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Halloween is a time when, according to legend, ghosts are about. But for the keen philatelist there are ghosts to be seen all the year round. Those ghosts can be found on stamps, lurking unobtrusively in the designs, where they crept in while the artists or engravers were nodding.
Most notorious ghost of all is found on the lower values of the Serbian set issued in 1904 to mark the Coronation of King Peter I and the Centenary of the Karageorgevich dynasty. In the middle of the design are two heads, one being that of the new king and the other the founder of the dynasty; but turn the stamp upside-down and you will see a third head just where the other two overlap.
It is a grisly portrait, said to be the death mask of King Alexander, whose assassination in 1903 made way for Peter I. When this ghost was discovered the French designer of the stamps was hauled over the coals for having given way to political pressure to put the murdered King's picture on the new issue. He strenuously denied having done such a thing and maintained that it was merely a trick of light and shade.
Another ghost, or perhaps two of them, can be seen on the 1861-65 issues of Prussia. In those days the chief German states had their own stamps, and Prussia put an eagle with outstretched wings on hers. If you turn one of these stamps upside-down you will find a couple of academic gentlemen engaged in discussion; they can be seen in the hollows of the wings just on each side of the eagle's head.
Not all ghosts are found by turning stamps upside-down and some are visible if you look at the design carefully when it is the right way up. One of the best appears on the 40 rappen issued by Liechtenstein in 1937-38. The design shows a view of the ruins of Schellenburg Castle; cover up the right hand part of the design and look closely at the outline of the wall beside and below the value '40'. There you will see the face and helmet of a knight, perhaps one of the warriors who lived in the castle before it fell into disrepair.
The first issue of Haiti bears the portrait of Liberty, so the catalogues say. It is a girl's head with a cloth covering her hair and seems quite ordinary in itself; but if you look closely at the back of the head you will notice that the folds of the cloth form another vague portrait, apparently that of a black woman. People have said that it is the picture of the wife of President Salomon, who himself appears on the 1882 issue, but it looks like a very poor ghost.
Much better is Hitler's head on the 1937 Christmas greetings stamps of Austria, issued only 4 months before the country was occupied by Germany. You can see the ominous portrait at the right of the bowl of roses shown in the design, the head and moustache being formed by the petals of the largest rose. Hitler's head, too, can be found on the German 50 pfennig of 1964. That stamp bears a view of the castle gate at Ellwangen, and to the left of the uppermost tower is a head formed by the leaves and branches. Lots of people proclaimed it to be that of Hitler.
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