestamp, stuck the stamps on covers and
postmarked them, and one was given to each guest.
The foregoing is an aside to the main story here. At the birthday, I was
chatting with my pal's young son, Brynn, then aged 11. He said that he
had contemplated starting a fantasy land himself, called Bijzland. Intrigued, I asked him to write it
down (as the spelling is tricky.) I asked him the location, and he told
me it is "an island off the coast of Russia."
I told him that was quite amazing, for Russian has a character in the alphabet
that pronounces "zh" which can only be used in words such as "Bijzland". I told him I'd see what I
could do in the way of making him some stamps.
So after returning home, I went through my old photos and located a couple of
Brynn from the time when his dad and I (with Brynn) attended the
Science-fiction convention in Auckland.
Brynn was especially enthusiastic to meet one of his heroes, the actor who
plays Bender the Robot,
from the TV comedy series "Futurama."
He queued up to meet Bender
and get his autograph, and I took a photo of Bender
as he was signing the autograph for Brynn.
Brynn, aged 11, on the first issue of Bijzland, 2011.
The other two stamps in the first issue showed a
rather blurry sideface portrait of Brynn on the 1 kopeck, and "Bender"
on the 12k.
Brynn again, on the 1k stamp of 2011.
"Bender" signs his name, with other celebrities in the background. Although the stamp was issued in 2011, it shows "2010" on the stamp, as that was the year the convention where bender signed was held.
Brynn gave away minisheets of his stamps to his
friends at school, and I also made him a rubber postmark:
Bijzland 2017 cover to West Papua. Note the bilingual datestamp.
Finding a Russian font was tricky, but I got
there in the end. I have printed him some other commemoratives over the
years since, but as he has grown older, his interests have moved more into
"gadgets", “online
games”, and "girls", as many teenage boys do.
Bijzland 2011 50th anniversary of Yuri
Gagarin's first voyage into Space.
Bijzland 2013 Year of the Snake.
Bijzland 2014 Valentine's Day.
There was a similar Valentine's Day stamp in
2012: that one was a 12k value. The Valentine stamps have been very
popular with some of my friends for using on cards each February!
Like any Bijzland stamps and covers yourself? Drop Brynn a line at
Bijzland Information Service,
P.O. Box 257,
Mangawhai,
New Zealand
0540.
I recommend enclose some stamps (attractive modern commemorative sets and
minisheets of your country are best), and request some Bijzland in
exchange. If you feel inclined to make suggestions for new issues while
writing, your favorite thematic topic may yet figure on a Bijzland stamp! 
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Bas S Warwick
Recorded
Joined: 30 March 2010
Location: New Zealand
Status: Offline
Points: 224
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Posted: 19 April 2017 at 11:38 |
Thanks for the info Bruce.
I'm currently working on Takangarika Island which is situated off the west coast of NZ.
You can clearly spot Takangarika Island on this 1d NZ stamp from 1923 - its just off the west coast of the south island near Haast.
This is currently the only known copy of this stamp still showing the island - all others were probably recalled and destroyed. Of course as usual a few slipped through the net!
Interestingly the island does not appear on any modern maps - but as you see it is definitely there.
The mystery continues
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Steve
Unhinged
Joined: 26 March 2010
Location: Wrexham
Status: Offline
Points: 3417
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Posted: 19 April 2017 at 12:08 |
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It is interesting to find out the different perspectives that fantasy (in all shades of the spectrum) come from. We all have our own ideas on this, and all (well perhaps not quite all) are perfectly valid.
Do you need to create your own nation? Yes and no. A 'new' nation helps to define what the stamps are about, but this could be a ball and chain. A nation needs a map, a government and people. The more you do the more you need not to contradict what you have already said or done.
For me a good backstory to the issues is paramount. You can weave a story linking issues, and take it steady. Just keep the ideas coming.
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Bas S Warwick
Recorded
Joined: 30 March 2010
Location: New Zealand
Status: Offline
Points: 224
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Posted: 20 April 2017 at 16:45 |
More covers that Bruce has sent me (thanks again Bruce).
