GBLA The Lednice

 

                                                      back to ASFE SLOVAKIA

                                                                                                                     

                                                                                                                

MS Lednice on the GBL

Peter Valdner  (2018, updated)

 

MS Lednice of the Czechoslovak Danube Navigation Company Bratislava is among collectors of ASFE, and stamp collectors in general, the most famous Czechoslovak ship. She was one of the fourteen ships, trapped on the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal in the years 1967 – 75. Crews produced stamps, the first ones by the master of the Lednice.

The book on the GBLA has bee already published, so just a small quiz for ASFE collectors.

Collectors of ASFE can set criteria what they consider to be ASFE by themselves. A good criterion is the name on the stamp, or an issue destined for certain territory. Usually it is the same, but the history taught us some exceptions. And stamps of MS Lednice can be a good example.

Look at following six stamps. All were designed by the Lednice crew. They bear names Lednice, Lednice GBLA, LEDMELAGA GBLA, Lednice Suez, only GBLA or even no name. Collectors can decide themselves, if they consider them to be six,  three (Lednice, LEDMELAGA a GBLA) or just one (GBLA) ASFE.

 

Some collectors of ASFE use as a decisive criterion the producer, or place where the stamps was produced. At first glimpse the producer is the same as in the previous case, hence Czechoslovak, but it is wrong. Lets us have a look at next four Czechoslovak GBLA stamps. The horizontal one is really Czechoslovak, though with an English text, but the other three were produced in cooperation with British, Bulgarian and Polish crews.

 

And what about the place of origin? Again with surprise. Can you find out, where next stamps were produced? The answers are five ships - the Lednice, Polish Djakarta, Swedish Nippon and British Melampus and Agapenor, and 2 times printing houses in Czechoslovakia and Egypt.

 

Correct answers can be verified in the Catalogues, which exist both in Slovak and English. A clue for one of them is that the stamp was produced by the famous Captain Benda.

 

Note that both books are sold out, still available is the updated and enlarged version named the GBLA Collectors`Encyclopaedia and Stamp Catalogue.

 

Zdroj: Internet a archív autora

Kontakt na autora: valdpete@yahoo.com