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Bas S Warwick
Recorded
Joined: 30 March 2010
Location: New Zealand
Status: Offline
Points: 224
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Posted: 20 April 2017 at 16:47 |
..........and one from Bijzland to The President, Takangarika Island
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Panterra
First Class
Joined: 01 April 2017
Location: Auckland, NZ
Status: Offline
Points: 240
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Posted: 22 April 2017 at 18:40 |
When printing stamps, I prefer to do them in small compact miniature sheets, so that they can easily fit on a standard album page. (How would anybody ever display a big sheet of 100 or 240 stamps? Those are totally unfriendly!)
Small sheets are also easy to post: an important consideration in an era where postage is charged by size of envelope.
 Bijzland 2011 first issue: Brynn and Bender, and my first stamps with Russian inscriptions.
Bijzland 2011 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first space flight.
Bijzland 2012 Centenary of the "Titanic" launch and demise.
 RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning of 15 April 1912, after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers and crew aboard, more than 1,500 died, making it one of the deadliest commercial peacetime maritime disasters in modern history. The largest ship afloat at the time it entered service, the RMS Titanic was the second of three Olympic class ocean liners operated by the White Star Line, and was built by the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast. Thomas Andrews, her architect, died in the disaster.
Under the command of Edward Smith, who went down with the ship, Titanic carried some of the wealthiest people in the world, as well as hundreds of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland, Scandinavia
and elsewhere throughout Europe seeking a new life in North America.
The first-class accommodation was designed to be the pinnacle of comfort
and luxury, with an on-board gymnasium, swimming pool, libraries,
high-class restaurants and opulent cabins. A high-power radiotelegraph transmitter was available for sending passenger "marconigrams" and for the ship's operational use. Although Titanic had advanced safety features such as watertight compartments and remotely activated watertight doors, there were not enough lifeboats to accommodate all of those aboard, due to outdated maritime safety regulations. Titanic
only carried enough lifeboats for 1,178 people—slightly more than half
of the number on board, and one third of her total capacity. The Titanic had plenty of time to miss the iceberg but the helmsman
panicked and turned the wrong way. Incompetence and blunder were the
reasons for the disaster.
The error on the ship's maiden voyage
from Southampton to New York happened because there were two different
steering systems, with different commands attached to each. This was
because of the upheaval involving conversion from sail to steam-powered
ships. Some of the crew were used to the archaic Tiller Orders
(associated with sailing ships) while others to the more modern Rudder
Orders. Crucially, the two systems were the complete opposite of one
another: a command to turn "Hard a-starboard" meant turn right under the
Tiller system, but left under the Rudder.
When First Officer
William Murdoch spotted the iceberg two miles away, his "Hard
a-starboard" order was misinterpreted by the Quartermaster, Robert
Hitchins. He turned the ship right instead of left, and though he was
quickly told to correct it, it was too late, and the side of the
starboard bow was ripped out by the iceberg. The Chairman of the Board
of the ship owner White Star Line, J.B. Ismay, who was on the ship,
persuaded the captain to continue steaming ahead, and this added
enormously to water pressure flooding through the damaged hull. Had the
ship stopped, it would not have sunk for many more hours, allowing
everyone to be rescued by other ships. Because of Ismay's arrogant
stupidity, the sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,514 people in
one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in history.
Ismay
made sure he was among those who got on a lifeboat, leaving 1,514 to
perish in the icy sea. He was widely castigated as a coward thereafter,
and resigned his chairmanship of the shipping line in 1913. He died in
1937. |
Bijzland 2014 Valentine's Day.
| Valentine's Day, also called Saint Valentine's Day or the Feast of Saint Valentine, is an annual holiday celebrated on February 14. It originated as a Western Christian liturgical feast day honoring one or more early saints named Valentinus, and is recognized as a significant cultural and commercial celebration in many regions around the world, although it is not a public holiday in any country.
Several martyrdom stories associated with the various Valentines that were connected to February 14 were added to later martyrologies, including a popular hagiographical account of Saint Valentine of Rome
which indicated he was imprisoned for performing weddings for soldiers
who were forbidden to marry and for ministering to Christians, who were persecuted under the Roman Empire. According to legend, during his imprisonment, Saint Valentine healed the daughter of his jailer, Asterius, and before his execution, he wrote her a letter signed "Your Valentine" as a farewell.
The day first became associated with romantic love within the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the 14th century, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. In 18th-century England, it evolved into an occasion in which lovers expressed their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). |
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